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" Renewable energy sources could be used at scale by 2050 if supported by an efficient European transmission grid and a single European power market united with similar grids and markets in North Africa. This is shown in a new report released last week by PricewaterhouseCoopers. A group of energy and climate experts from the company in collaboration with researchers of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) and the European Climate Forum (ECF) have examined possible transformation paths for the European and North African power sector. A transformation of the power sector based on one hundred percent renewables would address energy security and supply concerns while decarbonising electricity generation and at the same time reduce energy poverty, the report says."

The Scientific basis for carbon reduction targets - video of meeting in UK Parliament\n\nWitnesses\n\n 1. Professor James Hansen, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and Tim Helweg-Larsen, Director, Public Interest Research Centre\n 2. Professor Robert Watson, Chief Scientific Adviser, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and Professor John Beddington CMG FRS, Government Chief Scientific Adviser and Head of the Government Office of Science

The latest word on the state of climate change.

Sorry, not strictly on topic, but I found this very gripping and wanted to share it.

"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."

An ancient organism from the pit of a collapsed volcano may hold the key to tomorrow's hydrogen economy. Scientists from across the world have formed a team to unlock the process refined by a billions-year old archaea. The U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute will expedite the research by sequencing the hydrogen-producing organism for comparative genomics.

But a new Greener Homes Price Guide by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors' Building Cost Information Service claims some green upgrades are better value for money than others. One of the worst performing alternative energy sources in the guide is solar power. The guide says the cost of installing solar panels is around £4,000 to £5,000, with resulting energy savings of as little as £24 per year - meaning it would take some 208 years to pay back that initial installation cost.

the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and a number of utilities are now studying the potential to add solar power to existing power plants in order to help cut their greenhouse gas emissions.

Big gains await developing countries if they raise their energy productivity, research by the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) has found: