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mirrored solar dish that looks like a home satellite receiver, and produces 3.5 kilowatts of energy

Using its Stirling engine technology, Inifnia thinks it can eventually produce electricity 20 to 30 percent cheaper than today’s existing solar panels. And in times of peak energy demand—on a hot summer day, for instance—it could even be competitive with electricity from gas-powered or coal-fired plants.

Scientists from the University of Maryland spin-off company Zymetis have also been discovering some tasty treats in unexpected places. A bacterium found eating marsh grass in the Chesapeake Bay has turned out to be just the ticket for creating enzymes which break down almost any source of biomass, or plant life, into sugars for ethanol and other biofuels.

If a smart company like Google can seriously think it can go green by burning coal and then buying offsets and if a smart company like PG&E is bragging about a new program that allows customers to offset their electricity emissions by planting trees (a dopey program I'll blog about later), then something is very wrong about the general understanding of offsets.

tates participating in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), an agreement among the Governors of ten Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states to reduce greenhouse gases from power plants, have announced that the first ever CO2 allowance auction in the United States for a mandatory emissions reduction program will take place on September 10, 2008.

Unsettlingly, usually, these discussions involve more strong opinions than data. Some people believe that one of these alternative (they are not all sustainable) energy options is the silver bullet that will solve both the climate and the energy crisis. Other argue that there is no silver bullet and that what is required are a variety of silver BB’s: a mixture of technologies, along with greater energy efficiency and preservation of habitat (forests). Do we really just need to build huge number of nuclear plants or wind farms to solve the problem? If, instead, we are going to use a mix of alternative energy sources, which ones should we use and in what quantities?

This “reverse auction market” feed-in tariff is designed to avoid the pitfalls the have plagued efforts in Europe to encourage development of renewable energy by paying artificially high rates for electricity produced by solar power plants or rooftop photovoltaic projects.

All newly built homes to produce more energy than they consume by 2020. Renovate all existing buildings to save energy. Ban incandescent light bulbs by 2010. Reduce greenhouse-gas emission by 20% by 2020. Increase renewable energy from 9% to 20-25% of total energy consumption by 2020. Bring transport emissions back to 1990 levels. Reduce vehicle speed limits by 10 kilometres per hour. Taxes and incentives to favour clean cars. Shift half of haulage by road to rail and water within 15 years. Develop rail and public transport. Reduce air pollutants quantitatively. Create a national network of "green" corridors and nature reserves. Increase organic farming from 2% to 6% of total acreage production by 2010 and to 20% by 2020. Ecological groups to be stakeholders, like trade unions, in government negotiations. Create a body to review planting of genetically modified crops on a case-by-case basis.

China views small hydropower (plants up to 25 MW capacity) as a means to achieve rural electrification and tailors its policies to achieve this.