A personal helicopter weighing just 230 lb created sizzling news when it flew on hydrogen with zero emission. With an ability to carry payloads up to 800 lbs, this pocket Hercules can fly for 90 minutes. Fitted with easy controls, this reaches a speed of 100 knots thanks to a pair of small yet powerful motors mounted on it. Two common and easily available things – Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and a catalyst – combined to bring about a milestone in personal aviation history with attention to the environmental issues as well! Avimech has combined these two to power engine in to an innovative machine.

The U.S. Navy’s Seal Beach facility in California is now home to a new $1.9 million solar parking lot, thanks to funding from the federal Recovery Act. Aside from creating new green construction jobs, the new solar facility will save the Navy more than $30,000 per year in electrical costs. It’s just one part of an all-around solar power makeover for the Navy, which just this summer has commissioned another $100 million worth of new solar projects.

A team of researchers from the University of Nevada at Reno is out to prove that sludge from a wastewater treatment plant can be dried, powdered, gassified as biofuel, and then burned to generate electricity, which in turn can run equipment at the same treatment plant. Talk about having your cake and eating it, too! The question is whether the researchers can make their sewage sludge-to-biofuel process operate at a cost low enough to compete with the price of conventional fuels.

Two scientists are on a path-breaking method to produce ’sea-urchins’ to expedite the work capacity and efficiency of photovoltaic devices. Jamil Elias and Laetitia Philippe are the two scientists from Empa’s Mechanics of Materials & Nanostructures Laboratory who have been successful in producing these tiny ’sea urchins’ which are ready to revolutionize solar-cell technology.

Energy supplier EDF have unveiled a new gadget that allows consumers to turn off their appliances from anywhere in the home. The wireless EcoManager enables householders to control and switch off their microwave ovens, TVs and stereos from any location, allowing them to cut needless energy use and save money on their bills in the process.

Starting early to develop China's own energy-efficient and new-energy vehicles a decade ago, China now has an established industry with the research and development of three types of these vehicles and three key technologies at its core. Zhang Laiwu, vice science and technology minister, made the remark Thursday at a press conference in Beijing, adding that China' s industrial pattern of green vehicles was relatively unique in the world, because of its early start to develop these vehicles.

The project on construction of a wind power electricity plant on Phu Quy Island has been implemented by the PetroVietnam Power Corporation. The project costs VND335 billion. The plant has capacity of 6MW and includes three 2MW turbines. The plant produces about 25.4 million of kWh annually. It will connect with the 22kV network and work smoothly with the diesel power plant located on the island. The project occupies permanent and temporary areas of 0.74ha and 0.87ha respectively.

A recent study, conducted by the Rochester Institute of Technology, reveals that the total energy needed to make organic solar cells is less than the one needed to make inorganic solar cells.

Nowadays, batteries are hardly meeting the normal consumer’s demand regarding their capacity and lifetime. Complaints about laptops whose charge lasts too little, or about electric cars not being able to charge as quick and last as long as gasoline are frequent. Amprius, a US-based company, addresses these issues and develops abattery that they say it can hold double the charge of regular lithium ion batteries.

Along with many lighting systems which have been improved and decorated to serve the 1000 year Celebration of Thang Long-Hanoi, the lighting system at Thien Quang Lake area is one of the early completed projects and has been put into use ahead of 2nd September - the National Day.

According to a report by the Energy Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, by August 2010, the Rural Energy Project II (EPII) and Amended Rural Energy Project II had been carried out in 1,566 communes in 25 provinces and cities, 366 communes more than expected.

Siemens has launched its renewable energy business arm in India to get a sizable share in one of the fastest growing markets in the world. The German engineering giant has opened its business in India at just the right time given the abundant economic and policy incentives offered by the government to the project developers as well as manufactures in the renewable energy sector.

There are still funds available to help West Virginians replace home appliances with new, energy efficient models. In fact, residents can now take advantage of two programs aimed at saving consumers money and protecting the environment. Currently, the West Virginia Enery Efficient Appliance Rebate Program and the state's Energy Star® Sales Tax Holiday are both in effect.

A research team from the ORNL (Oak Ridge National Laboratory) performed a microscopy research on lithium ion batteries. They found out how they actually work at nanoscale levels and provided invaluable data never gathered before.

A new directly solar powered air conditioning system has been unveiled in China that has the potential to not only make cooling a home green, but also save homeowners a huge amount of money at the same time. The machine is made by a company called Vicot.

New and unique ways of making solar panels more efficient in power generation are coming to light every day. The new kid in the block of one such device is a large transparent sticker applied to the front of the panel which increases the power output by about 10% or so. Genie Lens Technologies is the firm which has developed these polymer film stickers. These polymer films are imprinted with special kind of microstructures.

A report published by an Indian Defense ministry-backed think tank has proposed for the establishment of an international space-based solar energy program with India and the United States initiating this massive project. The report is prepared by Peter Garretson, a US Air Force lieutenant colonel, working with the Institue of Defense Studies and Analyses, New Delhi. The reports calls for the Indian and the United States’ governments to extend their strategic partnerships to initiate this pathbreaking project and make the space-based solar energy a commercially viable business venture by 2025.

On September 8, 2010, at the headquarters of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Energy Conservation Office organized a ceremony to present an energy label titled Vietnam Energy Star and hand over energy efficiency certifications to three compact lamp manufacturers: Dien Quang, Philips Vietnam and Rang Dong.

In earlier September, in Dong Thap, representatives of the Center for Industrial Promotion & Consultancy Development reported and discussed the results of energy audit for businesses in the province. This is the program following the national energy policy which has been supported by the Ministry of Industry and Trade in some Southern provinces and cities (called ANEP 2).

The Vietnam Academy of Sciences and Technology (VAST) said that under the cooperation with the Institute of Applied Chemistry under the Russia Science Center, the Institute of Chemistry of Natural Substances under VAST has produced alcohol with ethanol concentration at 99.98 percent and the total content of organic impurities at less than 16ppm, without using chemical agents.