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Another advance on the solar energy front. The article itself summarises the importance of this article "while we do not pretend to understand the nitty gritty of dye usage and other such nonsense, we do know that such a system could eventually attain 15% or so efficiency, providing a nice and clean way to gather power for that fuel cell car of the future".

LONDON, UK, August 12, 2008. Analyst New Energy Finance says the days of easy carbon trading may be over as the low hanging fruit of the cheap carbon credits in the developing world have now been harvested. To date, the cheapest way of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have come from projects eliminating high global warming potential (GWP) gases in developing countries, notably China. These projects involve the destruction of two waste gases from industrial facilities: the hydrofluorocarbon HFC-23 and nitrous dioxide, or 'laughing gas' (N2O), both of which are several thousand times more potent in terms of global warming that CO2. The size of the emissions reductions achievable from these projects relative to the scale of the investment required, that these carbon credits are so cheap - around €1/tCO2e. In comparison, costs claimed by project developers of renewable energy and energy efficiency projects are €5-15 per tonne and the global market price for carbon countries from developing countries are around €20/tCO2e.

December's proven to be a boon for cleantech geeks: earlier this month, we learned about the possibility of mobile devices powered by nothing but voice energy, and now comes news that engineers are working to build an energy-harvesting radio that never needs a battery change.

A pilot programme launched by the International Copper Association (ICA) and copper miner Codelco has tested the use of copper cages in salmon farming. According to a joint statement of the two organisations, it was the first time that about 60,000 salmon were harvested in copper cages. The programme was part of a wider plan of the two organisations which looks for new markets for copper. Codelco said that the use of copper benefits salmon farming because of its antimicrobial properties. The programme showed that there was a decrease in salmon mortality and better oxygenation in specimens.

EcoSea, the Chile based manufacturer of copper mesh cages for use in aquaculture systems, announced that it intends to enter the Northern European market beginning with Norway and Scotland. The company expects to install its first 40 cages in Norway by 2013, generating revenues of US$15M. EcoSea is also dealing with Marine Harvest, a global leader in fish farming, who have agreed to install a fish farming complex using copper mesh cages in Scotland. To date, EcoSea has used 1000t of copper, however, its accumulated total use of copeer is expected to rise to 5,000t in the coming years.

A Norweigan company, SWAY A/S, is developing a deepwater wind turbine system. It seems that this system may offer a technical solution to two issues which are related to wind.  These  issues are that turbines are an eyesore for some and that of positioning turbines to receive a consistent wind flow. By enabling turbines to be placed far out to sea SWAY theoretically overcomes the eyesore issue. Also, wind flow may be more consistent in the open ocean and therefore a more approporiate environment to harvest consistent wind.