A team of researchers from the University of Nevada at Reno is out to prove that sludge from a wastewater treatment plant can be dried, powdered, gassified as biofuel, and then burned to generate electricity, which in turn can run equipment at the same treatment plant. Talk about having your cake and eating it, too! The question is whether the researchers can make their sewage sludge-to-biofuel process operate at a cost low enough to compete with the price of conventional fuels.

The 155,000-square-foot facility is located in Lockport, N.Y., and unlike conventional ones, it uses 95 percent less water and 40 percent less energy. The energy-efficient data center has a power usage effectiveness rating of 1.08, which is quite less compared to the industry average of 1.92.

Two scientists are on a path-breaking method to produce ’sea-urchins’ to expedite the work capacity and efficiency of photovoltaic devices. Jamil Elias and Laetitia Philippe are the two scientists from Empa’s Mechanics of Materials & Nanostructures Laboratory who have been successful in producing these tiny ’sea urchins’ which are ready to revolutionize solar-cell technology.

Energy supplier EDF have unveiled a new gadget that allows consumers to turn off their appliances from anywhere in the home. The wireless EcoManager enables householders to control and switch off their microwave ovens, TVs and stereos from any location, allowing them to cut needless energy use and save money on their bills in the process.

Six miles per gallon doesn't sound like much, but don't tell that to the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority. The transit authority's new diesel-electric hybrid buses get two miles per gallon more than the diesel-only cousins they are replacing.

Starting early to develop China's own energy-efficient and new-energy vehicles a decade ago, China now has an established industry with the research and development of three types of these vehicles and three key technologies at its core. Zhang Laiwu, vice science and technology minister, made the remark Thursday at a press conference in Beijing, adding that China' s industrial pattern of green vehicles was relatively unique in the world, because of its early start to develop these vehicles.

A recent study, conducted by the Rochester Institute of Technology, reveals that the total energy needed to make organic solar cells is less than the one needed to make inorganic solar cells.

Nowadays, batteries are hardly meeting the normal consumer’s demand regarding their capacity and lifetime. Complaints about laptops whose charge lasts too little, or about electric cars not being able to charge as quick and last as long as gasoline are frequent. Amprius, a US-based company, addresses these issues and develops abattery that they say it can hold double the charge of regular lithium ion batteries.

Siemens has launched its renewable energy business arm in India to get a sizable share in one of the fastest growing markets in the world. The German engineering giant has opened its business in India at just the right time given the abundant economic and policy incentives offered by the government to the project developers as well as manufactures in the renewable energy sector.

There are still funds available to help West Virginians replace home appliances with new, energy efficient models. In fact, residents can now take advantage of two programs aimed at saving consumers money and protecting the environment. Currently, the West Virginia Enery Efficient Appliance Rebate Program and the state's Energy Star® Sales Tax Holiday are both in effect.

The 27-nation bloc could make 90 billion liters (24 billion gallons) of so-called next-generation ethanol in 2020, about 65 percent of predicted fossil gasoline use, the London-based group said in a study. At least 100 refineries a year could be built in the bloc from 2013, it said. The EU currently has no commercial factories that refine biofuels from plant waste.

A research team from the ORNL (Oak Ridge National Laboratory) performed a microscopy research on lithium ion batteries. They found out how they actually work at nanoscale levels and provided invaluable data never gathered before.

A new directly solar powered air conditioning system has been unveiled in China that has the potential to not only make cooling a home green, but also save homeowners a huge amount of money at the same time. The machine is made by a company called Vicot.

New and unique ways of making solar panels more efficient in power generation are coming to light every day. The new kid in the block of one such device is a large transparent sticker applied to the front of the panel which increases the power output by about 10% or so. Genie Lens Technologies is the firm which has developed these polymer film stickers. These polymer films are imprinted with special kind of microstructures.

A report published by an Indian Defense ministry-backed think tank has proposed for the establishment of an international space-based solar energy program with India and the United States initiating this massive project. The report is prepared by Peter Garretson, a US Air Force lieutenant colonel, working with the Institue of Defense Studies and Analyses, New Delhi. The reports calls for the Indian and the United States’ governments to extend their strategic partnerships to initiate this pathbreaking project and make the space-based solar energy a commercially viable business venture by 2025.

The Egyptian wind energy industry is all set to contribute an additional 2,500 MW capacity to the nation. Under progress are field studies towards establishing wind farms by means of the private sector. These wind farms will be ideally located in the Gulf of Suez while slated to become operational by the year 2014.

A new study reported in the journal Applied Physics Letters in August this year (published by the American Institute of Physics), explains how solar energy could potentially be collected by using oxide materials that have the element selenium. A team at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California, embedded selenium in zinc oxide, a relatively affordable material that could make more efficient use of the sun’s power.

On Aug. 17, the Clean Across Canada tour departed from Cape Spear National Historic Site in St. John's, Nfld., on a 28-day coast-to-coast tour. This journey took the Mitsubishi i-MiEV approximately 7,500 kilometres and culminated on Sept. 11 in Victoria, B.C., at which point the i-MiEV and support vehicles returned to Vancouver to participate in the 2010 EV Conference from Sept. 13 through Sept. 16.

This technique has an enormous potential. Only in the United States, for instance, the total surface of roads, highways and open parking lots is estimated in over 100,000 square kilometres. The proposal comes from an American company which, using funds granted by the US Federal Highway Administration, is designing resistant photovoltaic panels on which cars can drive, with tiny prisms built into the surface in order for tyres to grip.

Vattenfall's Thanet farm set to open as National Grid confirms wind-generated electricity has hit a new peak. The world's largest offshore windfarm, which cost over £750m to build, is poised to open off the coast of Kent, with 100 turbines producing enough electricity to supply heat and light for 200,000 homes.

The Swiss manufacturer Trunz Water Systems and a California-based reverse osmosis company, Spectra Watermakers have developed a new eco-friendly water purifier designed for use in disaster stricken areas where conventional energy sources are unavailable or too expensive. The new system, called the Solar Container, is capable of generating more than 8,000 gallons of potable water per day and is powered by renewable wind and solar energy.

Researchers from Korea are working on a new technology that can power your cellphone with sound. They have turned zinc oxide (the main ingredient of calamine lotion) into a tiny material that converts sound waves into energy through piezoelectricity.

The University of Cambridge has come up with a low cost organic solar cell that opens up some intriguing new possibilities in solar energy design. Although the Cambridge team is focused on bringing large scale photovoltaic devices to the market, the new technology could also lend itself to a smaller canvas, yielding such products as solar-energy generating umbrellas and canopies. For that matter, even small objects like plastic cups and straws could some day double as mini solar power generators.

The nanotube antenna focuses all of the excitons resulted from the collision of photons with the material, towards its center. Asolar cell using this kind of technology would have to have a core of semiconducting material built inside the nanotube antenna

Massive fit-out works both above and below ground will begin in the next six months as landowners move to upgrade their property portfolios. This will add to the already burgeoning construction on at least five big sites in Sydney's central business district.

Toyota Motor Corp. aims to introduce an electric vehicle in China, Vice Chairman Katsuaki Watanabe said Thursday. Noting that the automaker is on track to enter the broader electric vehicle market in 2012, Watanabe said, "We're favorably considering a move into China as well."