Colorado is far from the one of the most populous states yet it’s seventh in the US in terms of renewable energy jobs, with 17,000 people working in renewable energy. The solar industry employs 8,000 people while wind employs more than 7,000. Overall the state has 57,591 people working in clean energy industries.

As Trump’s 30 percent tariffs on solar panels are starting to show their impact across more of the solar industry, creating slowdowns in the move to inexpensive clean energy, a bipartisan group of Senators introduced a bill to repeal the tariffs. The recently introduced Protecting American Solar Jobs Act was introduced by Senators Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and Dean Heller (R-NV), while a companion bill was introduced in the House of Representatives. 

The US added 2.5 gigawatts of new solar power in the first quarter of 2018, a 13 percent gain on a year-over-year basis. In fact, solar represented the majority of all the new electric generation installed in the US in the first quarter, at 55 percent of the new electric installed in the country, according to the latest US Solar Market Insight Report from GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA).

That’s the headline as the Trump Administration once again tried to prop up failing coal and nuclear facilities with government actions that fight against free market ideals. Meanwhile the tide of people who support clean energy and solar continues to grow with new challenges for mayors across the country and more.

The American Cities Climate Challenge is a $70 million competition to help cities and towns across the US fight climate change. The initiative will select 20 mayors across the US who are demonstrating the strongest leadership and commitment to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, despite President Trump’s decision to make the US the only country to pull out of the agreement. 

For people still not sure about going solar on their home or business the National Solar Tour held every fall for more than two decades is the best chance to see operational solar systems up close and personal. It’s also a chance to talk with owners and installers about going solar. Now that the American Solar Energy Society (ASES) and Solar United Neighbors have partnered, they plan to have the broadest solar tour yet. 

In what it’s calling a first for the solar lending industry, BlueWave Solar has introduced its new FlexRate loan. The new financing mechanism allows the company to offer its products through home solar installers giving them another option for their rooftop solar consumers. 

Once again President Donald Trump (R) is trying to artificially make expensive coal and nuclear power cost-competitive with cleaner, lower-cost energy sources like wind, solar and natural gas. The attempted move is being condemned by clean energy industries, energy companies, utilities and even the oil and gas industry. 

Amazon announced last week that it’s completed 17 US rooftop solar arrays in the past 14 months, which reflects a recent IRENA report showing that internationally, companies are pushing for more renewable energy. Hanwha Q Cells became the latest foreign solar manufacturer to announce a manufacturing facility in the US. 

Global companies are quickly transitioning to renewable energy. A recent report from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) found that 50 companies now get 100 percent of their electricity from renewable energy, 111 get 85 percent or more of their energy from renewables and more than 200 get at least half of their energy from renewables.