TEMPE, Ariz. -- First Solar Inc., the solar manufacturer that gets almost two-thirds of sales from building and selling utility-scale power plants, agreed to buy TetraSun, a startup developing photovoltaic technology for rooftops. 

Climate activists amassed an impressive army to march on Washington against the Keystone XL pipeline and the dirty oil it would bring from Canada to U.S. refineries and world energy markets. In this fight, however, a relatively small volume of carbon-dioxide emissions is at stake — the Environmental Protection Agency estimates that those from Keystone amount to a mere 0.2 percent of the “carbon budget” that scientists say we need to shrink in order to avoid catastrophic warming. 

County legislators will consider next week a way forward on a comprehensive renewable energy plan and will be asked to approve the agreement between the county and its former redevelopment agency’s successor agency for cooperation and reimbursement of loans. 

Currently under way at the San Diego International Airport is the Green Build, the largest construction project in the airport’s history. A $1 billion project, the Green Build is essential in supporting this nearly 100 percent anticipated increase in airport traffic over the next 20 years. Long term, the project is critical in supporting San Diego’s thriving hospitality, technology, and science industries. 

Engaging small, local and disadvantaged subcontractors in an area of high unemployment is a priority for the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority, and on the San Diego International Airport’s Terminal 2 Landside Improvements project, it was also a priority for the Kiewit/Sundt Joint Venture. Kiewit/Sundt set the bar high for small, local and disadvantaged business participation. and achieved an actual participation rate of 34% of total contract value. 

As part of the Green Build, the Authority’s small business develop­ment team aims to ensure that local, small and disadvantaged businesses have opportunities to bid on and win contracts. 

As November’s general election creates numerous possibilities for policy change both in San Diego and across the country, a group of executives from companies and groups involved in the expansion of solar energy systems discussed the state of their economies at a Daily Transcript roundtable. 

In the aftermath of the summer bankruptcy of the government-backed California solar panel maker Solyndra, expectations among renewable energy wonks, who describe the company’s failure as an outlier among many successes, remain generally high. But some policy research analysts are more skeptical — not doubtful, but still skeptical. 

When entering San Diego's business community about 30 years ago, Clint Walker’s aim had nothing to do with being in the solar business. His success as the co-founder and president of Southwestern Solar Systems since his entrance to the business in 2009 came about in much the same fashion his other major endeavors have. 

When Cecilia Aguillon, director of marketing and government relations for Kyocera Solar Inc., immigrated to the United States from El Salvador as a teen, she grew into a young adult with a lofty goal in mind: to save the world. 

Some people look at buildings and see a combination of wood, steel and mortar with a number of things inside to make them more comfortable and workable — lighting, computers and maybe a few windows, even if they can't be opened.