News

The Marine Corps is working on what it calls the  Marine Austere Patrolling System (MAPS),  which includes a built-in solar panel for recharging batteries and a water filtration system. It’s all about reducing the weight of gear a Marine needs to carry into the field – currently, as much as 100 pounds of batteries to power electronic equipment and two or more eight-pound gallons of water for a four-day mission. By contrast, the solar panel weighs just 13 pounds and can recharge batteries in the course of the mission. The concept isn’t new to the U.S. Armed Forces:  the Army has been using solar battery recharging equipment for several years .  

Oregon, Washington, California, and British Columbia announced a regional partnership to place a price on carbon called the Pacific Coast Action Plan on Climate and Energy. The three states and province will use a unified set of rules and regulations to speed adoption of advanced energy technologies. 

Utilities are being challenged to incorporate mechanisms like net metering into their business models. Some utilities are updating their business models: this week the Motley Fool profiled Edison International and other utilities that have placed a premium on customer-generated solar power. Considerations like these will be increasingly important as utilities and regulatory bodies move forward to create the 21st Century Electricity System.

This week we saw Bloomberg’s analysis that the current solar rebound is “beating” the dot-com recovery, with stabilized panel prices and installations are up, “swelling” 40 percent this year. Click hereto read the whole story.

SunPower is expanding manufacturing by 25% in the Philippines and has posted another profitable quarter. The company expects a revenue of more than $2.4 billion for fiscal year 2013. NRG Energy, NRG Yield, and SunPower announced this week that they are beginning commercial operations at the 250 MW California Valley Solar Ranch in San Luis Obispo County, California. Click the links to read more.

“I applaud the leadership of these eight states in their collaborative effort to accelerate the adoption of electric and fuel cell vehicles,” said Graham Richard, CEO of Advanced Energy Economy, a national business association. “Representing one quarter of the U.S. car market, these states are established leaders in advanced energy development and deployment, and now they are showing the way toward new options for transportation. For consumers to have real choice in how they power their cars and trucks, the fueling infrastructure for electric and fuel cell vehicles needs to be in place. Thanks to these states, alternatives to gasoline-powered vehicles will get a true chance to compete in the marketplace.” 

Christian Science Monitor // Oct 6, 2013

San Jose Mercury News // Oct 17, 2013

Greentech Media // Oct 15, 2013

Biofuels Digest // Oct 10, 2013