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USGBC Partners with 2016 Green Building Expo in Serbia
USGBC, conference partner of the 2016 Green Building Expo, announced today that Kay Killmann, president of the German Green Building Association (GGBA) and USGBC’s official business and education partner in Europe’s largest LEED market, will keynote the event.
Affordable Green Neighborhoods 2016 Grant Recipients Announced
The U.S. Green Building Council, with the support of Bank of America Charitable Foundation grant program, awards funding and provides educational resources to developers of affordable housing
Five Members of Congress Receive Major Solar Accolades
The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) is honored to present Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) with the first-ever Lifetime Solar Pugilist Award. SEIA is also proud to announce the selection of four other Members of Congress to receive the prestigious SEIA Solar Champion Award, an honor bestowed upon entities or individuals who have helped strengthen solar power in America.
Nanoscale Confinement Leads to New All-inorganic Perovskite with Exceptional Solar Cell Properties
Scientists with the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) for the first time discovered how to make perovskite solar cells out of quantum dots and used the new material to convert sunlight to electricity with 10.77 percent efficiency.
GBCI and Environmental Defense Fund Establish Investor Confidence Project as Global Standard for Energy...
Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI) and the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) announced today a strategic vision to work together to develop, deliver and promote the Investor Confidence Project (ICP) as the premier global underwriting standard for energy efficiency projects. ICP will join GBCI’s portfolio of credentials and certifications, and the organizations will work together to accelerate investment in energy efficiency.
USGBC Partners with Department of Energy on Better Communities Alliance
The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has been named a key strategic partner in the new Better Communities Alliance, which was announced by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the White House this week. The Better Communities Alliance (BCA) is designed to ignite clean energy action in cities and counties across the U.S. USGBC, through its sister organization, Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI), is utilizing PEER (Performance Excellence in Electricity Renewal) and LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) to advance the goals of the BCA.
GRID Alternatives begins installing solar projects on tribal lands using $1M in funding from...
GRID Alternatives, America’s largest nonprofit solar installer, today announced installation has begun on 92 solar installations in six tribal communities in California, Montana, and South Dakota with over $1 million in cost-shared grants from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to these individual tribes
Clean Power Plan stands on firm legal ground, would continue trend of clean energy...
As the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit hears oral arguments today about the merits of the Clean Power Plan, the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) rule placing the first-ever federal carbon pollution limits on our nation's electric power plants, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) issued the following statement.
Three NREL Technologies Named as Finalists for R&D 100 Awards
Two technologies developed by researchers at the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and a third developed through a collaboration between Wolfspeed, NREL, Toyota, and the University of Arkansas' National Center for Reliable Electric Power Transmission, have been named finalists by R&D Magazine for the coveted 2016 R&D 100 Awards
Nine Innovative Approaches That Utilities are Using to Plan for Increased Rooftop Solar
When an individual utility customer decides to add rooftop solar to their home or business, the utility needs to deliver less power to that customer from other sources. A small number of solar adopters may not have much of an impact, but rapid growth in rooftop solar in some parts of the country has the potential to significantly impact the need for generating resources and transmission and distribution (T&D) infrastructure.
Industry praises bipartisan Governors’ Wind and Solar Energy Coalition for seeking U.S. agencies’ help...
The U.S. wind energy industry today welcomed the support of a bipartisan group of 20 governors for further steps by federal agencies that could expedite siting of new wind farms, on land and offshore.
Scientists Cite New Data, Concluding Risk-Based Fuel Reduction Is Needed to Save Our Forests
Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Energy Committee Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) joined leading scientists who provided new data showing that the majority of ponderosa pine forests in the country are at grave risk of being killed by the new, more severe fires we are now seeing. New data shows that, without a new plan, increasing warm temperatures will result in 67 million acres of our country’s forests being lost to unnaturally severe wildfires—10 percent of U.S. forests
PUCN Approves Grandfathering Solar Policy
The Public Utilities Commission of Nevada (PUCN) adopted regulations today that protect NV Energy customers who had installed a solar system, or submitted an interconnection request, prior to Dec. 31, 2015. The new “grandfathering” rules will allow those existing NV Energy solar customers to operate under previous net metering rules. Following is a statement from Sean Gallagher, the vice president of state affairs for the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA)
NREL to Lead New Consortium to Improve Reliability and Performance of Solar Modules
The Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), in partnership with Sandia National Laboratories, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, will form a new consortium intended to accelerate the development of module materials for photovoltaics (PV) and lower the cost of electricity generated by solar power.
U.S. Wins Trade Case Against India
A World Trade Organization (WTO) appellate body issued a report today affirming the United States victory in the U.S. challenge to India’s “localization” rules, which discriminated against imported solar cells and modules under India’s National Solar Mission. Following is a statement from Christopher Mansour, vice president of federal affairs for the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), on the decision
CAP’s David J. Hayes on the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan
Center for American Progress Senior Fellow David J. Hayes released the following statement today about the U.S. Department of the Interior’s release of the final Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan, which will help balance renewable energy development and conservation on approximately 10 million acres of public lands in California
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After eight years of work, the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (DRECP) will effectively foreclose development of renewable energy resources on millions of acres of federally managed lands in Southern California, said a coalition of renewable energy and labor groups in response to the federal government’s release of the plan. The plan abandons the initial promise to balance renewable development with preservation of desert land.
Survey Reveals Projections for Lower Wind Energy Costs
The cost of producing electricity via wind power is expected to fall 24-30 percent by 2030 and 35-41 percent by 2050, according to a survey of the world's foremost wind power experts. Cost reductions are anticipated as a function of continued advancements in wind energy technology.
U.S. Solar Market Adds More Than 2 GW in Q2 2016
Growing 43 percent year over year, the U.S. saw 2,051 megawatts (MW) of solar photovoltaic (PV) installed in the second quarter of 2016. According to GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association’s (SEIA) latest U.S. Solar Market Insight report, this marks the eleventh consecutive quarter in which more than a gigawatt (GW) of PV was installed.
USGBC and Second Nature Announce 2016 Winners of Higher Education Climate Leaders Competition
The Center for Green Schools at the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), in partnership with Second Nature, announced that Arizona State University and Johnson County Community College have been selected to receive the seventh annual Climate Leadership Awards.