The name Super X Divertor ( SXD) may sound like a popular video game, but actually it is a new nuclear technology which, its developer says, can overcome twin problems of radioactive waste and fears of proliferation associated with conventional nuclear reactors.

The Indian state of Gujarat has approved Asia’s first commercial-scale tidal power project in the Gulf of Kutch. The 50 MW tidal current power plant will be developed by UK company Atlantis Resources Corporation in partnership with Gujarat Power Corporation, with construction starting as early as 2011.

Many studies on biofuel crop viability focus on biomass yield, or how productive a crop can be regionally. There has been relatively little research on land availability, one of the key constraints of biofuel development. Of special concern is whether the world could even produce enough biofuel to meet demand without compromising food production

Chief minister Narendra Modi on Thursday formally launched work on the 500 MW solar power park, Asia's largest such project, at Charanka village in Patan district, and expressed confidence that the park would bring a lot of benefits for the local populace and the area.

In conventional photoelectrochemical cells, sunlight is converted into electricity and an electrolyte is used to move electrons which creates a current. The problem is that these cells have chromophores, which are light-absorbing dyes that degrade after being exposed to sunlight. But with self-repairing solar cells, this would no longer be an issue. To create these new solar cells, the Purdue research team utilized two crucial elements needed to make this technology imitate nature, which was molecular recognition and thermodynamic metastability. This allows the system to be dissolved and reassembled on a regular basis, replacing photo-damaged dyes continuously.

There’s a lot of debate over to what extent the demand for cleantech products and oil prices are linked, but in general sky high oil prices seem to help boost demand for goods like electric cars, and biofuels, as well as stimulate cleantech investing. At least that’s how it looked back in 2008, when oil traded around $100 a barrel for awhile, and hit a high of $145.

Li Keqiang, the top official tipped as China’s next Prime Minister, has begun a four-day visit to the UK with the announcement of a £6.4m licensing deal between Scottish and Sino-Scottish companies on clean energy development. Waste-to-energy technology developed by Scottish company W2E Engineering will be licensed to Sino-Scottish firm Shanghai Huanan Boiler and Vessel Cochran (SHBV Cochran) under the agreement.

Biofuel crops can potentially meet half of the current global demand for fuel without affecting food crop production, according to researchers at the University of Illinois. Ximing Cai, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the university, led a team of researchers in isolating land areas across the globe suitable for producing biofuel grass crops with minimal agricultural or environmental impact.

Theo báo cáo của Phòng Năng lượng tái tạo Argentina (CADER), nước này đã vượt qua Mỹ để trở thành nhà sản xuất dầu diezel sinh học lớn thứ 4 trên thế giới, với sản lượng gần 2 triệu tấn/năm. CADER cho biết năm 2010, Argentina đã sản xuất 1,9 triệu tấn diezel sinh học, tăng 51% so với năm 2009 và thu về 1,9 tỷ USD. Báo cáo cũng chỉ ra rằng trong giai đoạn 2006-2010, sản xuất diezel sinh học của Argentina đã tăng tới 250%.

Scientists with USDA's Agricultural Research Service (ARS) have found that barley grain can be used to produce ethanol, and the leftover byproducts-barley straw, hulls , and dried distillers grains (DDGS)-can be used to produce an energy-rich oil called bio-oil. The bio-oil could then be used either for transportation fuels or for producing heat and power needed for the grain-to-ethanol conversion. ARS is USDA's principal intramural scientific research agency, and these results support the USDA priority of developing new sources of bioenergy.

Wind power rose by 18.5 per cent in 2010 and now meets 16 per cent of demand. Luis Atienza, managing director of Spain's electricity grid, predicted that "within three years wind power will overtake nuclear as an electricity source". At its peak, on November 9, wind power met 43 per cent of demand.

Energy will be at the top of the agenda at the first EU summit chaired by Hungary on 4 February. Officials will push for negotiation between leaders to focus on controversial EU energy market reform and measures to prevent Europe losing its lead as a clean energy hub to China and other emerging economies.

Siemens Healthcare is developing a solar power solution, which would support the medical imaging equipments including MRI, CT, ultrasound scanning and X-ray systems. The company said this would largely help the centres located at the rural parts of the country, where power shortage is high.

Conventional fuel sucks an enormous amount of resources out of disaster relief efforts, because it has to be purchased and then transported to its point of use, often under extreme conditions. It also creates new hazards at the relief site in terms of storage, leaks and spillage, along with emissions and noise from the generators. Solar and other renewable energy sources, such as portable wind power, practically eliminate these added costs and complications.

As every middle-school child knows, in the process of photosynthesis, plants take the sun's energy and convert it to electrical energy. Now a Tel Aviv University team has demonstrated how a member of the animal kingdom, the Oriental hornet, takes the sun's energy and converts it into electric power -- in the brown and yellow parts of its body -- as well.

Abengoa Solar Inc. expects to start construction in mid-2011 on a plant in Arizona that will store sun-generated heat to provide six extra hours a day of electric-generating capacity. The heat creates steam that is used to turn power turbines. Abengoa's $2 billion Solana plant is expected to be the first major stored-heat plant in the U.S. when it enters service in 2013. Some already exist in Spain and a few more are on the drawing board for Nevada and California.

Ontario residents will see a 10 per cent rebate on electricity costs for the next five years, starting January 2011, the province announced on Nov. 18. The Ontario Clean Energy Benefit is intended to help Ontarians cope with rising hydro costs, Sudbury MPP Rick Bartolucci stated in a press release. "This is more than the provincial portion of the HST and will help the average family save more than $100 per year in hydro costs," he added.

The sun power industry in Germany, the world's leader in solar energy, is facing a tough year amid the threat of growing competition from Asia and falling prices. German solar-power companies rebounded last year from a dramatic slump in profit during 2009 as a boom in the sector took shape last year.

Biofuel technology developer New Generation Biofuels Holdings, Inc., has secured a contract with the City of Baltimore to evaluate its biofuel for use in institutional boilers over a one year period. The maximum volume for the program is capped at 440,000 gallons, said the company based in Columbia, Maryland.

The Indian government recently provided subsidies worth $10 million for projects aimed at promoting the use of solar energy in rural areas. The subsidies went to projects which distributed solar lanterns and installed solar home-lighting systems in villages across the country.