If you are a small player in the U.S. clean energy market, you are having a harder and harder time finding capital to continue to fund your business, despite that fact that your domestic market is seen as the one with the largest potential for growth. So what do you do? According to Third Way, a political think tank, you look to foreign investors.

Foreign Dominance of U.S. Clean Energy Market Spells Trouble for America

There is a growing demand for cost-effective and high-performance thin-film photovoltaic solutions, thanks to the falling prices of their crystalline silicon (c-Si) counterparts. Copper-indium-(gallium)-diselenide (or/and sulfide) (CIGS) technology is regarded by some as the most promising thin-film PV contender to the c-Si due to its high conversion efficiencies, potential cost effectiveness and incrementally improving manufacturability.

Large-scale Molybdenum Electrodes for Manufacturing CIGS Solar Cells

Utilities often claim that allowing customers to run their meter backward (by generating electricity on-site, e.g. from rooftop solar) can affect their bottom line because these customers don’t pay enough to cover the cost of maintaining the grid.  In at least one case, however, a utility’s cost-benefit analysis of net metering was

Doing the Math: Is Net Metering a Cost to Utilities, or a Benefit?

The U.S. federal government uses a lot of energy. In fact, it is the world’s largest single consumer of energy. According to a recent government memo, the organization incurred approximately $20 billion in energy costs in FY 2010 alone. Of that, $7 billion was for energy consumption in federal buildings.

Saving Money, Gaining Energy Independence: ESPCs with the U.S. Government

There was a solar eclipse yesterday. The kind in the sky where the moon partially obscures the sun.

Yesterday’s Solar Eclipse – Tomorrow’s Healthy Solar Industry

It was another rough week for China’s once booming solar manufacturers, who are already reeling from overcapacity and major subsidy drawbacks in the European market.

Asia Report: Solar Stocks Tumble After Tariff Ruling

When one thinks of the solar trade dispute that has led to a 31 percent-plus tariff on Chinese solar manufacturers, the first brand that comes to mind is SolarWorld, who publicly led the CASM Coalition and filed the complaint. Now that the decision is in, will SolarWorld’s leadership benefit its brand relationship with installers or hurt it?

Will SolarWorld’s Brand be Helped or Harmed by the China Trade Dispute?

Greenpeace advocates gathered outside of Apple’s Cupertino headquarters early this week dressed as iPhones and iPods, declaring their outrage about the company’s lack of clean energy use. They projected social media messages from supporters on the side of the building:

Apple to Power 3 Data Centers with 100 Percent Renewable Energy

In the quest to “level the playing field,” the 31 percent anti-dumping tariff announced Thursday was a good start, said SolarWorld President Gordon Brinser, but even more is needed to bring the industry back into balance.

Will Chinese Solar Module Tariffs Restore Balance to the Industry?

Last month, Greenpeace launched a series of coordinated protests at Amazon, Apple and Microsoft locations to draw attention to the companies’ use of GHG intensive fuels in powering their data centers.  The protests were a follow up to their recently released report, “How Clean is Your Cloud,” which criticized the companies fo

Are IT Data Centers Emerging as a ‘Killer App’ for Green Power? Part 1