Energy Politics

UK's energy and climate change minister, Lord Hunt shares his opinion, "We recognise that the North Sea has huge resources, we are exploiting those in the UK quite intensively at the moment. But there are projects where it might make sense to join up with other countries, so this comes at a very good time for us." Lord Hunt is talking about several North Sea countries that have coalesced for a good cause. They are aiming to create a clean and green supergrid. This supergrid will be connected to wind farms of Scotland, solar panels of Germany and hydro-electric dams of Norway. This project will be ready soon and then the first green European electricity grid will become a reality. They have expanded a network of thousands of kilometers of highly efficient undersea cables. These network cables will cost around €30bn. This way renewable energy generated in any of the North Sea countries will be available to many. 9 Comments

The World Bank will invest $5.5 billion for North African solar power projects. They have announced that initially World Bank will put in $750 million dollars from the Clean Technology Fund with the remaining amount will be arranged from other sources. World Bank is expecting to complete these projects by 2015. They are willing to include five countries in this project and hoping to triple world wide concentrated solar power technology (CSP) capacity. This relatively new technology uses mirrors to concentrate sunlight onto a single point, heating water to drive turbines. Construction of the 11 facilities in the project is scheduled to begin in 2011. It is expected that the North African project will generate a total of 900 MW in capacity by 2020. 4 Comments

According to the Department of Defense News report, the Defense Department's total energy costs for fiscal 2006 and 2007 was above $13 billion. In the year 2008, due to soaring rise in oil prices, their department's energy bill was $20 billion. It is not a surprise when various defense departments are trying to use clean and green energy that will lessen the use of fossil fuel. Even the Pentagon is trying hard to reduce its dependency on fossil fuel. They are trying to develop jet fuels from algae, bacteria and rapeseed. The Pentagon also announced to the American Forces Press Service in June that they are trying to develop newer military vehicles with the use of lighter and stronger titanium. Titanium is better than steel as far as fuel efficiency and safety are concerned. 5 Comments

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) wants to reduce its carbon footprints. That’s why they announced their quest to find a biofuel by 2010 for its commercial flights. Paul Steele was in New Delhi, India. He said to the reporters that IATA is serious about biofuels for commercial flights and it would be certified "by the end of next year". Paul Steele is the head of the environmental initiatives of IATA. As we are all familiar that certification is broadly regarded as a primary technical step that could do away with some of the investment uncertainties plugging the use of high quality biofuels in aviation. IATA chief executive Giovanni Bisignani reaffirms what Paul Steele was saying. Giovanni Bisignani claims, "For the first time, air transport has the possibility of an alternative to traditional jet fuel." 11 Comments

It seems the California Governor is making an all-out effort to encourage people to switch over the renewable source of energy. Assembly Bill 920, authored by Assemblyman Jared Huffman, D-Marin, and signed by the governor of California, requires utilities to pay solar customers who produce more energy than they use. Currently homeowners that produce more solar energy than they produce can zero their bills but they're not paid for the extra energy they feed back into the grid. The payment for producing extra energy is known as "feed-in tariffs" and such an incentive has seen great success in European countries like German and Spain. 16 Comments

The international image of America is a country that is constantly creating roadblocks in the way of reaching a global agreement on climate change and environmental protection. Americans are seen as totally oblivious to the issues of global warming, and energy and food crisis. Recent research shows a totally different outlook. When asked if it’s important for the U.S. to develop and use solar energy, 92% of Americans responded "yes," according to a recent survey by Kelton Research. 5 Comments

We recently revamped our events page to include a calendar to help you all keep up with upcoming conferences, shows and workshops that promote energy alternatives and provide networking opportunities for all of you involved in the industry. If you know of any upcoming events/conferences that we have missed, please feel free to submit the details here. We hope these events will continue to help raise awareness and promote the clean energy industry for a brighter, more sustainable future! 1 Comment

Up till now it has been you who looked for information on alternative fuel technologies and ongoing developments in the field of cleaner energy. If you need information on this topic you need to either scour various alternative energy websites on the Internet or go through cryptic journals and papers in the library. Occasionally you also come across informative articles in magazines and newspapers. The Pure Energy Radio Show intends to change that. Yes, you read it right; now there is a radio show that will bring to you news and updates on alternative fuel technologies and developments. The first radio show dedicated to this topic will make its debut on Monday, July 13, at 6:00 pm Eastern time. 1 Comment

The mayor of Los Angeles declared that from 2020 onwards Los Angeles will completely eliminate the use of power generated by burning coal and go for alternative energy sources such as wind and sun. In his inaugural speech for his second four-year term as mayor he said, "LADWP will deliver 40 percent renewable power, with the remainder coming from natural gas, nuclear, and large hydroelectric." 10 Comments

