COP21 Climate Briefing: The First Three Days
Your recap of a whirlwind opening at the 2015 United Nations climate summit.
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Solar Energy
66 posts
The Solar Revolution That Wasn’t
Concentrated solar plants are a relatively new technology that has the potential to provide hundreds of thousands of homes with clean energy. So why hasn't it caught on?
Remember When Switzerland Ruled the World of Household-Size Solar?
In our final excerpt from his new book on the history of solar power, Let It Shine, author John Perlin describes a key moment in the debate over big, centralized solar sites and smaller, distributed rooftop panels.
How Ronald Reagan Turned Out the Lights on Solar Power
In an excerpt from his new book Let It Shine, John Perlin reveals how one of the first actions of the new Reagan administration was to dim the lights on what had been a promising start for an American solar energy program. Solar in the U.S. has yet to fully recover.
Solar Has Been in Our Energy Portfolio for 6 Millennia
In an excerpt from John Perlin’s new book, Let It Shine: The 6,000 Year Story of Solar Energy, the solar guru explains how making use of the sun's energy is anything but a new technology.
Perhaps Archimedes Should Have Focused on Jaguars, Not Galleys
Solar concentrators are a hot weapon in the renewable energy arsenal. Except sometimes they really can be a weapon.
If Only Renewable Energy Had a Smaller ‘But’
Wind and solar remain small components of the U.S. energy portfolio, but two new data points out this week suggest they're starting to to hit their stride.
Solar Success Stories in the Wreckage of Sandy
Wonder if big storms like Superstorm Sandy might just pull solar panels right off the roof? There’s no…
Cleaning Clean Energy: Robots to Keep Solar Panels Spotless
To soak up the sun as efficiently as possible, solar panels need to be kept near spotless. But…
Navajo Nation Builds Momentum for Renewable Energy
The U.S. Southwest is ground zero in the effort to transition America to an energy portfolio of renewables. What are the first steps, and who is making them?