Solar energy

The search giant can't keep throwing around all that money. Google drops a renewable energy program and abandons solar thermal electricity, saying it's not competitive against photovoltaics.

3 | November 23, 2011 8:37am | By Mark Halper

Toshiba to build 100 megawatts for town that was part of the no-go zone.

5 | June 26, 2012 4:23am | By Mark Halper

U.S. natural gas prices are rising, while wind and solar are growing rapidly. The global transition to mostly renewable grid power may now be unstoppable.

45 | April 3, 2013 3:00am | By Chris Nelder

Once again, petroleum money is backing a huge solar power project, in this ambitious 2-gigawatt scheme. But are cracks appearing in the grand Desertec plan?

January 27, 2012 6:34am | By Mark Halper

The big glass panels that are built into skyscrapers could soon produce solar power.

2 | May 12, 2013 7:44pm | By David Worthington

Works on a building's windows too! Offer void in dark places.

4 | February 26, 2013 5:14am | By Mark Halper

Stick a fork in U.S. nuclear power. With four plants closing this year and more to come, the dream of electricity "too cheap to meter" is dead.

87 | June 12, 2013 1:41am | By Chris Nelder

High oil prices and the BP spill are just two real reminders of how energy dependent we truly are, but tomorrow's solar technology promises cleaner power at lower costs.

2 | January 12, 2011 1:07pm | By Boonsri Dickinson

Google is sinking $12 million in a 96-megawatt solar power plant in Africa, its first renewable energy investment in the continent.

2 | May 31, 2013 8:56am | By Kirsten Korosec

This is the way to do it. All aboard the Solar Express. Keep an eye out for the saucy girl.

1 | May 23, 2012 4:35am | By Mark Halper

Scientists from UC Santa Barbara's have reinvented solar power with completely new technology.

6 | February 25, 2013 8:25pm | By David Worthington

A dark and foreboding prison? Forget it! Welcome to The New Rock, where photovoltaics are going after one of society's most wanted criminals, CO2.

July 31, 2012 3:18am | By Mark Halper

Two of the world's top oil and gas producers are transitioning to renewable energy. So why isn't the U.S.? Energy expert Chris Nelder reports from the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi.

30 | January 23, 2013 3:00am | By Chris Nelder

The number of Americans working in the solar industry has doubled in three years. California now employs more solar workers than actors. Find out which states lead the nation.

7 | April 18, 2013 12:56pm | By Kirsten Korosec

The 100% renewably powered grid is coming sooner than you think. The only question is whether grid operators will be ready for it in time.

98 | December 12, 2012 3:00am | By Chris Nelder

The chairman of Spanish energy giant Iberdrola blasts solar thermal electricity for high costs, inefficiency and environmental hazards such as CO2 emissions and water wastage.

3 | November 4, 2011 4:36am | By Mark Halper

Power has become a public commodity for smartphone users in Manhattan with newly installed solar charging stations that are emerging in New York City parks.

June 18, 2013 6:46pm | By David Worthington

The South African native is challenging the legacy rules of U.S. power generation and financing, seeking to make clean energy as cost-effective as electricity generated by fossil fuels.

6 | May 7, 2013 3:00am | By Heather Clancy

The Energy Department finalized four solar loan guarantees in the final hours of the controversial clean energy loan program. Here's a look at the ones that made it, and the few that didn't.

September 30, 2011 5:12pm | By Kirsten Korosec

Energy futurist Chris Nelder suggests community "solar gardens" as a way for towns to transition to renewables in the absence of federal incentives, and shares a dream he had about how one...

10 | November 16, 2011 5:25am | By Chris Nelder