Posts by West Coast Solar

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will be hosting its sixth Solar Decathlon competition from October 3-13 in Irvine, California. Held at the massive Orange County Great Park, the competition pits teams of college students against each other to design and construct solar powered homes that are energy efficient, affordable and attractive. Juries of experts…

On Monday, the California State Senate passed Assembly Bill 327. The bill makes a number of changes to California’s electrical rate structure, and also lifts a suspension of net energy metering (NEM) that would have occurred at the end of the year without legislative intervention. If signed by Governor Jerry Brown, as is expected, the…

A house that was entered into the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon competition in October will be donated to the campus of California State University at San Marcos, near Camp Pendleton. The structure, which was designed by students of Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey, will be used as a veterans’ affairs office, aimed…

Harry Atwater is a physicist at the California Institute of Technology (CIT) with a specialty in applied physics and alternative energy sources, specifically solar power. Currently, he and his team of CIT researchers and engineers are working to develop a solar cell that can convert a whopping 50 percent of solar light into useable energy,…

Retirees are having a more difficult time these days ensuring that their future will be comfortable and secure because of the Great Recession. Although asset values have recovered somewhat over the last few years, some retirees were unable to take advantage of this upswing or are still waiting for their 401k and savings accounts to come…

This year, the United States’ total solar generating infrastructure surpassed the 10 gigawatt (GW) mark, making us the fourth nation to reach that benchmark after Germany, Italy and China. GreenTech Media Research (GTMR) and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) predict that by the end of the 2013, the country will have added 4.3 gigawatts, representing…

The California General Assembly has approved the creation of the Electric Program Investment Charge (EPIC), a program that will invest millions of dollars in research, development and demonstration (RD&D) of clean energy and efficiency technology. The National Resources Defense Council reports that the EPIC program will have a budget of $162 million to invest in advancing…

As temperatures rise, California residents and businesses are starting to really crank up their air conditioners and house fans to keep their homes livable. Consequently they’ll see their utility bills rise dramatically, giving some pause for thought about whether it might be a good idea to consider switching to California solar power for their electrical…

Efforts across the state of California to make energy-efficient upgrades to homes and businesses have certainly paid off, as a new study reveals that the Golden State continues to lead the country in solar panel installations. On March 14, GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) jointly released a year-in-review report detailing trends in photovoltaic…

The Christian Science Monitor recently published a piece detailing how solar leasing and financing options are making this technology feasible for families of all incomes. The advent of leasing, which allows homeowners to switch to California residential solar energy with no down payment, gives these residents the option of using solar electric systems for their energy needs…

A new report by market researcher NPD Solarbuzz says that California once again lead the U.S. in solar installations for the second quarter of 2012. The Golden State added 53 percent of all the solar power installations that were completed during the three month period from April 1 to June 30, for a total of 521 megawatts (MW) of capacity. Overall,…