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COLUMBIA, SC — Elephants, flamingos, giraffes and gorillas will share top billing with the darkened sky at Riverbanks Zoo during next month’s solar eclipse. Zoo officials plan to study 12 types of animals and birds to see if they act differently before, during and after the Aug. 21 eclipse. The effort is intended to show what impact, if any, the temporary mid-afternoon blackout has on some of the zoo’s 2,000 animals. Little is know about how animals behave during eclipses, zoo officials say. “It’s an opportunity to do a little bit of science instead of relying on anecdotes,” said Ed...

KNOXVILLE (WATE) — While East Tennesseans are keeping an eye on the sky, there’s going to be plenty of action on the ground at Zoo Knoxville as the total solar eclipse passes through on August 21. There are more than 700 animals at the zoo and staff plans to observe them during the time of totality. The phenomenon is raising questions like, how will animals react when their daily routines are driven by the cycles of night and day? “We don’t know what’s going to happen,” said Phil Colclough, with Zoo Knoxville.

NEW YORK, Aug. 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- GameChange Solar CEO Andrew Worden today issued a statement voicing deep concern about the ITC 201 trade case which threatens the US solar industry and if passed by the Trump administration, could trigger the loss of 88,000 or more of the 374,000 American jobs in the industry. Solar manufacturing is the fastest growing employment sector in the country over the last five years with jobs surging by 58%. This is due to the rapidly dropping costs of solar power which created a surge in demand for the equipment that goes into building solar...

Fake Solar Eclipse Glasses Are Flooding the Market: How to Stay Safe By Mike Wall, Space.com Senior Writer | If you're planning to view the total solar eclipse on Aug. 21, make sure you've got the right safety gear. Phony eclipse glasses are currently flooding the marketplace, according to the American Astronomical Society (AAS). This counterfeit equipment falsely claims to meet the international standard for safe solar viewing, which is known as ISO 12312-2 (also written as ISO 12312-2:2015). So how do you know that your eclipse glasses or handheld viewers are safe? The AAS has done some legwork and identified...

We’re approaching another minimum in the 11-year sunspot cycle, predicted for the years 2019 and 2020, and so the number of visible spots on the sun has been low. But there’s a nice, big, visible spot on the sun now, plus an Earth-facing coronal hole seen by spacecraft. Because this hole in the sun’s atmosphere faces Earth – and because it releases a high-speed solar wind – experts say there’s a 60% chance this weekend of minor G1-class geomagnetic storms, which could causes auroras. The coming full moon, of course, might interfere or might give you an opportunity for some...

after 8 long years of solar energy businesses being promoted by the U.S. government, hard numbers and real work experiences are causing people to reassess just how “green” solar energy is. To begin with, it appears that solar panels create 300 times more toxic waste per unit of electricity generated than nuclear power plants.... And while nuclear energy production does generate radioactive wastes, the sheer volume difference shows that the nuclear energy is more efficient at energy production. And while “toxic” may seem less hazardous than “radioactives”, heavy metals are forever whereas radioactive particles decay over time. Chronic exposures to...

Last November, Japan’s Environment Ministry issued a stark warning: the amount of solar panel waste Japan produces every year will rise from 10,000 to 800,000 tons by 2040, and the nation has no plan for safely disposing of it. Neither does California, a world leader in deploying solar panels. Only Europe requires solar panel makers to collect and dispose of solar waste at the end of their lives. All of which begs the question: just how big of a problem is solar waste? Environmental Progress investigated the problem to see how the problem compared to the much more high-profile issue...

The solar-energy industry has been touted for years as the environmentally safe alternative. After all, solar panels merely absorb the sun’s energy and transfer it to consumers. No oily pipelines, no obstructions to the nation’s waterways. But it appears all is not well for fans of the industry. Discarded solar panels, piling up around the world, are detrimental to the environment, according to a new study by Environmental Progress. And carcinogenic. And teratogenic. While environmentalist have warned for decades of the hazard of nuclear power, solar panels produce 300 times more toxic waste per unity of energy than nuclear power...

