In an effort to discover materials for cheap but efficient solar cells, IBM and researchers From Harvard University have launched a distributed computing initiative called the Clean Energy Project and are asking for people to participate in the program.
While Australia’s coal industry has distanced itself somewhat from the oxymoronic term of “clean coal”, favouring labels such as low emissions or new generation coal, it was a term that featured heavily in the runup to the recent US elections.
It was with great anticipation that many awaited the results of the Council Of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting last weekend on the issue of feed in tariffs. Emerging from meeting was a set of what some described as vague principles and a seemingly very much watered down scheme.
Victoria’s first comprehensive State of Environment Report was recently released with unsettling statistics on energy consumption in the state, particularly in relation to coal fired electricity generation and the lack of solar power uptake.
According to the WorldWatch Institute, clean energy could topple coal fired power generation within the next 20 years. The group states cleaner energy sources could see the retirement of hundreds of coal-fired power plants by 2030, reducing global carbon dioxide emissions by a staggering 33%.
In any town or city, there’s a massively under utilised resource – rooftops. The rooftops of all our homes, industrial areas, schools and public buildings are potential emissions-free solare power plants. Recently in the United States, Southern California Edison (SCE) has engaged in an ambitious rooftop solar project to install 150 solar photovoltaic systems on local commercial buildings.
Growing out of a project initiated by Wysing Arts Centre, Cambridgeshire in the UK and constructed by German based N55, Walking House does just what its name implies – it walks; courtesy of solar power.
On the opening day of the Poznan climate conference, the U.N.’s climate chief Yvo de Boer expressed fears of governments continuing to invest in the construction of high-polluting coal fired electricity generation facilities, which would ultimately need to be decommissioned to build new low-carbon solar power plants or wind energy farms within the next couple of decades.
Researchers at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science have developed a new type of polymer solar cell that has improved efficiency and will be far cheaper to produce than the cells used in traditional monocrystalline, polycrystalline or thin film solar panels
With royal assent last week granted to Britain’s controversial Energy Bill, Britain is now committed to the implementation of feed in tariffs. In Australia, a COAG meeting held on the weekend agreed to a set of national principles to apply to new feed-in tariff schemes.