According to a new study of food waste in the U.S., it takes the equivalent of 1.4 billion barrels of oil to produce get a year’s worth of food to the market, but about 350 million barrels of that goes down the drain in the form of wasted food. The study, reported by The American Chemical Society, is noteworthy not only for what it includes about food-related energy, but also for what it leaves out.

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".

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.

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 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.

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.

Growing numbers of cities and towns are turning to solar-powered road warning and school safety signs to inform the public and save money and energy. In the past year, cities including Baton Rouge, Branson and Kansas City, Mo., and Lyndhurst, Wayne and Ringwood, N.J., have adopted the technology, officials in those municipalities say.

Thị trường phong điện Trung Quốc đang chiếm ưu thế hơn Mỹ nhờ khung chính sách hỗ trợ rõ ràng, Steve Sawyer, Tổng thư ký Ủy ban năng lượng gió toàn cầu (Global Wind Energy Council - GWEC) cho biết.Theo bản báo cáo mới nhất của GWEC, năm 2009, Trung Quốc xếp thứ hai trong việc phát triển nguồn phong điện và là nhà khách hàng mua công nghệ gió lớn nhất thế giới.

Vietnam ’s first wind power turbine production factory was inaugurated at the Nomura industrial zone in the northern port city of Hai Phong on October 15. The 61 million USD project, invested by the US-based GE group, rolled out over 200 turbines for export in the past five months of test run.

Ngày 15/10, Tập đoàn GE (Mỹ) đã chính thức đưa vào hoạt động Nhà máy sản xuất máy tuabin gió phát điện đầu tiên tại Việt Nam (thuộc Công ty GE Energy) sau gần một năm ruỡi xây dựng tại Khu công nghiệp Nomura-Hải Phòng.

The University of Malta Junior College recently concluded a two-year project entitled ‘Saving energy… Saving our future’, in which 21 Maltese students and teachers made use of Comenius EU funds made available by the European Commission through the local agency EUPA.

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced the release of a new proposed energy efficiency standard for residential refrigerators, refrigerator-freezers, and freezers. The standard, as proposed, could save consumers as much as $18.6 billion over thirty years. The Obama Administration has made efficiency standards a major priority as a way to save energy and money for American families and businesses.

The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) approved on October 5 the first large-scale solar energy plants ever to be built on U.S. public lands. The approval of two developments in California grants the U.S.-based companies behind the projects access to almost 6,800 acres of public lands for 30 years to build and operate solar plants. The approved plants could produce up to 754 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy, or enough to power 226,000–566,000 typical U.S. homes. The projects will generate almost 1,000 new jobs.

It seems that we are finding a new use for solar power everyday. Whether its grid-tie applications, lighting, or backup power, solar is rapidly becoming our green energy alternative of choice. Solar is rapidly evolving as the technology and applications for it are changing daily. In this light, here are 3 great contests that are stretching the limits of what solar can be used for and may just change the way we use energy in our everyday lives.