What’s the solar energy news today?

In case you missed the sound byte yesterday, here’s Colorado Governor Bill Ritter speaking about the state’s revised renewable energy standard (RES), which he signed into law yesterday (via BrighterEnergy): “Today we continue to chart a new course for Colorado’s New Energy Economy and America’s clean energy economy. Colorado is giving every state and the entire nation a template for tomorrow. This is a game-changer. We are transforming the future of Colorado and our country.” Them’s some strong words. We admire Ritter’s grit.

While Colorado will shoot for three percent under its new RES, Environment American believes the U.S. could get 10 percent of its power from solar energy resources, according to a recently released report.

We’re gonna take a quick break from solar energy to bring you two news stories on nuclear power:

Microsoft man Bill Gates is chatting with Toshiba about a joint effort to develop mini, subterranean nuclear reactors that could operate for up to hundred years without receiving additional fuel. The product’s name? iNuke. (Totally kidding.) Gates has backed TerraPower, a company that’s working to make nuclear power generators smaller and safer. (Also, in case you missed it, check out Mr. Gates speaking about energy at TED last month.)

News of the potential TerraPower-Toshiba tie up was accompanied yesterday by an Op-Ed from Steven Chu, head of the U.S. Dept. of Energy, entitled “America’s New Nuclear Option.” The main focus of Chu’s plug was (you’re never going to believe this) small modular reactors, or SMRs for short: “Small modular reactors would be less than one-third the size of current plants. They have compact designs and could be made in factories and transported to sites by truck or rail. SMRs would be ready to ‘plug and play’ upon arrival.” Maybe Gates really should consider naming his venture iNukes, after all…

Now, back to solar power:

The “Buy America” provision is sticky business as it pertains to the solar energy industry, as shown in this brief article by Lindsay Riddell of San Francisco Business Times.

In solar industry news, Nanosolar is getting a new head honcho, via Earth2Tech. The thin-film solar manufacturer, which has a facility in San Jose, Calif., will bring on Geoff Tate as CEO. Tate is a former CEO of Rambus, a chip maker, and a former senior VP of Advanced Micro Devices. Once you’ve seen one semiconductor, apparently, you’ve seen ‘em all. It’s just sand, after all…

And with that, we’ll bring it to a close. Thanks for reading. We’ll see you back here tomorrow.