UN Climate Chief Advocates Solar, Warns On Coal

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. 

Polymer Solar Cell Breakthrough

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

UK And Australia Progress On Feed In Tariffs

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.

Solar Power Station Project For Alice Springs

Speaking at the International Solar Energy Society conference in Sydney yesterday, Environment Minister Peter Garrett announced $3.3 million in Federal funding for a solar power station to be constructed in Alice Springs as part of the Australian Government’s Solar City initiative.

New Generation Coal – Coal Industry Desperation?

In an attempt to clean up its reputation, Big Coal in Australia has been seeking a new look with “NewGenCoal”, aka New Generation Coal. New Gen Coal also appears to have been spending up on bidding for keywords such as “solar power” and other totally non-coal related renewable energy terms on some major search engines.

Home Wind Power To Boom In The UK

The rollout of tariffs by the UK government could see up to a quarter of households investing in renewable energy options. It’s been predicted 195,000 home wind turbines will be installed in the UK over the next 12 years and upwards of 900,000 households will install solar power and/or solar hot water systems.

Wal-mart Gets Into Wind Power

In its latest green initiative, Wal-mart announced last Friday it would be partnering with a Duke Energy wind farm in Texas to provide renewable energy to up to 15 percent of 360 Wal-Mart stores and other facilities in the state

A Solar Powered Submarine?

The old jokes state ‘useful as deckchairs on a submarine’ or ‘flyscreens on a submarine’, but a solar powered submarine is not a joke or science fiction – it will be a reality soon.