The first carbon neutral automotive dealership in the world is Cleveland Ohio’s Motorcars Honda, which was recognized by British Petroleum (BP) for the achievement last week. Among other efforts the company installed a 335 kilowatt solar array which produces roughly 70 percent of its energy usage. It also is offsetting not only its own carbon footprint but that of every vehicle it sells.

Nevada’s Public Utilities Commission quashed the growth in residential and small business solar power when it eliminated net-metering for all residential solar installations. A booming industry quickly dropped 93 percent when the commission made its ruling, moreover those with solar already installed found their systems would unexpectedly cost them more and take longer to pay off. Now the commission is revisiting its earlier ruling but the biggest company in rooftop solar—SolarCity, which installed thousands of the more than 20,000 residential installations—is being kept out of the proceedings. 

North Central College in Naperville, IL, is going solar thanks in part to a recent partnership with the Billion Dollar Green Challenge. The college is installing a 538.56 kilowatt solar array with 250 kW energy storage system at its Residence Hall/Recreation Center building, which will provide 22 percent of the building's electric needs. 

The California State University system is going big on solar power. It’s been adding in solar power in large amounts across of its campuses. Now it announced it’s latest project, a 4.8 megawatt solar carport at its Long Beach campus, which is expected to provide roughly 15 percent of the campus’ electric needs.

Yesterday (Aug. 31) Boulder, CO, Mayor Suzanne Jones announced that her city will source all of its electricity from clean energy sources like wind and solar power by 2030. Jones made the announcement at a Ready for 100% event which was hosted by the Sierra Club Rocky Mountain Chapter, Environment Colorado, Google Project Sunroof and the Climate Reality Project.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) introduced a new study which used a supercomputer to investigate how the eastern US’s electric grid could handle up to 30 percent of its power coming from wind and solar power. The lab published NREL's Eastern Renewable Generation Integration Study (ERGIS), which analyzed a year of data at 5-minute intervals across the US’s eastern grid network from Florida to Canada and studied four potential scenarios for more wind, solar and natural gas generation in the region.

Yesterday (Aug. 30) Florida’s voters—by a 73 percent margin!—supported Amendment 4 to end tax liabilities for home and business solar installations in the state. The amendment will make it easier to support solar projects in the state and encourage growth in the industry. 

The Smart Electric Power Alliance’s (SEPA’s) 2016 Solar Power Player Awards recognizes utilities, companies and individuals who are innovating and collaborating to expand the use of distributed energy like rooftop solar. This year awardees include Pepco, the Village of Minster, Green Power EMC, Clean Energy Collective and Dora Nakafuji, all of which have championed solar and other renewable energy sources.

“Let’s brew up some more solar in New Hampshire,” could have been a slogan at last week’s ceremonial bill signing to lift the state’s cap on net metering, allowing the state’s residents to continue to go solar. After all NH Gov. Maggie Hassan (D) signed the bill at Throwback Brewery which recently completed a 48.7 kilowatt solar power project at its North Hampton brewery.

Community solar is the buzzword these days but California’s Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) just issued a request for proposals for 75 megawatts of small to mid-sized renewable energy projects (500 kilowatts to 20 megawatts) under its new Regional Renewable Choice program. The program will allow PG&E customers to work with local renewable energy developers and purchase power from a project and offset some or all of their use.