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Spending on Energy Efficiency Programs to Double by 2025

Spending on energy efficiency programs funded by electric and natural gas utility customers will double by 2025 to about $9.5 billion per year, according to projections published today by researchers at Berkeley Lab.

18 Jan 2013

World Energy Congress Announces Launch of ‘Tomorrow’s Energy Prize’

The World Energy Council today officially launched the “Tomorrow’s Energy Prize”, a US$60,000 competition to recognise the most outstanding papers submitted to the World Energy Congress, which takes place in Daegu, Korea, from 13 to 17 October 2013.

18 Jan 2013

Funding Plays an Important Role in Tidal Power Projects

New research from a global group of scientists and engineers, including from the University of Southampton, has been published in a special issue journal of the Royal Society. The work is in support of tidal power, which has the potential to provide more than 20 per cent of the UK’s electricity demand.

17 Jan 2013

KI Completes Installation of 115 kW Solar PV System at Green Bay, Wisconsin

KI has completed the installation of Northeast Wisconsin's largest solar photovoltaic (PV) system at its Green Bay, WI., design and development facility. The new 115 kilowatt (kW) array—comprised of 480 PV solar panels, covering approximately 22,820 square feet of rooftop space—converts sunlight into electricity, producing approximately 152,640 kilowatt hours (kWh) of clean energy annually while displacing 108 metric tons carbon dioxide emissions.

17 Jan 2013

Jute Works as a Sustainable Reinforcement for Mortar and Concrete

Fashionable people may turn up their noses at jute — the cheap fiber used to make burlap, gunny sacks, twine and other common products — but new research is enhancing jute's appeal as an inexpensive, sustainable reinforcement for mortar and concrete. The study appears in ACS' journal Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research.

17 Jan 2013

Better Recovery of Valuable Material from Waste Needed

A considerable amount of valuable raw materials is lost in waste utilization and processing chains. It would be worth, for example, effecting better recovery of the valuable metals contained in electronic equipment. Research carried out by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Aalto University, the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE) and Lappeenranta University of Technology has provided new information on the development needs of waste management.

17 Jan 2013

Shrub Encroachments Affect Peatlands Ecosystems

For the first time, a group of scientists from WSL and EPFL described why on the long run peatlands may not be able to continue fulfilling their role as the most effective carbon stocking ecosystems. They studied the mechanisms behind a phenomenon known as shrub encroachment of peatlands: Complex plant-microbe interactions are at the root of this worldwide vegetation change. The findings have been published online today in Nature Climate Change.

17 Jan 2013

Fraunhofer, UBC Partner to Improve Efficiency and Reliability of Fuel Cells

The transition from fossil fuels to sustainable and regenerative energy concepts is a challenge that sooner or later all industrial nations will be facing. Mastering this difficult task will require new technologies. Currently the green-energy industries in both Germany and Canada have a globally recognised leadership role.

17 Jan 2013

Marginal Lands Represent a Huge Untapped Resource for Biofuel Production

Marginal lands – those unsuited for food crops – can serve as prime real estate for meeting the nation's alternative energy production goals.

17 Jan 2013

Heliatek Reports Record Breaking Cell Efficiency for Organic Solar Cells

Heliatek GmbH, the leader in organic solar films, today announced a record breaking 12.0% cell efficiency for its organic solar cells. This world record, established in cooperation with the University of Ulm and TU Dresden, was measured by the accredited testing facility SGS. The measurement campaign at SGS also validated the superior low light and high temperature performances of organic photovoltaics (OPV) compared to traditional solar technologies.

17 Jan 2013

Zircar Zirconia, Inc. Supplies High Temperature Insulation for Solar Thermochemical Fuel Production Reactor

Zircar Zirconia, Inc., a global leader in high temperature insulation products, received multiple orders in late December,2012 from the University of Florida’s(UF) Solar Fuel Team to supply custom machined, high temperature insulation reactor components.

17 Jan 2013

Novel Tool to Study Energy Demand and Impact of Carbon Dioxide Emissions

The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has created an energy analysis tool to help individuals and educators experiment with future energy use scenarios. The interactive Buildings, Industry, Transportation, Electricity, and Transportation Scenarios (BITES) allows users to explore how changes in energy demand and supply can impact carbon dioxide emissions and the current U.S. energy trajectory.

From National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) 16 Jan 2013

Black Carbon Contributes More to Global Warming than Previously Estimated

In addition to causing smoggy skies and chronic coughs, soot – or black carbon – turns out to be the number two contributor to global warming. It's second only to carbon dioxide, according to a four-year assessment by an international panel.

16 Jan 2013

USDA Awards $5.08M for Study on Oilseed Camelina as a Potential Commercial Biofuel Feedstock

It may not be a household name even among farm families, but the oilseed camelina is showing good potential as an environmentally-friendly commercial biofuel feedstock, particularly for biodiesel and jet fuel. To that end, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has just awarded $5.08 million to a team of researchers, led by Kansas State University Distinguished Professor in Grain Science and Industry, Xiuzhi "Susan" Sun, to study the crop's potential.

16 Jan 2013

Automaker DongFeng Places Order for Electrovaya’s Lithium Ion SuperPolymer Batteries

Electrovaya Inc. today announced that it has received an initial contract to produce prototypes to deliver complete electric vehicle battery systems for DongFeng Motors' two electric vehicle platforms. DongFeng Motors (DFM) plans to commercially launch these two electric vehicles by late 2013.

From Electrovaya 16 Jan 2013