Free Republic

(CNSNews.com) - Solar power, which President Barack Obama promoted in his State of the Union Address, accounted for 0.2 percent of the U.S. electricity supply in the first nine months of 2013, according to data published by the U.S. government's Energy Information Administration. That is up from the 0.02 percent of the total electricity supply that solar power sources provided in 2008, the last calendar year before Obama took office. “Now, one of the biggest factors in bringing more jobs back is our commitment to American energy,” Obama said in the State of the Union. “The all-of-the-above energy strategy I...

In the latest bid to use the sun to drive our cars, Ford will show off the vehicle above later this month at the annual Consumer Electronics Show. Labeled the Ford C-Max Solar Energi Concept, Ford says it shows how sunlight could replace the plug for electric vehicles — but only with a carport-sized magnifying glass.Ford and its partners, solar-cell builder SunPower and the Georgia Institute of Technology, say they've come up with a way around such issues for the C-Max Solar Energi. In its sun-chasing form, the C-Max can get a full recharge of its 8 kWh battery with...

Space-based solar power (SBSP) offers many advantages over Earth-based solar, yet the main obstacle in its development is the cost of sending up the solar panels into orbit. 3D printing may well be able to slash these installation costs and therefore make SBSP a much more viable energy source. 3D printing has been developed at a fast pace in recent years as scientists find more ways to use the technology. It is thought that by sending up special 3D printers into space to manufacturer the solar panels in orbit, the installation costs can be drastically reduced, compared to sending up...

… The government predicts that the renewable energy surcharge added to every consumer’s electricity bill will increase from 5.3 cents today to between 6.2 and 6.5 cents per kilowatt hour—a 20-percent price hike. German consumers already pay the highest electricity prices in Europe. But because the government is failing to get the costs of its new energy policy under control, rising prices are already on the horizon. Electricity is becoming a luxury good in Germany, and one of the country’s most important future-oriented projects is acutely at risk. After the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan two and a half years...

California’s rebate program for homeowners who go solar is winding down, the money nearly spent. But it’s still setting a few records before the end. In 2012, Californians installed enough rooftop solar panels to generate a record 391 megawatts of electricity, according to a rebate program update issued this week by the state. That’s up 26 percent from 2011. Oh, and those numbers don’t even include Los Angeles and Sacramento. The California Solar Initiative provides rebates to customers of the state’s investor-owned utilities, such as Pacific Gas and Electric Co., while both L.A. and Sacramento have their own municipal utilities...

When it first came to life, the tea party movement burst on the scene with energy and pure direction that seared many a mind with images of huge crowds waving the red, white and blue. It was all about taxes, and curtailing government spending, and liberty. And it worked. The crowds at tea party movement protests grew month-by-month in 2009 and became larger in 2010. The GOP establishment slowly started to get the message that it was time to put the foot down on the ways of Washington and start speaking up for the conservative movement. But the "tea party"...

Citi Bike’s solar-powered docking stations don’t always get enough electricity on cloudy days — a glitch that makes returning the bikes infuriating, riders say. Bike share users — who for weeks have had trouble locking bikes into docks — say the malfunction occurs most on overcast days, when stations are not fully charged. “It’s a joke — they’re solar-powered so they’re basically dead half the time….It’s worse when it’s cloudy or when the dock is under a tall building,” (edit) Lengthy waits to receive bike keys and poor customer service are also part of the problem, riders say. A spokesman...

New solar photovoltaic power installations in the United States totaled 723 megawatts (MW) during the first quarter, up 33 percent over the same period in 2012,

Shi Zhengrong was called a “hero of the environment” by Time Magazine. He was a billionaire who ran the worlds largest seller of solar PV cells. But the glory days of 2008 – 2011 are gone. Another bubble bursts. Wiped out in two years. How fast was this fall? In 2008, CNN named Shi “China’s Sunshine Boy.” In 2009, Fortune anointed him “China’s new king of solar.” That year, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman also cited Shi and Suntech as models of China’s green leap forward — which he called “the Sputnik of our day” and a spur for...

Bosch ROBG.UL said it will sell or shut down its heavily loss-making solar energy operations, the latest blow to the industry as Germany curbs green energy subsidies and cheap Chinese imports flood the market. In a rare reversal of strategy from the manufacturing conglomerate, Bosch said on Friday it would end its photovoltaics, or solar panel, production early next year and put parts of the business up for sale. Unlisted Bosch, one of the world’s largest maker of car parts, has lost €2.4 billion (£2 billion; $3.1 billion) since it created the solar energy unit in 2008 after it bought...

