Energy Technology

Mobile Solar "Flower" by Scottsdale-Based Monarch Power Lets You Bring Your Refrigerator Anywhere

Governor Jan Brewer and other state officials attended a demonstration today of a new, mobile solar-power generator that unfolds like the lotus flower it's named after. Monarch Power CEO, Joseph Hui, introduced the Lotus Mobile as a product that could power a refrigerator or other appliances in any ... More >>

For Matt Damon and Company, the Message Is the Message

Solar Eclipsed: Why the Sun Won't Power Phoenix Despite an Industry Boom

Solar Firm Matinee Energy is Full of Hot Air

Russell Pearce's New Nemesis: Republican Robert Worsley (w/Update)

Recalled state Senate President Russell Pearce has just encountered his first major obstacle in his revenge campaign for state Senate from Legislative District 25: Republican businessman Robert Worsley.Today, the wealthy Mesa executive has announced that he'll be Pearce's rival in the Republican pri ... More >>

Matinee Energy Distances Itself From Shady Founder, but Questions Remain in Plans to Build Several Large Solar-Power Plants in Arizona

Matinee Energy, a company with plans to build several large solar-power plants in Arizona, says a founder who once ran a bogus gold-mining scheme no longer has a role in the firm. Yet many questions remain about the mystery company, which reportedly has contracts with Hyundai Heavy and KEPCO KDN, t ... More >>

Two Thousand Acres of Desert in Southwest Valley to be Destroyed for Solar Plant -- So Why are Conservationists Happy?

​ The federal government just approved the destruction of 2,000 acres of Sonoran Desert land in the southwest Valley for a new solar plant, but conservationists aren't complaining.This time, anyway.Thomas Hulen, executive director of Friends of the Sonoran Desert National Monument, was one of ... More >>

Arizona Must Invest More in Solar Energy to Stay Ahead of Other States and China, Says GPEC President Barry Broome

Image: GPEC Barry Broome, president and CEO of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council, said today that his organization is doing a better job promoting the solar industry than the solar industry itself.​More subsidies for the solar industry in Arizona are crucial to avoid being lef ... More >>

Doh! Palo Verde Nuclear Power Plant has "Unusual Event;" No Danger, Says APS

An official "unusual event" was declared at the Palo Verde Nuclear Generation Station west of Phoenix on Saturday after water in a junction box outside of reactor containment building caused an electrical short.KTAR (92.3 FM) radio is the only outlet that appears to have reported the incident, but m ... More >>

Glastonbury Going Green... But Who's Playing?

​Worthy Farm, home to the Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts in the UK, now boasts what festival organizer Michael Eavis calls "the best solar power system in the country," according to NME.The cluster of 1,116 solar panels that is fixed on top of the cowshed at Worthy Farm is pr ... More >>

Phoenix Makes Top 20 in EPA's List of Most Energy-Efficient Cities

Wikimedia Commons The Collier Center is one of Phoenix's most energy efficient buildings.​ The Environmental Protection Agency released its second annual list of U.S. cities with the most energy-efficient buildings. Phoenix ranked number 20, just ahead of Ogden, Utah, and Charlotte, North ... More >>

Chipotle Loves the Environment Even More Now

​We've always wanted a solar-powered burrito, and now, thanks to Chipotle, our wish is coming true. Representatives for the Mexican grill announced this week that they plan to install solar paneling on 75 of their restaurants. The panels are designed to alleviate pressure on the ... More >>

World Technology Award Results: Drumroll Please...

Here's an update for those following the nomination of our intrepid algae-to-rocket fuel ASU inventors for the World Technology Award: Looks like scientists Qiang Hu and Milton Sommerfeld fell just short: The energy award was given on Friday to Zhengrong Shi from Suntech Power Holdings Co., for ... More >>

Phoenix Getting $830,000 From Feds for Cleaner Diesel Engine Technology; Valley Air to Get Infinitesimally Cleaner

Image: Wikimedia CommonsJar of biodiesel fuel The city of Phoenix announced today it will receive $830,000 in federal stimulus funds to "reduce diesel emissions by retrofitting and replacing city-owned equipment." Forgive us if we don't stand up and cheer. This money, half of which the feds are b ... More >>

Arizona Republic Lets Lawyer for Solar Company Shill for Industry Without Disclosing Ties

