In the home, these Vampires represent between 5 and 8 percent of a single family home's total electricity use per year, according to the Department of Energy. The problem is multiplied many times over in offices in the US and around the world according to an international study released this week by 1E and the Alliance to Save Energy. The study found nearly half of US workers who use a PC at their job do not typically shut down at night. The 2009 PC Energy Report, which examines workplace PC power consumption in the US, UK and Germany, estimated that US organizations waste $2.8 billion a year to power 108 million unused machines. In 2009, these unused PCs are expected to emit approximately 20 million tons of carbon dioxide, roughly the equivalent impact of 4 million cars.

Colorado, United States [RenewableEnergyWorld.com] Vestas held a ground-breaking ceremony this week for its two new manufacturing facilities - a nacelle assembly factory and blade factory - in Brighton, Colorado. The Brighton factories are part of the manufacturing and research base Vestas is establishing in the U.S. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of Denmark and Her Royal Highness the Crown Princess of Denmark participated at the event. Once the factories are fully operational in 2010, they will create about 1,350 jobs in Brighton. Vestas' investment in Brighton will total about US $300 million, and will secure an annual production capacity of 2,000 blades and 1,400 nacelles.

BTM Consult has released its 14th annual update on the status of the international wind power industry. According to the reports, 2008 saw the highest ever level of wind turbine installations. With 28,190 megawatts (MW) of new capacity installed, the growth rate was 42% compared with 2007, resulting in a cumulative worldwide total of 122,000 MW. Although it will be impacted by the current economic crisis in 2009 and 2010, the future looks bright for the wind power industry, BTM said. The report's five year forecast up to 2013 projects significant growth. Over the past five years the average growth in annual new installations has been 27.6 % per year. In the forecast up to 2013 an average annual growth rate of 15.7 % per year is expected. More than 200 GW of new wind power capacity could come on line before the end of 2013.

The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) has released its 2008 U.S. Solar Industry Year in Review, highlighting a third year of record growth for the solar industry. According to the report 1,265 megawatts (MW) of all varieties of solar power were installed in 2008, bringing total U.S. solar power capacity up 17 percent to 8,775 MW. California was the leader among state grid-tied PV installations with 178.6 MW, New Jersey followed with 22.5 MW installed, Colorado was next at 21.6 MW, Nevada installed 13.9 MW and Hawaii with 11.3 MW. The 2008 figure included 342 MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) installations, 139 MWTh (thermal equivalent) of solar water heating, 762 MWTh of pool heating and an estimated 21 MW of solar space heating and cooling.

The San Diego Union Tribune blogs about the new plan for Fuel Cell Cars & hydrogen fueling stations in California. The plan, which was released last month by the California Fuel Cell Partnership, anticipates by 2017 almost 50,000 fuel cell vehicles in California, supported by 36 fueling stations which are slated to cost $180 million. Check out the UT's blog post here, and follow it to the summary and the full report on the California Fuel Cell Partnership Web site.

Greentech Media has a post on one of the major issues facing electric car manufacturers - getting people used to the idea - Learning to Live With Electric Cars. While consumers overwhelmingly say they want plug-in cars, consumers will have to be educated on the differences between them and gas-burning cars, says Debra Reed, CEO of San Diego Gas & Electric, which will take delivery of 10 to 15 all-electrics Nissan when they come out next year. Nissan and SDG&E showed off a "mule" of Nissan's electric commuter today. The functioning vehicle sports the same basic motor and other electronics that will come with the production all-electric cars, said a Nissan spokeswoman. However, it is housed in the shell of an existing car.

Next100 has a report on the introduction of LED street lighting in some sections of San Francisco - Brightening Up San Francisco's Tenderloin. San Francisco's gritty Tenderloin district will shine a little brighter thanks to a new streetlighting program announced today by Mayor Gavin Newsom, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission and PG&E. Newsom press conf 3-25-09.JPGAt a press conference this morning on Turk St., joined by PG&E's senior vice president for public affairs, Nancy McFadden, Newsom said the city is installing 50 ultra-efficient, energy-saving LED streetlights in the depressed neighborhood, a smart move to enhance public safety while demonstrating environmental leadership and saving money. In addition, city authorities are working with PG&E to evaluate "smart controller" technology that will monitor the performance of individual streetlights, adjust their intensity, and signal when they are about to fail. Flexible controls will give officials to ability to turn selected lights on or off, dim them, or flash them to alert emergency personnel.

