Germany’s already an undisputed powerhouse in renewable energy, but it will need to become even more innovative now that it aims to quit nuclear power by 2022.

Up until last year, Germany operated 17 nuclear reactors that provided about one-fourth of the country’s electricity. Following the Fukushima disaster in Japan, though, the government revived a previously suspended plan to phase out its nuclear power capacity in favor of more wind energy development and new gas- and coal-fired power plants.

A new wrinkle has now emerged in that plan: switching on power plants only when wind and solar aren’t producing enough electricity to meet demand is making some new gas-fired plants appear unprofitable. That’s leading some companies to question whether those plants should be built.

“Though certain projects …

The world was producing nearly 238 gigawatts (GW) of wind energy as of the end of 2011, with the fastest development of new capacity taking place in China and India.

That total comes to about 3 percent of the world’s current electricity consumption, according to the World Wind Energy Association.

Together, China and India accounted for more than half of newly installed wind power last year, notes the Global Wind Energy Council. It was the second year in a row in which wind energy capacity growth was dominated by countries outside the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development). That trend is expected to continue in years to come.

Meanwhile, it looks as though wind power in the US is set to hit …

Have China’s solar cell makers been “dumping” their products on the US market at low prices that undercut the competition? The US Department of Commerce this week made a preliminary finding that says, “Yes.”

Delivered in response to a complaint filed last year by SolarWorld, a German-based photovoltaics (PV) company with factories in the US, the Commerce Department finding concludes that “Chinese producers/exporters sold solar cells in the United States at dumping margins ranging from 31.14 percent to 249.96 percent.”

The legal definition of “dumping margin” is “the amount by which the normal value exceeds the export price or constructed export price of the subject merchandise.”

In other words, the Commerce Department has concluded that some Chinese solar companies were charging prices lower than one-third the fair value of their goods. …

From space, our planet might look like a “big blue marble” rich with water. On the ground, though, reality is different: water use in many parts of the world has become unsustainable, threatening not only local populations but global agriculture and business as well.

Water stress has “major implications for global supply chains,” according to the risk analysis firm Maplecroft. The company’s Water Stress Index for 2012 maps global water use down to a resolution of 10 square kilometers, comparing renewable water supply from precipitation, streams and rivers with consumption for domestic, agricultural and industrial uses.

The 10 countries facing extreme risk nationwide are all in the Middle East or North Africa:

Bahrain
Qatar
Kuwait
Libya
Djibouti
United Arab Emirates
Yemen
Saudi Arabia
Oman
Egypt

Other countries have subnational regions with extreme water stress. They include:

The northeast provinces of China, including Beijing, Jiangsu, …

Go online and do a search for “energy-efficient office” and you’ll get results numbering in the millions … an overwhelming output for the average entrepreneur who’s just looking for simple, straightforward advice on how to make technology at work more sustainable.

So what are the best resources for a green-thinking small-business owner or mid-market company exec to turn to? Following are 10 of the most useful to add to your bookmarks:

Energy Star – A joint effort of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the US Department of Energy (DOE), Energy Star is probably best known for its rating system for energy-efficient appliances and other products. But it also provides a variety of resources aimed at small-and medium-size business …

Several leading energy companies are expressing interest in working with the British government to make carbon capture and storage (CCS) commercially viable.

“This high level of interest proves that the UK is back on track with CCS,” a spokesperson for the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) was quoted as saying. “From the outset, we are working through collaboration with industry to ensure we make CCS a reality and importantly create the maximum return for what is one of the best offers anywhere in the world.”

CCS is considered a crucial strategy for controlling carbon emissions while allowing the continued use of fossil fuels, especially coal for electricity. The UK’s CCS commercialization program, which builds upon an earlier effort to kickstart the technology, offers £1 billion in direct funding support for the design and …

It hasn’t always been smooth sailing — still isn’t, in fact — but the transition to smart electricity meters in the US is moving steadily forward.

According to the most recent tally by the Institute for Electric Efficiency (IEE), nearly one in every three households in the US now has a smart meter. That means some 36 million smart meters have now been deployed across the country.

By 2015, the IEE projects, that number will rise to 65 million.

Before 2012 runs out, a total of 22 utilities in 16 states are expected to have finished rolling out smart meters to their entire customer base: 29 million people in all. Energy companies in the lead include:

Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) — Just passed the 9-million-meter milestone in California;
Southern …

With the opening of the Alamosa Solar generating facility, Colorado is now home to the world’s largest concentrating photovoltaic electric power plant in the world.

Located in the San Luis Valley, the 30-megawatt plant was developed by Cogentrix Energy.

Covering 225 acres, the project features more than 500 pedestal-mounted trackers, each one with 7,560 Fresnel lenses that focus sunlight onto arrays of solar cells. The lenses boost the power of the sunlight hitting the photovoltaics by a factor of 500.

By focusing sunlight onto high-efficiency solar cells, concentrating photovoltaic power (CPV) is able to use fewer silicon solar cells than traditional photovoltaic power.

According to the CPV Consortium, “CPV, with its higher efficiency delivers higher energy production per megawatt installed, provides the lowest cost of solar energy in high solar regions of the world. The technology …

The rollout of smart meters around the world continues to encounter various objections. Some people view the meters as an invasion of privacy, or worry about the potential for hackers to access their home-energy data. Others are concerned the meters — which typically use radio waves to transmit data — pose a health hazard.

A few in that group say smart meters have already caused them to suffer from a range of debilitating impacts: tingling sensations, dizziness, nausea, heart palpitations, difficulty in concentrating, etc.

What does science say? Following are 10 things we know about radio frequency emissions and their use in smart metering:

Radio frequency emissions, or radio waves, have frequencies ranging from 300 GHz (gigahertz) (wavelengths of around 1 millimeter) to 3 hertz (wavelengths of around 100 kilometers). They are the lowest-energy/longest-wavelength form of radiation on the electromagnetic …

There’s the G8, the G20 and, now, the G-Science.

In advance of the next G8 Summit, national science academies from 15 countries are urging world leaders to put more focus on several of the planet’s “most pressing challenges.” These include:

The growing global demand for two highly interdependent resources:  energy and water;
The growing need to build greater resilience to disasters, both natural and technological; and
Better ways to assess national greenhouse gas emissions to verify countries are working to meet their own climate goals or international commitments.

In terms of energy and water, the science academies state, “A systems approach based on specific regional circumstances and long-term planning is essential. Viewing each factor separately will lead to inefficiencies, added stress on water availability for food production and for critical ecosystems, and a higher risk …