Solar Panels Archives - Green Businesses

SolarCity Launches Nonprofit, Donating Solar Systems to Schools Without Access to Electricity Across the Globe

Written by Jasper Dikmans From PVSolarReport.com SolarCity launches the Give Power Foundation, a nonprofit aimed at providing clean energy to communities across the globe. For every megawatt of residential solar power that SolarCity installs in 2014, the company will donate a solar power system and battery combination to a school without access to electricity. Initial recipients are expected to be in Haiti, Mali, Malawi, and Nepal. SolarCity (Nasdaq: SCTY) today launched the Give Power Foundation, a California nonprofit aimed at providing clean energy to communities across the globe. For every megawatt of residential solar power that SolarCity installs in 2014, the company will donate a solar power system and battery combination to a school without access to electricity. Initial recipients are expected to be in Haiti, Mali, Malawi, and Nepal. According to the company, approximately 291 million children attend primary schools that lack electricity globally, an…

White House To Finally Get Solar Panels

How many years ago was it promised that the White House would have solar panels installed on the roof? Three that seemed more like twelve. The disappointments that resulted from the unfulfilled promise were great and not at all necessary. How hard is it to get a small number of them on the roof of the White House? Offers were made to provide the technology and installation for free, and they were ignored. Finally, the installation appears to be happening, according to the Washington Post. It’s hard to tell if this great news or just sort of a buzz kill drawn out over what seemed like a less than magical drought. The premise behind having them installed back in the 1970s by then President Jimmy Carter was simple enough and that was the main appeal. If the number one house in America could be powered by solar, at least partly, then many members of the public might come to see they could use them too. They didn’t last too long though, because the center of American culture was…

When Your Rooftop Solar Panels Make More $ than S&P 500

by Chris Meehan for SolarReviews Thirteen might not be a lucky number, but it seems like a better number when you consider that in 13 states—over a quarter of all states, including the most populous ones like California and New York—solar offers a better return on investment than investing in the S&P 500. That’s just another way to look at why solar is a better investment today than many other investments people can make. That’s according to the latest Geostellar Quarterly Index, which looked at the profitability of investing in rooftop solar across the U.S. The report found that the internal return on investment over the anticipated 25-year lifespan of solar panels was highest in Hawaii (24 percent) and that the majority of top states for internal returns on investing in solar were primarily on the East coast. Among the top 10 states only California (eighth with a 12 percent return), Colorado (fifth with a 15 percent return), New Mexico (seventh with a 13 percent r…

One Stop Solar Shop – Grocery Market Chain Goes Solar

Stop & Shop announced yesterday that it has completed the installation of solar panels on eight of its stores in Mass., Conn. and N.J. The solar panels will reduce the amount of energy consumed by these stores by more than seven percent. The completion of this project marks an extension of the company's commitment to reduce its carbon footprint by 20 percent by 2015 using 2008 as a baseline. The photovoltaic (PV) solar power generating systems were developed by Alteris Renewables, Inc., the largest design-build renewable energy company in the Northeast. The amount of electricity that will be generated by all eight stores annually is estimated to be 1,759,572 kWh, offsetting 1,264 metric tons of CO2. This is equivalent to the CO2 emissions from the total electricity use of 153 homes over the course of a year. The solar project is among a series of green solutions Stop & Shop is rolling out across its 375 stores in the Northeast. (more…)