Author: Energy Matters

Melbourne’s Semitech Semiconductor Pty Ltd has been awarded a grant of $1.86 million to further develop its micro-inverter technology.

We’ve come to expect the prices of solar panels to keep dropping – but that could be about to change.

The Clean Energy Council (CEC) has reminded solar companies that the solar panels they install must have new fire safety certification soon – and thousands of models are still yet to do so.

Last week, the Sustainable Energy Association of Australia (SEA) released its policy position ahead of the Western Australian State Election on March 9, 2013.

Retail giant Walmart will shortly boost Ohio’s entire installed solar panel capacity by nearly ten percent.

Last week Shell published New Lens Scenarios; one of which sees solar panels providing much of the world’s energy needs.

Shoddy solar products are in the headlines again after a major solar company went into voluntary administration last week and news other companies are in the spotlight for issues relating to quality.

Globally, governments provided more than USD$620 billion to subsidize fossil fuel energy in 2011 and just $88 billion went to subsidies for renewable energy.

Replacing the 670 million kerosene lamps used in the developing world with cleaner, safer solar-powered lighting would save 25 billion litres of kerosene and many millions of tonnes of carbon emissions annually.

Scientists from the University of Santa Barbara (UCSB) say they have developed a new way of harvesting solar energy using “forests” of golden nanorods instead of conventional photovoltaic materials.