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.

SunHydro, a hydrogen refueling company is launching their first hydrogen station that will be open to the public. The refueling point will be made available starting Friday in Connecticut, USA, in an attempt of the firm to create a chain of hydrogen refueling stations from Maine to Florida.

One of the first 100 percent electric mass-production cars in US is to be launched this year and will be for sale starting 2011. The CODA Sedan will be manufactured by a private American firm that sells battery systems and all-electric vehicles.

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.

Solar panels are usually mounted in series, to sum up their voltages, and the resulting power is sent to a large inverter, which transforms the DC voltage into AC. One big issue with this scheme is that if shade falls on one panel, or it gets dirty, the inverter lowers the current of all the other panels, and causing power losses through inefficiency.

West Virginia has recently discovered, though a project funded by Google, that it is lying on top of a major resource: geothermal power. The finding is even more significant taking in consideration the state’s high dependence on fossil fuels.

The Ford Motor Company is taking a new step forward in the process of researching new possibilities of producing biofuels. The company’s scientists are currently studying algae as a feasible automotive biofuel, as part of a plan aimed at reducing the dependence on oil and pollution.

Solar panels, throughout their entire existence, have had the same issue over and over again: once the Sun’s light began to hit them with an angle, they became inefficient, so fixed solar panels were only great at noon. Soon after people realized that, they began constructing all sorts of contraptions that would modify the panels’ position so to face the Sun directly.

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.

According to the latest data from the Bundesnetzagentur, Germany's solar industry added another 1,000 MW during July and August. This brings the total for the eight-month period from January through August to 4,900 MW from nearly 175,000 solar installations.

Researchers from the University of Illinois have developed a proprietary corn-based composite board that can be used instead of particle board, plywood of fiberboard. Called CornBoard, the invention is not one of those still-in-development laboratory hothouse flowers.

The cells that power the bicycle use sodium silicide, a powder similar to sand. In combination with water, the substance “instantly creates hydrogen gas”, that is further on used to generate energy. Moreover, excess electricity is stored in batteries that are safe and fully recyclable.

Previous news were saying that the Obama administration doesn’t have any plans of installing solar panels on the White House. Not even a month has passed, and a representative of the White House in Washington, DC says solar panels will be installed on the White House in order to impulse Americans to adopt green energy.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) joined China, France, Germany, Japan, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, and the United States in launching the Electric Vehicles Initiative (EVI) on October 1 at the Paris Motor Show in France. The new initiative will provide a platform for global cooperation on the development and deployment of electric vehicles.

Tocco is a remarkable Italian town, not only for its ancient heritage, but also for its futuristic projects that concern the implementation of renewable energy installations. The town benefits four wind turbines that are more than enough to meet the needs of its 2,700 inhabitants.

Enbridge Inc. and First Solar, Inc. have achieved commercial operation of the 80 MW Sarnia Solar Project, making it the largest operating photovoltaic facility in the world. First Solar, a manufacturer of PV solar panels and provider of solar solutions, will operate and maintain the Sarnia Solar Project for Enbridge under a long-term contract. First Solar developed, engineered, and constructed the facility, using its advanced thin film solar panels.

Beacon Power Corp., a provider of energy storage systems has established a partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency to produce parts of a flywheel energy storage over a period of two years.

New technology is the key to the meeting the coalition's pledge to lead the "greenest government ever", David Cameron has said. The prime minister was announcing the publication of an online league table which will be updated daily, to allow the public to see which departments were cutting energy use the most.

Struggling to tackle the acute power crisis in the state, Shobha Karandjale, the new energy minister, is planning to encourage energy conservation as purchasing electricity is proving to be a costly affair. The government spends an average of Rs 350 crore a month to purchase power from private producers to meet the power crisis.

The latest official figures from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) could provide insight into how energy saving aspirations across the UK have affected power consumption. In its second quarter 2010 report, DECC notes a 24 per cent fall in primary electricity consumption across the country.

British Telecom, Belgacom, France Telecom-Orange, OTE, Telefonica and Turk Telekom among others, have joined heavyweights such as Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Vodafone and Cisco in the voluntary plan to help cut carbon emissions. The new signees bring the number of companies participating to 36.