Solar Energy Investing

Washintonpost.com reports Google has activated the solar panels covering the roof space on its campus. The company also has plans to donate over $10 million in grants to support hybrid cars. The announcements follow an industry-wide initiative to improve the energy efficiency of PCs and servers. The energy generated by the solar panels will provide enough to supply about one-third of Google’s energy use.

Inhabitat reports on the BoGolight. The BoGolight is a solar powered flashlight that shines for 5 hours straight and lasts 20 years. For every BoGolight purchased in the U.S. another solar flashlight will be donated to needy people in developing countries who don’t have access to electricity.

Webhostdirectory reports IBM has announced that AISO.Net has completed a massive data center consolidation initiative using IBM technology. The consolidation resulted in a 60 percent reduction in overall power and cooling costs associated with the company’s IT operations. AISO.Net is the world’s first and only 100 solar powered Web hosting company.

Forbes reports the share prices for Yara international and Renewable Energy Corporation closes higher. Renewable Energy Corporation rose 6 from their previous 218.

PR-inside.com reports on a solar heated fully sustainable heat-treatment kiln developed by ACTS. The Kiln is based on the innovative practical design of its more complex full-specification kiln units. The patented technology is known as ’solarola drying kiln-technology’ and has many unique attributes along with its greatly improved low-cost and exceptional and simple solar heat collection system.

Southbendtribune.com reports on Rep. Joe Donnelly’s belief in the benefits of alternative energy sources. Donnelly said in an interview that becoming energy independent is a matter of national security as much as it is an environmental issue. The Granger Democrat is enthusiastic about the possibility of bringing the production of a new kind of photovoltaic cell to South Bend.

Sun Post reports on the 8 acre field of solar panels to be used to power the South San Joaquin Irrigation District’s water treatment plant. The panels should be operating by 2008 according to a district plan. According to district utility director Jeff Shields, frequent power failures and rising electricity costs were the main motivations for the alternative energy plan.

PRNewswire.com reports on the success of Suntech Power holdings integration with the “Zero Carbon Home” project in the United Kingdom. Developed by Kingspan off site, the modular home allows rapid construction and is totally self sustainable form an energy standpoint. Suntech provided its “Just Roof” photovoltaic panels to the cutting edge project.

courant.com reports on GE installing an additional solar panel system installed at its headquarters in Connecticut. The panels add to an existing system which, when combined, will provide 6-8 percent of the building power consumption. The system was partially funded by the Connecticut Clean Energy fund, which is funded by a tax embedded into consumer energy bills

Solarcraft reports on the success of a new solar energy installation. The system, powered by panels from Mitsubishi will be used in the Dutcher Crossing winery. All wine-making operations and additional areas around the winery will now be powered by the system.