Solar News
Fighting Climate Change with Solar
Solar power enthusiasts understand that solar doesn't just lower their electric bill; it changes the world. The recent Wildfires in Australia have helped reinforce that point. Record heat and dry conditions in 2019 turned the country's forests and grasslands into vast swaths of combustible fuel. On December 17, the country recorded its record-hottest day, 107.4 F, beating the previous record set just 24 hours before. By then, Australia’s fires were already raging. What would have already been a hot, dry summer for Australia (summer begins in December in the Southern Hemisphere) was made much worse by climate change. Australia's most ...
Home Solar Panel Maintenance Tips
“Don’t solar panels need a lot of maintenance?” Evergreen Solar Solutions gets this question from homeowners regularly, and it’s understandable, given that no one wants to worry about climbing up on a roof to care for their solar panels. Solar panels work by converting sunlight into electricity, so the cleaner your panels are, the more efficiently they’ll be able to generate clean energy for your home or business. Since SunPower’s panels are the most efficient on the market, they’ll produce more energy than competing panels in a variety of low-light situations, but any panels covered with too much dirt or debris will produce ...
Solar Can Save the Earth
Carbon emissions have reached record highs in most countries. Global warming has caused most of the devastating climate changes that the world is encountering. The use of solar energy is an effective way of reducing these greenhouse gases. When you install solar panels on your home, you contribute to generating clean energy, reducing dependence on fossil fuels, and cleaning up the air around us all. Even a small solar system of about 5kW installed on your roof can reduce carbon emissions by as much as 250,000 pounds, or the equivalent of planting 21,000 square feet of trees. Just think: if ...
The Use of Solar Energy Continues to Grow!
The growth in the solar industry has been tremendous. But have you wondered just how much solar PV there is in the U.S.? Here are some astonishing facts for you: The U.S. installed 3.8 gigawatts (GW) of solar PV capacity in Q3 2020 to reach 88.9 GW of total installed capacity. That is enough to power 16.4 million American homes. Residential installations increased dramatically from Q2 to Q3 after the shelter-in-place orders caused a large decline in the second quarter. Annual growth for all types of solar installations in 2020 (still being calculated) is projected to be 43%. American solar power offsets over 70 million metric tons of carbon dioxide—that's ...
Does Solar Panel Size Matter?
We put this important question—and a few related ones—to Isaac Opalinsky, SunPower's senior manager of training. Here's what he had to say about solar panel size, efficiency, and installation. Are the various solar panel sizes important for customers to consider? Size is a factor to consider in solar panels, but ultimately, the selection of a solar-powered system for a home for most homeowners is going to come down to efficiency and reliability, and SunPower's Maxeon panels are top-rated in both categories. 1 How are SunPower panels more efficient? I like to compare solar panels to windows. A solar panel's size is ...
Do solar panels use light or heat to generate electricity?
Confusion over the impact of heat and light on solar power starts with the fact that there are different types of solar power. One type of power, called solar thermal, uses the sun's light to generate heat, which can be used for things like household hot water or to generate steam to drive turbines and generate electricity. But those panels require complex integration with hot water systems to operate. The other type of solar power is generated by photovoltaic (PV) solar panels, which use light to generate electricity directly. Many people think the most efficient place to generate power with ...
What is the Future of Solar? It starts on your roof!
Most of us think of solar energy as rows of solar panels sitting in a field, collecting energy. Some of us know about (or may even have) solar panels on a portion of our roofs, keeping our energy costs down. But here are some examples of where the solar industry is going: 1. Solar Trees – They work like real trees with solar panels as ‘leaves’ that collect the sunlight to use as energy. They are said to use 100 times less space to produce the same amount of energy as the panels they hold. 2. Advanced Solar Materials – ...
IBC vs. PERC: What’s the Best Type of Solar Panel
Solar manufacturers are always looking for new ways to make solar cells more efficient, so there are different types of solar panel technologies for customers to choose from, offering varying levels of efficiency and reliability. Cells known as "Passivated Emitter and Rear Contact" are becoming more common. PERC solar cells are an iteration of conventional cells and have an extra layer on the back side, allowing some of the sun's light to be reflected back into the solar cell. The layer gives the sun’s rays a second chance to be absorbed and converted into energy. This modification makes PERC solar ...
A Quick Guide to Solar Storage Batteries
This week, we're announcing that in select U.S. markets, the SunPower® Equinox™ home solar energy system can now be paired with industry-leading solar battery storage providers such as Sonnen or Tesla. Read this accompanying blog post to learn more about how home storage batteries work, and check out this easy-to-understand infographic. Visit SunPower's solar storage webpage to use our solar calculator to design your own home solar-plus-storage energy system. You'll be on your way to reducing or eliminating your electricity bill. This post originally appeared on the SunPower Resource Blog.
Solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC)
SEIA is leading a national coalition to extend the solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC). This is a significant undertaking that will require support from across the solar industry, and we need your help to get it done. The solar investment tax credit (ITC) is one of the most successful clean energy tax policies ever passed. It has enjoyed bipartisan support and created more than 200,000 jobs and $140 billion in private investment. We're asking you to make your support for solar known on social media and to engage with your state and federal policymakers to seek positive change for our industry. ...
