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Abstract Many are interested in China’s energy situation, however, numerous energy related issues in China still remain unanswered, for example, what are the potential forces driving energy demand and supply? Previous reviews focused only on fossil fuel based energy and ignored other important elements including renewable and ‘clean ’ energy sources. The work presented here is intended to fill this gap by bringing the research on fossil-based and renewable energy economic studies together and identifying the potential drivers behind both energy demand and supply to provide a complete picture of China’s energy situation in the new millennium. This will be of interest to anyone concerned with the development of China’s economy in general and the energy economy, in particular.

The U.S. renewable energy and energy efficiency industries created jobs for 8.5 million people in 2006, while generating more than a trillion dollars in sales, $100 billion in profits, and $150 billion in increased federal, state, and local government tax revenues, according to a new report from the American Solar Energy Society (ASES). The report notes that it's difficult to define the energy efficiency industry, but even focusing on the renewable energy industry, it found 196,000 people directly employed by the industry, a total of 452,000 jobs created, and revenues of $39.2 billion in 2006

The Guardian reports this morning on a private report to Gordon Brown that suggests that Britain should oppose binding target for renewable energies in Europe (20% of all energy by 2020, as agreed earlier this year at this spring's EU Summit). The Guardian flags the juicy political bits ("work with Poland and other governments sceptical about climate change to "help persuade" German chancellor Angela Merkel and others to set lower renewable targets", "a potentially significant cost in terms of reduced climate change leadership"), but also provides some of the apparent underlying reasons provided, which are worth commenting upon: it undermines the carbon-trading scheme which "allows wealthy governments to pay others to reduce emissions"; it costs too much money (£4 billion a year to get to 9% by 2020); it does not help push for new nuclear plants as it "reduces the incentives to invest in other carbon technologies like nuclear power"; Let's say it plainly: each of these arguments is stupid, short-sighted and, quite simply, false. Let me take you through them in turn (under the fold).

Ocean waves are said to have the highest energy density of energy renewable energy source - one thousand denser than wind. Finavera Renewables is a publicly traded company focusing on the development of renewable energy resources and technologies; such as the AquaBuOY (yes, spelled that way) - a floating buoy structure that converts the energy from waves into clean electricity.. Clusters of AquaBuOYs can be combined into arrays generating output from a few hundred kilowatts to several hundred megawatts and are made up of components that have been proven in other marine industries for decades.

Renewables now accounts for about  8% of Lithuania’s energy consumption (see the Commission’s DG Energy’s fact sheet on Lithuania’s renewable energy situation of 2007). In its latest renewable energy proposal of 23 January 2008, the Commission has set a very ambitious target of 23% of renewables to be reached by Lithuania in 2020.

The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, signed into law on December 19th, boosts the requirements for renewable fuel use to 36 billion gallons by 2022. The act requires "advanced biofuels"—defined as fuels that cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50%—to provide 21 billion gallons of fuel by 2022, or about 60% of the total requirement. Such advanced biofuels could include ethanol derived from cellulosic biomass—such as wood waste, grasses, and agricultural wastes—as well as biodiesel, butanol, and other fuels. Previously, a national Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) set by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 required 4.7 billion gallons of renewable fuels in 2007, which would have increased to 5.4 billion gallons in 2008 and to 7.5 billion gallons by 2012.