We have a renewable energy news category and comprehensive guide explaining exactly what renewables are.
We present some business ideas for those of you who think that the future is greener than the present- we can think of some who don't ---. The advice is general and does not apply exclusively to any one nation.
Wave power or tidal power? The answer probably depends on where you are. If you have the frightening power that has always inspired names like Cape Wrath, then those tides should produce the most power in Europe. On the other hand, the regular movement of waves could well be capable of inspiring a design to accumulate energy over a lengthy period, albeit with less energy production per unit.
Uzbekistan stands out as a pioneer in developing renewables in Central Asia. Here is the ongoing story, as we look at how all nations try to live up to the promise of Paris COP21!
Powerhelps renewable energy independents.
The use of enormous batteries is changing the scene as renewable energy rapidly grows to take over 15% of UK power production by 2020. Much greater percentages are already in place in Scotland.
As Paris sinks in
and April promises yet further promises, how are the pollution and carbon footprints decreasing over some of the major players in world climate change?
The race for solar power is on as fossil fuel investments are divested
and renewable technologies increase their percentages of many nations electricity production. The first major solar power project in every country is a real measure of progress. Uzbekistan stands out as having enormous amounts of solar potentials but with a current 89% usage of fossil fuels. To turn the tables on this energy budget would be a truly great achievement.
The regulation of unilateral decisions on hydroelectric power reminds all of us that the water around us really does not belong to us. It belongs just as much to the fish and the water cycle that supplies us with the precious stuff!
The future of our energy needs lies heavily with solar power. Unless wind and solar renewables kick off more and more new and technological moves, we will be left with failing and polluting energy solutions by politicians who understand even less about what could happen to the Earth than we do.
How should we progress to a world of renewable energy? Well the hydroelectric facilities we have are first-class while the wind and the tidal power industries are developing. Solar power represents to many people what photosynthesis means to the plant world-a cheap, reliable source of instant, if not yet storable, power.
We have ideas and giant international conferences coming up, on how to combat global warming and specifically what we can do with greenhouse gases. It could be, though, that some of the jokers in the pack are simply sequestering while Rome burns. After all, their employment depends on maintaining the coal, oil, gas and even fracking industries. Maybe replacing these industries with renewable energy technologies would use different engineers and spoil the party for many profitable companies?
The future for solar photovoltaic cells is bright. With wind and tidal power still developing, the efficient PV cells being developed seem sure to absorb more renewable sun-power than before and really push solar energy as a dominant form of energy. This league table will change a lot in the future but several countries are really setting out their store (and grabbing a part of the big market for cells.)
When we see countries developing a large renewable energy capacity, the whole earth can celebrate that there will be no more carbon emissions from some sources at least. Now for the riddance of fracking, coal and all gas and oil based industries, before the UNs latest warnings become tragically true even before we know it.
Wind and solar energy are beginning to take over in parts of Europe that are not importing low-cost fossil fuels. The green light is especially bright after a vote yesterday in the EU. This could light the way for vast technological improvement, and a healthy future.
They have innovation coming out of their pores. European engineers work on the most productive areas first to achieve not only renewable energy targets but also the working energy to supply people, homes and factories.
While we sit and wait for politicians to save their bacon or cook their goose with fracking, German renewables and giant power transfers could help reduce prices in more efficient ways.
When the world looks back on the Age of Dirty Energy, fossil fuels will be a laugh. How will we manage our individual and corporate needs for electricity when finally a choice of renewables becomes available? What choices will there be?
How does a leading country behave when the chips are down at international conferences. While former supporters of green energy default, the EU generally seems firm on windy territory, as well as pushing the solar area energetically.
When push comes to pull, it's all the energy of a wave that we're trying to capture. That will seal Scotland's and other bids to reach the goal of completely renewable energy for 2020.
The German situation is relevant to all of our future energy development, in utilising the energy that our renewables create. Efficient and creative storage solutions are emerging from new technology, but will any of the old storage capacity be useful, at least in the short-term?
While renewable energy struggles to make its mark on politicians, the easy way is to use the good old technology of getting fossils out of the ground and setting them alight. Has anybody remembered the globe is warming quickly now?