Homeowners on the hunt for sparkling solar panels are lured by ads filled with images of pristine landscapes and bright sunshine, and words about the technology's benefits for the environment — and the wallet. What customers may not know is that there's a dirtier side. While solar is a far less polluting energy source than coal or natural gas, many panel makers are nevertheless grappling with a hazardous waste problem. Fueled partly by billions in government incentives, the industry is creating millions of solar panels each year and, in the process, millions of pounds of polluted sludge and contaminated water....

US-based Hemlock Semiconductor said Monday it planned to shed 400 of the staff at its Michigan and Tennessee production plants due to an oversupply in the polysilicon industry and an expected drop in orders from China. Hemlock, a joint venture of US silicon-based materials maker Dow Corning, Japanese Shin-Etsu Chemical Co Ltd (TSE:4063) and Mitsubishi Materials Corp (TYO:5711), makes polycrystalline silicon for the production of semiconductors and solar cells. The company is suffering from the expanding trade dispute between the US and China in which the Asian country launched anti-dumping and anti-subsidy probes into polysilicon imported from the US, the...

When it comes to attracting business to California's eastern deserts, Inyo County is none too choosy. Since the 19th century the sparsely populated county has worked to attract industries shunned by others, including gold, tungsten and salt mining. The message: Your business may be messy, but if you plan to hire our residents, the welcome mat is out. So the county grew giddy last year as it began to consider hosting a huge, clean industry. BrightSource Energy, developer of the proposed $2.7-billion Hidden Hills solar power plant 230 miles northeast of Los Angeles, promised a bounty of jobs and a...

On August 3, the owner of Chengxing Solar Company leapt from the sixth floor of his office building in Jinhua, China. Li Fei killed himself after his company was unable to repay a $3 million bank loan it had guaranteed for another Chinese solar company that defaulted. One local financial newspaper called Li's suicide "a sign of the imminent collapse facing the Chinese photovoltaic industry" due to overcapacity and mounting debts. President Barack Obama has held up China's investments in green energy and high-speed rail as examples of the kind of state-led industrial policy that America should be emulating. The...

The global solar power industry is in crisis. The industry blames widespread national subsidy cuts and over productivity; China, in particular, being widely vilified on the second count. However, the real cause of the solar industry’s malaise runs deeper, rooted, as it is, in the inescapable fact that, in terms of current technology, commercial scale solar energy remains a non-viable proposition. Wherever you look the solar power industry is mired in financial problems, all of which lead back to the (life support) of public subsidy, the impact of market-skewing regulations (creating the appearance of commercial viability) and, ultimately, protectionist trade...

Huge, ugly and cluttered, it is almost the antithesis of Apple's iconic design style. Apple has almost finished work on a massive solar farm next to its data centre in North Carolina, hoping to boost its green credentials - but scarring the landscape with a 100-acre eyesore at the same time. Organisations such as Greenpeace have, in the past, accused Apple of hurting the environment by using coal to power these centres. Apple's data centres keep the world's iPhones running - syncing contacts to the 'iCloud' and storing a wealth of information on each user. When completed, Apple’s 100-acre, 20-megawatt...

The Department of Health and Human Services last week announced it had awarded a $5.9 million grant to a University of Chicago Medical Center program tied to Michelle Obama and run by Eric Whitaker, one of President Obama’s closest friends. The Urban Health Initiative, which received the award, was originally based on a smaller program launched during the last decade by Michelle Obama, who was an executive at the University of Chicago Medical Center before she departed to become first lady. The UHI is headed up by Obama basketball and golf buddy Whitaker, who has known the president since Obama’s...

What would you do if gangs of robbers roamed your neighborhood at night, breaking into your neighbors' houses and stealing their family jewels and life savings? You would arm yourself to defend your property. Or you would move to a safer neighborhood. But if the robbers formed gangs called Greenpeace, the Sierra Club, or the Natural Resources Defense Fund, and assaulted your standard of living, the Che Guevara Democrats expect you to greet them with open arms, and gleefully turn over bushels of your cash, until your life savings is gone, and your standard of living has been reduced to...

This is my 45 watt solar panel setup. I purchased this kit from Harbor freight for about 0. I use it for lighting in my home, as well different power tools around the house. This is a great source of power in the event of power failures (which happens often).

"Renewable" energy subsidies have become an unaffordable feel-good luxury. First Solar Corporation was indeed first at something: It was the first solar company to lose more than $15 billion of market value. FSLR's stock plummeted from $140 per share a year ago, and $170 a few weeks before that, to under $21 per share early this week before rebounding modestly on Tuesday. In fact, $15 billion substantially understates the peak-to-trough drop in the company's value, as the stock traded above $250 per share for most of 2008, briefly peaking over $300. As of Tuesday, the company's value was just under...