Solar News Roundup for Friday, July 30

From racecars to temperature changes, this has been quite the week for solar and environmental news. Check out this week’s hottest stories in today’s solar news roundup.

State of the Climate: The hottest story this week has undeniably been a report released on Wednesday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that found this past decade to be the hottest decade on record. The annual “State of the Climate” report incorporated findings from over 300 scientists in 48 countries, using data from sources including “satellites, weather balloons, weather stations, ships, buoys, and field surveys.” The report doesn’t include data from 2010, which is predicted to exceed the hottest average global temperature ever recorded.

Solar Cells: On Tuesday, Vodafone Essar released a new kind of “solar cell” – a solar cellular phone! The phones are targeted towards Indians living in rural areas that lack access to electricity, but receive a lot of sun. The phone, which requires 8 hours of direct sunlight to fully charge provides 240 minutes of talktime and 200 standby hours. It’s currently priced at $32 and is expected to go on sale in stores in August.

The Sunshine Track: The NASCAR racetrack at Pocono Raceway has gone solar!   Pocono’s 3 megawatt, 250 acre ground-mounted solar system is finally up and running with 40,000 photovoltaic solar panels. Like SunRun home solar systems, the NASCAR system is tied to the grid, and provides enough energy for the whole racetrack and 1,000 neighboring homes. NASCAR estimates that the system will produce 72 million kWh of energy over the next 20 years, offsetting over 3,100 metric tons of CO2 every year.

Solar in Hawaii: Eric Wesoff also took some time this week to examine the state of solar in Hawaii – a state in which solar would be a “no-brainer” (lots of sun, high electricity rates). What he discovered was that despite the appeal of solar in the state, upfront costs continue to be the greatest barrier to going solar in Hawaii. Despite this, the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative has a goal of having 70% of the island’s energy come from clean sources by 2030.

And of course, we mustn’t forget to mention Good Morning America’s solar spotlight on Thursday! SunRun president Lynn Jurich spoke with GMA’s Sam Champion on affordable ways for homeowners to go solar. Judging from the great response we’ve received since yesterday, the future looks bright for clean solar power!

Please let us know if you’d like a particular story included in roundup. Happy weekend!

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