In less than two days I came across three exciting news on how both solar thermal and photovoltaïc are moving toward worldwide in many ways.
With today’s article we will go from the United States to Germany and we will conclude with India. We will tackle both markets and technological issues.
These energies are still representing a tiny part of the world energy mix and projections are not enthusiastic on their potential, but I am confident we will overshoot them.
In the United States, the hopes of making solar price competitive with coal is getting nearer as TreeHugger reports. With over 80 competitors, cadmium telluride is one of the many technologies that may soon hit the mark.
For more on this technology, please refer to the full article ” Solar Cheaper than Coal: First Solar’s Cadmium Telluride Breakthrough”.
The second news is most unusual as the International Herald Tribune reports that some inhabitants of the German city of Marburg ask themselves if the new regulations aren’t too pushy regarding solar thermal installation.
Indeed, the town hall decided that solar installations would be mandatory for each and every house renovation, repairs and other works. Failing to do so would result for the house owner to pay a hefty fine of 1,000 euros ($1,500).
To learn out more about this story, go and check “German city wonders how green is too green“.
To conclude today’s article, I will know introduce you to an interesting project from the United Nations that takes place in many developing countries, including India.
The UN proposes soft loans to enable remote villages to equip themselves with solar panels which will replace power generators and the use of kerosene or other fuels. For more, please check the UNEP Solar Loan Programme. (via TreeHugger)