The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is extending up to $200 million to facilitate private sector participation in natural gas distribution infrastructure in the People's Republic of China (PRC). According to ADB, the project will support the Government of the PRC's push to reduce coal consumption and increase the use of natural gas, a cleaner fuel that is better for the environment and in large supply in the PRC.

The heat radiating off roadways has long been a factor in explaining why city temperatures are often considerably warmer than nearby suburban or rural areas. Now a team of engineering researchers from the University of Rhode Island is examining methods of harvesting that solar energy to melt ice, power streetlights, illuminate signs, heat buildings and potentially use it for many other purposes.

Cars and trucks race down the highway, turn off into town, wait at traffic lights and move slowly through side streets. Electricity flows in a similar way -- from the power plant via high voltage lines to transformer substations. The flow is controlled as if by traffic lights. Cables then take the electricity into the city centre. Numerous switching points reduce the voltage, so that equipment can tap into the electricity at low voltage. Thanks to this highly complex infrastructure, the electricity customer can use all kinds of electrical devices just by switching them on.

The initial line-up of energy efficient roofing products, includes a solar energy-generating system, a unique ventilation and insulation product, along with steel and aluminum shingles. According to company President Todd Miller, "We are bringing products to market that allow homeowners to invest in and improve their current homes, and do so in a way that benefits the environment."

"You can save 10 to 20 percent of your energy costs just by paying attention to when and how you use energy in your home," said a member of Middleboro's Green Energy Committee. "Then you can save even more by improving the windows and insulation. On top of all that, use renewables like solar or wind to generate your own electricity.

The social media site on Thursday made a point of calling attention to its Green on Facebook page that highlights its efforts to cut its own energy use, while also telling others how to do the same. At the same time, Facebook says it’s joined the research group the Digital Energy Solutions Campaign, which looks at how information technology can be used to fight climate change.

Thailand will be supplied with some more solar panels for a new power plant, as a result of the signed agreement between the authorities and Suntech Power Holding Co. The latter will provide approximately 9.43MW worth of panels to the installation. The project is owned by Bangchak Petrolem and is scheduled to be finalized by the end of next year. Once online, the solar power plant should provide around 44MW of clean electricity

People living in warm climates have been used to using biogas since ages, with even the Assyrians using it to heat their baths 3,000 years ago. But in the colder regions such as Alaska, biogas is harder to produce, since temperatures do not allow for bacteria to ferment the organic waste. However, this problem is about to fade now, as a new type of bacteria has been discovered, and it promises to cut the reliance on fossil fuels for these people big time.

The City of Toronto brought into the spotlight the latest addition to its green fleet of waste and recycling collecting service. The new garbage truck can run on converted biogas obtained from the picked up organic material waste. The new model reveals the city’s determined step toward reduction of fuel consumption, protection of air quality and health.

The five organisations; Addison Lee, Cyclone Couriers, Green Tomato Cars, Qdell & LHR Express Cars, and Trident Logistics has worked closely with the Energy Saving Trust to gain a better understanding of their carbon footprints and how they might reduce them. The scheme provided invaluable benefits to all involved.

Nissan showed a two-seater electric vehicle resembling a go-cart Monday that isn’t ready for sale but spotlights the Japanese automaker’s ambitions to be the leader in zero-emission cars. Nissan is planning to produce 250,000 electric vehicles a year, starting with the Leaf electric car set for delivery in Japan and the U.S. in December, and next year in Europe.

EnergyHub, a home energy management company, recently announced that it will be supplying its technology to Honeywell for inclusion in the company's portfolio of energy management solutions. According to Joseph Puishys, Honeywell's president of Environmental and Combustion Controls, EnergyHub's home energy management system will allow homeowners to minimize their energy bills by viewing and adjusting their energy usage settings.

The project was launched three years ago by Sanderson, a London-based marketing entrepreneur who is confident that it will attract the £15.5 million needed to be completed. Sanderson came up with the idea of an electric GT ten years ago at a motor show, inspired by the project’s technical director, Arthur Woolstenholme.

