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Solar Impulse Soars

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Solar Panels Fuel Air Conditioner in Scottsdale Schools

Mountainside Middle School and Desert Mountain High School, both within the Scottsdale Unified School District, will share the world’s largest solar-powered air-conditioning unit starting this fall, officials said.
Imagine 500 feet of solar panels!  In the fall, this huge array of solar panels will provide the energy for a 500 ton air conditioning unit for a [...]

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Plant Mate Solar Powered Spikes Monitor the Garden

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Ready for the newest solar powered device to help with the gardening?  This solar powered spike called Plant Mate is designed to track ground temperature, moisture, and other information pertinent to growing and maintaining a garden.
What is so cool is that the spikes will report back to your latest techie gadget.  With Plant Mate you will be [...]

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France to Build World’s Largest Solar Plant

Scheduled to be opened in 2012, France is building the world’s largest solar plant on a 1,025 acre abandoned NATO site in Toul-Rosieres, near the eastern city of Metz.  It is reported that the site will produce enough power for a town of 62,000 people or 143 megawatts.
Imagine this!  The French plant will be over [...]

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President Obama Takes Up the Cause of Energy Efficiency

Whether looking for solar or wind alternatives, President Barack Obama has taken up the cause of energy — and is taking it seriously.  We have heard lip service for years, but for the first time we have seen a president take a real first step to combat climate change and to offer the American people [...]

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Solar Powered Yacht to Round the Globe in 2011

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The solar powered yacht, PlanetSolar, which is the world’s largest solar powered marine vessel is set to circumnavigate the earth in 2011.
PlanetSolar may not be the first solar powered yacht, but it certainly is the largest. 
The new 30m by 15m PlanetSolar catamaran, conceptualised by Swiss designer Raphael Domjan, will cost around $24 million and is [...]

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Federal Tax Credits for Energy Efficiency Improvements

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As tax time approaches many of us are wishing we had taken advantage of some of the federal tax credits for energy efficiency in our homes.  It may be too late for the 2009 filing, but now is the best time to plan for 2010.
While every incentive is not directly related to solar power or [...]

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University of Arizona and Solarmax Test Solar Panel Placement

The University of Arizona’s Biosphere 2 has teamed up with an Arizona firm called Solarmax to test a new way to mount solar panels so they can be deployed over mine tailings and landfills.  Ordinarily landfills and abandoned mines are left as wasted earth space, often more of a hazard than any potential benefit.  The University [...]

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California Has Promises to Keep, Causes Solar Slowdown

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Thirteen solar plants and wind farms are being returned to the earth so to speak.  A million acres purchased with mostly private funds and donated to the government for safe keeping has been at issue. 
It seems that the desert land was deemed to be set aside for Mojave monuments.  However, in 2005 President George W. Bush [...]

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Solar Panel Manufacturers Moving to China

Solar panel manufacturing jobs are moving to China.  One of the major solar panel plants in the U.S., Evergreen Solar is moving its assembly plant to China. 
According to a report from the Boston Globe:
Little more than a year after cutting the ribbon at a new factory in Devens built with more than $58 million in [...]

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