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Despite a sharp drop in the price of solar panels and innovative financing plans that have brought the technology to many middle income households over the past decade, it is still seen as a luxury only rich, mostly white, consumers can afford. . . Data from U.S. online solar marketplace EnergySage showed that just 4 percent of more than 10,000 people actively shopping for solar systems on its site identified themselves as black, with 11 percent split between Hispanic and Asian shoppers. Those who identified themselves as white made up 73 percent of the shoppers and the rest did not declare their race. EnergySage said nearly 80 percent of shoppers reported household incomes of $50,000 or more and nearly a third declared incomes of $125,000 or more.

Los Angeles-based Hyperloop Technologies Inc. has signed agreements to locate its Propulsion Open Air Test on about 50 acres in the Apex Industrial Park. Hardware for the facility is expected to begin arriving later this month. . . “Hyperloop Technologies will invest first in regions where we receive government advocacy to move fast,” Lloyd said, thanking Sandoval, state Economic Development Director Steve Hill and North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee for their support for the project.

The Pacific Coast Collaborative released its 2014 jobs update report showing the strength of the West Coast’s clean economy.

A coalition of labor and community groups stepped up its battle with a Chinese-owned company that manufactures electric vehicles in Los Angeles County on Tuesday, accusing the firm of breaking promises and failing to provide safe “living wage” jobs with the tens of millions of dollars the firm has received from government contracts and other public investment.

Tesla is a large recipient. The carmaker is currently applying for over $140 million–more than enough to deplete an entire year’s fund.

A report researched and released Thursday by Environmental Entrepreneurs, or E2, called Utah “a hive of clean energy activity,” ranking it No. 1 among states that created clean energy jobs in this year’s third quarter.

The company is one of four that operate in the Altamont Pass Wind Farm, which was one of the first wind farms in the country when commissioned in the early 1980s and currently has about 3,000 turbines.

Dreams that solar manufacturing might take root in San Diego have faded as French solar company Soitec shuttered its Rancho Bernardo assembly line and seeks to sell off related assets, including permits for two local solar farms that never came to fruition.

Sancho Lopez, a Riverside police officer and homeowner in an adjacent county, experienced the problem first-hand. He and his wife financed the $40,000 cost of 21 dual-pane, energy efficient windows and two sliding doors with a PACE loan. When they decided to sell their house, their realtor warned them it wouldn’t be easy. The house sat on the market for 10 months, and it is in escrow now, Lopez said, only because he has agreed to pay off the loan balance – now $46,000 because of interest and fees.

Tesla has confirmed reports that the falcon-winged all-electric SUV, because of its gross vehicular weight, may qualify for a federal tax break designed for heavy equipment. 

The San Mateo, Calif., company will begin producing the first modules in small quantities this month at its pilot facility, but the majority of the new solar panels will ultimately be made at the company’s major facility in Buffalo, N.Y.

Despite a testy and drawn-out political battle, the new green mandates just approved by state lawmakers — higher efficiency standards for buildings, more reliance on renewable energy — signal good news for the state’s clean-energy industry.

“Owing to the uncertainty caused by its pending expiration, businesses across the state are already adjusting their plans for project development in 2017,” said Bernadette Del Chiaro, executive director of the California Solar Energy Industries Association. “We shouldn’t risk a significant slowdown of solar energy by letting [it] expire.”

Edison says the per-kilowatt fee, or one like it, is necessary to pay for the cost of maintaining the power grid.

Pavely said she isn’t worried that her bill will die, however. The messaging from opponents is “easy to refute,” she said. The real challenge, she said, is to educate lawmakers on the state’s broader goals on climate change so that laws written after she is termed out continue to advance the program.