Energy

How do solar energy, wind energy, energy efficiency and a variety of other sustainable technologies save money for the typical homeowner while consuming less of our natural resources? You can find answers to those questions and more at the upcoming DFW Solar Tour, hosted by North Texas Renewable Energy Group on Oct. 1. The event is free.

The Dallas Sierra Club's Earth, Wind & Fire Energy Summit on Oct. 22-23 will educate attendees, including officials and the public, on Texas energy and new technology, featuring expert discussions on climate change, battery storage, and renewable energy. Early registration is $55, increasing to $75 after Oct. 1.

Who says you can’t combine luxury and eco-friendly elements in the same sentence these days? The folks at the Texas Auto Writers Association gave a nod to that winning combination a few weeks ago in Fort Worth at the group’s Spring Auto Roundup at Texas Motor Speedway.

Last Tuesday, the Allen City Council unanimously voted to keep its restriction prohibiting solar panels on the front of homes. City council members cited concerns about aesthetics and fear that trees would be cut to make way for solar panels as reasons for prohibiting street-facing solar.

The EPA's report suggests a significant possibility that North Texas earthquakes are linked to oil and gas drilling activities, particularly disposal wells. Despite new regulations and pressure to acknowledge scientific evidence, the Texas Railroad Commission has not publicly tied earthquakes to industry activity.

Toyota’s giant rooftop solar installation in Plano, on target to be the largest non-utility solar array in Texas, will shine a light on a technology that’s growing and well-suited to North Texas, but has been a little slower to catch on here.

Dan Lepinski, a solar expert, offers free classes for professionals, addressing solar power's significance as Texas sees a 50% investment increase. These classes educate realtors, bankers, and officials on solar valuation, installation, and financing, enhancing community adoption and utility integration as solar becomes common.

On May 25, two hours before ExxonMobil shareholders convene their annual meeting at the Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas, 100 climate activists are expected to rally outside the center, asking the state to investigate Exxon for a 20-year campaign of public and shareholder disinformation and calling on investors to divest their Exxon shares.

When Jay Squyres installed his first solar rooftop array in 2009, the homeowner’s association in his Flower Mound subdivision went ballistic. Alarmed that the shiny panels on Squyres’ roof would somehow degrade values or mar the aesthetics of the affluent, treed and master-planned Wellington community, his HOA sued him. Twice.

Walter Hornaday, the cofounder of the Dallas-based Breeze Energy, now makes a living selling wind power to customers across Texas but he got his start in the industry on the production side more than 20 years ago.