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Last week New York City’s Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Solarize NYC as part of OneNYC’s 80x50 campaign to reduce the city’s emissions by 80 percent by 2050. The new Solarize NYC program will help expand access to lower-cost solar power by using group purchasing to reduce the cost of solar power equipment and installation costs by 10 to 20 percent—higher savings are achieved as more people participate. 

A new Mercom Capital Group report anticipates that solar power will break previous records in 2016 as it has for the past decade. The report found that in 2016 the world will install roughly 66.7 gigawatts of new solar power. That’s up from 57.8 gigawatts of solar power installed in 2015 and up from Mercom’s expectations earlier this year of 64.7 gigawatts. 

SunFunder’s mission is to improve access to reliable energy in emerging markets through the power of solar. The U.S. Government’s Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) has approved a $15 million loan for the SunFunder managed new investment vehicle the “Beyond the Grid Solar Fund.” The support from the federal government’s development arm brings the fund up to $50 million.  

Today, April 26, AT&T and SunPower announced a new partnership under which the companies will co-market SunPower Equinox home solar systems this summer. They’ve also partnered to deliver connective services for SunPower’s Equinox systems through the Internet. 

Nanotubes are an exciting technology with many potential applications, one of them, solar power. Now researchers at the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have determined that single-walled carbon nanotubes could be semiconductors for next generation organic solar cells because they could potentially convert sunlight into electricity with little energy loss. 

It often seems that utilities and solar companies, particularly solar installers that put solar power on homes and businesses are at odds—even though their end goals are the same—making sure people have access to reliable electric service. The new Solar Progress Partnership partnership in New York, however, is showing that there are some other possibilities where all the players can get along. 

San Francisco announced a remarkable step toward increasing clean energy in the city. All new buildings must have solar panels. The panels can be either photovoltaic or solar hot water panels.