Research service company Lux Research has recently published its “Painting a Green Future: Opportunities in Sustainable Architectural Coatings” report as part of the Lux Research Sustainable Building Materials service. The report focuses on the US$53 billion architectural coatings market and the sustainability of coating technologies.

Konarka Technologies and Dri-Design have announced the integration of Konarka's solar panels into Dri-Design's metal rainscreen panels. This is the first application of its kind and the panels are used for façade installations. The panels offer architects a range of possibilities of integrations into materials like glass or plastic.

On May 8th, the 13th Solarexpo opens its doors in Verona to international exhibitors and visitors. Over 1,230 direct exhibitors and brands, representing 40 European and non-European countries will be exhibiting on more than 100,000 m² of exhibition area. More than 70,000 professional visitors are expected to visit the 11 exhibition halls and outdoor exhibition areas. Solarexpo hosts 60 international and national conferences, workshops and courses this year with 300 national and international speakers presenting to 6000 expected conference attendees.

Global Solar Energy has announced that it has contracted FTI Capital Advisors to carry out an asset sale of the company’s portable products division, including the Sunlina and P3 product lines. Global Solar Energy has decided to focus more in the BIPV market and grow its building integrated products division. The company’s portable solar solutions unit mainly serves the military for solar applications, outdoor applications or mobile professionals.

PV modules manufacturer Hanwha Solar has announced that it has provided solar panels for Disney’s Vision House in Innoventions at Epcot at the Walt Disney World Resort.
 

NanoMarkets has announced that it will publish two new reports in May, following its recent  DSC and BIPV glass markets reports. The research firm will publish "Opportunities in the Organic Photovoltaics Market 2012" and "BIPV Encapsulation Markets 2012" next month, which will conclude with eight-year forecasts of the OPV and BIPV encapsulation markts.

Sun Power has entered into a collaboration agreement with Giulio Barbieri to design and produce a new solar carport intended for the Italian market.
Under the agreement, Guilio Barbieri will provide carports designed specifically for residential customers and SunPower’s partners will install the PV system. There are four different versions of the carport available and the sizes vary from approximately 5.9kW to 10.5kW.

Bob Huff, California state senator and the mayor of the City of industry, David Perez, attended the opening of the 2MW PV carports and electrical vehicle charging station at the City of Industry’s Metrolink station. The project was constructed by Oltmans Construction while Southern California Edison aided the realization with a 20-year PPA.

Envision Solar has entered an agreement with a Fortune 10 company and will be providing its products to a large number of PV projects all over the US. The comapny will provide its Solar Tree structures for over 900 locations across the US, including electric car charging stations and the agreement will cover a time period from of 2 years, beginning in the first six months of 2012.

United Solar has announced that it has supplied the PV laminates for Pvillion’s first solar sail electric car charging station. Pvillion constructed the charging station, located in Pflugerville, Texas, using United Solar’s products for the 1600W solar sail.