Walgreens to build first net-zero energy retail store

This week, I asked a close friend to guess which state boasted the nation’s first net zero public elementary school.  “California?” he ventured.  “Vermont?”  “Massachusetts?” No, no, and no.  How about Kentucky, the nation’s third largest coal producer, with $5 bn in annual coal revenues and the nation’s fourth lowest electricity cost?

According to the San Francisco Department of the Environment, San Francisco now boasts a total of 110 charging stations at 42 locations across the city — more charging stations per capita than any other city in California.

But increasingly, on the roof, a less visible green endeavor is under way, in the form of solar panels feeding power to the store.

Walgreens, which has installed 134 solar systems across the country and has plans for many more, says its solar program stems from the brand’s connection to healthful living and a bottom-line desire to stabilize energy costs.

But it has plenty of company from other big-box retailers. Large chain stores, more than any other type of business, rely on rooftop solar power to help meet their energy needs, according to a report to be released Wednesday by the Solar Energy Industries Association and the Vote Solar Initiative, an advocacy group.

What’s happened in Germany is the “merit order effect.” Because utilities have purchased all this solar capacity on long-term contracts, there is effectively zero marginal cost to taking the solar electricity onto the grid. And in Germany, there’s enough solar electricity on sunny afternoons to completely offset the traditional spike in electricity demand created by air conditioning. So, instead of taking electricity from expensive gas peaking power plants or diesel generators, utilities have low-cost solar filling the gap, undermining the previous price peaks.

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)– ABM (NYSE:ABM), a leading provider of integrated facility solutions, today announced that Linc Network, LLC, a subsidiary of ABM Facility Solutions, has acquired the franchise operations of TEGG Corporation, an expansive network delivering comprehensive electrical service and preventive and predictive maintenance solutions to commercial and industrial facilities. TEGG’s franchise network, concentrated mainly in North America, spans 19 countries — expanding ABM’s international reach, increasing its service network and supporting the Company’s vision of becoming the global leader in integrated facility solutions.

The best solar stock in America
I am splitting my solar picks into American companies and Chinese companies because there are vast differences between the two, which I’ll explain later.

The best American stock in my eyes remains SunPower, and the reason I’m picking it is that in the battle I outlined above, costs have proven easier to cut than efficiency improvements have been to make in recent years.

SAN JOSE, Calif., March 27, 2012 /PRNewswire/ – SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWR), a Silicon Valley-based manufacturer of high efficiency solar cells, solar panels and solar systems today announced that its third generation SunPower® Maxeon™ solar cell (Maxeon) is now in commercial production.  This world-record efficiency solar cell delivers sunlight to electricity conversion efficiency of up to 24 percent.

Solar installers built 1,855 megawatts of photovoltaic projects in 2011 for a total of $8.4 billion, up from 887 MW in 2010, according to a report released by GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA).