SolarWorld's offer to General Motors is no joke. The German-based solar-power company is serious about wanting to purchase GM's Opel division, SolarWorld CEO Frank H. Asbeck said Thursday morning on German radio.

SolarWorld announced on Wednesday that it's in the process of making an offer to General Motors for its Adam Opel (aka Opel) division for about 1 billion euros ($1.3 billion).

Homeowners who dream of their electric meter spinning backward may seek solar panels to slash bills and carbon emissions. But where to start?

Before you call a contractor, these sites can assist with the early steps, like summing up what you could spend or save in your neighborhood.

For further information: CNET

SunRun has secured financing from U.S. Bancorp to expand its solar power purchasing program to 2,000 more homes in the next year, the San Francisco start-up said Thursday.

U.S. Bancorp, the parent of U.S. Bank, has committed $105 million in tax equity, a fund that will allow the bank and SunRun to take advantage of the federal solar subsidy, which is a tax credit.

SunRun's business model--one being pursued by a handful of new solar installers--is to provide financing to homeowners and small businesses interested in installing solar panels.

A California start-up says next year it will introduce a BlackBerry-size box that uses zinc as a fuel to charge electronic gadgets, a move that some people hope is a small step toward a broad zinc-based energy industry.

Three-year-old Power Air was formed to commercialize zinc-air fuel cell technology developed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The core technology--an alternative to lithium-ion batteries or hydrogen fuel cells--creates an electrical current by exposing a zinc solution to the oxygen in air.

Mesh Wi-Fi provider Meraki is going green with a new solar-powered repeater.

The company, which builds low-cost and easy-to-manage Wi-Fi gear, said the Meraki Solar Wi-Fi repeater will ship starting December 4. The price of the solar repeater costs between $749 and $1,499.

Sanjit Biswas, co-founder and CEO of Meraki, said he expects customers in developing markets, where power infrastructure is not reliable or nonexistent, to be especially interested in the product. But he said that there has also been interest among customers here in the U.S. and other developed markets.

Energy and environmental policy is poised for dramatic change under an Obama administration even with a slumping economy.

With the incoming administration and Congress, renewable energy advocates and environmentalists said they anticipate a comprehensive national energy plan focused on fostering clean-energy technologies.

"The election is over. Now the hard work begins," wrote Dan Farber, a professor of law at the University of California at Berkeley and a member of the lobbying group Cleantech & Green Business for Obama. "Change is on the way."

Cool Earth Solar has one of those radical green-tech ideas that may actually make a real commercial impact.

In the next two weeks, the company plans to start testing a prototype solar plant built around rows of reflective balloons hung on poles. The solar balloons, which are eight feet in diameter, look something like a tube for sledding or laying around the pool, but each one can generate 1 kilowatt of electricity.

Tesla Motors on Sunday said it has finalized $40 million in convertible debt financing, which it will use to accelerate production of its Roadster electric sports car.

The company last week said it was seeking money to overcome a low-cash position of $9 million. Elon Musk, its chairman, CEO, and product architect, also indicated that Tesla had tried, but failed, to raise $100 million.

"Forty million is significantly more than we need, Musk said in a statement. "However, the board, investors, and I felt it was important to have significant cash reserves."

High-profile electric car company Tesla Motors has a bit of a money problem, but CEO Elon Musk says he has a plan.

In an interview with Reuters on Thursday, Musk said he expects to raise more than $20 million in the next week to bolster its cash reserves and make the company cash-flow positive.

The company had been seeking to raise $100 million but failed, Musk told Reuters.

The headlong rush to create electric cars for green-minded consumers may come with a significant economic and environmental cost.

Lithium ion batteries--the same used in electronic gadgets and laptops--have become the preferred battery type for plug-in hybrids and electric cars now starting to come to market.

That swelling demand has some industry observers concerned that there will be a shortage of the metal lithium, the material used to make the batteries.