The most efficient solar photovoltaic (PV) panel on the market today is capable of turning about 20 percent of the sun’s energy into electricity. This number is slowly but surely increasing, as technology continually improves. But in an ideal world, solar panels would convert a larger portion of the sun ray’s into useful energy. On [...]

You can add the Pershing County School District in Nevada to the long list of districts across the country that have installed solar photovoltaic (PV) energy systems atop their schools to save money on utility bills and promote environmental consciousness.

It’s been quite the busy day in Nevada in terms of solar energy, as two major solar power plants took steps toward completion.

The largest photovoltaic (PV) power plant in the United States was completed this week, as Arizona-based PV module-maker First Solar finished building the Copper Mountain Solar Facility in Boulder City, Nevada, just 40 miles east of Las Vegas.

Yesterday, U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar approved the 500-megawatt (MW), 6,320-acre Amargosa Farm Road Solar Project to be built in Nevada’s Amargosa Desert, just east of Death Valley National Park.

U.S. Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar ushered in the second full day of the 2010 Solar Power International (SPI) Conference and Exhibition on Wednesday by signing off on the first large-scale solar energy project to be built on public land in Nevada.

Construction of the site is set to begin in 2011 and bring thousands of long and short term jobs to the state with the highest rate of unemployment – 14 percent according toCSMonitor.com – and home foreclosures – one in every 79 homes according to fox5vegas.

The electric co-op currently serving communities in Nevada and California is doing all it can to make the solar appliance more affordable for homeowners: sellling the systems for what they cost, providing free certified installation and establishing an interest free loan program to further entice the public to go solar.

Energy project developers have dropped their plans for a coal-fired power plant in southeastern Nevada, opting instead to deploy a combination of solar panels and natural gas turbines. Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev), Mesquite Mayor Susan Holecheck and Tony James, President and CEO of Blackstone Group, yesterday announced the change. Instead of the 750-megawatt (mW) coal-powered Toquop Energy Project [...]

When Arizona Governor Jan Brewer (R) spoke earlier this week about the need to ramp up clean energy production in the state, she raised a few hackles by emphasizing her interest in nuclear power. It’s not a renewable technology, of course, but it’s emissions-free, and as we all know the list of pros and cons [...]