One day, man-made buildings will mimic the human body in the relationship with the exterior. Penn State University researchers are about to study and implement a model that uses the sensitivity and flexibility of human cells to build “skins” that will give buildings the possibility to self-adapt to the exterior, to regulate their energy use according to changes in the environment.

We all know LED as being the flagship of green lighting, but what if those so-called “efficient” LEDs turned out to be even more energy-effective under certain conditions? The Kyoto University, in collaboration with Stanley Electric Co Ltd found a way to increase the emission intensity of silicon-based thin films by several times.

Being gifted with many active volcanoes, Central America wants to tap them for producing green energy which will cut its dependence on oil imports and also help reduce the CO2 emissions. Because the region is placed above shifting tectonic plates in the Pacific basin, it has great potential for geothermal power produced by heat stored deep in the Earth’s crust.

Recently-invented e-readers, though, do not have this issue, since they only use ambient reflections as their source of energy – mostly like regular paper. Still, current e-readers are limited to black and white, since their electrophoretic displays only know how to let light pass or block it.

Authorities have pledged to speed up construction of green buildings in response to the surge in building energy consumption that has resulted from the country's rapid urbanization. Li Bingren, chief economist at the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development (MHURD), said at a press conference Monday that authorities had made numerous efforts to save energy and reduce emissions, yet energy use efficiency remains low.

The King of Malaysia presented the trophy to the grand winner David Wendell, left, at the Earth Awards at Marlboro House in London on Thursday. David Wendell wants to revolutionize renewable energy by taking a page out of nature’s book, and improving it. His new technology captures carbon and transforms it into sugar — something that plants do naturally — more efficiently using artificial photosynthetic foam.

Doug Natelson and graduate student Dan Ward, from Rice University, have discovered how to make a light-harvesting antenna from two gold tips separated by a gap only a few nanometers wide. As light source they used a laser, whose rays, once trapped in the gold tips, get concentrated into a tiny space, increasing the light intensity in the gap by a thousand times.

The thing on the left is a snail, and it’s called abalone. Aside the fact that it’s edible, the abalone taught Angela Belcher, from MIT, how to turn carbon dioxide into rock-solid construction materials and thus sequester the gas for hundreds of thousands of years, instead of burying it underground, which is not as safe and as useful.

Chicago-based Invenergy Wind will build a farm equipped with 125 giant wind turbines on o surface of about 30,000 acre in Gratiot County, Michigan. Being considered Michigan’s largest, the $440 million project will produce 200 megawatts of energy by the end of next year, enough to supply electricity for more than 54,000 homes.

China has shown fresh interests in the development of hydropower in Nepal. “There are opportunities for Chinese hydropower companies to participate in hydropower generation in Nepal,” said Qiu Guohong, Ambassador of China to Nepal, addressing the Nepal-China Non-Governmental Cooperation Forum meeting here in the valley today.

Verve Energy in collaboration with BP Solar are planning to build Australia’s largest ever grid-connected solar power plant. The photovoltaic power plant is expected to generate about 10MW of clean energy and according to the two companies, it will be built in Geraldton, Western Australia.

At the beginning of this month, the European division of Sanyo has officially released its new enhanced HIT solar panel. Dubbed HIT-N235SE10, the new 235 watt solar panel has an energy-efficiency of 21.1%, improving the performance in limited space installations and offering more power generation per square meter.

Summerhill Group, which is representing Ice Energy’s Ice Bear product in Canada, probably wishes the system has had more traction. Basically, the Ice Bear system uses off-peak electricity to create large blocks of ice, and then uses that ice during summer peak times to provide cooling — the idea being that it offsets the need to run air conditioners at times when electricity is most expensive.

A personal helicopter weighing just 230 lb created sizzling news when it flew on hydrogen with zero emission. With an ability to carry payloads up to 800 lbs, this pocket Hercules can fly for 90 minutes. Fitted with easy controls, this reaches a speed of 100 knots thanks to a pair of small yet powerful motors mounted on it. Two common and easily available things – Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and a catalyst – combined to bring about a milestone in personal aviation history with attention to the environmental issues as well! Avimech has combined these two to power engine in to an innovative machine.

The U.S. Navy’s Seal Beach facility in California is now home to a new $1.9 million solar parking lot, thanks to funding from the federal Recovery Act. Aside from creating new green construction jobs, the new solar facility will save the Navy more than $30,000 per year in electrical costs. It’s just one part of an all-around solar power makeover for the Navy, which just this summer has commissioned another $100 million worth of new solar projects.

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.