Inhabitat has a post on Toyota's latest hybrid vehicle design - Toyota's New Hybrid MR2 Revealed!. The Toyota MR2 sportscar is hitting the road, remade from its older version into a Prius-inspired hybrid vehicle. The new MR2 will draw inspiration (and technology) from the iconic Toyota Prius, with the goal of creating a mass market hybrid sportscar that is as fun to drive as it is green. Toyota's development of the MR2 is not to one-up the Tesla Roadster, but rather to create a car that can do a reasonable 0-60mph in seven seconds and get an incredible 60mpg. We are all familiar with Toyota's efforts to create a mass market electric vehicle. The Prius, after all, is the best known green car on the market. So looking to capitalize on such technology while creating a sportier, much more dynamic looking vehicle has great implications for both a consumer market and the corporation's innovation.

Technology Review has an article on a startup that says its "solid polymer electrolytes will mean cheaper, more-reliable batteries" - Better Lithium-ion Batteries. A new incarnation of lithium-ion batteries based on solid polymers is in the works. Berkeley, CA-based startup Seeo, Inc. says its lithium-ion cells will be safer, longer-lasting, lighter, and cheaper than current batteries. Seeo's batteries use thin films of polymer as the electrolyte and high-energy-density, light-weight electrodes. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory is now making and testing cells designed by the University of California, Berkeley spinoff. Lithium-ion batteries are used in cell phones and laptops because they are smaller and lighter than other types of batteries. They are also promising for electric and hybrid vehicles. However, conventional materials and chemistries have stopped them from being used extensively in cars.

Vice President Joe Biden and Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced plans to invest $3.2 billion in energy efficiency and conservation projects in U.S. cities, counties, states, territories, and Native American tribes. The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program, funded by President Obama's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, will provide formula grants for projects that reduce total energy use and fossil fuel emissions, and improve energy efficiency nationwide. "These investments will save taxpayer dollars and create jobs in communities around the country," said Vice President Biden. "Local leaders will have the flexibility in how they put these resources to work - but we will hold them accountable for making the investments quickly and wisely to spur the local economy and cut energy use."

The government announced approval Friday of the first loan guarantee for an energy project under a program that Congress approved four years ago, only to see it hamstrung by years of delay. Energy Secretary Steven Chu vowed as one of his top priorities to revamp and speed up the loan guarantee program, promising to cut the time it takes to review applications, many of which have been on file at the department for a year or more. On Friday, Chu announced approval of a $535 million loan guarantee to Solyndra Inc., a company in Freemont, Calif., that makes solar panels for commercial buildings. The company said the government guarantee will cover debt financing for 73 percent of the cost of a second manufacturing plant in Freemont.

Jamais Cascio has a post on the widespread availability of DIY solar panels in the US - Living in the Green Future. Popped into Costco today to pick up a couple of items, and what did I see? Just in case you can't read that too well, it's a 60W solar panel setup, with inverter (allowing it to power 110V devices), junction box to hook the four panels together, cabling, and frame... for under $300. Stacked like tires at Costco. This is a beautiful example of why I talk about the banality of the future. Cheap solar power systems readily available to the unwashed masses was once something out of science fiction; today, it barely elicits a glance from shoppers stocking up on cases of pickles and TVs by the six-pack.

The Guardian has an article on plans to expand micro-hydro generation in Britain - Canals and rivers to lead micro-hydropower revolution Britain's canals and rivers have already been heralded as a low-carbon way to tranport Tesco groceries, a test-bed for hydrogen boats and a opportunity to build more wind turbines. Now they're being billed as a chance for micro hydropower to flourish under new plans unveiled today by British Waterways, which maintains 2,200 miles of the country's canals and rivers. In partnership with The Small Hydro Company, British Waterways said it intended to build 25 small-scale hydro-electric schemes with a capacity of 40MW, enough to power 40,000 homes. While far smaller in capacity than offshore wind farms switched on in 2008, the hydro initiative hopes to raise £120m in private capital over the next three years, create 150 construction jobs and reduce CO2 emissions by 110,000 tonnes annually. Underwater turbines will be installed next to existing weirs and will not affect the navigation of canals and rivers. Larger waterways such as the Trent and Severn rivers will be used for the first hydro power projects, with many of the installations likely to be located in the East Midlands and Yorkshire. It is hoped the first of the 25 hydro installations will be generating renewable electricity by 2010.

