First, Google. Then, Walmart. And now, Walgreens. The chain pharmacy celebrated installing its 100th system on a store in Mason, Ohio. Walgreens has been installing solar PV installations since 2007 and plans to have more than 130 installations nationwide - more than any other US retailer, according to reports in Business Wire. Could Walmart, Walgreens and other massive chain stores start competing for the title of the most solar retailer? Walgreens today has been installing the panels on its Ohio locations, and reportedly plans to include Connecticut, New Jersey, California, Oregon and...

Want to help people better understand and measure costs of PV installations? Ask your contractor to take a survey created by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and SolarTech that will be used to establish a benchmarking system of the non-hardware costs related to installing PV. These costs include customer acquisition costs, fees related to permitting, inspection and interconnection; financing and contracting; and installation and performance upkeep. Whats in it for your contractor? Well, the Department of Energy is trying to reduce installed costs of solar installations by 75 percent...

This week Walmart announced that 60 more locations in California would be adding solar panels. This will make over 75 percent of the stores in the state solar. Walmart spokespeople say that the energy savings of over a million dollars will be passed on to customers, but it seems the larger point is that Walmart is being a leader in the field of large corporations such as Google that are making serious commitment to renewable energy. Its anticipated that Walmart will work with SolarCity, the company that owns, installs and maintains solar power systems for businesses and homeowners too....

People in the US are seeing some hard economic times, and their housing choices reflect that: research says more people are seeing renting as a viable mid-term strategy. So with more of us renting, we are lucky that legislators are taking note and supporting bills that would legalize community solar gardens. Solar gardenswhere you can invest in solar on someone elses propertyare already legal and growing in Colorado, where an 858-kilowatt garden is open at a community airport. Californias looking at a serious bill too, noted the original Treehugger article by Sami Grover. 

Its...

The Washington Redskins and NRG together installed a PV installation at the teams home stadium. The solar installation is said to be able to power up to 20 percent of the stadiums game day needs. And on non-game days, the sun should be able to provide all of the stadiums electricity needs that is, as long as the sun is out. 

Curious for some details of this, the largest PV installation on a stadium in the country? Well, there are now 8,000 solar panels. And thanks to the panels, the stadiums now home to a solar shaded parking lot that can fit over 800 gamegoers in. 

Also, while...