At the beginning of this month, the European division of Sanyo has officially released its new enhanced HIT solar panel. Dubbed HIT-N235SE10, the new 235 watt solar panel has an energy-efficiency of 21.1%, improving the performance in limited space installations and offering more power generation per square meter.

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.

The 155,000-square-foot facility is located in Lockport, N.Y., and unlike conventional ones, it uses 95 percent less water and 40 percent less energy. The energy-efficient data center has a power usage effectiveness rating of 1.08, which is quite less compared to the industry average of 1.92.

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.

Six miles per gallon doesn't sound like much, but don't tell that to the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority. The transit authority's new diesel-electric hybrid buses get two miles per gallon more than the diesel-only cousins they are replacing.

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.

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.

The project entitled, “Studying, Designing and Manufacturing Large-Diameter, Non-Rotary Pipe-Connection Automatic Welding Equipment Systems” was checked and accepted on September 11 in Hanoi. Dr Hoang Van Chau from the National Research Institute of Mechanical Engineering is the director of the project with the technology for manufacture of pressure pipelines for small and medium-sized hydropower projects.

Nhiên liệu sinh học từ chất thải thực vật và rác thải đô thị ngoài cây lương thực có thể thay thế cho hơn một nửa lượng gas được sử dụng tại Liên minh Châu Âu đến năm 2020, đó là phát biểu của một nhà phân tích của hãng Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

A new study reported in the journal Applied Physics Letters in August this year (published by the American Institute of Physics), explains how solar energy could potentially be collected by using oxide materials that have the element selenium. A team at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California, embedded selenium in zinc oxide, a relatively affordable material that could make more efficient use of the sun’s power.

Vattenfall's Thanet farm set to open as National Grid confirms wind-generated electricity has hit a new peak. The world's largest offshore windfarm, which cost over £750m to build, is poised to open off the coast of Kent, with 100 turbines producing enough electricity to supply heat and light for 200,000 homes.

The Swiss manufacturer Trunz Water Systems and a California-based reverse osmosis company, Spectra Watermakers have developed a new eco-friendly water purifier designed for use in disaster stricken areas where conventional energy sources are unavailable or too expensive. The new system, called the Solar Container, is capable of generating more than 8,000 gallons of potable water per day and is powered by renewable wind and solar energy.

Researchers from Korea are working on a new technology that can power your cellphone with sound. They have turned zinc oxide (the main ingredient of calamine lotion) into a tiny material that converts sound waves into energy through piezoelectricity.

The University of Cambridge has come up with a low cost organic solar cell that opens up some intriguing new possibilities in solar energy design. Although the Cambridge team is focused on bringing large scale photovoltaic devices to the market, the new technology could also lend itself to a smaller canvas, yielding such products as solar-energy generating umbrellas and canopies. For that matter, even small objects like plastic cups and straws could some day double as mini solar power generators.