The sun is heading into a period known as solar minimum, during which activity at the surface will ‘change form.’In this time, certain types of activity, such as sunspots and solar flares will drop – but, it’s also expected to bring the development of long-lived phenomena including coronal holes. According to NASA, solar minimum could also enhance the effects of space weather, potentially disrupting communications and navigation systems, and even causing space junk to ‘hang around.’

t’s clear once again that Trump doesn’t really understand how solar works. From his words, he appears to believe the mere production of energy will somehow generate revenue, ignoring the fact someone has to buy the energy it produces. He didn’t explain who would be dong that – was he planning to sell the power to Mexico? The poor residents of south Texas border towns? Who will be purchasing the electricity and at what price?

California is the poster child for solar energy: in 2016, 13% of the state's power came from solar sources. According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, California is in the lead for the cumulative amount of solar electric capacity installed in 2016. In fact, the California is generating so much solar energy that it is resorting to paying other states to take the excess electricity in order to prevent overloading power lines. According to the Los Angeles Times, Arizona residents have already saved millions in 2017 thanks to California’s contribution.

Bruce Blakeman of Sustainable Technology, Inc. provides insight

Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted early Wednesday that ordering would begin later in the day. Musk said the tiles will be sold worldwide. They’ll go to U.S. customers first this year and to other countries next year. He gave no other details. Palo Alto-based Tesla, which makes electric cars, announced last fall that it would produce the tiles with solar power company SolarCity Corp. Tesla and SolarCity completed a merger in November. The glass tiles are designed to look like a traditional roof, with options that replicate slate or terracotta tiles. They contain photovoltaic cells that Tesla says are invisible...

In keeping with his habit of appointing people who want to destroy the agencies they head, the president appointed outspoken renewables critic Daniel Simmons to Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE).

Scientists have just discovered massive amounts of a rare metal called tellurium, a key element in cutting-edge solar technology. As a solar expert who specialises in exactly this, I should be delighted. But here’s the catch: the deposit is found at the bottom of the sea, in an undisturbed part of the ocean. People often have an idealised view of solar as the perfect clean energy source. Direct conversion of sunlight to electricity, no emissions, no oil spills or contamination, perfectly clean. This however overlooks the messy reality of how solar panels are produced. While the energy produced is indeed...

The filing, signed by HelioPower President Maurice Russo, says that despite borrowing nearly $3 million from its parent company Sierra Nevada Solar (SNS) over a period of years, its current revenues are not enough to keep up with its debt obligations. In fact, HelioPower has borrowed $182,218 from SNS so far in 2017 just to meet its payroll obligations.

Conservative groups wrote a letter to Congress Tuesday asking lawmakers on the appropriations committee to eliminate a solar subsidy program worth $270 million. Conservatives want Congress to pull funding from the Energy Department’s SunShot Initiative, citing recent investigations that found the program provided subsidies for rooftop solar power. The letter calls SunShot the “ground zero of the solar subsidy machine,” arguing that it gives out millions of dollars in subsidies through net metering programs. Such programs force utilities to buy the electricity from rooftop solar panels at up to six times the market price, effectively forcing non-solar residents to pay...

Solar company Suniva Inc. filed for bankruptcy Wednesday after receiving millions in government subsidies to manufacture solar panels. Suniva blamed its bankruptcy on competition from cheap Chinese-made solar panels, but the company received about $20 million in support from federal and state taxpayers, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “For many years, Chinese manufacturers of solar cells have benefited from favorable, state-sponsored financing and lower labor costs, allowing them to flood the United States market for solar cells and modules with cheap imports,” David Baker, the company’s restructuring officer, said in a statement. “This has negatively impacted manufacturers based in the...

After being rescued from bankruptcy earlier this week, [Sungevity] fired more employees with no formal notice – and changed its name to Spectrum Solar.

Sungevity’s sudden and startling fall from grace came to a quiet end yesterday after a Delaware bankruptcy court approved the sale of its assets to Northern Pacific Group for $50 million.