A research team in California has produced a system that can be used for artificial photosynthesis system as well as others. It seems likely that such a system will finally be able to produce the promised carbon neutral energy that we need in large quantities at low cost, in order to cool down the rapidly-warming planet.
The future of the planet depends on dropping fossil fuel. Are we in a position to make profits from the innovation needed for all those renewable energy technologies?
As Iceland proudly stands as the nation with the most advanced renewable energy facilities, alongside Scotland, Sweden, Norway and Brazil, others in the east and even some les developed nations are liable to play catch up. Will geothermal energy be their answer to a dream?
The Congo is one of the truly great rivers, but it is remarkable in that it can be navigated throughout, up to the Livingstone Falls and the hydro-electric possibilities will be opened up without undue disturbance. That is, if they are opened up?
The latest renewable energy source for you can be your own hydrogen or the electricity you can conveniently make from it as you sleep.
Biofuel derived from microalgae, a piece in the clean energy puzzle? To renew oil from a plant that does not use up millions of square km of forest hasn't been our dream, but it should have been.
'Renewable UK' are having their annual gathering in Glasgow this week. The quite venerable organisation now includes tidal energy and wave power organisations, since it began as a simply academic wind power lobby.
Moon mining for Helium-3 - a chase to find a secure, reliable and clean energy sources to feed the power thirsty nations on earth.
New wave energy project for Australia. The 19 MW marine energy project is the next step in the on-going relationship between American wave power technology designer Ocean Power Technologies and Lockheed Martin.
On the cusp of a mass of discoveries about artificial photosynthesis, Panasonic Corporation has clipped the wings of several American consortia.
The Ocean Sentinel, one of just a few test facilities for wave energy technology has begun work in Oregon, USA.
New study outlines 2011 growth in the U.S. wind industry. Now only behind China in wind farm energy generation, some U.S. states have farmed the power bonus from this renewable energy source.
Could wind turbines save the world? An article written by Ashlea Jones discusses how wind energy could and should be developed as a renewable energy source in the United States where solar is not an option.
1.5 million homes will be powered as President Obama's ,''We Can't Wait'' renewable energy initiative on solar and wind power begins to gather pace.
The first £300,000 has been raised through 'democratic finance' in just four weeks for the Abundance wind turbine investment scheme in the UK. Abundance have also launched their second renewable energy investment opportunity, debentures in solar panels.
Facebook transparency about energy use welcomed. Popular social media site Facebook is aiming to boost renewable and clean energy use to a quarter of its total by 2015 - up 2% on 2011 figures.
Abundance start new renewable energy community investment platform. Small investors are being given the chance to help fund a £1.4 million UK wind turbine development, putting in as little as £5 and getting returns of up to 8%, says Abundance NRG Ltd.
New Report from the Friends of the Supergrid details how the renewable energy supply chain will operate.
A clean energy fuel cell that converts hydrogen into electricity can store electrochemical power to can be used once the hydrogen runs out.
The UK Environmental Accounts for 2012 have just been published. The latest UK environment data shows a mixed picture, with greenhouse gas and energy consumption rising and use of renewable energy and spending on environmental protection rising.
Internet auction marketplace eBay is planning to use clean energy in the form of Bloom Energy fuell cells to power the next phase of its data centre in Utah, U.S.
A medium-sized wave power plant from Eco Wave Power that can generate enough electricity for 10 households from two floaters has been successfully tested in five metre storm waves in the Black Sea.
A new UK energy bill has been published that aims to increase clean energy generation to combat climate change and minimise price rises.
Solar company Renewable Energy Corporation (REC) has won two prestigious industry awards and has just produced its five millionth solar panel.
Most Los Angeles voters want more renewable energy to be generated in the city, especially rooftop solar power, according to a new survey.
Photosynthesis could be the solution to our clean energy needs and is the dream of renewable energy researchers who seek the elusive energy-efficient goal of energy from light. A thrilling story of great adventure and success, well just maybe, in the search for the power from the leaf.
A record £165 billion ($263 billion) was invested by private and public sectors in clean energy projects last year - breaking £1 trillion dollars from private sources since 2004.
