New Orleans Solar Power

A: Solar is a technology that easily grabs the attention of investors, but is a tougher sell for consumers.

While solar power is relatively abundant in many parts of the country, it’s a tough sell in many cases. Solar power often comes with high initial set up costs to install solar panels. Installing panels usually requires somewhat significant construction, including drilling into homeowners’ roofs. Lastly, solar’s biggest challenge with the consumer is inertia. It’s too easy to just keep using the electricity that’s already being fed into the house.

HUNTSVILLE, Tex.

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Dan Phillips with a “tree house” he built and rents to low-income artists in Huntsville, Texas. More Photos »

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Michael Stravato for The New York Times

Other materials used in Mr. Phillips’s houses include bull vertebra for decoration. More Photos >

Eco Factor: New technique replaces glass reflectors with a metal one to reduce weight and cost.

The world today is looking toward possibilities that can lower the cost of renewable energy and make it comparable with conventional forms of energy. Researchers in Golden think they have a solution to lower the cost of renewable energy generated in concentrated solar energy generating plants.

For 2010, I “cautiously” anticipated that no new additional capacity will be brought on board, maintaining 2009 levels of 17,551 MW. This would bring capacity utilization to 35.4 percent and reduce inventory to 96 days on average for all of 2010. That ideal scenario is represented in the table below.

Most solar panels are strung together like Christmas tree lights, so that if one panel stops working, performs poorly or ends up in the shade, the whole string is affected. To address this problem, 2-year-old startup eIQ Energy came out of stealth mode Monday night and announced it has raised $10 million in funding from NGEN Partners and Robert Bosch Venture Capital, for a system that helps connect solar panels in parallel instead of in a series. The San Jose, Calif.-based company says its Parallux system can make solar systems both cheaper to install and more efficient.

Eco Factor: Vertical garden designed in London covers 8-stories and is composed of 12,000 plants.

What started as a simple plant suspension that ran its roots into a fish tank in his bedroom wall has turned into a profession for Patrick Blanc. After developing vertical gardens in different parts of the world for 40 years, the designer, popularly known as the “Vertical Gardener”, has achieved new heights. The latest creation is an 8-story high antigravity forest composed on 12,000 plants in London.

Eco Factor: Space-based solar farm to be developed by Mitsubishi

Electric Corp and IHI Corp.

Space-based solar plants are slowly gathering momentum with a Japanese project to develop a space solar plant that is capable of generating 1GW of power being announced. The project will be developed by Mitsubishi Electric Corp. and IHI Corp. and will make use of a four square kilometer array of solar panels stationed 36,000km above the surface of earth.

August 31, 2009

As Small-scale Solar Expands, Utilities and Critics Clash

Residential and small-scale business solar generation is growing by leaps and bounds, but critics allege that utilities are unfairly guarding their turf when it comes to smaller players hooking into the grid.

In 2008, consumers added 522 megawatts in solar generation, while utilities added a meager 96 megawatts, reports Newsweek.

In all, 2008 saw 33,500 rooftop solar systems added in the United States, up 63 percent over 2007. In California, the increase was more pronounced at 95 percent.