The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is backing a drive to increase solar energy capacity in Asia-Pacific by six-fold to 3,000 megawatts by 2013.The ADB plans to provide up to US$2.25 billion in financing for solar projects and draw in a further $6.75 billion, mainly from the private sector, said Xiaoyu Zhao, vice-president for operations.

The US administration will only buy vehicles using alternative energy sources to equip its fleet by the end of 2015, President Barack Obama announced Tuesday. The timeline is part of Obama's plan to cut US oil imports by a third by 2025 and put a million advanced vehicles on the road by 2015.

The idea is simple, says Kevin Moeller, PhD, and yet it has huge implications. All we are recommending is using photovoltaic cells (clean energy) to power electrochemical reactions (clean chemistry). Moeller is the first to admit this isn't new science. "But we hope to change the way people do this kind of chemistry by making a connection for them between two existing technologies," he says.

The people of Japan may be some of the most energy conscious in the world, and now Panasonic, with the help of eight partner companies, is looking to make them even greener. The project, which would as much re-building as it would be building, aims to turn on of Panasonic's former factory sites into a green smart town.

Located in the province of Hai Duong, Hong Duong Co., Ltd. is an enterprise specialized in producing and processing agricultural products, foodstuffs and types of salt with the production capacity of 12,000 tons of salt per year. Although the equipment is relatively uniform and modern, each year, the company still consumes a lot of energy: 278,400 kWh of electricity per year and 367.2 tons of coal per year. How to reduce consumption of these resources is the main concern of the company's leaders.

Thai Nguyen is known not only as the revolutionary base, the cradle of the metallurgic industry, but also the center of education - training of Viet Bac, and ranks 3rd in the number of universities, colleges, secondary vocational schools located in the locality. Therefore, the demand for electricity is very high, the current maximum power consumption is 250MW, and the required power output is 4.5 million kWh per day, of which electricity for industrial production accounts for nearly 80%. So in recent years, Thai Nguyen has been actively implementing energy saving in all sectors from industrial production, offices to public lighting...

This was a prerequisite for building plans of sustainable development and more proper distribution of electric energy, thus overcoming the chronic shortage of electricity and helping businesses build a clear orientation for power efficiency so that they could reduce production costs and improve competitiveness.

The Rome-based Global Bioenergy Partnership today released a voluntary policy for producing and using biomass and biofuels in ways that don’t add to climate change or affect food prices. The partnership, established in 2005 by the Group of Eight nations and five emerging economies, also includes 13 international organizations and institutions.

Các nước G8 vừa đi đến thống nhất nội dung bản hướng dẫn sản xuất nhiên liệu sinh học đầu tiên. Tiêu chuẩn do Global Bioenergy Partnership công bố sẽ áp dụng chính sách sản xuất, sử dụng nhiên liệu sinh học và sinh khối mà không gây ảnh hưởng tới biến đổi khí hậu và giá thực phẩm.

As part of activities of the International Exhibition Fair on "Environment and Energy Technology – ENTECH Hanoi 2011, the communication conference on solutions for energy saving in households attracted over 3000 propagators, officials of Women’s Union branches from all communes and districts in Ha Noi.

The 26th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition (26th EU PVSEC) will take place in Hamburg, Germany, at the CCH Congress Centre and International Fair Hamburg. The Conference extends over 5 days from 5-9 September 2011, the Exhibition runs over 4 days from 5-8 September 2011.

Scientists at Empa, the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, have further boosted the energy conversion efficiency of flexible solar cells made of copper indium gallium (di)selenide (also known as CIGS) to a new world record of 18.7 percent -- a significant improvement over the previous record of 17.6 percent achieved by the same team in June 2010.

Two months on from the natural disasters that ravaged Japan’s infrastructure and economy, its government has said it is determined to plough forward with efforts in the field of sustainable development through trilateral cooperation. The country has committed to promote the use of renewable energy and energy efficiency to reach sustainable growth in the country as it rebuilds itself, officials said in a statement on Sunday.

Germany is coping without about three quarters of its nuclear power capacity by burning more climate-warming coal, reaping the rewards of renewables investments, and importing more French atomic energy. The shutdown over the weekend of another nuclear plant means almost 16 gigawatts of German nuclear power capacity was offline Monday, with nearly half of the capacity ordered to shut by the government in reaction to the Fukushima nuclear disaster in March.

Efficiency is a problem with today's solar panels; they only collect about 20 percent of available light. Now, a University of Missouri engineer has developed a flexible solar sheet that captures more than 90 percent of available light, and he plans to make prototypes available to consumers within the next five years.

More evidence that clear, strong policies are key to renewable energy development came recently via the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA). In a statement issued by the association, some statistics about wind energy growth in the country and the states that lead in wind energy development indicate that areas with strong policy are driving development at an impressive pace.

The Nha Trang Textile and Garment Joint Stock Company is a production unit that had high electric energy consumption - about 58 million KWh per year. To reduce product costs and increase the competitiveness in the market during the period 2006 – 2010, the company constantly implemented power-saving solutions in production.

At the Electricity Customer Conference in 2011, one of the typical reports on the most successful energy saving measures in 2010 was delivered by Quy Nhon Green Parks and Urban Lighting Ltd., whose measures not only beautified the city with high efficient lighting but also saved great amounts of electric energy. Correspondent of Vietnam Electricity Central Power Corporation Website (EVNCPC) had an interview with Mr. Do Dinh Phuong - Director of Quy Nhon Green Parks and Urban Lighting Ltd. on this issue.

The EU must spend €270 billion over the next 40 years to meet its 2050 energy objectives, including an increased focus on energy efficiency across the power chain. According to the latest Responsible Energy for European Regions (REFER) Report, it is not just about end-users and demand side efficiency – rather, energy efficiency must encompass the entire value chain.

The U.S. Postal Service – Office of Inspector General is to merge four of its data centres this month to save operating costs while increasing capacity and energy efficiency. The U.S. Postal Service – Office of Inspector General (USPS OIG) will house its consolidated data centres in one new state-of-the-art facility.