Students at MAST Academy recently compared energy consumption at the school between 2009 and 2010 for the August/Sept period. The total energy consumed by the school during the 2008-2009 school year from August through September was 3,228,120 KWH. This was reduced to 2,514,600 KWH during the year 2009-2010, a decrease of 22% of energy usage.

A star-rating system, similar to that used for electrical appliances, will now be a mandatory part of advertising for lease or sale of office space. The scheme is designed to make climate change a more important consideration in corporate decision-making, in part by naming and shaming companies with office space in energy-hungry buildings.

Now that would be a brutal blow for any industry battered by a vicious recession. But it's particularly bad news for the American wind industry, which had defied the downturn by installing a record 10,000 megawatts of new capacity in 2009. New wind capacity had grown an average 39 percent annually over the previous five years and represented 39 percent of all new electrical generation that came online last year.

On days with little wind, Europe may have to rely on Norwegian reservoirs to keep its wheels running smoothly in the future. On the Continent, the concept of Norway as Europe's green battery has caught on -- but is it feasible in practice? The Centre for Environmental Design of Renewable Energy (CEDREN) -- one of Norway's Centres for Environment-friendly Energy Research -- is carrying out the HydroPEAK project to study whether Norway could truly provide Europe's balance power.

Council wardens are getting on their bikes to improve efficiency and reduce the carbon footprint created by work vehicles. East Staffordshire Borough Council is adopting power assisted cycling to enable wardens to travel economically through the borough. Supplied by Lichfield-based electric bike specialist PowaStation, the electric bike enables staff to cover far greater distances than using a traditional cycle.

IPT (Induction Power Transfer) is the name of the world’s first commercially-available wireless electric car charging system, just launched in London. The brainchild of UK start-up HaloIPT wishes to electrify the England’s M25 motorway by using magnetic induction, a principle discovered in the 1800s.

South Korea is set to become home to a new $8.2bn offshore demonstration wind project, according to local media. The project, which is slated to be the largest in the Yellow Sea, will be used to test 20 turbines produced by local manufacturers in South Korea, its regional government has confirmed.

A group of us from the NRDC teams in Beijing, San Francisco, and D.C. just visited Shanghai, China to discuss opportunities to collaborate on helping turn an old iron and steel alloy plant into a new "clean energy development zone." The site is one of 12 old industrial sites that China is planning to turn into clean energy development zones. NRDC's China Program will be working with this project to make it as energy-efficient as possible.

A new institute is being launched to help Idaho residents and businesses conserve power and save money. The Institute will evaluate energy-saving technologies to see which ones work best. The program will be run by the Idaho Falls' Center of Advanced Energy Studies, and Otter says it will play an important role in Idaho's energy future.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is optimistic that Asia can get the 10 trillion US dollars it needs to finance sustainable energy projects over the next 20 years. The projects will include more efficient use of coal and oil as well as greater reliance on renewable power sources such as wind and solar energy.

General Electric has created new halogen compact fluorescent light bulbs, GE Reveal and GE Energy Smart Soft, that unlike typical fluorescents (CFLs), contain less mercury (only 1 milligram) and don’t take time to warm up, being more efficient.

The European Hydrogen Association (EHA) and the European Regions and Municipalities Partnership for hydrogen and fuel cells (HyRaMP) have called for accelerated support from the EU, national and local governments to ensure a sustainable build-up of hydrogen infrastructure in Europe. Both organizations stress the need to integrate hydrogen infrastructure development into the EU’s current energy and transport infrastructure plans.

Making a cellphone battery last ten times longer is a first target for a large research project that IBM, Infineon and a number of European universities unveiled on Wednesday. The new research project, called Steeper, also aims to decrease the energy needs of other electronic devices like TV sets or supercomputers by 10 times when active, and to virtually eliminate power consumption when they are in standby mode.