One of the biggest challenges for the solar power industry is to boost the power-conversion efficiency of solar cells. In response to that, a duo of MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Research) researchers have found a little helper in a virus called M13.

Graduate students Xiangnan Dang and Hyunjung Yi (more…)

Companies that illegally log tropical forests in Indonesia may in future find it harder to sell their product on the international market, as the most important group of New Zealand timber importers has vowed to quickly phase out purchasing wood from Indonesia that can’t be verified as legally harvested. By (more…)

Greenpeace has released a report titled How Dirty is your Data? which looks at the energy choices powering cloud computing. Based on 2007 data the report claims that if the cloud is compared to nations across the globe it would be the fifth largest consumer of electricity. The cloud would rank ahead (more…)

The latest annual report issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which charts gas emissions into the atmosphere, reveals that in 2009 overall emissions had increased by 7.3% since 1990. The good news is that greenhouse gas emissions were at their lowest in 2009 since 1995. (more…)

(Reuters) – The Supreme Court on Tuesday questioned whether a global warming lawsuit against five big power companies can proceed, with several justices saying the Environmental Protection Agency, not federal judges, should deal with the issue.

The high court justices sounded a skeptical note during arguments when they asked whether (more…)

New research suggests that woodlands, forests and other terrestrial ecosystems are able to sequester up to 40% of the US’s carbon emissions that is caused by burning fossil fuels. The study, which was carried out in the 48 lower states provides evidence that these ecosystems can absorb far more carbon than first thought as long as these regions are not subjected to (more…)

Besides being good for the environment for reducing emissions and being a renewable source of power, wind energy also uses less water than other types of power generation, stated the American Wind Energy Association recently.

This is an important aspect of energy generation (more…)

With food and milk already contaminated from the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant, the rally cry against the risks of nuclear energy has resumed with vigor. Most agree that business as usual isn’t a safe policy for the next generation of nuclear power.

According to the Thorium Energy Alliance, the (more…)

Climate scientists and those working in associated fields have established a clear picture of human-caused climate change and what it is likely to mean in the future. The basic information is readily understandable. It’s alarming in what it portends and a rational human society would by now be well on its (more…)

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) will shut down 18 of its dirtiest coal-burning units over the next six years as part of a legal settlement with four U.S. states and three environmental groups that claimed the utility’s air emissions violated the Clean Air Act.

The agreement, announced by the U.S. (more…)