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After slow start, wave energy approaches commercial scales The burgeoning wave energy sector, which has endured ups and downs in recent years through initial testing of devices and uncertain government support, has recently set sail with new projects that have brought the industry to the brink of commercial development (Listen to podcast: Emergence of the wave energy industry).

Parabolic troughs, one of which is shown here, have been around for 25 years, and the technology will be around for at least another 25. Parabolic troughs reflect sunlight to heat liquid carried through a tube above the troughs. That liquid is converted to steam, which drives a traditional electricity turbine.

All Incentives for this State DSIRE Home Pennsylvania Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency See Federal Incentives See All Summaries See Homeowner Incentive Summaries Only Financial Incentives Local Grant Program * Metropolitan Edison Company SEF Grants (FirstEnergy Territory) * Penelec SEF of the Community Foundation for the Alleghenies Grant Program (FirstEnergy Territory) * Sustainable Development Fund Grant Program (PECO Territory) * West Penn Power SEF Grant Program Local Loan Program * Metropolitan Edison Company SEF Loans (FirstEnergy Territory) * Penelec SEF of the Community Foundation for the Alleghenies Loan Program (FirstEnergy Territory) * SEF of Central Eastern Pennsylvania Loan Program (PP&L Territory) * Sustainable Development Fund Commercial Financing Program (PECO Territory) * West Penn Power SEF Commercial Loan Program Property Tax Assessment * Wind-Energy System Exemption State Grant Program * High Performance Green Schools Planning Grants * Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority (PEDA) - Grants * Pennsylvania Energy Harvest Grant Program State Loan Program * Keystone Home Energy Loan Program * Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority (PEDA) - Loans and Loan Guarantees * Small Business Pollution Prevention Assistance Account Loan Program Utility Loan Program * Adams Electric Cooperative - Energy Resource Conservation (ERC) and Supplemental Loan Program Alternative Fuel and Vehicle Incentives * U.S. Department of Energy's Alternative Fuels Data Center Rules, Regulations & Policies Building Energy Code * Pennsylvania Building Energy Codes Generation Disclosure * Fuel Mix Disclosure Green Power Purchasing/Aggregation * Montgomery County - Wind Power Purchasing * Pennsylvania - Green Power Purchasi

A community in Canada has an unusual form of solar power that can provide over 90% of the annual heating and hot water needs for the homes, despite being situated in a cold Alberta location where winter temperatures can reach -33 degrees C (-27 F). The Drake Landing Solar Community collects solar energy in a heat storage fluid through an array of solar panels on the roof of each home and covering all of the garages at the back of each home. The heated fluid is transferred to a neighborhood energy center, and then into the ground beneath an insulated layer, where the heat is stored in the earth.

With wind turbine towers popping up on the U.S. landscape at a rate of almost 10 per day, the need for people to maintain and repair them is reaching the critical point. Community colleges in North Dakota and other states are jumping at the chance to help fill that need and develop a niche for themselves at the same time through wind tech programs.

Last week, Vice President Al Gore presented the American people with a challenge: meet 100% of our electricity needs through renewable energy within 10 years. Al would be the first to acknowledge this is not a minor task. And yet it is an urgent one, a challenge that will require a transformation in how we invest our time and money, and how we view ourselves.

With gas prices going through the roof and regulators requiring cars to be ever more miserly, Volkswagen is bringing new meaning to the term "fuel efficiency" with a bullet-shaped microcar that gets a stunning 282 235 mpg. Volkswagen's had its super-thrifty One-Liter Car concept vehicle -- so named because that's how much fuel it needs to go 100 kilometers -- stashed away for six years. The body's made of carbon fiber to minimize weight (the entire car weighs just 660 pounds) and company execs didn't expect the material to become cheap enough to produce the car until 2012.

If Corus Group, an Anglo-Dutch steel manufacturer, has its way and their new work into developing solar cell paint comes to pass, the whole concept of what types of material can be used for generate electricity through photovoltaics could change. At least that's the promise. Renewable Energy World is saying that production on Corus' solar steel sheets could begin in three years, though doesn't really go beyond that in terms of timelines. The way it would work is this:

In South Korea, wind power would be a likely resource to help the world's tenth largest energy consumer meet government goals to lower fossil fuel dependency through greater investment in renewable energy.

Engineers and scientists at The University of Texas at Austin have achieved a breakthrough in the use of a one-atom thick structure called "graphene" as a new carbon-based material for storing electrical charge in ultracapacitor devices, perhaps paving the way for the massive installation of renewable energies such as wind and solar power. The researchers believe their breakthrough shows promise that graphene (a form of carbon) could eventually double the capacity of existing ultracapacitors, which are manufactured using an entirely different form of carbon. "Through such a device, electrical charge can be rapidly stored on the graphene sheets, and released from them as well for the delivery of electrical current and, thus, electrical power," says Rod Ruoff, a mechanical engineering professor and a physical chemist. "There are reasons to think that the ability to store electrical charge can be about double that of current commercially used materials. We are working to see if that prediction will be borne out in the laboratory."