Even as solar panels, wind turbines and biofuels are powering their way into the conventional energy scene, clean energy innovators cannot pause for breath. New energy solutions bring new challenges, and so researchers are increasingly turning to the exotic to make the green energy dream real.
Over one third of Scottish electricity now comes from renewables. Just announced, these impressive figures mean that Scotland have beaten their renewable energy targets and are on track to meet their long term energy needs from only renewable sources.
A new collaborative report has been compiled to help promote offshore renewable energy developments in New York State, while protecting fish and birdlife.
Eco-friendly dairy farmer Uriah Godsell is set to reap up to £8,000 a year in energy bill savings after installing a wind turbine from Ploughcroft Renewables.
All Scotland's electricity can be generated by renewable energy by 2020 and carbon can be removed from electricity generation completely by 2030, says the Scottish Government in a policy statement.
Approval has been given to test the first array of nearshore wave power units in Orkney that could power more than 1,000 homes. Two new Oyster wave converters will join a similar unit at Orkney's European Marine Energy Centre and connected to the onshore hydroelectric plant.
Google has come out top in the latest Cool IT Leaderboard ranking of the use and leadership of clean energy by leading IT companies, says Greenpeace International.
The boom in shale gas production has left US gas prices near record lows. But those low prices are threatening the switch to no-carbon renewables, like wind and solar, as utilities switch to gas in preference. Many are worrying that the shale gas boom is a dangerous distraction, as reserves forecasts are slashed.
Ecotricity has introduced green gas and many other clean energy innovations. Searaser, invented by Alvin Smith and manufactured by Ecotricity, converts ocean wave power into clean renewable energy and harnesses the power of the ocean.
Seaweed could replace oil and coal as a sustainable biofuel of the future, after scientists engineered a microbe that extracts sugars from seaweed (brown macroalgae) and converts it into alternative green energy.
Social website Facebook and eco-charity Greenpeace have come together to promote ways of saving energy and generating clean energy, ending a two-year lobbying campaign by 700,000 Greenpeace 'friends.'
High-speed jet stream winds in the upper atmosphere would produce 200-times less renewable energy than previously thought and wreak havock on the climate and weather, German scientists claim.
Solar power and the Arizona desert is a good fit, with the highest radiation in North America, as shown in this map. Hundreds of thousands of hectares will be affected soon by the construction of photovoltaic power generators and various offsite effects. These basic effects of renewable energy are listed as habitat fragmentation, dust creation, pollution by varied chemicals and heat and light generation.
Scaling down on renewable energy ambitions could cost more in the long term according to the Positive Energy report by WWF-UK. This is contrary to KPMG's beliefs that scaling down renewable energy ambitions could save the economy £34 billion within the next ten years.
California is very ambitious about its 33% renewable energy aim for 2020 (after a 20% objective for 2010). Governor Jerry Brown calls for 8,000 megawatts from various large-scalewind and solar installations. The idea of a large state like California as a world leader in energy development appeals to those who want to promote more employment, new industries and technological leadership.
Though unlikely to pass in the Senate, the TRAIN Act serves as a wake-up call to the American public that representatives would sacrifice lives for industry dollars. Proponents of the bill claim it will help to create much needed jobs. However, environmental advocates believe clean energy represents a more promising and sustainable source of jobs.
This article looks at the newest UK nuclear development - 'Hinkley Point C' and compares energy supply with that of renewable energy, set in the UK. Nuclear energy has been under rapid fire from industry experts this year and public perception has been shaken in the fission technology since the Fukushima disaster early this year. EDF has been given permission to build 'Hinkley Point C' on the Somerset Coast.
One man's journey from market researcher to organic farmer. The Fieldpower Organics, created by Paul Sousek concentrates on zero-carbon farming practices. He decided to implement his own style of organic farming with near-zero use of fossil fuels, powered as much as possible by renewable energy, using local inputs and selling produce locally, to try to create an example of a self-sufficient and resilient food supply.
Farmers expected to benefit from Green Energy revolution in Scotland. Wind Turbines can, for example be installed on agricultural or grazing land and provide an extra income-stream, yet only marginally reduce the area used for food growing. Similarly production of biofuels from agricultural waste maximises the return farmers can make on their investments.
