A forty acre, six megawatt solar power plant is providing the energy to run a water treatment operation at a Superfund site in California, and the U.S. EPA is so pleased with the results that they’ve produced a detailed case study to help promote similar projects across the country.

The new bus shelter was designed and installed by Solade Concepts based in Corona, CA. The solar structure consists of products and solutions proposed by Go Green Solar, based in Los Angeles, CA, which include six SANYO HIT-210NKHA6 210-watt HIT Power® solar panels with six Enphase Energy M210-84-240-S12 micro inverters and a LED lighting solution in an on-grid solar system.

Some of the major companies submitting bids for this project are Reliance Industries’ Solar Energy Group, Wipro Ecoenergy and construction giant Punj Lloyd. This is a novel initiative by the Indian government which is trying to initiate a massive country-wide solar energy revolution which could eventually result in ballooning of the total installed capacity to 20,000 MW in the next 12 years.

Five years ago, facing with the need to save electricity to cut down power expense, Sai Gon Morin Hue Hotel – a four starred hotel in Thua Thien – Hue decided to replace the electrical water heaters with heaters using solar energy, although this type of product had not been very popular in the city back then.

Next week, Kim Dinh Green Energy JSC (Ho chi Minh City) will start installing 50 solar energy lamp posts on the road from Dinh Bo Linh – Thai Sanh Hanh T-junction to Dinh Bo Linh – Highway 50 junction, which has an approximate length of 1 km. Kim Dinh Corporation partially sponsor the installation cost.

Engaging in the program of cleaner production and energy efficiency in industry of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, annually, the company saves billions of dong thanks to technical improvements, energy saving and environmental protection by a series of measures: internal management, lighting system improvement, and equipment replacement.

This program is part of the project "Piloting the economical and efficient use of energy in households" implemented in 10 districts of Hanoi. The project is scheduled to begin in 2010.

There have not been many domestic businesses such as these two to recognize the wind power potential in Vietnam. Cavico spent 60% of their investment fund for renewable energy on wind power, among other energy sources such as solar power, wave power (power generated by the combination of ocean waves and wind turbines).

Passing 18 profiles from 6 countries in the region including Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar and Singapore, Ana Mandara Resort (Da Lat) won the first prize of "Tropical Building" in the competition "Energy efficiency Building and Energy Management System ASEAN 2010 " organized by Southeast Asian Center of Energy (ACE).

With a gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of approximately 12.67% and rapidly growing commercial activities, Da Nang is considered to be a major energy consumer, where situate many key industries. To reduce production and energy costs, Da Nang has very soon participated in Energy Efficiency projects and programs, initially proving to be effective.

Only with 4 simple solutions including: improving the lighting system, disposing of and replacing motors with speed regulator, re-using condensed water and rearranging paper pulp containers, the company has saved more than VND130 million each year. At present, company leaders with technical experts are studying efficient energy saving solutions.

One relatively new player in the U.S. solar parking lot field is EEPro, an offshoot of the German company EEPro GmbH, which started up operations in North Carolina last year. Its main product consists of photovoltaic units mounted on steel frames, which dovetails neatly with support for renewable energy by the United Steelworkers and other labor groups that see a rich trove of new green jobs in the emerging green economy.

The Tien Dat Mui Ne Resort in Binh Thuan Province, 200km north of Ho Chi Minh City, is a wonderful place with the blue sea, white sand dunes and green coconuts. The resort recently received a second prize for being a tropical building from the contest “2010 Energy Efficient Building”, an event held annually by the ASEAN Center of Energy (ACE).

Operating under the General Department of Logistics, the Hong Ha Shipbuilding Company, which specializes in building and repairing means of marine transport, has applied many energy conservation methods. The company has undergone 14 years of development and become a big business of Hai Phong City in the field of shipbuilding with the annual production value of more than 550 billion.

International Green Energy Expo Korea 2010 was chosen as the venue where SunPods SP-300 was first displayed. This is the first factory built-to-order solar-powered integrated electric-vehicle charging station – ready for powering up immediately. This ready-to-use solar power platform from SunPods is called EV Plug-N-Go.

Electricity consumption was reduced by 7 to 10% compared to 2008; in the first 3 months of 2010, 5% of electricity consumption was cut down, compared with the same period in 2009. Those are the first benefits that energy efficiency methods have brought to the Landmark building in Ho Chi Minh City.

DOE announced on July 22 the creation of the Fuels from Sunlight Energy Innovation Hub to develop revolutionary methods of generating fuels directly from sunlight. The Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP), led by the California Institute of Technology in partnership with the DOE's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, will operate the initiative.

FOCOCEV Joint Stock Company in Quang Nam (Que Cuong Commune, Que Son District,) is an enterprise producing tapioca from fresh cassava. Since the typical characteristic of cassava starch factories is manual processing, wasted raw materials brought serious environmental consequences.

A firm processing catfish for exports, Dai Thanh Ltd. Co. (Song Thuan, Chau Thanh, Tien Giang) has invested in a solar water boiler system, saving a large amount of energy. They are also the first in Tien Giang to make use of solar energy in hot water provision.

Success greets the research team of National Research Council’s National Institute for Nanotechnology (NINT) and the University of Alberta. The plastic solar cells have now an operating life of 8 months instead of mere hours. And they are low-cost, environmentally efficient, unsealed plastic dollar cells – a green energy source.