Posts by West Coast Solar

California leads the nation in solar generating capacity with 3,761 megawatts (MW) of installed solar power. So it’s no surprise that the state was named one of the most solar friendly by the Corporate Social Responsibility Newswire (CSRN). The publication surveyed the solar programs (or lack thereof) in several regions and found that the Golden State provided both…

A new report from the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) states that California residential solar customers are increasingly relying on financing agreements in order to switch to photovoltaic (PV) power. In their report, CPI found that 75 percent of the state’s solar installations in 2012 were financed or leased, up from 10 percent in 2007. In…

Every day, we hear about more companies that are signing up for solar power purchase agreements (PPA) which allow them to enjoy stable, predictable energy costs and better plan for the future. This week, it was announced that USG Corporation, a manufacturer of building supplies and systems, had entered into a PPA with Green Light…

Sources are reporting to the Washington Post that the White House has finally followed through on a promise to install a solar energy system on the roof of the most famous residence in the world. The details of the system, including the cost, size and supplier, have been kept under wraps, but it was confirmed that after…

The town of Breckenridge, Colorado, located west of Denver in the Rocky Mountains, is known both as a ski resort and a pioneer in solar energy. The city has established two community solar gardens, where residents can purchase panels to take advantage of the state’s generous tax credits and rebates for renewable energy. Adding to that…

While a lot of families that are opting to go with Bay Area solar power are living in existing homes, there’s been a trend lately toward incorporating photovoltaic (PV) panels into new homes under construction. A recent article on Bloomberg.com points out that six of the 10 largest home builders in the country, including KB Home, have…

The HB-SIA, a plane powered entirely by sunlight and photovoltaic panels, completed a journey across the United States from San Francisco to New York after making stops in Phoenix, Dallas, St. Louis and Washington, D.C. It is the first time a plane has been flown cross-country entirely on solar power. The plane was designed and built…

Most people associate Northern California solar energy with progressive politics, given that environmentalism and improving air quality are major items on the progressive agenda. However, there are quite a few conservatives who are also discovering the benefits of this technology. Consequently, there has been a push from the right, as well as the left, to promote solar…

We reported recently on the U.S. Solar Market Insight Report, published by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and Greentech Media (GTM), which showed the massive, accelerating growth of the solar industry has continued into the first quarter of 2013. What was even better news was that California is leading this expansion, having added 71.3 megawatts (MW) of…

The U.S. Armed Forces are moving towards solar energy to meet their power needs in the future. A report recently released by the Solar Energy Industry Association (SEIA), an organization that promotes the solar power sector, highlights some of the recent attempts to integrate photovoltaic panels into the military’s energy infrastructure, which currently relies heavily…

Shrinking budgets and cutbacks are a major challenge for public schools still reeling from reduced state and federal aid. As a result, many institutions are looking for ways to curtail expenditures without eating into the already small appropriations devoted to things like textbooks, class resources and teacher pay. The Jefferson Elementary School District (JESD), located…

In years past, critics of solar power solutions noted that the amount of electricity required to construct photovoltaic (PV) panels exceeded the power saved by relying on these renewable energy systems. However, according to a new report from Stanford University’s Global Climate & Energy Project (GCEP) published in Environmental Science & Technology, the power generated by solar…