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"Replacing older oil-fired technology at the site, the gas turbines will increase the plant's efficiency and reduce its environmental impact in line with the Portuguese government's regulation to promote efficiency and reduce carbon dioxide emissions (Fig.1). Approved in January 2010 and in support of the European Union cogeneration directive, a new Portuguese law will regulate cogeneration on a national level."

In an arid region of the western U.S. known as the Great Basin, the desert floor has recently been reaching temperatures in excess of 1,300 degrees Farenheit. No, this isn't due to global warming, but perhaps part of the solution to it. A Utah based company called IAUS (International Automated Systems Inc.) has developed a solar lens technology that transmits solar energy with an efficiency of 92%.

The company said it wants to find out if there's enough biomass in the province for it to convert several of its coal-fired generating units in Ontario so they can burn 100 per cent biomass instead of coal. They also want to get a sense of how it would be collected and delivered and how much all that would cost.

The ECO2 process is a post-combustion CO2 capture process for conventional power plants. The technology is suitable for retrofit to the existing coal- fired, electric generating fleet as well as for new coal-fired plants.

The 15,200 megawatts of new wind turbines installed worldwide last year will generate enough clean electricity annually to offset the carbon dioxide emissions of 23 average-sized U.S. coal-fired power plants, according to a new Vital Signs Update from the Worldwatch Institute.[1] The 43 million tons of carbon dioxide displaced in 2006 is equivalent to the emissions of 7,200 megawatts of coal-fired power plants, or nearly 8 million passenger cars.

Two strong potential candidates for the Next Big Thing in cleantech venture capital are nuclear and carbon capture and storage. I've spoken with numerous VCs recently who are looking for innovative ways to play in nuclear power. Bets have already been made by VCs in small-scale nukes, hot fusion, and technologies related to big-scale nukes. The hope is to find a low-cost solution that is practically zero carbon emissions and also provides reliable "base load" power. So in other words, the hope is for a lower-carbon replacement for coal power. The challenges are also significant, however, not least of which being time to market for any new innovations, as this interesting article illustrates. With the recent news that the DOE will be putting $2.4B into carbon capture and storage, and its inclusion in emerging climate legislation, it's also clear that CCS will be leaned upon as a hoped-for way of making our existing coal-fired generation infrastructure less impactful on the atmosphere, while still preserving its value as low-cost baseload power. So in other words, the hope is for a lower-carbon "fix" for coal power.

BASF, RWE Power and the Linde Group agreed recently to develop a new processes for CO2 capture from combustion gases in coal-fired power plants. The collaboration will comprises the construction and operation of a pilot facility at the lignite-fired power plant of RWE Power AG in Niederaussem/Germany

Modern plants are often "combined cycle" generators, meaning that the exhaust of one engine is used as the heat source for another. The hot exhaust from the jet is used to boil water into steam, and the steam is used to turn a second turbine; if ...

The national push to wean the country from imported fuel by adding American-brewed ethanol to gasoline has come at a cost: The flammable liquid is being transported through residential neighborhoods, catching off guard many communities that are unprepared to fight potential fires. Some are having to piece together emergency plans after the shipments have begun passing through their cities and towns, officials say.

The problem is at least recognised, instead of declaring it a myth. But the video remains a concept. The numbers are not worked out, nor the economics. And while variability can be reduced by combining different renewables, nobody knows whether we will get it right 95, 99 or the current 99.9% of the time. 30 minutes of outage per year does not leave much margin for error.

Talking of "Strong measures" towards clean power...