Solar power will be the "new economic engine for Arizona," writes local lawyer Jordan Rose in Saturday's "My Turn" column in the Arizona Republic. Whether that's true or not, it's already an economic engine for Rose, [pictured]. She's the lawyer for SolarCity, a California company planning to ins ... More >>

Al Gore's Clean-Energy Group Hosting Talk on "Benefits" of Proposed Law

Image: American Solar Electric A group headed by Al Gore is hosting a library roundtable this Wednesday to talk about the hoped-for benefits of the Waxman-Markey bill, a plan to kickstart clean-energy industries now wending its way through Congress. (No, Gore won't be there). According to Rep ... More >>

AZ Earth Day Coalition Celebration

The Sun Devils Celebrated Solar Power with a Free Concert at ASU on Monday, November 3

Phoenix Phoodies: Charcuterie & Biodiesel at Digestif

"Green" eatery association exaggerates facts on biodiesel as it shills for the fuelmaker that founded it

We're all destroying the earth, and buying an organic handbag ain't gonna help

Let the Sunshine In

When power-tripping HOAs push solar-minded residents around, everybody pays the price

Wisdom of the Ancestors

A Hopi leader fought a lonely battle to stop a mining company from stealing water that helped build Phoenix. He succeeded. Finally

Solstice Retreat

The Arizona Corporation Commission appears poised to toss solar power into the shadows

Community Center

The Trunk Space turns a year old

Born Again

Business and environmentalists agreed for once, and a beautiful Arizona stream will return to us.

Letters

Letters from the week of May 6, 2004

Power Vacuum

Arizona's letting the Big Three utilities steal countless millions from us by standing in the way of solar energy

Safety Meltdown

Critics say Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station is headed for trouble

Getting the Shaft

A water dispute puts both the economy and the environment at risk

Arizonan Siesta

While the public sleeps, the fix is in to turn our state into a power farm for Mexico

The New Economy

The road to Punta Abreojos is paved with hollow intentions

Russian Roulette

The Western Pacific gray whale, once thought extinct, clings to life in a remote Siberian sea. Biologists fear their research is providing cover for massive oil drilling that threatens to wipe out this lost tribe once and for all.

Power Trip

Plant near Kingman may be a foreboding sign for the rest of the state

Shock Treatment

California eats lots of power, but it doesn't like growing its own power plants. Instead, Arizona is becoming the new power farm for the Coast.

The Greening of Arizona

Is money from the sale of environmental license plates being properly spent?

The Trashman

Where unit-shifting heroes of rock are exposed as the passionless poseurs they really are

A People Betrayed

Recently discovered documents indicate that the lawyer who represented the Hopi Tribe in crucial negotiations with Peabody Western Coal Company was working for the mining company at the same time

Dark Days on Black Mesa

The Hopi want one of the largest coal mines in North America to stop using their groundwater. If springs and wells continue to dry up, they say, their ancient culture may disappear, too.

Fire in the Nuke

NRC contemplates $50,000 fine over Palo Verde nuclear plant blazes

No Sunset for Solar - Yet

Solar advisory council members get hot over Department of Commerce's effort to snuff their group

THE LITTLE ENGINE THAT COULDN'T

THE LIGHTER SIDE OF GLOWING IN THE DARK

SECRETS OF THE PALO VERDE INN

WHEN IT SOLD A WORKERS' DORMITORY LAST YEAR, APS LEFT THOUSANDS OF ITS OWN DOCUMENTS BEHIND. THOSE FILES SHOW DANGEROUS MISMANAGEMENT OF THE NATION'S LARGEST NUCLEAR PLANT.

THE NUKE GETS TAX BREAKS WHILE THE COUNTY FLOUNDERS

MORE FALLOUT AT PALO VERDENRC TO PROBE POSSIBLE COVER-UP IN WHISTLE-BLOWER CASE

NUKE PLANT CREASED IN WASHINGTON OPPOSITION HAS LITTLE TIME TO ACT

SUNDOWN FOR SOLARARIZONA'S ONCE-PROMISING INDUSTRY HAS WITHERED FROM NEGLECT

CRITICAL

AT PALO VERDE, IT'S OPEN SEASON ON WHISTLE-BLOWERS

NUKE PLANTS LOBBY TO LET DOWN THEIR GUARDS