Author: Sarah Baker

Solar in Poor Communities

1.2 billion people,17 percent of the global population, in the world presently live without electricity. In developing nations where incomes are low and jobs are difficult to find, there tends to be lower education achievement. A large part of has to do with lack of electricity; when the sun goes down, the books have to close.  There are Read More …

Solar Shingles: Non-Conventional Rooftop Solar

Conventional solar panels are sometimes regarded as an eyesore, but there are new forms for rooftop solar. Solar shingles are building-integrated photovoltaics that are integrated into the existing design of a conventionally-shingled rooftop. Solar shingles were introduced in 2005 and have since been making ground mostly in Colorado. Household solar shingles have the ability to cut Read More …

Germany as a Role Model

As the world modernizes and realizes the urgency for cleaner energy sources, countries are writing policies to introduce more renewables onto their grids. Germany is a leader in this movement and has developed a policy that expedites this process. Energiewende is Germany’s energy policy enacted in 2011 to introduce a significant increase in the use of Read More …

Comparable Offshore Wind Economies

Europe’s wind-energy industry plays a large and positive role in Europe’s economy. Even in economic recession, the wind power sector employed around 238,000 in 2010. Also in 2010, the wind energy sector contributed almost 0.3 percent of Europe’s total GDP.  There are 15 wind farms off the coasts of Europe consisting of 754 wind turbines all built Read More …

First-World Predation on Third-World Nations

Economic inequality is the difference between individuals, or populations, in terms of their wealth, assets, or income. Economic inequality happens on varying scales from country to country and from city to city, even home to home. On a large scale, we compare industrialized nations to lesser-developed nations. First world nations are the wealthiest countries that use Read More …