Biofuel crops can potentially meet half of the current global demand for fuel without affecting food crop production, according to researchers at the University of Illinois. Ximing Cai, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the university, led a team of researchers in isolating land areas across the globe suitable for producing biofuel grass crops with minimal agricultural or environmental impact.

Scientists with USDA's Agricultural Research Service (ARS) have found that barley grain can be used to produce ethanol, and the leftover byproducts-barley straw, hulls , and dried distillers grains (DDGS)-can be used to produce an energy-rich oil called bio-oil. The bio-oil could then be used either for transportation fuels or for producing heat and power needed for the grain-to-ethanol conversion. ARS is USDA's principal intramural scientific research agency, and these results support the USDA priority of developing new sources of bioenergy.

Wind power rose by 18.5 per cent in 2010 and now meets 16 per cent of demand. Luis Atienza, managing director of Spain's electricity grid, predicted that "within three years wind power will overtake nuclear as an electricity source". At its peak, on November 9, wind power met 43 per cent of demand.

Energy will be at the top of the agenda at the first EU summit chaired by Hungary on 4 February. Officials will push for negotiation between leaders to focus on controversial EU energy market reform and measures to prevent Europe losing its lead as a clean energy hub to China and other emerging economies.

Siemens Healthcare is developing a solar power solution, which would support the medical imaging equipments including MRI, CT, ultrasound scanning and X-ray systems. The company said this would largely help the centres located at the rural parts of the country, where power shortage is high.

Conventional fuel sucks an enormous amount of resources out of disaster relief efforts, because it has to be purchased and then transported to its point of use, often under extreme conditions. It also creates new hazards at the relief site in terms of storage, leaks and spillage, along with emissions and noise from the generators. Solar and other renewable energy sources, such as portable wind power, practically eliminate these added costs and complications.

As every middle-school child knows, in the process of photosynthesis, plants take the sun's energy and convert it to electrical energy. Now a Tel Aviv University team has demonstrated how a member of the animal kingdom, the Oriental hornet, takes the sun's energy and converts it into electric power -- in the brown and yellow parts of its body -- as well.

Gasoline prices are forecasted to increase from $2.35 per gallon in 2009 to $3.69 by 2035. The number is lower than what was forecasted by the EIA last year. By 2022, the retail price of gas is predicted to be $3.43 per gallon, compared to $2.68 for E85. Because gas has a higher energy content, the prices are actually similar per mile traveled, the report said.

Abengoa Solar Inc. expects to start construction in mid-2011 on a plant in Arizona that will store sun-generated heat to provide six extra hours a day of electric-generating capacity. The heat creates steam that is used to turn power turbines. Abengoa's $2 billion Solana plant is expected to be the first major stored-heat plant in the U.S. when it enters service in 2013. Some already exist in Spain and a few more are on the drawing board for Nevada and California.

Ontario residents will see a 10 per cent rebate on electricity costs for the next five years, starting January 2011, the province announced on Nov. 18. The Ontario Clean Energy Benefit is intended to help Ontarians cope with rising hydro costs, Sudbury MPP Rick Bartolucci stated in a press release. "This is more than the provincial portion of the HST and will help the average family save more than $100 per year in hydro costs," he added.

The sun power industry in Germany, the world's leader in solar energy, is facing a tough year amid the threat of growing competition from Asia and falling prices. German solar-power companies rebounded last year from a dramatic slump in profit during 2009 as a boom in the sector took shape last year.

According to the company’s statements, the tall building will have a wind tunnel in the middle . The air will be converted to electricity as soon as it gets down to a series of turbines. The Betz limit value theory says that the maximum harvestable energy from the wind is 59.3% but the company claims that the system is not constrained by it.

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.

The Indian government recently provided subsidies worth $10 million for projects aimed at promoting the use of solar energy in rural areas. The subsidies went to projects which distributed solar lanterns and installed solar home-lighting systems in villages across the country.

Bulgaria will export an estimated 7500GWh of electricity in 2010, more than double its 2009 figure of 3700GWh, announced the National Electric Company (NEK). This represents 21.6% of total power generated in the country. Exports have increased significantly as domestic consumption was reduced by the recession. “We reached an all-time exports record this year,” Parvanov said. “Mainly because we improved the management of the tenders and our product.”

According to a recently released report, Scotland is on track to meet its ambitious renewable energy goal of generating 80 percent of its electricity from renewable energy sources by 2020. In the report, Energy Trends, it was revealed that 27 percent of the electricity in 2009 was generated using renewable energy sources.

Some 500 of 900 German power firms will increase prices as of Jan. 1, consumer portal Verivox said, detailing recent announcements in the retail energy market for the 40 million households it monitors. The average increase will be 7 percent and a typical household, consuming 4,000 kilowatt hours a year, will have to pay 66 euros ($87) more for annual supply, said the portal, which monitors prices and encourages switching.

Egypt announced that it will have a fully operational nuclear power plant by the end of the decade. The country’s ministry of electricity said that they plan to be ready to go on nuclear power to support Egypt’s power needs by 2019.

China's measures to develop wind energy will help to save energy, reduce emissions and protect the environment and are in line with the World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, the Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday in response to a US complaint against China's subsidy for the wind-power sector.

Sweden and Norway have agreed the bases for a common green certificate market, energy ministers for both nations said on Wednesday. A green certificate is a tradable commodity proving that a certain electricity has been produced using a renewable source of energy, such as wind, solar or hydropower. Environmental groups hope they can boost the use of renewables.

The extended tax credits will prove a great present for thousands of workers in the renewable energy industry. President Obama signed legislation on Friday extending key tax credits supporting renewable energy projects and biofuel use.

The two countries' interest in cooperation is quite natural. The Czech Republic is preparing a lucrative tender for the completion of the nuclear power plant Temelin, near the Austrian border, in which the US firm Westinghouse has expressed interest. Westinghouse has a Japanese owner but its seat and operations are in the USA. The project is worth several hundred billion crowns. Besides Westinghouse, the other bidders are Czech-Russian consortium of Skoda JS Atomstroyexport and France's Areva.

Korea is set to build 14 nuclear power plants by the year 2024 in an attempt to lessen its reliance on petroleum for electricity. At a public hearing in Seoul on Tuesday the Korean government announced a long-term plan for energy which calls for an increase in the portion generated through nuclear plants and renewable sources.

Drying biosolids to approximately 75 percent solids, beyond the 15 to 20 percent solids typical at wastewater treatment plants, was recognized as the best way to create a workable, pathogen-free biosolid that could be used as cover at the Toland Road Landfill in Santa Paula, with potential future use as fertilizer or fuel. A biosolids drying system was developed to meet the long-term disposal needs of Ventura County in an economical, environmentally responsible manner.

A sprawling international collaboration between scientists at government and university laboratories has resulted in a breakthrough discovery that could lead to more efficient ways of generating electricity from waste heat. The phenomenon, called the thermoelectric effect, can be applied to car exhaust, factory emissions, and other operations to capture the large amount of human-manufactured energy that is currently lost to the atmosphere.

A statement from the department on Saturday said that IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano was in the country from Dec. 8 to Dec. 11, where he met senior officials from Philippine government agencies involved in the implementation of technical cooperation projects in various nuclear applications.