Builders and developers who install solar hot water on new homes are now eligible to receive a $1,000 discount. The discount is currently available for installations carried out before March 31, 2009. Eligible new buildings include single-family residences or small multi-unit residences without a common entrance and comprising less than 600 square meters of building area - or three or fewer stories of building height. These new incentives are available through registered SolarBC contractors, who will provide you with technical advice, professional installation services and will help you apply for your $1000 discount

The California city of Berkeley has approved a new financing scheme for loans to homeowners who install rooftop solar panels, a landmark programme that could inspire other US cities to follow suit. The Berkeley scheme would finance city-backed solar loans through a small addition to the property taxes of each participating home, eliminating the need to find up-front cash to install panels that can cost the average American upwards of $30,000.

Abrupt climate change is a potential menace that hasn't received much attention. That's about to change. Through its Climate Change Prediction Program, the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Biological and Environmental Research (OBER) recently launched IMPACTS - Investigation of the Magnitudes and Probabilities of Abrupt Climate Transitions - a program led by William Collins of Berkeley Lab's Earth Sciences Division (ESD) that brings together six national laboratories to attack the problem of abrupt climate change, or ACC.

From Holland, the country famous for its windmills, comes a new design for home wind power. Looking like an eggbeater, it spins quieter and at lower wind speeds than a lot of traditional propeller-type turbines. It's now standard for big wind turbines to have propeller blades. Much of the turning force is generated at the tips, which slice perpendicularly through the air, causing a swooshing noise that some residents nearby have said they find unnerving.

A new breed of solar tower may soon be sprouting up in Namibia, providing the nation with a carbon-free source of electricity and food during the day and night. At one and a half kilometers tall and 280 meters wide, these massive solar updraft towers could potentially produce 400MW of energy each - enough to power Windhoek, the nation's capital. Proposed by intellectual property company Hahn & Hahn, the towers generate energy by forcing heated air through a shaft lined with wind turbines. Additionally, the base of each tower will function as a 37 square km greenhouse where crops can be grown.

With fuel prices rising and supplies dwindling, more and more inventors are turning their creativity towards cars that work without the need for barrels of gasoline. True, there have been a number of vehicles released that run on electricity but now designers are turning to another precious resource - air. It's not a new concept, as early as the 1920s, car designers were dabbling with the idea of cars that could run off air alone - one involved cycling air through a propeller at the front of the car - but few came to fruition. Now, designers are again looking at how air can be used to power a car.

Not this week. As part of the Solar Power International conference here, big businesses such as equipment maker Applied Materials Inc. and solar cell manufacturer SunPower Corp. rented out bars and restaurants and shut down the streets to serve up free drinks and food to executives who partied through the night. "It's amazing, the euphoria in the industry right now," Victoria Hollick, vice president of Conserval Engineering Inc., said as a disc jockey played songs like "Good Times" and "Celebration." The solar industry has good reason to celebrate right now.

From the outside, there is nothing unusual about the stylish new gray and orange row houses in the Kranichstein District, with wreaths on the doors and Christmas lights twinkling through a freezing drizzle. But these houses are part of a revolution in building design: There are no drafts, no cold tile floors, no snuggling under blankets until the furnace kicks in. There is, in fact, no furnace. Published to:

An aide to Obama said Friday that the administration plans to add 20 gigawatts (GW) or more of wind power and 4 GW of geothermal and solar power by 2012 through loan guarantees and fast tracked national renewable energy requirements, like the Renewable Portfolio Standard. Last May the U.S. Energy Department estimated wind power could provide almost a quarter of U.S. electricity. Trade groups from the U.S. wind and solar industries were happy with the news, considering that the current economic environment for commercial credit has lowered all boats as it were, with all investment now endangered - not just investment in risky financial instruments, but even those investments in renewable energy that are essential to growing a stable economy. 4 votesBuzz up! No other country, in any single year, has added the volume of wind capacity that was added to the US electrical grid in 2007 with both wind and solar growing well over 40%, but with the credit crunch affecting all sectors of the economy, new projects could drop by as much as 50%, without help from the Federal government.

As President-elect Barack Obama prepares to tackle the vast problems ahead for America, he has consistently made two bold proposals. First, he intends to make an immense investment in infrastructure - roads, bridges, railways - to jump-start jobs. Second, he plans to boost clean green technologies to make up for the squandered opportunities of the Lost Decade. These are both powerful, worthy ideas. But they would be far more powerful if they were directly connected. The incoming administration has a historic opportunity to accomplish five major goals at once through a massive investment in stopping the waste of energy and dollars pouring out of American homes.