In honor of Blog Action Day on the topic of water, here is a bit of good news about a new low-cost, energy efficient method for purifying drinking water without the use of chlorine. Scientists at Stanford University have developed a new kind of water filter that uses a combination of silver, cotton, and electricity to kill up to 98 percent of E. coli bacteria in contaminated water. The system was recently described in the American Chemical Society journal.

With rapid industrialization, the world has seen the development of a number of items or units, which generate heat. Until now this heat has often been treated as a waste, making people wonder if this enormous heat being generated can be transformed into a source of electric power. Now, with the physicists at the University of Arizona finding new ways to harvest energy through heat, this dream is actually going to become a reality.

Great efforts have been made to improve public awareness about energy savings. Energy efficient appliances have replaced power consuming equipment. Millions of compact lamps and solar water heaters have been used, while many power saving models have been applied to factories and smart/green buildings.

Diamond Plaza, recognized as one of the most beautiful buildings in Vietnam, has twice been rewarded as "the ASEAN (the Association of South East Asian Nations) Energy Efficient Building". The building always obeys strictest regulations in design, construction and operation to guarantee aesthetic effects and energy efficiency to meet demands of a "Green Building".

Toyota Motor Corp officials have recently announced that the company plans to introduce two new versions of its Prius Hybrid into the auto market. The vehicles will be unveiled at the Detroit Auto Show, scheduled for Jan 2011. This way, Toyota hopes to bolster their dominance of the electric and hybrid vehicle market in the U.S.

The U.S. military had been tinkering with renewable energy for some time. Now, seeing that one in 24 fuel convoys carried in Afghanistan gets at least a civilian and a soldier killed, the Pentagon set a firm standard for the army to use 50 percent of their energy from renewable resources by 2020.

The world's largest consumer product maker announced Monday that it has set ambitious long-term targets for cutting the waste it produces and improving its energy efficiency. Procter & Gamble said it eventually will use only renewable energy to power its factories and only recycled or renewable materials to make and package its products.

Eurostar has today announced a planned £700m investment in its rolling stock that will result in the rail operator running some of the greenest trains on the planet from 2014. The company revealed it is to buy 10 new trains and refurbish its existing 28-strong fleet as it looks to further build on its position as a low-carbon alternative to short haul flights.

After three days of prompt installation, at the end of October 18th 2010, 80% of the project installing grid connected solar panels on the rooftop of MOIT’s building has been completed as scheduled.

After renewing the house, Mr Hieu and his wife decide to reuse the decorative since they thought it is still very new. However, being put into use, the chandelier has caused a complicated problem as it consumes a lot of electricity and is very hot. The chandelier has three tiers, with about 26 40W bulbs, so it consumes 1.040W per lighting hour. Then the chandelier has been“retired” once again after a month.

On October 9th 2010, in Japan, the energy efficiency training course for Vietnamese staff (ECVN7) ended successfully, after 12 days of hard work, studying the theory and practicing to operate machines at Japanese facilities which well implemented energy efficiency.

A British business offering turnkey solutions for micro wind power is aiming to become one of the top five producers in the world by 2016. Its innovative new design will provide a fully installed wind turbine for as little as $7000, according to the company’s CEO.

United States’ Environment Protection Agency (EPA) has increased the percentage of ethanol blending optional for cars and light-weight trucks made in or after 2007 to 15 percent (E15). This is the first increment in the ethanol blending standard in more than 30 years. Since 1979, automobiles had an option to use only 10 percent blended ethanol (E10) in gasoline.

Ceatec Japan 2010 hosted Rohm’s new dye-sensitized solar cells that we were talking about a few months ago. Now, the Japanese company applied their plans to TV remotes, mice and sensors. The solar cell that the company presented is highly optimized for low room, fluorescent light, having a wavelength of 400 to 800 nm. The interesting fact is that the efficiency of the exhibited cells is 30%, a year after the company showed off with their latest 20% samples.

A new report out by the Solar Energy Industry Association (SEIA) and GTM Research, the inaugural U.S. Solar Market Insight™ report, finds that solar power is going to continue its rapid growth in the United States.

More than 300 students in HCM City on Sunday took part in activities for the International 350 Day for Climate Change. Together with millions of people around the globe, they raised their voices about climate change and environment protection. The students made a painting of five-by-five metres, and 260 small paintings that were combined to depict the number 1,000 in celebration of Ha Noi’s millenium anniversary.

In devising the myriad events, "we just wanted to put it on people's radar to think about things" when it comes to conserving, said Stephanie Ciccarello, the town's energy conservation coordinator. "There's always more that people can do."

ENERGY STAR® qualified, biodegradable supply cores and recyclable packaging make the new Datacard® SD260 card printer the industry’s first desktop printer with environmentally focused features, according to Datacard Group, the world leader in secure ID and card personalization systems.

SunHydro, a hydrogen refueling company is launching their first hydrogen station that will be open to the public. The refueling point will be made available starting Friday in Connecticut, USA, in an attempt of the firm to create a chain of hydrogen refueling stations from Maine to Florida.

One of the first 100 percent electric mass-production cars in US is to be launched this year and will be for sale starting 2011. The CODA Sedan will be manufactured by a private American firm that sells battery systems and all-electric vehicles.