admin

The Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) will test power inverters submitted to the Little Box Challenge presented by Google and the IEEE Power Electronics Society. The Challenge is an open competition to build smaller power inverters for use in solar power systems. The winner of the $1 million prize will have designed and built a kilowatt-scale inverter with

Read more

The solar pipeline in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region has primarily been driven by South Africa and Israel, however, NPD Solarbuzz believes that that trend is set to change as numerous countries throughout the region begin pushing forward on their own projects. According to the NPD Solarbuzz Middle East and Africa Deal Tracker, the current batch of projects

Read more

These news stories about cities producing most or all of their energy from renewable sources are the feel-good stories of the year. Wind, water and biomass are providing all of Burlington’s electricity, and this city is the largest in Vermont. So, critics can’t say, “It’s just a little village, probably has 800 people, that’s not feasible anywhere else.” However, the

Read more

Tesla Model S owners, rejoice! Another software update recently made its way over the air, giving owners further personalization options and a number of new features/tweaks. The Software v6.0 over-the-air update also introduces a new traffic-based navigation system which provides real-time advice on possible travel routes, as well as a number of other new features. Some of the other interesting

Read more

The Chinese city of Shenzhen was recently awarded the top honors for urban transportation at the C40 City Climate Leadership Awards in New York. The city — located in China’s southern Guangdong province — was also a finalist in the finance and economic development category of the awards, but didn’t manage to take the top spot in it, as it

Read more

1Sun4All. Ryan Abendroth is the founder, principle, and practitioner of Passive Energy Designs in St. Louis, Missouri—a company that consults on high-performing, low-energy buildings. To date, he has consulted on more than 100 buildings to help others design and achieve ultra-efficient houses that are aesthetically pleasing and functionally livable. He credits this career to his participation in the U.S. Department

Read more

Greentech Media has published interviews with Tesla co-founders Elon Musk and Marc Tarpenning and Tesla CTO JB Straubel. We’ve spoken with Tesla investors Ira Ehrenpreis, Nancy Pfund and Steve Jurvetson. But we haven’t yet heard from early Tesla hire and VP of business development Diarmuid O’Connell. He spoke with investor and Tesla board member Ehrenpreis at the REFF-West event last

Read more

The all-electric version of Kia’s most popular vehicle will start at $33,700 when it goes on sale in October. That price doesn’t include destination or any state or federal tax credits or incentives. Buyers in California could lop off $2,500 for the state’s electric-vehicle rebate, and up to $7,500 for a federal tax credit, depending on their income, pushing the

Read more

Scientists at the University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory have identified a new kind of polymer that provides an inexpensive way to improve the efficiency of solar cells. The new compound, called PID2, is a type of polymer that forms familiar materials such as plastics. It allows electrical charges to move more easily through the cell, increasing the production

Read more

The electrode barrier has been a big problem for a long time, suggested UMass Amhersts Thomas Russell, professor of polymer science and engineering. The sun produces 7,000 times more energy per day than we can use, but we cant harness it well. One reason is the trade-off between oxidative stability and the work function of the metal cathode. Work function

Read more