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I want to share with you some of the things that have made me excited about the future of clean energy. I hope you'll find them as cool as I do! See it on Scoop.it, via Sustainable Energy via scoop.it

If the hydrogen economy is ever going to become reality, we will need a way to store the stuff without having to compress it to dangerously high pressures. The gas could then be fed to fuel cells to power the phones, laptops and automobiles of the future. Just such a technique may now be coming together in a Dutch lab, in the shape of a material in which billions of carbon buckyballs are sandwiched between sheets of graphene - another form of carbon.

Six page article from 2003 provides an in depth discussion on existing and Future Nuclear Systems:  "In Response to the difficulties in achieving sustainability, a sufficiently high degree of safety and a competitive economic basis for nuclear power, the U.S. Department of Energy initiated the Generation IV program in 1999. Generation IV refers to the broad division of nuclear designs into four categories: early prototype reactors (Generation I), the large central station nuclear power plants of today (Generation II), the advanced lightwater reactors and other systems with inherent safety features that have been designed in recent years (Generation III), and the next-generation systems to be designed and built two decades from now (Generation IV) [see box on opposite page]. By 2000 international interest in the Generation IV project had resulted in a nine-country coalition that includes Argentina, Brazil, Canada, France, Japan, South Africa, South Korea, the U.K. and the U.S. Participating states are mapping out and collaborating on the research and development of future nuclear energy systems."

Leading UK scientists say there is no single solution to meeting future energy needs and tackling climate change.\n\nIn a report, Towards a low carbon future, for the Royal Society, the scientists call for an end to the UK's "half-hearted" approach.\n\nThe country lacks a coherent energy system able to meet the challenges ahead, says the report, and needs a new vision for the future.\n\n"It is time for us to break away from the endless debate which is so often dominated by vested interests and the search for a silver bullet," says lead author of the report, John Shepherd.

There are two different aspects to bear in mind when speculating on the future of energy. First, which will be the energy source? And, secondly, what will the energy vector of the future be? Let us now consider both issues. In 1960, physicist Freeman Dyson indicated, more or less directly, in an article in Science magazine on the search for extraterrestrial civilizations titled "Search for Artificial Stellar Sources of Infrared Radiation" the importance of solar energy in the development of any civilization. In that article Dyson pointed out that a technologically more advanced civilization than ours would build so-called Dyson Spheres, spherical structures surrounding a star, with the aim of taking maximum advantage of the radiation emitted. Therefore, his idea was that the future of an advanced civilization would necessarily opt for making the most of solar energy

With the increase in the cost of the fuel charges nowadays people adapt to use the solar technology in which the energy is generated through the sunlight.

Environ Sci Technol. 2003 Dec 1;37(23):5414-6. Global sustainability and key needs in future automotive design. McAuley JW. Basell USA Inc., 912 Appleton Road, Elkton, Maryland 21921, USA. john.mcauley@basell.com Abstract The number of light vehicle registrations is forecast to increase worldwide by a factor of 3-5 over the next 50 years. This will dramatically increase environmental impacts worldwide of automobiles and light trucks. If light vehicles are to be environmentally sustainable globally, the automotive industry must implement fundamental changes in future automotive design. Important factors in assessing automobile design needs include fuel economy and reduced emissions. Many design parameters can impact vehicle air emissions and energy consumption including alternative fuel or engine technologies, rolling resistance, aerodynamics, drive train design, friction, and vehicle weight. Of these, vehicle weight is key and will translate into reduced energy demand across all energy distribution elements. A new class of vehicles is needed that combines ultra-light design with a likely hybrid or fuel cell engine technology. This could increase efficiency by a factor of 3-5 and reduce air emissions as well. Advanced lightweight materials, such as plastics or composites, will need to overtake the present metal-based infrastructure. Incorporating design features to facilitate end-of-life recycling and recovery is also important. The trend will be towards fewer materials and parts in vehicle design, combined with ease of disassembly. Mono-material construction can create vehicle design with improved recyclability as well as reduced numbers of parts and weight.

Any comments. What about rare earth minerals? Anyone have any more articles about the impact of rare earth on future energy sustainability?

Got an opinion on how green green buildings should be?

According to the European Commission, Europe's power plants are getting older and, combined with growing demand for energy, Europe will need 360 GW of energy from new sources in the next 12 years - this is equal to 50% of current energy capacity in the EU. The EWEA thinks that 40 GW of this energy can be produced by offshore wind.

A new report by Sir David King, senior scientific advisor to UBS Investment Bank, explores the challenges facing biofuels (PDF) and the role they can play in a low-carbon future.