You know all those cheesy futuristic movies from past decades in which the hero — either pursuing a bad guy or running away from one — leaps aboard a driverless transport pod and makes his escape along the safe, silent and automated high-tech highway? Well, a consortium of organisations in Europe is
smart cities
The concept of a smart grid powers up imaginations around the world — and not just inside the energy industry. The cultural phenomenon of smart grid touches everyone from politicians to primary school children. There are articles and documentaries on the subject. There are entire magazines and conferences on the topic.
water
What’s the best way to reduce your water consumption? You might do better by keeping the lights off, going out to restaurants less, buying fewer cotton t-shirts and cutting back on how much bread and pasta you eat than by shutting off the tap while you brush your teeth.
Officials with the International Monetary Fund and some of the world’s leading multilateral development banks (MDBs) met in Europe today to map out plans for sustaining a global financial recovery and financing measures to combat climate change. MDBs are institutions funded by developed countries that provide financial support and
Jurdy discovers changes along the US coastline…
Smart Grid
The US is awarding nearly $100 million to 54 smart grid workforce training programmes aimed at building a next-generation workforce in the utility and electrical manufacturing industries. The stimulus fund-backed initiative is expected to provide work training to some 30,000 people. A new and adequately trained workforce is needed
energy efficiency workforce
The energy efficiency workforce in the US could more than triple in the next 10 years, but only if training and educations programmes for such jobs sees a quick and serious boost. That’s the conclusion of a new study by researchers at the US Department of Energy’s Lawrence
energy security
If going green and promoting renewable energy is such a wussy, hippy thing to do, how come the vast majority of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans want the US to adopt Clean Energy Climate Change legislation? Clearly, time spent in the petroleum- and conflict-rich Middle East makes a difference in one’
water
The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), which for a decade now has gathered information on what businesses are doing to reduce their impacts on climate change, is now launching into new territory with a Water Disclosure initiative. The organisation this month has begun sending out water-focused questionnaires to 302 of the
tidal energy
It’s an ironic reality that, to develop renewable energy, you must use at least some non-renewable resources … things like steel and rare-earth metals. But a tidal power company in Norway is hoping to make its technologies a little less ironic. Hydra Tidal plans to forgo the steel and composite
carbon dioxide
With just 70 to 75 per cent as much sunlight hitting the Earth in its early days four billion years ago, why wasn’t the planet frozen solid? Scientists have theorised that high concentrations of carbon dioxide must have fueled a greenhouse effect that kept Earth warmer than it otherwise
solar energy
Researchers in Canada say they might have found a way to overcome the cost and technology problems that have kept one of the most promising types of solar cells from becoming the next big thing in clean energy. The Graetzel solar cell, a dye-sensitised solar cell or DSC, promised the
