When the Turanor PlanetSolar boat docked on May 18 in Marigot, St. Martin, it broke the speed record for a transatlantic crossing in a solar-powered boat.

Of course, PlanetSolar had only its own record to beat.

Students at Green Mountain College don’t just study solar projects, they design and build them.

This year students in the Renewable Energy and Ecological Design Program designed a solar-powered garage. The project not only taught students practical real-world experience in designing and building, it also will serve the college’s fossil fuel-free farm and could make electric car charging more viable in Vermont, where long cold winters and hilly terrain make plug-in cars less efficient.

Sebastopol was likely to be the first California city to require all new buildings to be outfitted with solar panels. But it was the second.

Last month, the city of Lancaster beat Sebastopol to implementing an ordinance requiring all new construction to don solar panels.

A group of some of the largest rooftop solar companies in the country that would normally compete against each other for customers have formed an alliance in preparation for a fight against utility companies that feel threatened by the growth of distributed generation technologies.

SolarCity, Sungevity, Sunrun and Verengo – all known for their solar leasing models – announced this week that they have formed The Alliance for Solar Choice or TASC.