We have seen many Olympic Games but didn’t bother to check about the green quotient of the games, till now. What is most talked about is always the performance of the athletes. But slowly the scenario is changing. People are becoming aware of the green factor of the games and United Nations is taking active interest in making the games clean and green. United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Russian Olympic organizers. According to this MOU, UNEP will help and advise them on making the Sochi Olympic Games environmentally friendly. Sochi Olympics will be held in 2014. There is more need to pay attention to Sochi and its flora, fauna and environment because Sochi is situated between the gentle shores of the Black Sea and the snow-capped Caucasus Mountains in Russia's Krasnodar Region and is renowned for its pristine setting. 1 Comment

President Barack Obama is known as a staunch supporter of green energy. His stimulus plan has raised new hope for the environmentalists and economists alike. On the occasion of Earth Day, President Obama declared that developing renewable energy is crucial to America's prosperity. He also declared that his administration will for the first time lease federal waters for projects to generate electricity from wind as well as from ocean currents and other renewable sources. Obama also emphasized the need for action on global warming and preserving vast and beautiful natural resources of USA. 11 Comments

With its windy coasts, untapped rivers and huge tidal and wave resources, Alaska can quickly become a national leader in producing alternative energy. Although Alaska is the second-largest oil producing state in the country, the citizens have had to pay very high electricity bills recently; oil is no longer easily available for producing and generating power. 3 Comments

We are experiencing the effects of economic recession remotely or directly. Our political leaders are trying to assuage the situation on several levels. United States House and Senate members reached an agreement last week on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. President Obama is about to sign economic stimulus package. President Obama has already anticipated the future of solar energy and other renewable energy sources. He has clearly emphasized this by stating, "the country that figures out how to make cheaper energy that's also clean, is going to win the economic competition of the future." 4 Comments

As much as possible people are trying to choose clean and green technology for their energy need. They understand the gravity of pollution and its implications in the near future. People of Carson City, Nevada have presented a great example of environmental awareness to follow. They have started a private-public initiative called Team Nevada. It will look into renewable energy matters by drawing attention of businesses and supporting renewable energy technology. Team Nevada will register its presence at the Renewable Energy World Conference & Expo North America on Mar. 10 to 12 in Las Vegas. 5 Comments

Last year many alternative energy investors suffered huge losses when several prominent stocks fell by 70% or more. But they have not lost hope in alternative energy stocks and their future. According to a new survey investors are pinning their hopes on alternative energy industry this year. Waggener Edstrom Worldwide report states that investors and analysts participating in the survey anticipate alternative energy stocks to surpass the broader markets. "Despite a deeply challenging business climate, the financial community continues to view alternative energy stocks with measured optimism," Lev Janashvili, vice president of Waggener Edstrom’s global corporate communications practice, said. 1 Comment

Alternative Energy & Carbon Footprinting: International Survey Reveals Business Attitudes. Companies’ attitudes towards alternative energy and carbon footprinting are revealed in the results of an international research study. The survey was conducted by the independent market research company Harris Interactive on behalf of Dow Corning Corporation. 1 Comment

India is facing an acute energy scarcity which is hampering its industrial growth and economic progress. Setting up of new power plants is inevitably dependent on import of highly volatile fossil fuels. Thus, it is essential to tackle the energy crisis through judicious utilization of abundant the renewable energy resources, such as biomass energy, solar energy, wind energy and geothermal energy. Apart from augmenting the energy supply, renewable resources will help India in mitigating climate change. India is heavily dependent on fossil fuels for its energy needs. Most of the power generation is carried out by coal and mineral oil-based power plants which contribute heavily to greenhouse gases emission. 24 Comments

Barack Obama has been elected as the 44th President of the USA and with his election, Solar Integrated Technologies rose by 30% yesterday after increases of 22% by Renewable Energy Corporation and 16% by the wind turbine maker Vestas. Barack Obama promised to spend $150 billion over the next 10 years developing alternative energy. Promises like these leave a legacy for future generations to imitate. Clean technology and green energy stocks have registered a new high as City analysts anticipate a major boost from the incoming president. The US election result has provided a much-needed encouragement at a critical time and that too for an industry which is still in its nascent phase. And this sector is threatened by the banking crisis and emerging economic recession. Some companies had seen their share prices halve in the turmoil that began in September. Reduction of carbon level, a cushion against fluctuating oil prices and creation of more jobs in economic slowdown would be the natural offshoots of this policy. 9 Comments

Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), is a mechanism under the Kyoto Protocol for promoting technology transfer and investment from industrialized countries to the developing world for projects focused on mitigating emissions of greenhouse gases. It provides for industrialized countries to invest in emission-reducing projects in developing countries and to use the resulting Certified Emissions Reductions (CER) credits towards their own compliance with the emission limitation targets set forth by the Kyoto Protocol. 4 Comments

Mediterranean Union was launched by the French President Nicolas Sarkozy in concurrence with the European Union. This new international organization will include sixteen non-EU states from around the Mediterranean and all the twenty seven EU countries will be its member too. But why are we discussing political unions in an alternative energy site? Because Mediterranean Union will not only tackle various issues such as regional upheavals, trade, counter terrorism, security immigration pollution etc. but the organization will take up the energy issue too. 8 Comments