Solar energy is more prevalent today than ever before. Worldwide, investors put more than US$1.66 billion into the solar market in 2010, with the United States, France, Israel, and Canada leading the pack. Of late, Ontario has ranked particularly well in the photovoltaic (PV) market, encouraged by government incentives, such as the province’s feed-in tariff (FIT) program, which (more…)

All over the news, one can see the massive sea of protest currently befalling the state of Wisconsin in a dispute between workers and the governor. Most news outlets have discussed how it is a dispute between the governor’s cuts and workers’ rights issues over things like collective bargaining. Governor Walker’s budget dealing impasse is problematic for public transit in Wisconsin (more…)

Qatar, even though the largest global producer of gas, understands and values the importance of clean technologies, including renewable energy and energy efficiency. The Middle Eastern country has been taking many necessary strides to become a major cleantech player, including increasing its cleantech research, development, and projects, and hosting (more…)

Scrap your car and fuel the future: how donating your end-of-life vehicle can help pave the way for greener alternatives and raise money for a good cause.

According to recent statistical reports undertaken by the Department of Energy & Climate Change, road transport accounts for around 25% of the UK’s carbon emissions. And, amongst the heaviest (more…)

President Barack Obama’s chief science advisor, Professor John Holdren has stated that it is unlikely that congress will pass a bill that will put a tax on carbon emissions.

Speaking at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Holdren admitted that President Obama would have to focus his efforts on improving energy efficiency, increasing (more…)

A University of Michigan scientist has developed a small hydrogen fuel cell that can recharge laptops, cell phones, and GPS units in the field and also supply limited electricity to power electric lights in homes in the developing world.

The researcher, James Dye, worked with SiGNa Chemistry to produce alkali metal (more…)

Biomass generation plants primarily burn waste wood, but as their role in clean energy is expanding, more wood will be needed. Where will it come from?

Xcel energy has developed a demonstration project to test which tree species, soils and climates will be most conducive to “biomass plantations” – trees (more…)

Attacks on climate change regulations, thawing permafrost in National Parks, and attempts to cut funding for climate research. Climate change has had some bad news this month. There’s at least one (sort of) bright spot, though: the state of US greenhouse gas emissions. Yesterday, the Environmental Protection Agency (more…)

Electric vehicle batteries don’t deal well with heat. Like the Lithium-ion battery in your laptop, if the battery in your EV overheats, it can shorten its lifespan or even cause it to simply stop working. While there haven’t been as many examples of spontaneous combustion in Li-ion batteries in electric vehicles as there have been in (more…)

You might think by this headline that I’m about to rant about the news regarding energy efficiency policy that was circulating last week. President Obama outlined a plan called the Better Buildings Initiative to incentivize energy efficiency in commercial buildings during his visit to Penn State. Actually, I want to explain why multifamily energy management struggles with this (more…)