Google Invests €3.5M in German Solar Plant

Google has invested €3.5 million in a German 18.7-megawatt solar power plant in a small town near Berlin. It's Google's first investment in clean technology outside of the USA, and it's made the investment with German-based private equity firm Capital Stage. The solar power plant occupies around 116 acres and can generate enough power for around 5,000 homes...

Eco-Designers Fachon & Marsilli for Solaleya

Our HABITATS have an undeniable influence on our WELLBEING and ENVIRONMENT.Our eco-friendly designs and housing solutions offer a delicate blend of aesthetics, functionality and energy efficiency.We propose ideal green living spaces for people to blossom while preserving our environment for generations to come.

How Solar and Oil Can Coexist in Saudi-Arabia

Oil-rich Saudi Arabia wants to become an exporter of solar. Yup, that's right. The country's oil minister confirmed Saudi Arabia's solar ambitions last year and said the country has the potential to export power, not just oil. So far it seems to be moving on that promise. The Saudi Arabia-South Korea joint venture Polysilicon Technology Co...

Solyndra Raises $75M Credit Facility, Reno’s Wind Experiment

Here's the latest action we're following on the GreenBeat today: Solyndra raises $75 million in credit facility – The solar manufacturer's latest round of financing to shore up its capital needs come in the form of a secured credit facility underwritten by existing investors. The company makes cylindrical solar rooftop systems and is a now-controversial recipient of a $535 million loan guarantee from the Department of Energy...

Jeremy Leggett: U.S. Must Help Saudi Arabia Turn Into "the Saudi Arabia of Solar," WikiLeaks Cables Say

U.S. diplomatic cables leaked to WikiLeaks reveal something close to desperation in Saudi officialdom about keeping oil exports alive while at the same time growing domestic electricity generation rapidly. These twin challenges are interrelated and growing progressively worse, because what the leaked cables do not say is that Saudi Arabia is currently burning well over a million barrels a day of...

Congressman Ask Salazar to Keep Solar Decathlon on the National Mall

Photo via inhabitat

Last month, the Park Service announced that the Solar Decathlon, one of the country's coolest energy and design competitions, might need to find a new home. Every two years as since 2002, the Solar Decathlon, which "challenges 20 collegiate teams to design, build, and operate solar-powered houses that are cost-effective, energy-efficient, and attractive," has called the National Mall home, but the National Park Service says the event causes too...

A US Bird's Eye Lowdown On The Future Of Solar Power

Image credit: all images in this post are courtesy of Silverado Power

Have you noticed. as I have, that widely reported solar projects in the USA have spectacular or controversial attributes? Computer simulations of huge projects in desert settings were very big in 2010 - creating a stereotype, I'd say. Extra reporting points for protests by environmentalists, charges of government socialism, or a suitably-phallic central heat collection tower....