If you were to fly over the great continental expanse of China at night, you would find clusters of bright lights hugging near the eastern coast — sprawling, populous cities such as Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen. But the farthest west you travel, the fewer such illuminated megalopolises you would encounter. To be sure, China also has (more…)

Let me first preface this piece by saying Alaska may not, in fact, be the best place to own and operate an electric car. Confused? Let me explain. A new study (pdf) by the Union of Concerned Scientists explores the often asked but rarely answered questions surrounding the issue of whether some geographic regions may be better than others for electric cars in terms of their (more…)

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, 47 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions are from existing buildings. From a global perspective, reducing energy consumption in buildings is imperative for a sustainable future.

So when property owners and managers transform (more…)

By adding microscopic folds onto the surface of photovoltaic materials, a design variation borrowed from a
natural leaf, researchers say they have been able to boost the solar output of flexible plastic solar cells by 47 percent.

According to the scientists, who published their (more…)

A new portable solar light option was exhibited at the last Salone del Mobile in Milan, which took place between 17 and 22 April. Called NOMAD solar lamp, it was developed by Belgium company O-Sun and will start selling in September for €95 (US$125).

Like several other portable solar light developers, such as LuminAID, SolLight and Wakawaka, (more…)

The United Kingdom seems to always be trailing the European renewable energy starting line-up of Germany, Denmark, Spain, Sweden, and any one of Holland/Finland/Portugal.

As we’ve observed in our offshore wind, small wind, (more…)

The quest for more efficient solar cells is on. Currently the typical rate of conversion of sunlight into electricity is around 12% and in order to make solar power more competitive the industry works to increase this rate.

The scientific assumption is that there is a limit to the amount of energy that can be produced by a solar (more…)

A new study warns that the continued expansion of large-scale oil palm plantations in Indonesian Borneo, particularly on the island’s peatlands, will became a leading source of greenhouse gas emissions without stricter forest protections.

According to researchers from Yale and Stanford (more…)

Last week we reported the launch of the Brazilian National Institute of Industrial Property’s (INPI) pilot program to accelerate green patent applications.

But there’s a lot more to this story than meets the eye. Though INPI joins several other national intellectual property offices around the world in offering a green patent fast track, this is not simply (more…)

We have seen time and again that the European Union should push for a more aggressive policy on climate and energy. It is highly feasible and we have seen that the current Danish presidency would be the perfect moment to do so. (more…)