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Time to dispair? Not according to Monbiot: “We must confront a challenge which is as great and as pressing as the rise of the Axis powers. Had we thrown up our hands then, as many people are tempted to do today, you would be reading this paper in German. Though the war often seemed impossible to win, when the political will was mobilised strange and implausible things began to happen. The US economy was spun round on a dime in 1942 as civilian manufacturing was switched to military production(25). The state took on greater powers than it had exercised before. Impossible policies suddenly became achievable.

Material flows and emissions in all the stages of production of zinc, copper, aluminum, cadmium, indium, germanium, gallium, selenium, tellurium, and molybdenum were investigated. These metals are used selectively in the manufacture of solar cells, and emission and energy factors in their production are used in the life cycle analysis (LCA) of photovoltaics. Significant changes have occurred in the production and associated emissions for these metals over the last 10 years, which are not described in the LCA databases. Furthermore, emission and energy factors for several of the by-products of the base metal production were lacking. This review article aims in updating the life cycle inventories associated with the production of the base metals (Zn, Cu), and defining the production paths and emission and energy allocations for the minor metals (Cd, Ge, In, Mo, Se, and Te) used in photovoltaics.

We have previously discussed a secretive Texas company called EEStor, who are reported to be working on a new type of ultracapacitor that can hold 10x the energy in 1/10th the weight of typical batteries, at a fraction of the cost. They have an agreement to produce caps for Zenn electric cars but to date have not shown any prototypes. This has led some to suspect EEStor as not having the technology they report. Today, however, Lockheed Martin, the major U.S. military equipment manufacturer has announced a partnership agreement with EEStor to develop energy applications.

It’s official: Green car madness has taken over. After seeing more electric and hybrid vehicle startups than we could keep track of, we finally decided to start keeping count. We’ve compiled a list, below, of 27 startups, listed according to their release date, with additional information on fuel type, range, top speed and price. Most haven’t yet taken venture funding, but where applicable, we’ve listed financial backing.

After working on the air powered car concept for the past 15 years French engineer Guy Negre is about to bring this revolutionary vehicle to the masses thanks to a contract with India’s main car manufacturer; Tata Motors. Not only is this the worlds cleanest car but it is also functional with MDI offering various designs to suite your life style. The Pickup, Van, Taxi, Mini CAT, and family car models will all be made available for less than $15,000.

A new magnetic alloy from DOE Ames may meet one car company criterion for a more cost-effective and energy-efficient electric drive. Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory appear to have developed a permanent magnet alloy that meets car manufacturer high-temperature performance requirements.

Thanks to the efforts of more than 35 manufacturers, a wide range of computer products now include internal power supplies that are at least 80% efficient, that is, less than 20% of the power fed into them is lost as heat

23% of China’s CO2 emissions in 2004 were due to demand from the West for manufacturing products made in the new economic giant. This 23% is as much as the combined emissions from Germany and Australia and more than twice the national emissions of the UK.

Western countries and industrialized Asian nations like Japan and the Republic of Korea have moved many of their factories to developing countries such as China and India, where cheap labor allows them to manufacture at lower costs than at home. This globalization of production has resulted in the discharge of much more waste in poor nations that otherwise would have been released in developed countries. As a matter of fact, not all of the greenhouse gases released "in China" or "from China" are really "China's".

Against the backdrop of a booming export business, the SolarWorld Group is to build another integrated solar factory (GigaFab) in Freiberg, thereby increasing the capacity of wafer production in Saxony by 500 MW to 1.0 Gigawatt.

The low manufacturing cost of photovoltaics that employ thin films of cadmium-telluride semiconductor have long been seen as having the potential for lifting solar power from its niche status as a very expensive power source,

Through a chemical reaction, the captured gases from the box would be fed to algae, which would then be crushed to produce a bio-oil. This extract can be converted to produce a biodiesel almost identical to normal diesel.