2014 is predicted to be a breakout year for solar financing, as the industry eagerly pursues finance innovations. Many of these methods aren't really new to other industries, but they are potentially game-changing when applied in the solar industry. Not … Continue reading
A free special report Greentech Media is pleased to present a special report on “intelligent efficiency,” a new paradigm emerging in the market based on information awareness and data analytics. We present the first chapter of our report below. For … Continue reading
If we are to make the transition to a renewable resource based economy, we need to do a better job of measuring the sustainability of our organizations, cities and nations. In an excellent article published in 2002 entitled "Using Sustainability … Continue reading
The energy efficiency retrofit of the Empire State Building had the makings of a great story right from the start. Visionary building owner Tony Malkin, in an effort to revive the 2.7 million-square foot New York landmark, assembled a team … Continue reading
In state capitals across the country, legislators are debating proposals to roll back environmental rules, prodded by industry and advocacy groups eager to curtail regulations aimed at curbing greenhouse gases. The measures, which have been introduced in about 18 states, … Continue reading
Net zero energy buildings are becoming more mainstream as technologies and processes improve, and renewable energy becomes less costly. Increasingly, innovators are focusing on how to take existing buildings to net zero. Whether for new or existing buildings, getting to … Continue reading
This interactive map illustrates the coming of cost-competitive solar based on a comparison of the unsubsidized cost of solar electricity with retail electricity prices of all 3100 utilities in the United States. The numbers on a state indicate the number … Continue reading
SAN ANTONIO – A new report ranks San Antonio 6th in the nation for the amount of solar installed, and provides a first-of-its-kind comparative look at the growth of solar in major American cities. The Environment Texas Research and Policy … Continue reading
In March 2014, Minnesota became the first state to adopt a “value of solar” policy to set a fair, transparent price on solar energy. It may serve as a national precedent and fundamentally change the financial relationship between electric utilities … Continue reading
SAN ANTONIO — Let's look at the sunny side of life: San Antonio is one of the nation's leading solar cities. The sixth-ranked city, per a report from Environment Texas Research and Policy Center, a nonprofit. The report ranked the … Continue reading
"The Boom: How Fracking Ignited the American Energy Revolution and Changed the World" (Simon & Schuster), by Russell Gold The once-obscure oil and gas drilling process known as fracking has generated hundreds of billions of dollars and considerable dissent, as … Continue reading
As cities in the developing world continue to grow, so do their traffic safety concerns. Latin America, for instance, now sees three times as many deaths from traffic crashes as Europe, the vast majority of which occur in cities. Vulnerable … Continue reading
AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas environmental agency has frozen funding for a San Antonio area governmental coalition’s air quality improvement work after an official there publicly shared modeling results that suggested fracking contributed pollution to the city. Last summer the … Continue reading
What might the oil- and gas-rich Eagle Ford Shale region of South Texas look like in 2018? A newly released but largely unnoticed study commissioned by the state of Texas makes some striking projections: The number of wells drilled in … Continue reading
The residential solar installation and finance market is remaking itself through new alliances, vertical integration and hybrid sales channels, as well as with access to increasingly cheaper capital. We are in a post-CSI era and yet installation prices continue to … Continue reading
The use of solar power as an alternative energy source is growing at an explosive rate, according to recently released industry reports. In the US, the growth was recorded at more that 40 percent from the previous year, with the … Continue reading
San Antonio-based self-storage chain Stuff Hotel is spending some $150,000 to expand solar energy systems at its facilities in San Antonio and three other Texas cities. The company installed a 28-kilowatt solar array at its 9018 Poteet Jourdanton Freeway location … Continue reading
When people say “Keep Austin weird” they really mean keep it small and special. And we’re all for keeping Austin weird as it’s a cool city with awesome music. While utility scale solar finance is still “weird” in that it … Continue reading
As a municipal utility executive in Austin, Texas, Karl Rábago led a team that came up with the very first value-of-solar tariff, an alternative to net-metering that aims to pay utility customers a rate for solar power that reflects its … Continue reading
As some states attempt to weaken solar crediting policies, Minnesota looks to make them more effective and fair. Minnesota utility regulators on Wednesday approved the nation’s first statewide formula for calculating the value of customer-generated solar power. The Minnesota Public … Continue reading