Solar Energy

By Paul Mwebaze, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (The Conversation) – Drive through the plains of Iowa or Kansas and you’ll see more than rows of corn, wheat and soybeans. You’ll also see towering wind turbines spinning above fields and solar panels shining in the sun on barns and machine sheds. For many farmers, these […]

Agrovoltaics

Solar Power: California Farmers identify a hot new Cash Crop

The Conversation

By Jacob Stid, Michigan State University; Annick Anctil, Michigan State University, and Anthony Kendall, Michigan State University (The Conversation) – Imagine that you own a small, 20-acre farm in California’s Central Valley. You and your family have cultivated this land for decades, but drought, increasing costs and decreasing water availability are making each year more […]

European Union

Solar Power outstripped all others in Europe last Month for First Time

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – As the Trump Department of Energy and the Republican tax bill try to kneecap solar energy in the United States, Europe and China are making impressive strides in this sector, with economic and environmental benefits of which the US seems bent on depriving itself. The Ember energy consultancy just announced […]

China

America’s worsening Solar Gap with China, which installs 100 Panels per Second

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – According to Asia Society Policy Institute Senior Fellow Lauri Myllyvirta, China installed 93 gigawatts of solar in May, along with 27 gigawatts of wind. She points out that this is equivalent to 100 solar panels being put in every second. China has passed the 1 terrawatt milestone for installed solar […]

Donald Trump

Trump can’t Stop the Green Energy Revolution any More than Horses could Stop the Automobile

Alfred W. McCoy

( Tomdispatch.com ) – He lived over 1,000 years ago, but King Canute’s life still has some important lessons for our own time. After conquering England, Denmark, Norway, and part of Sweden, he forged a vast North Sea empire that made him, by the year 1030, the greatest of all the Viking kings. At that […]

Solar Energy

Recycling Solar Panels will Reduce Waste, but We Should Repair and Reuse First

The Conversation

By Deepika Mathur, Charles Darwin University and Robin Gregory, Charles Darwin University (The Conversation) – Australia’s rooftop solar industry has renewed calls for a mandatory recycling scheme to deal with the growing problem of solar panel waste. Only about 10% of panels are currently recycled. The rest are stockpiled, sent overseas or dumped in landfill. […]

Agrovoltaics

Solar Panels’ Shade helps boost Colorado grassland Productivity in dry Years

The Conversation

By Matthew Sturchio, Colorado State University (The Conversation) – Grasses growing in the shade of a solar array were only a little less productive than those growing nearby in open grassland during years of average and above-average rainfall – but in a dry year, the shaded plants grew much better than those growing in full […]

Featured

Morocco Plans Floating Solar PV over Reservoirs to Stop Evaporation

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Morocco is on a green energy roll, as the government’s far-sighted plan to move the North African country to renewables makes it a leader in the region. The installed renewables capacity increased 5% from 2021 to 2025, to 12 gigawatts, according to an announcement in mid-May of the Minister of […]

China

China’s Power Sector Emissions fall 5.8% in Q1, as Renewables rapidly Replace Coal

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Lauri Myllyvirta writes at Carbon Brief that China’s CO2 emissions over-all fell by 1% in the past 12 months, and by 1.6% in the first quarter of this year compared to Q1 of 2024. In the first quarter of this year, moreover, power sector emissions fell a dramatic 5.8 percent. […]