A new material for solar cells -- a transparent conductor made of carbon nanotubes -- could revolutionize the way solar power is harvested, U.S. scientists say.

Pay as you go is a common way of paying for calls on your cellphone. Now the idea could help make solar power a more realistic option for families in Kenya and other African countries.

Energy agency warns that global fossil fuel subsidies could hit $660bn by 2020 based on current trends Fossil fuel subsidies will rise by more than a third to $660bn a year by 2020 if action is not taken to curtail the increases, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has warned today.

Protectionism in the renewable energy industry takes many forms depending on location and sector. For example, in the U.S., Ohio is stringently enforcing a law that half of its mandated renewable energy must be supplied through in-state production.

After 18 months of construction, the largest solar energy plant in Taiwan’s history is now fully operational in the southern city of Kaohsiung, according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs Oct. 1.

Although obscure, this isn’t a completely out-of-left-field idea. Turns out there’s a company, Magenn, that has developed what it calls the Air Rotor System.

The Coalition Government is shortly expected to set out its strategy for addressing the UK’s growing green skills needs.

The solar energy system will generate around 2,450,000kWh of electricity over the 25-years period. A total income of £1.25m will be generated from the feed-in tariff and save around £250,000 in electricity purchase costs, based on current energy prices. The system will also save 55,000 kg in CO2 emissions each year.

Photovoltaic and solar-thermal plants may meet most of the world’s demand for electricity by 2060 -- and half of all energy needs -- with wind, hydropower and biomass plants supplying much of the remaining generation, Cedric Philibert, senior analyst in the renewable energy division at the Paris-based agency, said in an Aug. 26 phone interview.

Worldwide wind power capacity reached 215 GW by the end of June 2011, 18.405 GW of which were added in the first six months of the year. This represents a 15% increase over the first half of 2010, when only 16 GW were added, according to WWEA.

NASA's solar-powered Juno spacecraft lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station this month to begin a five-year journey to Jupiter. Juno's detailed study of the largest planet in our solar system will help reveal Jupiter's origin and evolution.

That is the main finding from a new survey published by Barclays, which found that 37 per cent of the country's 200,000 farmers wanted to install green technologies such as solar panels, wind turbines or anaerobic digestion (AD) systems.

Enel Green Power North America announces the development of the world's first solar geothermal hybrid power plant in Nevada (USA)

Eco Marine Power’s Aquarius system combines rigid sails with solar cells for auxiliary propulsion Japanese company Eco Marine Power has started detailed design of its wind and solar sail panel.

Santa Barbara’s Solar3D Inc. announced that it’s completed the design and is on track to complete a prototype of a “super-efficient” 3-D solar cell by the end of 2011. Holding out the promise of substantially increasing solar cell conversion efficiencies, the company believes its 3-D solar cell design “will dramatically change the economics of solar energy.”

As these economies were already being forced to cut back radically on clean energy funding before the current downturn, it is hard to see how they could do anything but cut back their clean energy investment even further. This could mean some schemes already under way are scrapped and others in the pipeline never leaving the drawing board.

Costs of manufacture of batteries and power trains of electric vehicles can be halved by 2018, if the gaps in the innovation chain can be closed. For reaching this objective, KIT scientists develop concrete, close-to-industry solutions for energy stores and power trains and combine them on the system level.

Hydrogen makes a great fuel because of it can easily be converted to electricity in a fuel cell and because it is carbon free. The downside of hydrogen is that, because it is a gas, it can only be stored in high pressure or cryogenic tanks.

Scientists from China developed a fuel cell system that can both generate electricity from organic compounds and clean up wastewater.

The new iPower consortium comprising 32 partners has been officially opened on 22 August 2011 to begin the huge task of opening the door for incorporating more renewable energies into the upcoming power grids.

Ban categorized three areas of energy in which significant inroads need to be made. The first is access to our modern services. Another is to double the world’s energy efficiency.

Ford’s U.K. Dagenham Diesel Engine Assembly Line will soon be fully powered again by wind. The addition of a new production line at the plant is spurring the construction of a third turbine in order to keep the plant at 100-percent powered by wind-generated electricity.

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry released a draft proposal outlining plans to require automakers to improve the average efficiency of their fleets to 20.3km/litre in 2020, a gain of 24.1 per cent compared to the 16.3km/litre recorded in 2009.

This evolution is on display at the American Wind Power Center in Lubbock, which bills itself as the world’s largest windmill museum.

Glassmaking in America has been in decline for at least a decade as manufacturers have moved production to China and other emerging economies. But can the green-buildings movement spark a revival?

A newly developed battery system stores energy captured from turbines so that demand for electricity can be met during peak periods.