Scotland is on track to generate all its power from renewables by 2020. The Scottish Government has given the go-ahead to a new hydro-electric project in the Highlands. A five megawatt development near Kinlochleven at Loch Eilde Mor on the western side of Scotland is expected to generate enough renewable energy to power around 2,400 homes.
An environmentalist observing the steady rotation of the hundreds offshore wind turbines at the coast of Germany's North Sea, stretching from the Dutch border all the way up to the islands of Fohr and Sylt, gets a sense of a peaceful tranquility and hopeful enthusiasm: This could be the future of green energy, one possible way to help fight climate change. Meanwhile, the troubles under the surface of the water usually go unnoticed.
Investment in renewable energies leaps between 2009 and 2010. Developing countries were seen to be making up the vanguard, forging ahead with green energy investment and development. China, in particular, invested $48.9 billion, an increase of 28% on 2009.
Careful location of renewable energy developments may reduce impacts on birds and bats. Biodiversity Research Institute (BRI) has established a new wildlife and renewable energy program to study and understand the movements of birds and bats and to assess the potential interactions between energy facilities and wildlife.
Climate Change Minister in Scotland to announce £20m for marine industry. Funding to take marine power devices to the next level of development has been announced by Climate Change Minister Greg Barker on a visit to Pelamis Wave Power at Leith Docks in Edinburgh.
Google makes biggest ever investment in solar power project. Google's investment is its largest yet in clean energy and will be used to help homeowners finance the start up costs of installing a solar energy system. The project is one of 15 operated by SolarCity, one of the US leaders in solar power.
Today, Global Wind Day is being celebrated around the world to promote the untapped possibilities of using wind to supply our energy. Today there are wind farms in operation in more than 75 countries, which generate renewable energy delivering power to millions of people.
A survey into how coal and nuclear power risks are perceived by the public has thrown up some interesting insights on the Clean Energy debate. Its not just nuclear accidents and global warming that dominate peoples worries about these controversial energy sources, with the public having a strong grasp of other potential drawbacks.
Finland leads the way in the use of biomass in energy production. By using Metso's technology to replace coal with wood-based renewables, the plant will be able to supply around 140 MW to the grid, making the operation the largest of its kind worldwide.
After Germany announced radical plans to shut its nuclear power plants down, yesterday, in order to appease growing concerns over their safety, Greenpeace has come up with its own plan. They believe the game can be raised significantly closing down all nuclear plants within 5 years so making Germany the torch-bearer in the clean energy revolution.
A new study is projecting that renewable energy is likely to become cheaper earlier than first thought. The team assessed recent developments in renewable energy generation technology, based on a range of analyses and reports from international sources and concluded that these technologies are, in fact, less expensive than the figures the energy industry is using.
An off-the-wall alternative energy source - bacterial batteries - is drawing closer thanks to new research published today, on the electricity-generating potential of 'rock-breathing' microbes. A paper out in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences describes in detail the mechanism by which these bizarre bacteria can pass electrical currents when attached to iron particles.
Scotland announced on May 20, 2011, that it is targeting to use only renewable energy by 2020, increasing its former target of 80 percent by that year. Scotland First Minister Alex Salmond wants Scotland to become the green energy powerhouse of Europe.
By helping the developing world embrace off-grid renewable energy schemes, the Western world can fulfil the Millennium Development Goals without putting climate change targets in jeopardy.
Protests erupt as controversial scheme is approved. It involves the construction of five hydroelectric power stations and the damming of two rivers, the River Pascua (Pasqua) and Rio Baker. The scheme, it is argued, is vital for the economic development of Chile and helping to lift the 2.5million poor out of poverty.
In what is being touted as artificial photosynthesis, researchers at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne have devised a technique for coating a cuprous oxide semiconductor so that it can use energy from the sun to take hydrogen from water.
Whilst yesterday's Renewable Energy Review pushed the UK's nuclear button firmly - as a solution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions - it's in fact a time to hit the pause button. Nuclear power will be a costly dangerous diversion from the real solution - making truly renewable energy sources into a reliable foundation for our future energy needs.
