In the last 15 years, Munich, the Bavarian capital of Germany, has managed to decrease its total residual waste volume, to 500,000 tons from 1.2 million tons. The goal of the city is to supply all private households with 100 percent renewable energy by the year 2015. Munich has been named Germany’s “Energy Saving Municipality” and the steps that it has taken (more…)

Cleantech in Australia has been growing by leaps and bounds. Australian Cleantech provides numerous services, including the development of different policy initiatives that would stimulate future cleantech investments. Through Cleantech Australia, many topics have been covered, including renewable energy, low emission technologies, recycling, low emissions (more…)

The first hybrid solar power plant in the world was inaugurated in Florida by Florida Power and Light Company at FPL’s Martin Next Generation Solar Energy Center. It is one of three solar facilities commissioned by FPL.

It features 190,000 solar panels that work in conjunction with an existing natural-gas (more…)

The question often is “Where do cleantech ideas come from?” The answer, simply put, is from universities. Today, many universities offer different initiatives to assist those looking to get into the clean technologies field. A university has the resources necessary for research, development, and innovation. Many of the (more…)

There’s solar trouble in Ohio. For the second year of a two-year-old Renewable Portfolio Standard, Ohio utilities are requesting waivers from their solar electricity requirement. First Energy Corp – which is parent company to Toledo Edison, Ohio Edison and Cleveland Electric Illuminating – reports that they were unable to find enough solar renewable energy (more…)

As of March 15, Ontario’s green energy producers will be subject to a new set of fees for applications they make for feed-in tariff (FIT), microFIT, and other renewable power projects. The province has a rapidly-expanding market for solar, wind, and other clean power sources that has created thousands of kilowatts (kW) of green energy and boosted the careers of workers in these (more…)

In the field of renewable energy, the priorities in Italy have included securing a cost-effective energy supply, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and guaranteeing energy sector competitiveness. Though the cleantech sector has been slow to grow, renewable energy in Italy will expand over time with a number of incentives, legislations, and other (more…)

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced in February that a Superfund site in Davis, California would use solar energy to power the country’s first federal groundwater cleanup. Toxic chemicals in a small waste pond near the Frontier Fertilizer Superfund site reached such high levels in the 1980s that a dog (more…)

Chinese companies are making a concerted effort to dominate the emerging solar energy market in Africa, a continent where nearly two-thirds of the population still lives off the grid.

At an energy conference in South Africa last week, more than three-fourths of the exhibits were from Chinese vendors selling (more…)

The US Department of Energy (DOE) is beginning to test its cutting edge photovoltaic (PV) panels in Masdar City. Masdar represents Abu Dhabi’s multi-billion dollar investment in new technologies and research for sustainable development. It has a growing portfolio that includes oil recovery, waste treatment and nanoscale electronics. (more…)