Eco20/20

The 25-percent-by-2025 renewable electricity standard bill introduced today by Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Todd Platts (R-Pa.) would boost renewable energy generation by 135 percent above and beyond current policies between now and 2025, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists' preliminary analysis of the legislation. "This electrifying standard would provide a smart, proven, cost-effective strategy to ramp up our clean energy use, create tens of thousands of jobs, and lower consumer utility bills," said Alan Nogee, UCS Clean Energy Program director. "The clean energy tax incentives that Congress is finalizing will get us moving in the right direction in the near term, and the renewable energy standard makes sure we stay on that path for the foreseeable future."

Russia's biggest hydro-power generator Rushydro is considering a four billion RUB investment in a tidal power plant in Murmansk Oblast, on the coast of the Barents Sea. The project plans could make the Kola Peninsula a leading Russian region on alternative energy. Rushydro now confirms that it is about to complete a feasibility study of the project and that the construction of the plant could eventually start next year, Murman.ru reports. The plant project is named the Northern Tidal Power Plant, and is to be built in the the Dolgaya-Vostochnaya Bay west of the Murmansk city.

Google PowerMeter tracks the energy usage of all the appliances in your home and sends it in the form of a graph to you igoogle account.

Horticulture refers to the industry and science of plant cultivation. Horticulturist work and study the disciplines of plant propagation and cultivation, crop production, plant breeding and engineering, biochemistry of plants and plant physiology.

Holistic health care providers should be able to look at the whole person, and analyze their physical, nutritional, environmental, emotional, social, and spiritual and lifestyle values.

Permaculture is actually an approach in designing human settlement and perennial agri-systems that copies relationships found in the natural ecologies. It is a design system for sustainable living and in all aspect of human endeavor.

Another important urban planning role is urban renewal and inner city regeneration through adaptation of urban planning methods for use in existing cities that are affected by long-term decay in the infrastructure.

If you are planning to become an electric vehicle conversion specialist, you wide range of skills to be able to perform your duties.

The American Massage Therapy Association says that massage therapists will likely experience a 20% to 35% increase in demand in the coming years.

With the rise in biodiesel production, the growing number of US states adopting legislation for the use of biodiesel, and an expectant market, there is also an increasing demand for biodiesel fuel specialists.

The solar thermal energy or the radiant heating systems is as simple process of pumping water into solar panels to be heated and then stored in tank for ready use.

Natural Home building or 'green homes' basically refers to the construction of dwellings made completely or predominantly from natural materials.

Spanish wind power companies in the world's third-largest producer expect steady growth in capacity this year despite the credit crunch due to long-term investments, an industry spokesman said on Monday. Wind power business group AEE tallied 16,740 megawatts in installed capacity in Spain at the end of 2008, a rise of 1,609 MW for the year. "We expect a similar amount (of growth) this year," AEE president Jose Donoso said at a news conference.

A new way of making LEDs could see household lighting bills reduced by up to 75% within five years. Gallium Nitride (GaN), a man-made semiconductor used to make LEDs (light emitting diodes), emits brilliant light but uses very little electricity. Until now high production costs have made GaN lighting too expensive for wide spread use in homes and offices. However the Cambridge University based Centre for Gallium Nitride has developed a new way of making GaN which could produce LEDs for a tenth of current prices.

Fast Company says "Massive investments in clean energy promise to keep farmers, urban planners, and green-tech entrepreneurs in business for the next decade" and lists their pick of the new green jobs that will be created - Ten Best Green Jobs for the Next Decade. "It's time to bail out the people and the planet," says Van Jones, author of The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems. We agree, and this guide to to sustainability-focused career paths will help retrofit and solar-charge your work life. Farmer America has only two million farmers, and their average age is 55. Since sustainable agriculture requires small-scale, local, organic methods rather than petroleum-based machines and fertilizers, there is a huge need for more farmers -- up to tens of millions of them, according to food guru Michael Pollan. Modern farmers are small businesspeople who must be as skilled in heirloom genetics as marketing. ...

REW has an article on making the switch to a clean energy world - Will the Children of Today Be Living in a World Powered by Renewable Energy by 2050?. The world needs a one-off switch-over to renewable energy -- and this could be largely accomplished in just forty years time, slashing energy costs and greenhouse gases while allowing healthy economic growth, experts say. By 2050, 80 percent of the world's electricity could be coming from renewable energy sources provided efforts are made, in parallel, to improve energy efficiency, according to a study by the German Aerospace Center (DLR). That means, the children of today might well grow up to experience a world where the energy they use comes almost entirely from the sun, wind, sea and biomass. By 2090, the shift to renewable energy around the world could be almost 99 percent completed reducing pressure on the environment and laying the foundations for a new era of prosperity based on green energy.

Reuters has a report on Australian wave power company Carnegie Corp and the vast potential for wave power in southern Australia - Aussie firm sees buoyant future in wave power. For millennia, Australia's rugged southern coast has been carved by the relentless action of waves crashing ashore. The same wave energy could soon be harnessed to power towns and cities and trim Australia's carbon emissions. "Waves are already concentrated solar energy," says Michael Ottaviano, who leads a Western Australian firm developing a method to turn wave power into electricity. "The earth has been heated by the Sun, creating wind, which created the swells," he told Reuters from Perth, saying wave power had the potential to supply all of Australia's needs many times over.