California already has one of the most brutal real estate markets in the country. However, the newest initiative will only serve to raise housing prices even further with mandatory solar regulations. According to Hot Air, the California state government is looking to pass a new law mandating that every new "house, condo or other building up to three stories high must have solar panels installed and comply with a
The small town of Babcock Ranch in southern Florida, just north of Fort Myers, is the first town that is completely solar powered. According to the Orlando Weekly, the town's developers hope to see about 250 families move into the area. Homes range in price from $200,000 to $1 million. The land for the ranch was purchased in 2006. However, more than 90% of it is a wildlife preserve. Solar
Stagnant water is a magnet for mosquitos. It provides the perfect place for them to lay their eggs and spawn a new generation to terrorize us with their biting, itching, disease-carrying, menace. Fortunately, according to Wired magazine, Pranav Agarwal has developed the Solar Scare Mosquito, a solar powered device that aerates the surface of stagnant water. This helps prevent the proliferation of the mosquito population. Female mosquitos need the surface
France’s Minister of Environment Ségolène Royal has officially opened the world’s first solar panel road this week. Spanning one kilometer with 2,880 solar panels in Tourouvre-au-Perche, this road is a revolutionary idea. Now the country is waiting to see if the road, built with construction company Colas‘ Wattway technology, will live up to the hype surrounding the clean energy experiment. The road is designed to produce sufficient power to electrify
Little appears to have changed in the valleys of north-eastern Portugal for decades, perhaps even centuries. That is, if you can keep your gaze off the hilltops. Also, imagine away the pylons and forget the occasional tractor of an uncertain vintage coughing along the narrow roads. But look up, past the villages, the clumps of stout ponies and the wolf-haunted forests of pine, oak and eucalyptus, and the harbingers of a
The Walmart Solar Energy Initiative Walmart, our nation's largest retailer, ranked first on the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) list of U.S. companies based on their installed solar energy capacity. Walmart has the capacity to produce 65,000 kW of solar power or enough to power 10,000 home. Recent installations include 10 new rooftop installations in Maryland, which totaled over 13,000 solar panels. Do you want to know how you can
Reviewing the solar panels on the Solar Impulse--the solar plane currently flying across the country--allows us to look at solar efficiency in a new way that not only could affect solar flight but also ceiling exhaust fans and roof fans. The solar panels on the plane are not the best at converting light energy into electric power by the area covered but do excel in terms of weight. The lightweight
