Leave it to larger-than-life Texas to lead the U.S. into a new energy future. While the state is most closely associated with oil, it has also been an early pioneer of wind power, and is beginning to embrace solar energy along with armloads of new green jobs. Now the San Antonio Water System has set the national bar high in the sewage-to-biogas field, by becoming the first water district to hook a biogas facility up to a commercial gas pipeline.

With the second largest tidal range in the world, about 50 feet, the Severn estuary has been eyed for years as a potential energy source, particularly as the appetite for sustainable energy sources has been growing over the last few years. The U.K. has pledged to have 40 percent of its electricity generated from renewable sources by 2020 to meet European Union requirements.

The ‘Global Wind Energy Outlook 2010’ (GWEO 2010) finds that wind power could play a key role in satisfying the world’s increasing power demand, while at the same time achieving major greenhouse gas emissions reductions. The 1,000 GW of wind power capacity projected to be installed by 2020 would save as much as 1.5 billion tonnes of CO2 every year.

The park, which will have its grand opening on October 22nd, has been built to showcase SANYO’s energy solutions to customers and to demonstrate efficient energy utilization. With the Kasai Green Energy Park, SANYO, a member of the Panasonic Group, will help reduce CO2 emissions all over the world, promoting ‘energy solutions for entire homes, buildings and cities’.

Thien Thanh company is a private enterprise (Phung Xa, My Duc, Ha Noi) with the main products of textile, dye and exported towel; annual energy cost is over VND 4 billion. Engaging in energy audit program, this business has found out eight solutions to use energy and coal effectively.

In a first-of-its-kind melding of solar technology with high speed rail facilities, the clean energy company Enfinity will install 16,000 solar panels on the two-mile long roof of a rail tunnel in Belgium. If the name Enfinity doesn’t ring a bell it soon will. The Belgium-based company has trained its sights on the U.S. energy market and is poised to step up commercial and utility scale solar installations here, from coast to coast. New green jobs, much?

Arizona is one of the four most improved states in terms of energy efficiency, according to a study released today by the American Council for an Energy – Efficient Economy. The state ranked 18th, up 11 spots from 2009, tying Utah for the most movement. Close behind were New Mexico and Alaska, which both leaped eight spots.

California has topped the American Council for an Energy Efficiency Economy (ACEEE)’s state energy efficiency ranking for a fourth year in a row. The State Energy Efficiency Scorecard ranks each region on its energy efficiency policies, programmes, transport policy, building performance codes, combined heat and power and appliance standards.

The consortium, which includes Oak Ridge National Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of California-Davis, The Dow Chemical Company, Honeywell and General Electric, will receive $12.5 million from the US Government, matched by at least $12.5 million from the partners, and $25 million from Chinese counterparts over the next five years.

The schools superintendent dubbed her the Princess of Darkness. Co-workers have nicknamed her the Queen of Green. Just don't call Susan Warren a spendthrift. The Freedom High School art and yoga teacher has an improbable second set of job duties these days: Identify situations in which the school district is wasting energy -- and eliminate them.

Municipal governments looking to tap into New Jersey’s cost-saving energy audit or “Direct Install” programs can get the assistance they need under a shared services program unveiled by the Burlington County Freeholders in cooperation with the county Bridge Commission.

The city may enter a three-year contract aimed at saving the city an estimated $3 million on electric power acquisition and distribution over 12 years for $1.8 million over three years. The proposed agreement would be made with non-profit American Municipal Power Inc. (AMP) to operate an energy efficiency program called Efficiency Smart Power Plant. Cuyahoga Falls has its own municipal electric system and purchases power through AMP.

South Yorkshire is the greenest part of Yorkshire, according to The Energy Saving Trust. The Trust says that since April people in South Yorkshire have installed more renewable energy systems than the rest of the region put together. There are now a total of 426 installations in the county - most of them in Sheffield, followed by Rotherham, Barnsley, and then Doncaster. That compares with 199 installations in West Yorkshire, 78 in North Yorkshire and 40 in the Humber.

China's top economic planner is proposing graduated tariffs on residential electricity use as part of the nation's efforts to save energy, the National Development and Reform Commission said Saturday on its website. "A graduated mechanism will improve China's power tariff structure and spur energy conservation," the economic planning body said.

In these difficult economic times for Island contractors and associated trades, builders have adapted. From grand, expensive, multi-year construction jobs, some have changed pace to accept small-scale renovations or additions. Some who have been the lead builders on big projects have taken work as subcontractors. Some have turned to specialization, including specialization in energy conservation and renewable energy techniques.

In Chau Khe, Dinh Bang (Bac Ninh Province), more than 800 households are involved in iron and steel production. To temper and laminate steel, they consume about 200 million kWh of electricity and 30,000 tonnes of coal, and total expenditure on energy consumption amounts to VND150 billion each year. Such high energy consumption is attributed to the use of outdated technologies and equipment as well as insulated steel furnaces. At some stages of steel production, the rate of energy losses is 20-25 percent.

Dr. Nguyen The Hung from the Institute of Physics under the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology said that many other countries in the world have successfully converted photo energy into electrical and thermal energy.

Hanoi Rubber Joint Stock Company - HARCO (Cau Dien town, Tu Liem district) is an enterprise specialized in manufacturing fabric shoe products and exported floor pads. The technological line system of the company has been put into use for over 30 years, so the productivity as well as energy consumption is quite large.

A long list of sustainability measures saved School District 43 more than $1.2 million in the past year. But the district will soon need to fork over extra cash for carbon offsets, since the provincial government requires the public sector be carbon neutral by the end of 2010.

Just like a regular medical checkup can help promote good health, a home energy checkup can help promote energy efficiency and reduce energy use. Reliant Energy customers in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex can sign up for a free home checkup to help make sure their homes are in good energy shape for winter and next summer.