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"Oakland, CA - In a rare move for advocacy groups, the SolarontheWhiteHouse.com campaign has created "Power the House," a fun, engaging way to continue fueling buzz and momentum around the national call for President Obama to put solar panels back on the White House. Using Brushfire technology, the game is accessed through social media sites Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and FourSquare where solar advocates can earn points by completing solar missions. Players earn points based on how they virally spread the word about the campaign. Player status levels include Solar Maven, Solar Organizer, Solar Senator and Globamanator. The highest scorers will receive glow in the dark Globama t-shirts and other solar merchandise, and in addition to bragging rights through their social networks, the "Ultimate Solar Advocate" will be named in a nation-wide press release when the campaign reaches 10,000 petition signatures. "As part of our initiative to get solar on the White House we've created a fun, social-media-linked site to help fans get involved and spread the word," said Danny Kennedy, Sungevity Founder. "We like to think of it this as 'campaign headquarters' where advocates and supporters can check in daily and get armed to continue to get the message out that solar starts at home.""

Solar is winning, despite media reports to the contrary.

A new international research project which could one day lead to a new source of safe, abundant clean energy for Earth was launched today by scientists, engineers and Ministers from across Europe, at a special event and press conference at the Science Museum in London. Today's launch event marks the start of a three year planning and preparatory phase of the European High Power Energy Research Facility ( HiPER ) project. This is the first step towards HiPER's long term goal, which is to facilitate the technological and scientific advances necessary to make nuclear fusion, which powers the sun, a possible source of energy in the future.

I was browsing Greentech Media and learned about a Massachusetts aerospace company called FloDesign that's developed a new wind turbine design around the concept of a jet engine. This could allow for a more efficient wind turbine that produces two to three times more wind power than typical machines.

One of the reasons why smart grid is generating so much interest right now is its ability to enable the integration of renewable energy into the electric power network, leading to a broader generation portfolio and potentially beneficial carbon implications. Lots of the discussion of smart grid in policy and media (including places like Greentech Media, Cleantech, EcoGeek, GreenMonk, and the New York Times blogs Dot Earth and Green Inc.) has emphasized the potential economic and environmental value from having investments in the electric power network that make the accommodation of renewables easier, reducing transaction costs and shifting the margin at which investing in renewables is profitable.

FirstFuel, inverse modeling and speeding up the U.S. utility energy efficiency mandate market. "In the time it takes that entire lifecycle to happen for one building, we're doing 100 buildings, identifying 100 times more opportunities, doing 100 ...

BERLIN (AFP) - The German government wants to build up to 30 offshore windfarms in a bid to meet its renewable energy targets, Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee said in an interview published Sunday. Tiefensee told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper that the windfarms would be built in the Baltic and North seas and said some 2,000 windmills should soon be producing 11,000 megawatts of electricity.

There have been major strides in producing everything from sandals to military hardware in more eco-friendly ways. Likewise, the reduction of waste has also been improved, through both new technology and behavioral changes. But perhaps the most intriguing sector of the "sustainability industry" is the one populated by companies and organizations capturing waste and converting it into useful, carbon-neutral resources.

A new way of capturing the energy from the Sun could increase the power generated by solar panels tenfold, a team of American scientists has shown. The new technique involves coating glass with a specific mixture of transparent dyes which redirect light to photovoltaic cells in the frame.

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%.

After emerging in 2006 from 15 years of hibernation, the solar thermal power industry experienced a surge in 2007, with 100 megawatts of new capacity coming online worldwide. During the 1990s, cheap fossil fuels, combined with a loss of state and federal incentives, put a damper on solar thermal power development. However, recent increases in energy prices, escalating concerns about global climate change, and fresh economic incentives are renewing interest in this technology.

Pardon me, but things like this are akin to someone perfecting the bow and arrow in an effort to win World War Two.

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