Category: Solar News & Climate Blog
In a recent post, we showed how Solaflect Trackers – when used to charge electric vehicles – can usually pay back their installed cost in seven years or less. Fuel savings add up fast when you’re replacing gasoline with sunshine at the equivalent of 75 cents per gallon! However, it’s not just the price of...
Now that Congress has passed generous new tax credits for the purchase of solar energy and electric vehicles, you may be wondering if now is the time to kick the gasoline habit. The short answer is YES!! There’s never been a better time to fill up your car on sunshine. But you likely still have...
While utilities have lots of charges for energy, transmission and other customer fees, a typical bill boils down to two main components – supply and delivery. Both are going up fast! Yes, it’s true that electric bills have already been on a tear this year. New England utilities paid the highest wholesale electricity prices in...
The record heat wave that struck California last week posed the biggest threat to our nation’s electrical grid since a deep freeze that shut down the Texas grid for nearly a week back in February 2020. This time, Californians were spared the worst: the grid held, thanks to voluntary conservation efforts that averted rolling blackouts. ...
Are gasoline-powered vehicles headed for the scrap heap here in New England? Not quite. But a new transportation rule just issued in California could pave the way for a phase-out of new cars with internal combustion engines throughout most of New England by 2035. Along with sweeping federal climate legislation just signed into law, this...
As this summer’s sizzling temperatures finally start to wind down, it’s time to come to grips with just how serious this dangerous weather phenomenon is becoming. Across the United States, excessive heat is already the leading cause of death from weather-related events, including floods, tornadoes, lightning and hurricanes. And around the globe, the jet stream...
Game changer! That’s what most energy experts are calling the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 signed by the President on August 17th. Chock full of tax incentives and rebates, most American households now qualify for thousands of dollars in new funding support to install solar power, home batteries, EV chargers and electric heat pumps. New...
Sometimes it’s hard to make sense of it all. Despite daily reminders of how our climate-energy balance is growing increasingly out of whack, we continue to make short-term energy decisions that avoid fixing the problem and only make matters worse. Take, for example, the back-to-back decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court to strip the EPA...
What’s wrong with this picture? As New England electric utilities hike their rates by record numbers this summer, they’re also cutting payments for solar power fed into the grid by their customers. Aren’t we supposed to be incentivizing, rather than penalizing, the adoption of clean, renewable energy?! Here’s a mid-year update on rate and net-metering...
First came pain at the pump, with gasoline prices topping $5 per gallon. Now get ready for sticker shock in your electric bill, with some rates in New England rising 50% or more by this summer. So, is now the time to hop on the solar bandwagon? We’ve got five fresh reasons to consider making...
It’s official: According to the just-released annual review from the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), 2021 was another great year for solar power. The best ever, in fact. And 2022 looks strong as well, with 22 gigawatts (GW) of new solar installations on tap across America. But just as solar is breaking into the lead...
Call it energy economics 101: When President Biden announced plans to address record gasoline prices, now topping $4 a gallon, it was meant to fix a severe supply-demand imbalance that has gripped global energy markets since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. There’s just one problem, however. The release of 1 million barrels per day (mbd) from...
Spring has returned to New England, but somehow it feels different this year. On the plus side, our two-year ordeal with the coronavirus finally appears to be winding down. The economy is recovering with unemployment falling below 4%, our kids are back in school receiving in-person instruction, and everyday public attractions like music and sporting...
We all stand in solidarity with the people of Ukraine, a peaceful democratic nation that’s under brutal and unprovoked military attack. Russia’s Vladimir Putin started this needless war under the grand illusion of restoring some bygone Soviet era. Where this goes from here is anyone’s guess. Fossil Fuels Fund Putin’s War Machine What we do...
Suddenly, inflation seems to be everywhere – including in our household energy bills. Consider: Gasoline prices have reached $3.50 per gallon, about 60% higher than a year ago. Home heating oil is expected to cost 41% more this winter. Natural gas used for home heating is expected to cost 30% more, and propane, 54% more,...
Amidst all the hoopla about the Lightning, a nifty new feature is going relatively unnoticed. But it could forever change how power is made and stored in America – and broaden the horizons for residential solar power. It’s called bidirectional charging.
Now that 2021 is in the rear-view mirror, here’s a look back at six important climate trends, as told in the charts: Global temperature trends Not the hottest year, but still warming up: While it may have been “only” the fifth hottest year since 1880, it still extends a warming streak where each of the last...
What a difference a year makes! Last January, hopes ran high that Congress would pass landmark climate legislation in 2021. But with Democrats controlling Congress by a razor-thin margin, President Biden had to walk a tightrope between competing interests within his own party. In the end, Biden’s Build Back Better plan got pulled under objections...
With gasoline prices climbing back well above $3 per gallon, the economics of driving an electric vehicle have never looked better. It’s already true that EVs pay back their higher sticker prices with significantly lower fuel and maintenance costs. Now, with gas prices approaching $3.50 per gallon here in northern New England, it costs twice...
Hard to believe there are only 45 shopping days before the holidays! In a year when we’ve emerged from the darkness of Covid – and back into the light – it’s a great time to keep following the sun into 2022! Now is the perfect time to reserve a spot for solar panels on Santa’s...
Coming on the heels of the warmest October on record, New England has already seen its first big Nor’Easter of the upcoming 2021-22 winter season. This powerful storm left its mark across the nation, bringing wildfire-ending rains to California, and late-season tornadoes to the Midwest, before “bombing out” with gale-force winds and drenching rains as...
What’s going on with the world’s energy supply? Higher oil prices are pushing gasoline prices up to their highest levels in seven years. Demand for coal is surging to record levels across the globe. And, in Europe, natural gas prices are up 500 percent, as growing wind and solar production can’t keep pace with early...
For many in Jamaica, Vermont, flood damage in August 2021 brought back memories of Tropical Storm Irene from 10 years earlier. As we close out another summer under the growing influence of climate change, our ‘New Normal’ weather feels more like it’s bordering on the extreme. Inside New England: It was Massachusetts’ hottest and wettest...
The future belongs to solar – and its massive growth begins now. That’s the upbeat forecast from the U.S. Department of Energy, issued in a new report on decarbonizing the nation’s power supply by 2050. Here’s the roadmap: 2020, the U.S. added a record 15 gigawatts (GW) of solar, raising the nation’s total installed solar...
About Solaflect
Award-winning Solaflect Solar Trackers are patented, ground-mounted solar power systems that follow the sun from sunrise to sunset. Solaflect’s proprietary dual-axis tracking continually adjusts the orientation of the solar panels to track the sun and capture the greatest amount of solar energy possible. The result? Solaflect Trackers generate 40% more power per panel than roof installations.
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