For all their trouble with the weather and other forces beyond control, farmers have become some of America’s scrappiest business people. They’re always looking for a means to be more profitable and save money for the inevitable bad year. When something goes well at a farm down the street, it isn’t long before other farmers
What Are Legal Issues In Solar Energy?
Whether generating, purchasing or selling solar energy, the solar business can be quite complex. Many times, legal issues counsel can be helpful in understanding broad issues and can help guide clients through issues to maximize opportunities and avoid potential pitfalls. Attorneys with the environmental and energy law firm of Manko, Gold, Katcher & Fox, LLP,

Solar Speaks: AllEarth Renewables CEO Discusses Sequester And NIMBY
As solar panel prices “dropped like a rock,” AllEarth Renewables CEO David Blittersdorf shifted his company’s focus from home wind turbines to the AllSun Tracker, a dual-axis solar tracker. “You need to be flexible and operate with speed,” the 30-year veteran of renewable energy says in this Solar Speaks podcast. Blittersdorf also discusses the federal budget

Solar Speaks: Why The Sunshine State Isn’t So Solar Friendly
Welcome to another edition of Solar Speaks, Solar Power World’s podcast series that gives you the opportunity to hear from the industry’s biggest newsmakers in their own words. We spoke with Rick Gilbert, vice president of Solar Source (which is one of Solar Power World’s Top 100 Solar Contractors). As a Florida-based solar installer, Rick

4 Questions: U.S. Needs New Narrative As Sequester Threatens R&D Funding
As the federal spending cuts known as sequestration begin to take shape, analysts are considering the potential impact it will have on programs. Mandatory spending, such as food stamps and social security payments, is protected. But discretionary spending, the category that includes research funding for solar and wind, is on the chopping block. Solar Power

Solar State-By-State Report: California
Vote Solar authors solar industry updates that we publish here, state by state. This installment focuses on California. It was written by Susannah Churchill, Vote Solar’s policy advocate in The Golden State. She can be reached at Susannah@votesolar.org. Rooftop solar is a tremendous California success story. Homes, schools and businesses are going solar in record numbers.

SEIA Launches U.S. Solar Heating and Cooling Alliance
Today the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) launched the U.S. Solar Heating and Cooling Alliance (SHC Alliance). The SHC Alliance will focus on growing the solar heating and cooling market through reducing barriers and advocating for policies on the federal, state and local levels. The newly elected leaders of the U.S. Solar Heating and Cooling

SEIA Statement on President Obama’s State of the Union Address
Rhone Resch, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association, has released the following statement in response to President Obama’s State of the Union Address to Congress: “In tonight’s State of the Union Address, President Obama laid out a vision for the American energy economy that is in line with what SEIA is working

Solar Speaks: An Interview With Rhone Resch and Julia Hamm at PV America, Part One
Editorial Director Frank Andorka sat down with SEIA President and CEO Rhone Resch and SEPA President and CEO Julia Hamm at the PV America event in Philadelphia last week. In a wide-ranging discussion, Resch and Hamm discussed what they’ve seen so far in 2013 for the solar industry and what may lay in store as the year continues. In Part One of the










Why Is Ohio Trying To Kill Solar?
I’m a lifelong Ohioan. My parents grew up in Lorain, Ohio, once a bustling blue-collar town 25 minutes west of Cleveland. Most men (and, eventually, women) worked at either the Ford plant (as my great-uncle did) or U.S. Steel (as my grandfather did). But now the Ford plant closed in 2005, and U.S. Steel has