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Neuwing Energy Ventures, a New York-based marketer of energy-efficiency certificates, would perform an initial assessment of IBM customers' sprawling data centers -- the massive, air-conditioned facilities that store information and route anything from eBay purchases to e-mail. IBM would identify potential energy savings areas for its clients, and Neuwing would grant the IT firms certificates for the total megawatt-hours no longer needed to cool or operate the data center equipment. Each certificate would equal 1 megawatt-hour (MWh) per annum, said Rich Lechner, IBM's vice president for IT optimization. Clients could sell the certificates to utilities subject to state renewable portfolio standards, as well as sell to other companies that aim to reduce their carbon footprint through energy savings. The value of the energy efficiency certificates, historically in the $2-$10 range, is determined by the supply and demand for those certificates in each trading market.

Osaka Gas Co. of Japan announced that an energy-saving house in Saito Asagi, Ibaraki City, Osaka Prefecture, equipped with a "double-generation system," which is made up of a co-generation system using a household-type polymer electrolyte fuel cell and a solar photovoltaic system, would be open to the public. The house will remain open until the end of May 2008.The fuel cell is rated at one kilowatt and simultaneously generates power and heat, with the heat being effectively utilized for heating water. The combination of the 4-kilowatt photovoltaic system and this fuel cell enables the average household to reduce primary energy consumption by about 55 percent and carbon dioxide emissions by about 70 percent over conventional systems.Moreover, although blinds are typically set inside of windows, the blinds in this house are set outside of windows in order to cut sunlight in the summer, while absorbing thermal energy from sunlight in the winter and transmitting it to the specially designed walls; thus, energy requirements for heating and cooling are reduced. With the latest gas facilities and home-security systems, visitors can enjoy experiencing the exceptional functionality this concept house offers.

To achieve these objectives, every nation in the 27-member bloc is required to increase its share of renewables by 5.5% from 2005 levels, with the remaining increase calculated on the basis of per capita gross domestic product (GDP). EU countries are free to decide their preferred 'mix' of renewables in order to take account of their different potentials, but must present national action plans (NAPs) outlining their strategies to the Commission by 31 March 2010. The plans will need to be defined along three sectors: electricity, heating and cooling and transport.

Two separate teams, one at Caltech and the other at the University of California, Berkeley, reported that they could increase silicon's ability to convert heat into electric current by as much as 100 times. If they can use what they've learned to improve silicon even further, or translate their findings to other materials, the discovery could lead to new ways to cool computer chips, build refrigerators, or get more power out of car engines.