The US wind industry added nearly 15,000 jobs in 2016, reaching 102,500 jobs across the US in 2016. That’s according to the 2016 U.S. Wind Industry Annual Market Report from the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), which came out earlier this week. 

South Korea’s LG Chem is bringing its residential energy storage systems in the US and Canada. Starting in 2013 the company began introducing the lithium-ion-based battery systems in Asia, Europe and Australia. 

Apple is getting greener. The company introduced its latest Environmental Responsibility Report today (April 20)—just ahead of Earth Day. The company said that 96 percent of all of the energy it uses comes from renewable energy and 100 percent of the power used at its datacenter now comes from renewables. 

Recently a coal mining museum in Kentucky announced that it will soon be powered by solar because solar promised cheaper energy than coal. Now it’s being widely reported that Berkeley Energy Group and EDF Renewable Energy are looking to develop the state’s first giant solar farms at the site of a former mountaintop removal site that was a coal mine, it’s like a proverbial nail in coffin for the polluting energy source.

Love or hate it, Walmart’s doing a lot to clean up its footprint on earth. Today (April 19) it announced a new effort, Project Gigaton to eliminate one gigaton of emissions from its suppliers by 2030. 

Currently the world has about 300 gigawatts of solar power installed. But the potential for harvesting solar energy far exceeds the world's energy consumption and with rapid price drops and production increases scientists now think photovoltaics (PVs) could produce up to 10 terawatts (10,000 gigawatts) of the world’s energy by 2030.

Massachusetts is one of the US’s leading solar states thanks to continually evolving solar policies that have kept expanding over the years. The newest iteration of solar incentives, under the Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target (SMART) program, could be a step back particularly for low-income communities in the state solar and low-income advocates warn. 

In few places has the argument over net-metering been more tumultuous than Nevada. The Public Utilities Commission of Nevada (PUCN) at one point ended net-metering overnight in the state. Since then the commission has reinstated it but in a patchwork fashion. Now a new pro-consumer, net-metering bill, AB 270, is working its way through the legislature and has the support of the solar industry. 

There were 30 electric vehicles showcased at the 2017 New York International Auto Show and all are eligible for the state’s new $70 million Drive Clean Rebate program for EVs as Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) was on hand to tell attendees. The state’s initiative includes rebates of up to $2,000 for those buying a new EV, plug-in hybrid electric car or hydrogen fuel cell car.

Last week Tesla unveiled what it says is its new rooftop solar panel system—not its new solar roof—but a more conventional system. Meanwhile as Chicago committed to powering all its municipal buildings with renewable energy, California’s electric grid got more than 50 percent of its electricity from solar power, resulting in wholesale electric prices below zero cents per kilowatt hour.