In a bid to increase the uptake of solar technology in Ireland as families and businesses continue to negotiate the energy and cost of living challenges, the Irish government has announced they intend to drop the VAT rate on the supply and installation of solar panels to zero.

Renewable energy technologies are often regarded as new and innovative, but in some instances their roots predate the oil age and go back to the start of the industrial revolution. Dr Marc Ó’Riain finds important insights in past failures of early solar thermal systems.

In his second column on visionary eco-buildings of the 20th century, Dr Marc Ó Riain looks at the Dover Sun House, which used a pioneering salt solution to capture and store solar energy

Stevens Institute of Technology won top honours overall at the US Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2015 by designing, building, and operating the most  cost-effective, energy efficient, and attractive solar powered house at the competition. Dubbed ‘Sure House’, the building also meets passive house standards for heating demand and airtightness and features heat recovery ventilation.

How can a house embrace passive solar principles when all the sun’s heat and light is to the south — but all the best views are to the north? This striking home on the Connemara coast employed some clever solutions.

The expression ‘from a needle to an anchor’ comes to mind after having spent a day walking through the 17 halls of the Munich Exhibition for the biennial BAU.

A new 100kW solar photovoltaic system is helping to cut carbon emissions at the Snowmountain Enterprises cold storage warehouse in Cambridgeshire. 

European countries could transform their electricity supplies within a decade by investing in a giant network of solar panels in the Sahara desert, an expert told a global warming conference in Copenhagen today.

The international body that advises most major governments across the world on energy policy is obstructing a global switch to renewable power because of its ties to the oil, gas and nuclear sectors, a group of politicians and scientists claims today.