Major UN report shows global energy usage could become 77 percent renewable by 2050. By 2050, almost 80% of the world's energy could come from renewable sources, says a landmark report commissioned by the UN. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released the Special Report on Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation on May 9th.
The UK's Climate Change Committee threw its weight behind a greater role for nuclear power, in order to achieve renewables targets of 15% by 2020, and 30% by 2030. As part of a broad review of the renewables sector, asked for by the governing Coalition, the road-map set out sees a mix of 'low-carbon' energy sources - but a slow-down in the push for offshore wind farms.
Are 'brownfield' sites the renewable power generators of tomorrow? Landfill, disused mines, redundant industrial sites and even rooftops are all starting to look like attractive locations for renewable energies generators such as solar power, wind turbines and even biomass production. All we need is the commitment from business and government to put them to good use.
Global warming is unlikely to suck the power out of a US wind farm energy solution. That's the good news to come from a paper in this weeks Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, which projects strengthening winds in many areas slated for wind farms. The paper helps to fill in a worrying blank on the possible knock-ons to renewables due to climate change.
Google's drive to make renewable energy cheaper than coal power energy is a long term mission. Since launching the initiative, Google has cut investment in renewable energy technology companies while increasing investment in renewable power generation schemes, most notably with a recent $100 million investment in the world's largest wind farm in Oregon, US.
The investment of $168 million is the single largest by the Internet giant into clean energy. Google has invested almost $170 million in the world's largest solar power tower plant, being built in America's Mojave Desert. Part of Google's ongoing commitment to clean energy solutions, the investment is its largest so far in a single project
Headlines that wind power may not be renewable have quickly been scotched - with New Scientist changing its title for the provocative piece. It looked at a paper on how renewable energy production stacked up against the amount of 'free energy' the earth has at its disposal. But do we really need to claim such massive shares of the earth's energy bounty that those limits become a concern?
In an address at Georgetown University, President Barack Obama discussed the need for alternative energy standards and called for a significant reduction in the nation's dependence on foreign oil. Obama noted that there has been progress in the transportation sector, including the increased use of vehicles that are powered by biofuels and natural gas, as well as the auto industry's more efficient production methods involving traditional engines.
The Clean Energy race is on, according to a report from the PEW Environment group, with a record $240 billion invested in renewable energy sources in 2010. Leading the transformation are those with strong support for the greening of energy - including China, Italy and Germany. Uncertainty has left others, like the US and UK, further behind.
Ten underwater turbines to lead technology research in exciting project. The Scottish Government has backed a plan to build 10 one-megawatt tidal power turbines in a strait between the small islands of Islay (pronounced ''Isla'') and Jura off the West coast of Scotland. This will be the world's largest tidal power station - which resembles a wind farm, only underwater!
36 communities nationwide are currently participating in the EPA's first-ever annual Green Power Community Challenge, as part of efforts to demonstrate how renewable energy can be used to produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions and improve the health of the community and the environment.
Wind and solar power could provide more than a quarter of the electricity needs of Hawaii's most populous island says a new study with implications for renewable power around the world.
Report shows that clean energy is more economically viable than ever. This year's report from Clean Edge Inc, one of the world's leading authorities on clean energy and technology, shows that the clean energy market continued to expand unabated in 2010. Global revenue for solar, wind and biofuel energy climbed more than 35% in the last year alone.
Since being touted back in 1970, the idea of the 'hydrogen-economy' has stalled. But a breakthrough announced Sunday, by a collaborative team at Berkley Labs, has demonstrated a real-world solid-state storage of hydrogen - packed densely and safely into a new nanocomposite material. It could mark a turning point in making hydrogen a viable clean energy solution for the world.
A sub-sea cable could export clean energy from Iceland to Europe, taking power from its notoriously active volcanoes and harnessing it for good. With three-quarters of the island's clean energy potential untapped, Iceland is calling for investors to help it start a geothermal energy revolution. According to Monday's report from Bloomberg, the project would involve laying a sub-sea cable 700 miles, from Iceland to Scotland, in the UK, in order to provide geothermal power to Europe's grid system.
