A recent piece published on OaklandLocal.com draws attention to a recently rebuilt affordable housing development that has earned praise from environmental and public housing advocates. Tassafronga Village in Oakland was originally built in 1964, but over the years had become a dilapidated housing project that fell into disrepair and posed a public health risk. Some of the structures were cracking and presented a seismic hazard, while the soil had become contaminated with petroleum and pesticides. However, Tassafronga…

The cost of solar power in 1977 – almost 40 years ago – was slightly higher than approximately $76 per Watt of capacity. While many eco-conscious people of the time hoped to find the next wave of clean energy in solar power, the truth was that the cost was just too prohibitive. Enter modern technology, however, and all that has changed. In 2013, the cost per Watt of capacity is 74 cents, according to The Economist.…

Many schools across the country are still dealing with the effects of the economic downturn, in the form of massive budget cuts that have resulted in teacher layoffs, shortened academic calendars and delayed improvement of aging facilities. Because of this, it is imperative for school systems to consider switching their electrical production to solar power, as the upfront installation costs would be offset in the long run by lower energy bills. The Clovis Unified School District…

Residents of Southern California interested in learning more about sustainable technology such as solar energy solutions may want to consider attending the “Green Idea House” public dedication ceremony in Hermosa Beach on Saturday, April 6. According to a press release from SolarWorld, the purpose of the event – which will include a speech from environmental activist and actor Ed Begley Jr. – is to celebrate the region’s first net-zero-energy, zero-combustion home. Featuring 6.25 kilowatts of…

Researchers at Stanford University have developed an ultra-thin, light-absorbing material that could be used to for a future generation of inexpensive photovoltaic (PV) solar cells. Many times thinner than a piece of paper, the new substance is made from many trillions of small gold dots only nanometers thick, which can absorb up to 99 percent of the light hitting its surface. In a news release, scientists described the discovery as a major step forward in…

Robots are becoming more sophisticated and useful every day, rendering what was once a science fiction concept a reality. The evolution of robotics has significant implications for the Bay Area solar power industry, which has already begun to see several projects that involve robotic technology as a way to reduce costs and make solar panels more efficient. A notable example, recently covered by EnergyRealities.org, is a solar panel array located in a prison in Dublin, California, where the…

An enormous new renewable energy project near Blythe, California, has been approved by California regulators after the developers switched from concentrated solar power (CSP) to photovoltaic (PV) solar modules. It’s unclear what the next steps are for NextEra Energy, the company that will build the 485-megawatt (MW) project. Reuters reports that the project was originally slated to be over 1,000 MW and use parabolic troughs to collect sunlight for turbine steam generation. However, NextEra downsized the…

It’s been just over six months since Hurricane Sandy swept the eastern seaboard, leaving both destruction and devastation in its wake. In the aftermath of this natural disaster, parts of the East Coast – and New York and New Jersey in particular – were left without power for weeks. An extended loss of power, whether caused by a natural disaster or other event, isn’t only inconvenient: it can be potentially life threatening. Many families were…

The price of California residential solar continues to fall, according to a new report by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, located at U.C. Berkeley. The annual study found that the average cost per watt for installing small photovoltaic (PV) solar energy systems (less than 10 kilowatts [kw] of capacity) went from $6.40 in 2011 to $5.70 in 2012, representing a decline of 12 percent. For medium systems (10-100 kw), the mean per-watt installation price decreased from $6.00 to…

If you’re like most people, your top priority is ensuring that you and your family are living in a safe and healthy environment. You reduce, reuse and recycle. You buy organic and choose the foods you feed your family with care. So, when it comes time to choose what type of energy will power your home, it only makes sense that you’d want to choose the best. Solar power has long been lauded as a…

We sometimes talk about utility-scale solar projects on this blog and how these are helping the state increase its reliance on California solar energy. But that begs the question of whether they’re a better way for the state to expand its solar resources or if the future lies instead with distributed generation and the residential solar energy solutions that West Coast Solar installs on customers’ houses. Recently, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) held an auction for the…

Solar energy has been an enormous success in California. The state leads the nation in solar generating capacity and solar industry employment, and it also has the most friendly legislative climate for renewable energy. But according to a report by the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs and commissioned by the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), the state’s leadership in the industry has the potential to expand well beyond where it is currently. All we have…