Clean Energy Transition

According to a new report, "Renewables Portfolio Standards in the United States: A Status Report with Data through 2007," released by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, a growing number of states are supporting renewable electricity through the creation of renewable portfolio standards (RPS). The report provides a comprehensive overview of early experience with these state-level RPS policies.

Wacker Chemie AG and Schott Solar GmbH have officially commissioned a new solar silicon wafer factory in Jena, Germany. Wacker Schott Solar GmbH, a joint venture between the two companies, plans to ramp up the factory's annual capacity to 50 megawatts (MW) by the autumn of 2008, increasing total annual capacity to 120 MW by year's end.

The audio-slide productions of PSERC tele-seminars are publicly available. By clicking on a title below, a web-streaming version of the tele-seminars will begin. The audio-slide productions provide the audio and synchronized slides from the tele-seminar. These audio-slide productions are best viewed with Internet Explorer. The slides alone are available on the PSERC website, or browse to the webcast site. The tele-seminars are categorized by the following topics:

The leading Norwegian manufacturer of photovoltaic cells and panels expects PV power generation costs to decline to only 8 cents/kWh as of 2010, provided installations benefit from at least 1800 hours/year of sunshine. That is the case in the countries around the Mediterranean, the southern parts of the USA, India, China, Australia and many other parts of the planet.

That took about 1,200 MW from the country's grid and brought electrical reserves to a dangerously low level.

And so at 12:39 p.m., the electricity sputtered off in Athens

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Inexpensive residential wind turbine

Don’t look now but it appears residential renewable energy systems and wind power technology are getting cheaper.

The Danish Electricity Saving Trust’s 2008 Purchasing Guidelines are now available in English.

The method is to specify user requirements before electrically powered products appear in the shopping baskets of the municipalities.

he Trust recommends that all public sector institutions and private companies follow the Guidelines when purchasing products. Public sector institutions will thus automatically fulfil the requirements laid down in the voluntary agreement and the government’s circular. Purchasers will also be saving their organisations very large sums of money,

Nuclear energy makes an important contribution to our fight against climate change and our security of energy supply

In order to make the necessary investments possible, the commission is examining ways to address the difficulties related to licensing, financing and different nuclear liability regimes.

My question is about the grid and wind power. If we were to add wind power into the generation mix, would the grid still be as reliable as it is today?

The future of solar-powered houses is clear RELATED ARTICLES New Solar Panel Technology Stylish and Sustainable New Solar Technology Sets World Record Solar Cells of the Future with Nano Flakes Professor Devises New Form of Solar Cell /energy/article/34462Transparent glass containing solar cells could capture enough energy to power a home

Wind Power Growth Surpasses Projections Washington, D.C., United States [RenewableEnergyWorld.com] Global wind power capacity rose 27 percent in 2007 to more than 94,100 megawatts (MW), led by capacity additions in the European Union, the United States, and China, according to the latest Vital Sign Update from the Worldwatch Institute.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc. may stop investing in Europe if it has to pay for emissions permits.

Utilities are hostile to the plans and are threatening to freeze their investments in the EU and to relocate operations.

Electricity is usually made using nuclear power by heating steam to rotate turbines that generate electricity. But beginning in the 1960s, the US and Soviet Union used thermoelectric materials that convert heat into electricity to power spacecraft using nuclear fission or decaying radioactive material. The Pioneer missions were among those using the latter, "nuclear battery" approach.

Ballooning gasoline prices aren’t just changing how people drive—they may soon change where people live. With gas stuck above $3.00 a gallon, those cheaper houses in the suburbs can be a money-losing proposition in the end.

The world’s largest tidal turbine, weighing 1000 tonnes, has been installed in Northern Ireland’s Strangford Lough. The tidal turbine is rated at 1.2 megawatts, which is enough to power a thousand local homes. It was built by Marine Current Turbines, and it will be the first commercial tidal turbine to produce energy, when it begins operation later this year.

Project Better Place, owned by Israeli-American entrepreneur Shai Agassi, will provide lithium-ion batteries to power the cars and the infrastructure to refresh or replace them. One battery will enable the cars to travel 124 miles per charge. Project Better Place will install parking meter-like plugs on city streets and construct service stations along highways to replace the batteries. [2] Renault-Nissan will build the new cars and will offer a small number of their existing electric models, such as the “Megane” sedan, at prices roughly comparable to gasoline models. To promote this form of environmentally efficient transportation, the Israeli government cut the tax rate on cars powered by electricity to 10 percent (from 79 percent on ordinary cars) to encourage consumers to buy the vehicles once they become available. [3] This initiative will offer consumers an inexpensive car for which they will pay a monthly fee based on expected mileage.

Shedding Light on Thin-film Solar Cell Efficiency Research

Recently, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) announced that they have moved closer to creating a thin-film solar cell that can compete with the efficiency of the more common silicon-based solar cell. The Copper Indium Gallium Diselenide (CIGS) thin-film solar cell recently reached 19.9% efficiency in testing at the lab, setting a new world record, according to NREL.

growth is being slowed by insufficient electricity grid infrastructure, hesitant investors, and rising raw material costs, notably for copper and steel

People power

A lack of trained technicians and engineers also weighs heavily on the minds of the industry. Finding enough skilled workers "is an enormous challenge in Europe," according to Kjaer, who cited examples of companies that are simply unable to fill dozens of vacancies for qualified engineers technical staff.

it must be developed fairly quickly and a central question is how it should be financed."

"We must ensure that the growth trend in wind energy continues,"

Acumentrics, in fact, is moving toward commercial production of a compact fuel cell system to power and heat homes. Working with the Italian heating products company Merloni TermoSanitari, Acumentrics hopes to get these household units, small enough to hang on a wall, into European markets by 2010. Estimated price: $5,200.