The state of Hawaii has become the first in North America to require solar water heaters in new homes. The bill, signed into law by Republican Governor Linda Lingle this week, prohibits issuing building permits for single-family homes that do not have solar water heaters.

Not surprisingly, builders and developers were against the bill, saying it would add too much to the cost of new home constructions. But surprisingly, another opponent was the Hawaii Solar Energy Association. Last April, in a story in the Star…

The American Southwest has some of the best solar resources on the globe. Nevada, with abundant land and sunshine is becoming a hot bed for the solar industry. The result is green jobs and billions of investment dollars.

“Nevada is poised to be a leader in the clean energy revolution,” said U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV). “This facility will help position our state as the premiere place to invest in these…

Tony Markel drives a plug-in hybrid that runs 50 miles per charge, goes 100 miles per gallon and gets power from the sun. If he has his way, you'll drive one too before long.

Fleet vehicles by their very nature are used in a limited geographic area. Think local utilities, taxi cab companies, fire and police departments, UPS or FedEx or even the US Post Office and many others. I saw on the PBS show Scientific American…

Solar power is magnificently exciting. Just lay down a sheet or a panel and every day, for the life of the device, you get free power. There are no fuel costs. No one is ever going to start charging $4 per gallon of sunlight. But, unfortunately, the size of the initial investment keeps the cost of solar generated power higher than the cost of coal.

Nanosolar prints it's mixture of several elements in precise proportions onto a metal film. The production is fast, simple and cheap, at least for now. Some fear that shortages in indium will bring a halt to nanosolar's cheap printing…

Solar energy currently generates .1% of the electricity used in the U.S. According to a study released today, this will change rapidly as the cost of electricity increases and the cost of solar energy drops.

If the U.S. had decided to be a moral people, and leaving Iraqi oil alone, decided to develop the South Western deserts, with the technology of the times, solar/thermal installations, for the same amount of money as that war cost, today we would…

In a few simple steps, convert an ordinary box into a beauteous, practical solar oven. It’s free, green heat, and impress your friends at a bbq.

Now, cut and glue a square of aluminum foil to the underside of your door, and cut a piece of plastic just a little larger than the opening. Remember how, when you were a devious little punk kid, you used to fry ants with a magnifying glass? This…

Just as the Prius will replace the Hummer on our nations roads, the Teatro del Agua shall replace the energy intensive desalination plants of old, worldwide. All the while supplying said world with an endless supply of water and creating an outdoor venue for theatrical performances. After all, you cant spell WATER without A-R-T. (below average p

Just as the Prius will replace the Hummer on our nation’s roads, the Teatro del Agua shall replace the energy intensive desalination plants of old, worldwide. All the while supplying said world with an endless supply of water and…

Solar photovoltaics have their challenges, from shortages of silicon to the sheer cost of purchasing and installing solar panels, but a new report from the Prometheus Institute says that both these problems will be addressed over the next few years, leading to cheaper solar and an abundance of capacity to produce.

The reason for the drop in prices is due to the expected hike in silicon production, a shortage of which is currently being felt. It is expected that silicon availability will quadruple to 125,302 tons by 2012, providing a massive oversupply of…

Apple just filed a patent for solar technology that would allow them to cover an entire iPod in solar cells, presumably to make the device less subject to tired batteries and the constraints of sucking energy from the socket.

Science, technology gadgets and…baby seals. We're in a bit of an eco-mess, but we've got the brains to lick any problem. And that's why EcoGeek.org publishes up to ten stories daily about innovations that are saving the planet.

If a magnifying glass is like lightning to ants, this would be their atomic bomb.

The most recent announcement comes from Sunrgi, which claims its XCPV system will “produce electricity at a wholesale cost of 5-cents per kWh” (via news release). Their system magnifies sunlight 2,000 times at over…

A new solar panel designed for commercial roofs can be installed in just a few minutes.

The key innovation in the Lumeta PowerPly is the use of standard roofing adhesives to affix the modules to the roof, rather than traditional racking systems. There are two advantages here - one, roofers everywhere work with these adhesives,…

Will everything be solar run?

That said, solar energy is on the threshold of becoming mainstream, thanks to government grants and developments in technology. Unlike the other offerings, solar is still a young enough industry to be benefiting from quantum leaps in design, and,…

The solar energy you haven’t heard of is the one best suited to generate clean electricity for generations to come.

Certainly we will need many different technologies to stop global warming. They include electric cars and plug-in hybrids, wind turbines and solar photovoltaics, which use sunlight to make electricity from solid-state materials like…

Good overview of the solar industry

The demand for either type of technology is high - and likely to keep rising. To draw from an example , Southern California Edison recently decided to invest in 65 million square feet of commercial roof space for solar panels. Check out these…