K-12 Teachers Stock Up on Donated Reading Material for Kids

Innovative Curriculum Debuts in San Bernardino County High School

This week, the White House announced $120 million in programming designed to scale up solar energy across the country. In a series of executive actions, the president outlined his plan to fund projects in 24 states that encourage the technological innovation, growth and cost reduction necessary to bring solar energy to scale across the country.

Last week, the California State Assembly passed SB 350, a bill that promises to boost renewable energy and make buildings twice as efficient as before. Officially named The Clean Energy and Reduction Act, the bill would require utilities to provide 50 percent of their electricity generation from renewable sources, such as solar, wind and geothermal power, by 2030.

While solar power has shown itself to be renewable, cost-effective and carbon-free, it is its resiliency that is saving Californians during the state's severe drought.

This June, utility-scale solar generators output 31 times more electricity than they did a decade ago, according to new research from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Amid the past year of record-breaking solar growth across the country, the residential market has grown the most. American homeowners added 437 megawatts of solar capacity last year, enough to power more than 71,000 houses. If you are thinking about cutting your energy costs and carbon footprint as well, here are four indicators that your home is good for solar:

Last year, California added nearly 7,500 new solar energy jobs, with another 10,000 expected for 2015, according to The Solar Foundation's California Solar Jobs Census. The 16 percent growth in the solar market last year brought California's total number of solar jobs to 54,690, 31 percent of all solar employment in the U.S.

Though it was the last state to join the Union, Hawaii is making a push to be the first state to use 100 percent renewable energy.

Residential solar panels can boost the value of your home by an average of $15,000, according to research commissioned by the Department of Energy. The study, conducted by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, found that potential home buyers were willing to pay about four dollars per watt more for a home with photovoltaic solar panels than for a ...