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New Studies Unveil True Costs Of Fossil Fuels & Solar PV Two new studies published in the MRS Energy and Sustainability journal recently have both highlighted the social and economic benefits of solar PV compared to fossil fuels, in regards to the overall supply chain of all relevant fuels. Olson and Lenzmann provide a comprehensive analysis of the entire subsidy chain through both production and consumption of fossil and nuclear fuels, as well as solar PV, which has served to reveal costs that had hitherto been hidden. Very interesting as the studies (the two links to the studies are at the end of the article linked to below) in that they unpack the full costs of fossil fuels and solar PV. Fossil fuels have never been competitive as they receive about 10x the amount of subsidies, and these subsidies last 6x longer (and are still operating today) than solar PV. Cost factors that were taken into account are government subsidies (cost to the tax payer), refining, transport, environment, pollution, shadow banking, commidity trading, corruption, etc. See http://ift.tt/29W8977

New Concentrating Solar Tower Is Worth Its Salt with 24/7 Power A California firm is converting sunlight to heat and storing it in molten salt so it can supply electricity when the wind is calm or the sun isn’t shining. The facility is touted as being the first solar power plant that can store more than 10 hours of electricity, which translates into 1,100 megawatt-hours, enough to power 75,000 homes. “We can ramp up electricity generation for utilities based on the demand. We can turn on when they want us to turn on and we can turn off when they want us to turn off,” SolarReserve CEO Kevin Smith says. See http://ift.tt/29QYLjP

New Solar Workforce Development Program Aims To Meet Growing Solar Labor Demand A new $2.1 million solar workforce development program, funded by the US Department of Energy SunShot Initiative under its Solar Training and Education for Professionals (STEP) program, seeks to boost the future of solar in the United States by helping to train more people to meet the growing demand for qualified solar employees. More details at http://ift.tt/29KqSlz