In the quest for the perfect biofuel, various companies and government agencies are racing to uncover the “magic bullet” that will allow for the production of inexpensive and energy efficient biofuels. Algae, yeasts and bacteria have all been playing their part in transforming various feedstocks and even CO2 into usable biofuels, such as ethanol and biodiesel.

Finland is one of the leading countries in the world in the field of clean technologies, especially industrial sewage treating technology and renewable energy development technology. Not only that, the country is also well known for its sustainable development of urban and rural areas as well as its comprehensive solutions to conserve and assess the environment’s condition, control air pollution and protect water sources.

Richard MacLellan, Halifax Regional Municipality’s SEMO Manager (Sustainable Environment Management Office) remarked that adopting solar heating technology was a good cost- effective proposition. As the demand for hot water was very high in the building, the opportunity for savings by decreasing the operating costs in the facility was also huge. He mentioned that they would continue their exploration to discover the most promising and innovative renewable technology that could be used in the projects.

Under the RCUK programme, Nanoscience through Engineering to Application, the EPSRC and the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) are investing in four industry-led collaborative research and development projects that will address challenges in building the supply chain and scaling up technologies.

"It's great to see the intersection of three things that I love," Snyder told the audience that included hundreds of students. "We're talking about innovation and entrepreneurship, we're talking about clean energy, something that is vitally important for our future. It's about economic growth, and doing it in the most responsible way possible in terms of the legacy we leave and the opportunity it provides us and the third thing is it involves students”

Poland's government approved two bills creating a legal framework for the nuclear power industry and taking another step towards building the country's first nuclear plant, the government said in a statement on Tuesday. The bills, which now will be sent to parliament, create grounds for oversight of the investment process by National Atomic Energy Agency (PAA) as well as instruments for state-controlled PGE to choose technology supplier.

Until last year, wind power appeared immune to the worst ravages of an economic storm sweeping the globe. Then the world's biggest manufacturer of wind turbines took an axe to 3000 jobs in its native northern Europe. Did it signify not just a readjustment to a single producer's business model but a threat to the technology's continuing worldwide deployment? Or, as some believe, are fears of a decline in the sector's fortunes simply overblown?

The global market for LED light fixtures, which already stood at $3.8bn in 2010, is expected to grow to $8.3bn within the next three years, according to new research. The heightened awareness of energy efficiency together and global fiscal stimulus has created suitable conditions for the adoption of white light application of LED technology, which would otherwise have faced high costs.

India was taking serious steps to promote alternative technologies that used bio-fuels and solar and wind energy, a senior official said Saturday. India also has plans to produce more bio-fuels and electric vehicles to save petrol for other vital needs, Sohail Akhtar, director in the ministry of new and renewable energy, said.

A researcher at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has invented a method of making high-temperature superconducting (HTS) cables that are thinner and more flexible than demonstration HTS cables now installed in the electric power grid while carrying the same or more current. The compact cables could be used in the electric grid as well as scientific and medical equipment and may enable HTS power transmission for military applications.

Researchers at the University of Leeds are developing a roasting process that would transform raw biomass from a bulky , water-saturated material into an energy-rich powder that is perfect for burning in coal-fired power plants. Called torrefaction, it is a relatively low-temperature process similar to that used in roasting coffee beans. If the researchers can overcome a few stumbling blocks, the process could lead to a new burst of coal-to-biomass power plant conversions, and consequently to lower greenhouse gas emissions.

Both the private sector and government in Korea have increased spending on clean energy and green technology development in the past few years. Korea’s Ministry of Knowledge Economy has worked with private firms to find new improvements in battery technology, photovoltaics, geothermal power generation, and biofuels. And this year, the Korea government expects to inject 1 trillion won (US$900 million) into current and next generation clean energy sources.

The name Super X Divertor ( SXD) may sound like a popular video game, but actually it is a new nuclear technology which, its developer says, can overcome twin problems of radioactive waste and fears of proliferation associated with conventional nuclear reactors.

In conventional photoelectrochemical cells, sunlight is converted into electricity and an electrolyte is used to move electrons which creates a current. The problem is that these cells have chromophores, which are light-absorbing dyes that degrade after being exposed to sunlight. But with self-repairing solar cells, this would no longer be an issue. To create these new solar cells, the Purdue research team utilized two crucial elements needed to make this technology imitate nature, which was molecular recognition and thermodynamic metastability. This allows the system to be dissolved and reassembled on a regular basis, replacing photo-damaged dyes continuously.

Li Keqiang, the top official tipped as China’s next Prime Minister, has begun a four-day visit to the UK with the announcement of a £6.4m licensing deal between Scottish and Sino-Scottish companies on clean energy development. Waste-to-energy technology developed by Scottish company W2E Engineering will be licensed to Sino-Scottish firm Shanghai Huanan Boiler and Vessel Cochran (SHBV Cochran) under the agreement.

Biofuel technology developer New Generation Biofuels Holdings, Inc., has secured a contract with the City of Baltimore to evaluate its biofuel for use in institutional boilers over a one year period. The maximum volume for the program is capped at 440,000 gallons, said the company based in Columbia, Maryland.

Officials with the Robins Air Force Base Energy Office are conducting feasibility on the use of plasma arc technology, which offers environmentally safe measures for waste disposal. "The process can take nearly any material and convert it to energy," said Judith Middlebrooks, an engineer with the Energy Office. "It uses extremely high temperatures to turn products into mostly hydrogen and carbon monoxide. Plastics are really great, but most any organic compound will work."

An act as simple as replacing a light bulb could lead to billions of dollars in electricity savings, a new assessment by the United Nations Environment Programme shows. It studied the advantage of switching from obsolete incandescent lamp technology to compact fluorescent lamps or C.F.L.’s.

A day after Energy Secretary Steven Chu's "Sputnik speech," in which he warned that China was investing billions in renewable energy while American politicians bickered over small-potatoes stimulus spending on green technology, a report from Ernst & Young released Tuesday confirmed Asia's ascendancy.

On the second day of his two-day state visit to Malaysia, President Lee Myung-bak held a one-on-one meeting with his Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak, on Friday. During the summit the two leaders reviewed and reflected on the 50 years of diplomatic ties and discussed measures to promote cooperation in a wide range of sectors including green technology, nuclear power generation and the joint exploration of markets in third countries.