#solarpanels

Tiana Starks

Feb 13, 2020
1 min

New Research Explains How Solar Panels Could Soon Be Generating Power at Night

As beneficial as current solar panel technology has been in our quest to switch to renewable energy, such panels can’t generate electricity at night. Now, new research suggests it could be possible to design panels that can operate around the clock. Under optimum conditions, at night these specially designed photovoltaic cells could generate a quarter of the energy they produce during the day, according to the new study. To achieve this, we’d need to incorporate thermoradiati

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Cash-strapped farms are growing a new crop: Solar panels

Tiana Starks

Feb 4, 2020
1 min

Cash-strapped farms are growing a new crop: Solar panels

The Kominek family farm is a green expanse of hay and alfalfa in northern Colorado. The family has planted and raked crops for half a century, but as yields declined over recent years, the farm began losing money. In late 2017, Byron Kominek went looking for more profitable alternatives, including installing solar panels and selling electricity to the utility. But Boulder County’s land-use codes made it difficult to use their 24 acres for anything but farming. So the Komineks

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Envelope Solar Panels Power Netflix’s Office of the Future

Tiana Starks

Jan 15, 2020
1 min

Envelope Solar Panels Power Netflix’s Office of the Future

When talking solar power, you’re likely to image solar panels on the roof of a building, parking structure or carport. But the latest technology in solar power now allows for panels to be integrated into a building’s envelope to generate renewable energy. Los Angeles’ first commercial building to implement solar-generated technology into a building’s façade can be seen on Sunset Boulevard. Designed by Gensler and developed by Hudson Pacific Properties, the building, named EPI

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California’s new building codes will make solar panels the next home appliance

Tiana Starks

Jan 8, 2020
1 min

California’s new building codes will make solar panels the next home appliance

On the stroke of midnight this New Year’s Eve, the American dream will get a makeover. In California, the nation’s most populous state, every newly-built home must now come with enough solar panels to satisfy its electricity needs. It’s a quiet revolution tucked into the building codes approved unanimously by the California Energy Commission (CEC) in 2018. Solar panels are installed on just 20% of new homes in the state. That figure will rise to 100% for every home under four

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Tiana Starks

Jan 6, 2020
2 min

Solar panels on homes are increasingly popular, but should you buy, lease or rent?

2020 is shaping up to be a dramatic year for solar power. Starting this year, for instance, most new homes in California will be required to have solar panels. But many homeowners in the state have already rushed to add solar panels and batteries to their houses as they grapple with increasingly frequent blackouts. Across the U.S., a majority of homeowners have either seriously considered installing solar panels or have already done so, according to a Pew survey last month. S

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Tiana Starks

Dec 11, 2019
1 min

Curious Kids: how do solar panels work?

The Sun produces a lot of energy called solar energy. Australia gets 20,000 times more energy from the Sun each day than we do from oil, gas and coal. This solar energy will continue for as long as the Sun lives, which is another 5 billion years. Solar panels are made of solar cells, which is the part that turns the solar energy in sunlight into electricity. Solar cells make electricity directly from sunlight. It is the most trusted energy technology ever made, which is why i

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Study: Even short-lived solar panels can be economically viable

Tiana Starks

Oct 14, 2019
1 min

Study: Even short-lived solar panels can be economically viable

A new study shows that, contrary to widespread belief within the solar power industry, new kinds of solar cells and panels don’t necessarily have to last for 25 to 30 years in order to be economically viable in today’s market. Rather, solar panels with initial lifetimes of as little as 10 years can sometimes make economic sense, even for grid-scale installations — thus potentially opening the door to promising new solar photovoltaic technologies that have been considered insu

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Tiana Starks

Aug 21, 2019
1 min

How Solar Panels Work (And Why They’re Taking Over the World)

Solar energy is crucial to many futures. On the micro level, there’s a booming solar industry in America and across the globe. Since Congress passed a tax credit in 2006, the Solar Energy Industry Association (SEIA) says that the industry has been averaging an annual growth rate of 50 percent in the last decade. In most fields, that would be macro news. But solar energy has a mission beyond making money—it’s supposed to save the planet. There’s no plan to prevent man-made glo

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How the sun can work for manufacturers with solar panels

Tiana Starks

Aug 12, 2019
2 min

How the sun can work for manufacturers with solar panels

The forecast of possible 100-degree days in mid-July in the Chicago area might have been more newsworthy but for the fact that successive days of more than 90-degree temperatures is plenty hot enough already. At some point it doesn’t matter much anymore. Of course, working in the heat is much different from simply being in the heat. Anyone who works outside or in a shop with air-conditioning can tell you that. But that’s why it’s called work, and for most manufacturers, a hot

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Solar panels drop Richmond family’s energy bill to $8: ‘I can’t believe it!’

Tiana Starks

Jun 18, 2019
1 min

Solar panels drop Richmond family’s energy bill to $8: ‘I can’t believe it!’