Concentrating solar power (CSP) is an emerging technology that offers the potential to supply utility-scale peaking power competitively. In December 2008, a 1.5 MWe solar thermal central receiver system was declared operational by plant construction company Kraftanlagen Munchen. Although solar tower technology had been built as early as the 1970s and a second commercial tower is now close to completion (see REW magazine July/August 2008) the so-called Test and Demonstration Power Plant Julich, in Germany, is the world's first solar thermal power plant erected which uses air as the medium for heat transport. In all previous plants liquid media such as molten salt or oil have been used for the obvious reason of their high specific heat capacity, which in turn results in low volume flow rates and low pumping losses.

Formerly a region of high-unemployment, the German port of Bremerhaven has experienced a remarkable economic upturn, transforming into a major offshore wind power know-how centre and more. At least four of Germany's North Sea and Baltic Sea major ports have been transformed into the country's main wind industry logistical centres and/or equipment manufacturing/supply bases during the past few years. 'Of the €500 million invested for offshore wind power development along the German North Sea coastal region during the past years, about half came to Bremerhaven.' -- Jan Rispens, Managing Director, Windenergie Agentur Bremerhaven/Bremen (WAB) Emden serves as a main export harbour for Enercon wind turbines, and the German market leader operates a large concrete tower manufacturing plant within Emden's boundaries. BARD Engineering chose Emden as its offshore wind turbine assembly and rotor blade manufacturing location, while part of BARD's Tripile offshore foundations are being manufactured by a subsidiary company in Cuxhaven. Both BARD and Enercon have, in addition, built a foundry in the region, aimed at providing at least part of their individual demand for heavy-cast components.

Will support energy efficiency efforts nationwide that will create 87,000 jobs and cut energy bills for families Washington DC -- Vice President Joe Biden and Energy Secretary Chu today detailed an investment of nearly $8 billion in state and local weatherization and energy efficiency efforts as part of the President's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. With an investment of about $5 billion through the Weatherization Assistance Program and about $3 billion for the State Energy Program, the Department of Energy will partner with state and local governments to put 87,000 Americans to work and save families hundreds of dollars per year on their energy bills. To jump-start job creation and weatherization work, the Department of Energy is releasing the first installment of the funding - about $780 million -- in the next few days. The Department will release additional funding over time as states demonstrate that they are using the funding effectively and responsibly to create jobs and cut energy use.

An environmentalist-sponsored report claims that by 2050, the United States could sever ties with coal and nuclear power, draw nearly all its electricity from renewable sources and cut its greenhouse gas emissions by more than 80% -- all with existing technology and with a net gain of 14 million jobs to the domestic economy. The report, commissioned by Greenpeace and the European Renewable Energy Council and conducted by Germany's equivalent of NASA, was released this morning at a press briefing in Washington. It is heavy on charts and supporting data and transparent on some key assumptions. And its sponsors call its findings "conservative." At its core, the report envisions a steep drop in the United States' energy use, both in absolute terms and compared with International Energy Agency predictions -- driven by strict efficiency standards. It also projects dramatic changes in the nation's electricity mix, with wind and solar power mushrooming to replace coal, oil and nuclear sources that would gradually go offline.

The rolling plains of Castilla-La Mancha are dominated by the windmills that provoked the fevered imagination of Don Quixote. But Spain's relentless investment in wind power and other renewable energy sources has proved wrong those who thought it was tilting at windmills. The sleek white wind turbines and hydroelectric plants that have sprung up across the country in recent years generated 30 per cent of Spain's energy this year for the first time.

A new technique could pave the way for improving the workhorse lithium ion battery used in automobiles, cell phones and other devices so that it can recharge in seconds RAPID RECHARGE: Scientists tweaked a battery material to permit a super-quick flow of charge-carrying ions in and out. A new twist on the familiar lithium ion battery has yielded a type of power-storing material that charges and discharges at lightning speed. The finding could offer a boost for plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles and possibly allow cell phone batteries to regain a full charge in seconds rather than hours. Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) report in Nature today that they devised a way for lithium ions in a battery to zip in and out about 100 times faster than previously demonstrated. "We took a basically great material called lithium iron phosphate [LiFePO4] and we tried to improve it further," says study author Byoungwoo Kang, a graduate student in M.I.T.'s Department of Materials Science and Engineering.

Not sure whether a wind turbine on your property would generate enough energy to be worth the effort? Stew no more: the Carbon Trust has launched a new "Wind Yield Estimation Tool" on its Website. The tool lets users calculate their annual mean wind speed, potential energy generation and carbon savings based on postcode, landscape and type of wind turbine. According to the Carbon Trust, the tool is the "most rigorous of its kind" and is based on 30 years of data from the Met Office's 220 weather stations.