Greenpeace is putting pressure on Facebook to become a world leader in clean energy by this year's Earth Day. Earth Day is a global celebration of the Earth's natural environment and is a chance to promote and inspire awareness to taking better care of our precious resources.
Geologists drilling in the Krafla volcano in Iceland struck upon a high grade source of geothermal energy when their deep drilling well hit a pool of molten rock. These magma wells could produce five times the power of conventional wells as the economics of generating steam from hot geothermal sources improve as temperature and pressure increase.
American researchers claim that by 2030 all new world energy could come from wind, water and solar power and all pre-existing energy production could be converted by 2050. Professor Mark Jacobson from Stamford University and Dr Mark Delucchi of the University of California-Davis maintain that this could be accomplished if the world converted to clean, renewable energy sources and abandoned fossil fuels.
UK government has placed the Feed in Tarrif for renewable energy under review sooner than expected causing concern within the industry. The UK government are facing criticism and anxiety from the renewable energy sector for bringing forward their review of the Feed in Tariff scheme designed to encourage and support renewable electricity generation.
Massive new study on renewables shows they make economic sense. A new WWF report which examines the feasibility of reaching 100% of clean, renewable energy by 2050. In a massive study, two years in the making, in conjunction with respected energy consultants Ecofys and the Office for Metropolitan Architecture, WWF have shown that a better world, is to coin a phrase, possible.
Research has revealed that renewable energy in the UK is starting to make an impact on employment statistics. RenewableUK, the country's leading voice for the renewable energy industry, has published the most comprehensive ever employment figures for the wind energy industry, showing a 91 per cent increase in full-time employment in the sector between 2007/8 and 2009/10.
Research conducted by American scientists has suggested that wind turbines operating on Midwestern farm fields may be good for crop production. The research suggests that the turbine blades that generate renewable energy might also help corn and soybean crops stay cooler and drier..
British Government statistics for the third quarter of last year showed that renewables contributed their biggest ever percentage of national electricity generation. Figures from the Department of Energy and Climate Change showed the level at 8.6% with the contribution from wind up by 37% compared to same quarter in 2009.
A report from global management consultant firm A.T. Kearney has sought to identify the route to success for chemical companies in the cleantech energy sector. A report by A.T.Kearney entitled 'The Race is On' asks who will be the 'John D. Rockefeller' of clean energy supply and dominate this sector.
A new report on how developed countries can help other countries invest in clean energy projects, coincides with calls from the European clean energy sector for governments to stop talking and start investing.
The British Government has announced plans to extend its carbon capture and storage (CCS) funding to gas-fired power stations, while the EU has also launched a new programme of funding for green energy projects across the continent.
New planning guidelines for wind turbines that are located on biodiversity sites published by the European Commission. In the context of sustainable development, what is more important: renewable energy or biodiversity loss? At first glance the two don't seem mutually exclusive, but they can be in the case of wind turbines. That's why over the years legislation has been put into place to make sure that things like 'bird collision' are avoided.
We present some business ideas for those of you who think that the future is greener than the present- we can think of some who don't ---. The advice is general and does not apply exclusively to any one nation.
We use the tiger (this is a prime Siberian example) to show up our failure to conserve wild species, but while we monopolise all the food that animals require, we could remember that it is not only their conservation we urgently need to cover. It is also our own indulgences.
How can you describe the threats existing to species, both large and small? Using the highly-threatened primates, we can perhaps see how they have contrived to exist until the current time. Then we can better understand just how we can prevent factors simply wiping them from the face of the earth, often through ignorance, lack of care, prejudice and of course the universal profit motive. Conservation begins in our minds, but demands much more than that.
The future is certainly renewable, but are we too late to prevent future centuries problems of global warming- and the rest! Here are some current US solutions to waste and warming for you to enjoy---there are some ads in this piece but weve allowed them for one blog only.
Need to save money after the spending boom to end them all? Here are 2 sets of opinions on how to pull out the plugs at night at least.
When dolphins are 'rescued' in various countries, the car given seems to be ill-considered. We are simply looking at the success rate which is reported to be low, in most places. They could even end up in commercial aquarium shows, but they certainly rarely make it back to the sea.
