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"Michael Grätzel is a man with a mission. As the inventor of a low-cost solar cell, he wants to help the world avoid an energy crisis by harnessing the power of the Sun. His translucent Grätzel cells use a combination of titanium dioxide and organic dyes to convert sunlight into electricity, providing a cheaper and more environmentally friendly source of energy than silicon solar cells."

"In the remote county of Tongyu in northeast China's Jilin Province, 14-year-old Li Ruixue has more memories about sandstorms rather than colorful flowers and clean rivers, due to the howling winds that sweep the area from spring to winter every year. Sand-filled winds from Horqin often leaves local farmers' land barren and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has described the county as being one of the areas of the world most unfit for human living. But the Chinese government's new strategy to find more renewable energy might provide one of the country's poorest counties with the opportunity to improve its way of life. The reason for hope is a wind farm with a combined installed capacity of 1.9 million Kilowatt that will soon be completed in the county."

"Personal computers in enterprise environments save energy and money by "sleep-working," thanks to new software called SleepServer created by computer scientists from the University of California, San Diego. Sleep-working enterprise PCs are accessible via remote connections and maintain their presence on voice over IP, instant messaging, and peer-to-peer networks even though the PCs are in low-power sleep mode. SleepServer can reduce energy consumption on enterprise PCs previously running 24/7 by an average of 60 percent, according to a new peer-reviewed study presented by UC San Diego computer scientists on June 24 at the 2010 USENIX Annual Technical Conference in Boston. (http:// mesl.ucsd.edu/yuvraj/research/sleepserver.html) "

"The U.S. Departments of Energy and the Interior have picked a former nuclear site in Nevada to be transformed into a zone for testing "cutting-edge" solar energy technologies. The research will take place on 25 square miles of land owned by the Interior's Bureau of Land Management, an area larger than the size of Manhattan, the Energy Department said today in a statement. The area lies in the southwest corner of the Nevada Test Site, about 65 miles (104.6 kilometers) northwest of Las Vegas, where the U.S. military used to detonate atomic weapons. The Energy Department's National Nuclear Security Administration will oversee the project, according to the statement. "

Ecogeek has a post on an offshore wind farm planned for the US great lakes - Nation's First Freshwater Offshore Wind Farm Planned for Lake Erie. It's an exciting time in wind energy these days. The U.S. will be getting its first offshore wind farm thanks to Cape Wind's long-awaited approval, and now plans for the first freshwater offshore wind farm in the U.S. have been announced as well. The Lake Erie Energy Development Corp has signed a deal with GE to purchase five offshore wind turbines destined for the Ohio waters of the lake. The 4-MW turbines will be placed three to five miles offshore though their exact planned location isn't known. This is expected to be the first order of many from the development corp that has made a goal of having 1 GW of freshwater-based wind energy online by 2020."

"t is a crucial, if geekish, point: Wind and solar power are NOT intermittent, they are VARIABLE. If someone talks about problems with the intermittencies of wind and solar energies, it is out of ignorance or to intentionally discredit them. Obviously, the sun does not always shine and the wind does not always blow but those things can be scheduled and forecasted and are no reasons whatsoever not to keep building wind power and solar energy as fast as is humanly possible. The Western Wind and Solar Integration Study, from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), says transmission system tools are now available that would allow the Mountain West and Southwestern states to get 35% of their electricity from wind and solar energies by 2017. All it will require, aside from the building of the wind and solar production capacity, is a change in the WestConnect group of grid operators' standard operating procedures."

"In the wake of the BP Gulf oil disaster, the natural gas explosion in Texas this month and the coal mine diaster earlier this year. It seems like public consciousness is finally shifting. While being green and supporting renewable energy was a good public relations move for the last few years, it now seems like a practical one as well to prevent disasters like these from occurring again. It seems like the mood is ripe for the transition to renewables and other sustainable energy technologies to begin in earnest. I had the chance to sit down with Dr. Amory Lovins, chief scientist and co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute, to talk about how the transition to renewables will make the U.S. energy system more secure and stable and where the country currently stands in that process."

"A new survey conducted by Applied Materials, Inc. reveals that two-thirds of Americans believe solar technology should play a greater role in meeting the country's energy needs. In addition, three-quarters of Americans feel that increasing renewable energy and decreasing U.S. dependence on foreign oil are the country's top energy priorities. According to the survey, 67 percent of Americans would be willing to pay more for their monthly utility bill if their utility company increased its use of renewable energy and 49 percent of consumers polled would be willing to pay $5 or more each month for an increased amount of renewable energy-a 14 percent increase from the results of Applied Materials' 2009 survey. "Americans are becoming more aware of the need for responsible energy solutions, like solar power, and increasingly want their government to drive policy and investment aimed at finding alternative ways to power our homes and economy," said Dr. Charles Gay, president of Applied Solar, a division of Applied Materials. "With the right energy legislation in place, the U.S. could reap the benefits of one of the biggest economic job engines of this century - the clean energy revolution.""

"BrightSource Energy's planned Ivanpah plant will be one of the world's largest solar farms and possibly its most efficient. When the solar-thermal plant is built on the edge of the Mojave National Preserve (construction is expected to start this year), it will operate at 18 percent efficiency and earn a capacity factor of 30 percent."

"Energy Secretary Steven Chu has directed the agency to install cool roofs (those of lighter colors or specific coating that reflect heat and save energy & money) wherever possible. It could be a big deal with replacing existing roofs or installing new ones at federal facilities. Here's the memo issued earlier this summer by Chu. He also sent a letter to the heads of other fed agencies, encouraging them to do the same. In a statement, Chu said, "Cool roofs are one of the quickest and lowest cost ways we can reduce our global carbon emissions and begin the hard work of slowing climate change.""

"DIY Built Solarpanel Installation Now Operational Posted by Chris van der Zwaal in Solar energy Last spring (2009) I wrote my first article about building my own solar panels (just to be clear : for making electricity) . At the end of the day on December 31, 2009, I had finished installing my panels totalling about 400 Wp. So now its time for an update."

What seems to start as play things, can make a big difference on how we view local energy production.

"Rwanda harnesses volcanic gases from depths of Lake Kivu Project could power Rwanda for decades, while reducing risk of disaster for 2 million people living alongside 'exploding lake'"

Good catch Phil. We like to see things in this group which are the first deployment of a new concept, pushing the boundary for sustainable energy.