RICHMOND, Va. — A Westover Hills family is seeing the environmental and financial benefits after installing solar panels onto the roof of their home. Bruce Gould and his wife made the commitment to switch to solar power in January. The Gould family chose Sigora Solar, which was founded in Waynesboro in 2011 according to the company’s website. “The sun hits the cells, it makes electricity, and we use that electricity in real time,” Gould described. “If we make more electricity

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Tiana Starks

May 13, 2019
1 min

A Brief History of Solar Panels

Long before the first Earth Day was celebrated on April 22, 1970, generating awareness about the environment and support for environmental protection, scientists were making the first discoveries in solar energy. It all began with Edmond Becquerel, a young physicist working in France, who in 1839 observed and discovered the photovoltaic effect— a process that produces a voltage or electric current when exposed to light or radiant energy. A few decades later, French mathematic

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Waynesboro schools to receive solar panels as early as summer 2019

Tiana Starks

Feb 15, 2019
1 min

Waynesboro schools to receive solar panels as early as summer 2019

Four Waynesboro schools will start using solar energy as soon as fall 2019, according to a contract the division’s school board unanimously approved Tuesday night. Staunton-based solar energy company Secure Futures, LLC will install solar panels on Westwood Hills Elementary School, William Perry Elementary School, Kate Collins Middle School and Waynesboro High School this summer, according to a timeline presented at a December meeting. The company has estimated the division w

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Why Go Solar? Because It’s The Best Choice Considering…

Tiana Starks

Jan 14, 2019
1 min

Why Go Solar? Because It’s The Best Choice Considering…

Are you tired of rising electricity bills? Then solar power might be the best choice. There’s more than just a few benefits with choosing solar though. You’re helping to save the environment by cutting down use of grid electricity. You also save money on the mounting energy costs that compound every year – just to name a few obvious benefits. But if you’re wondering why you should go solar then the answer is simple: It’s the cheaper and the better option. But may want to u

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OSU solar panels have grazers made in the shade

Tiana Starks

Nov 19, 2018
1 min

OSU solar panels have grazers made in the shade

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Oregon State University scientists have found a resource to increase agricultural production on dry, unirrigated farmland—solar panels and the shade they make. In a study published Thursday in the journal PLOS One, a research team in OSU’s College of Agricultural Sciences found that grasses favored by sheep and cattle thrive in the shade of a solar array installed in a pasture on the OSU campus. The results of the OSU study indicate that locating solar panel

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More solar panels mean more waste and there’s no easy solution

Tiana Starks

Nov 17, 2018
1 min

More solar panels mean more waste and there’s no easy solution

Solar panels might be the energy source of the future, but they also create a problem without an easy solution: what do we do with millions of panels when they stop working? In November 2016, the Environment Ministry of Japan warned that the country will produce 800,000 tons of solar waste by 2040, and it can’t yet handle those volumes. That same year, the International Renewable Energy Agency estimated that there were already 250,000 metric tons of solar panel waste worldwid

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SOLAR PANELS POWER NEW SCHOOLS—AND NEW WAYS OF LEARNING

Tiana Starks

Jul 11, 2018
2 min

SOLAR PANELS POWER NEW SCHOOLS—AND NEW WAYS OF LEARNING

DRESSED IN PASTEL pink and green for an early spring day, second-grader Katherine Cribbs was learning about energy on a virtual field trip—to her own school. With a flurry of touch-screen taps, she explored the “energy dashboard” of Discovery Elementary in Arlington, Virginia. On her tablet, she swiped through 360-degree views of her school, inside and out. She clicked on icons embedded in the virtual classroom to learn about energy-saving features such as LED lights and supe

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Tiana Starks

Jul 11, 2018
2 min

SOLAR PANELS POWER NEW SCHOOLS—AND NEW WAYS OF LEARNING

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Plan to keep solar panels off farmland bolsters push for renewable energy goals

Tiana Starks

May 22, 2018
1 min

Plan to keep solar panels off farmland bolsters push for renewable energy goals

The latest call for renewable energy projects in New York comes with a sweetener for companies that promise to steer clear of farmland while installing solar panels or wind turbines across the state. If renewable companies avoid overlapping with land of agricultural importance, their project will get bonus points that bump them up the list of 20 projects that will win state backing over the next few months, according to a request for proposals sent out by the New York State E

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New poll shows both Republicans and Democrats want more solar in Michigan

Tiana Starks

Mar 1, 2018
1 min

New poll shows both Republicans and Democrats want more solar in Michigan

More than 80% of Michigan voters, with majority support among both Republicans and Democrats, favor increasing the state’s use of solar energy, according to a recent poll. Support reached eighty-six percent in the Southeast region, an area largely comprised of DTE Energy customers. The polling comes as public interest groups urge DTE Energy to rethink its proposal to build a billion dollar gas plant in light of new evidence that clean energy, including solar power, is a more

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Port’s first solar panels go up at Fishermen’s Terminal

Tiana Starks

Nov 7, 2017
2 min

Port’s first solar panels go up at Fishermen’s Terminal

At a landmark known for catching fish, work has begun to start harvesting the sun. Solar panels are going up at Fishermen’s Terminal, the first solar project for the Port of Seattle. They will power Net Shed 5, one of the storage facilities for fishermen who use the facility. “It’s somewhat appropriate that we have renewable energy going into a place that depends on a renewable fishery to support our local economy, both in the installation of the solar as well as in the great

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