Germany’s decision to phase-out all its nuclear power plants is boosting demand for renewable power across the supply chain. Germany’s Wind Power Association announced that demand for wind turbines will increase 16% in 2011.
Some Indian companies are taking the lead in providing access to sustainable, low-cost energy that also seems to be linked to poverty reduction. Two of those companies, Abellon Clean Energy and SELCO, have seized the entrepreneurial reins in providing viable models hat can combat poverty
Some top wind power news of the week. For more, check out our Wind Energy category.
A team of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has figured out a way to deliver low cost solar energy at night as well as during the day, by combining a concentrated solar power system with a molten salt heat storage system.
Ontario’s “buy local” energy policy has the promise of 43,000 local jobs from 5,000 MW of new renewable energy. Now Nova Scotia is showing a strong interest in boosting the economic returns of its clean energy program.
Hydroelectric power has long been left out of renewable energy counts, on the assumption that it creates some greenhouse gas emissions as vegetation caught in damned rivers rots. But that may be about to change, with the results of new research just published by Dr. Jonathan Cole in Nature Geoscience finding that hydroelectric power reservoirs are responsible for only about a sixth of the carbon dioxide and methane previously attributed to them.
Some top solar energy stories of the week from around the internet (other than what we’ve covered):
This is a pretty cool concept. An innovative solar lighting option developed in Brazil provides energy-efficient lights that probably won’t compete with the next LEDs and only really work in specific circumstances/roofs, but are super cool and have their own unique benefits.
In Hiroshima Prefecture, both the city of Fukuyama and the private sector are pushing forward with a futuristic “Eco Town.” In the midst of interest in natural sources of energy, following the nuclear incident in TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, an attempt is being made to acquire and market local “know-how” as quickly as possible to other prefectures in order to stimulate regional revitalization.
The concept of making hot air to power wind turbines through a chimney has been around for at least 100 years. Enviromission, claims the world wide rights to the technology and has been trying to build a massive tower (chimney) for over a decade. The latest attempt is scheduled to rise in Arizona in 2015.
