Growing Pains for the Rooftop Solar Industry

Solar energy has had a great decade. One estimate puts the industry’s growth at 1600-percent over the last eight years. The last year though? Not so good, especially for rooftop solar companies. The market for residential solar systems has taken a hit, with bankruptcies abound from the likes of SunEdison, Sungevity, Suniva, and at least one company not starting with “sun” — SolarWorld.

Crude Oil Drivers Wanted: Worker Shortages Hold Back Fracking Crews

After a big downturn since mid-2014, oil prices have been better the last year for drillers. Not great, but better, and high enough that oil companies are expanding their operations here in the US. Of all the problems to have, though, companies aren’t getting as much oil out of the ground as they want because they can’t find enough workers for their highly paid jobs.

IE Questions: Super Grid! Spanning Continents In A Single Bound!

Somewhere in the world, the sun and wind are always shining and blowing, and people are always using electricity. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could get renewable power from the windy and sunny places to the power hungry places? That was presumably the thinking behind a question posed by an Inside Energy audience member: Would transmission losses be too high to sustain an international green power electrical grid? We answer it in this video explainer.

Trump Targets EPA And Obama Climate Change Regulations

President Trump is directing the Environmental Protection Agency to revise or get rid of the most significant climate regulation of the Obama Administration — the Clean Power Plan. Trump signed an executive order to “suspend, revise, or rescind” the plan at the EPA headquarters Tuesday.