Restoring power and government reconstruction spending are crucial to Japan's economy resuming growth, the IMF said Thursday, after Tokyo put the damage of the March 11 earthquake at $309 billion. International Monetary Fund officials said they expected a short-term slowdown, but growth would "rebound" to pre-quake levels and more.

American consumers don’t want things forced on them by the government, but they are slowly starting to become aware of energy issues via the rising cost of energy and the geo-political climate, said Crane. “Everyone in this room has a vested interest in electric vehicles becoming successful,” said Crane to the room largely made up by investors, and the future is “all about electric vehicles.”

Scientists are reporting development of an advanced lithium-ion battery that is ideal for powering the electric vehicles now making their way into dealer showrooms. The new battery can store large amounts of energy in a small space and has a high rate capacity, meaning it can provide current even in extreme temperatures.

Implementing the Power VI plan approved by the Government, the Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) is striving to accelerate the construction and complete the whole Son La hydropower project (capacity of 2,400 MW) at the end of 2012. In the short term, in 2011, EVN has planned to power on unit 2 on Apr 30th; unit 3 on Aug 31st and unit 4 on Dec 31st.

CyberSmart Africa implements a practical and scalable solution to enlighten the frequently ignored rural schools with contemporary education. Funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), CyberSmart’s “tech-lite” approach, which includes a specially adapted interactive whiteboard and other low-power digital tools, puts learning first. The system uniquely focuses on teacher training and puts the latest low-power, portable equipment to work directly in the classrooms of off-the-grid rural schools.

Advocates of coal power argue that it is among the cheapest sources of energy in the United States and allows for lower-cost power. But a new Harvard study found that whatever money is saved in operation costs is completely negated by the cost coal plants inadvertently pass on to the American public: $345 billion.

The capital's nuclear programme is progressing well but must now begin to pay greater attention to areas surrounding nuclear fuel supply and disposal, and protection of facilities, said a review board set up by the emirate's Government.

Clearing up the regulatory hurdles that are slowing development of electricity transmission lines would provide a significant boost to U.S. wind power development, industry officials said Wednesday. The American Wind Energy Association is holding a two-day workshop in Omaha focused on the challenges of transmitting power to places that need it. The biggest regulatory barriers have to do with who pays for high-voltage transmission lines and who decides where the lines will go.

Until last year, wind power appeared immune to the worst ravages of an economic storm sweeping the globe. Then the world's biggest manufacturer of wind turbines took an axe to 3000 jobs in its native northern Europe. Did it signify not just a readjustment to a single producer's business model but a threat to the technology's continuing worldwide deployment? Or, as some believe, are fears of a decline in the sector's fortunes simply overblown?

Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai has directed the MOIT to soon complete and submit to the Government the mechanism issuing regulations to support, facilitate and encourage wind power projects in Vietnam.

Thus, from March 1st, the average price of electricity will increase from 1,077vnd/kWh to 1.242vnd/kWh, equivalent to a 15.28% increase. With this increase, many of EVN’s costs shall continue to be kept from being allocated to the price, the rate of return on state capital of EVN is zero and coal price has not risen in the electricity price structure.

Thực hiện Quy hoạch Điện VI đã được Chính phủ phê duyệt, Tập đoàn Điện lực Việt Nam (EVN) đang phấn đấu đẩy nhanh tiến độ thi công, hoàn thành toàn bộ công trình Nhà máy thủy điện Sơn La (công suất 2.400 MW) vào cuối năm 2012. Trước mắt, trong năm 2011, EVN dự kiến phát điện tổ máy số 2 vào ngày 30/4; tổ máy số 3, ngày 31/8; tổ máy số 4, ngày 31/12.

Giai đoạn 2008-2010, EVN tiếp tục triển khai chương trình 5 triệu đèn compact, đã bán được gần 4 triệu đèn, góp phần thúc đẩy thị trường tiêu thụ đèn compact, từ mức tiêu thụ 500.000 bóng đèn năm 2003, đến năm 2009 tiêu thụ 31 triệu bóng. EVN đã ký hợp đồng với các công ty sản xuất đèn huỳnh quang compact tiết kiệm điện được thiết kế riêng cho chương trình với chất lượng tốt, có tuổi thọ hơn 6.000 giờ theo tiêu chuẩn IEC60969 để cung cấp cho khách hàng với giá thấp hơn 15-20% so với giá sản phẩm cùng loại trên thị trường. Đến nay, việc sử dụng đèn compact tiết kiệm điện đã phổ biến.

Automobiles, military vehicles, even large-scale power generating facilities may someday operate far more efficiently thanks to a new alloy developed at the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory. A team of researchers at the Lab that is jointly funded by the DOE Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, achieved a 25 percent improvement in the ability of a key material to convert heat into electrical energy.

Solar power could be on the brink of economic breakthrough, reaching investment levels of €70 billion in 2015, according to a major study out this week. The report, Solar Generation 6, by the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA) and Greenpeace International estimates that photovoltics could meet 12% of European demand by 2020 and up to 9% of the world’s demand by 2030.

Will electric car charging networks have the type of roaming commonly found between cell phone providers? If Nokia Siemens Networks– a joint venture between the European networking giants — has anything to say about it, in Europe they will. This week at Mobile World Congress (MWC), an annual telecom conference in Barcelona, Nokia Siemens and a German public utility group called Smartlab announced they are developing an authentication and authorization service to enable electric vehicle drivers to “roam” when charging up via various service providers.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide a $36.8m loan for a privately owned wind farm in Pakistan. The loan will be used by Turkish energy firm Zorlu Enerji Electrik Uretim to install wind turbines in the southern Sindh province. The wind project will cost $147m with 30% financed through equity provided by Zorlu Enerji.

Another China's fully self-developed No. 1 unit reactor pressure vessel, projected by Fuqing Nuclear Power Plant and manufactured by China First Heavy Industries (CFHI) recently passed a test successfully.

Drayson Racing and Aston University have announced a collaboration to develop and demonstrate low carbon automotive technologies. The partnership will investigate 'second generation' biofuels produced from waste biomass such as straw, wood and sewage sludge to create high performance cars with reduced CO2 emissions.

Thứ trưởng Bộ Công Thương Hoàng Quốc Vượng cho biết, đây là mức tăng giá điện bình quân đã được Thủ tướng Chính phủ chấp thuận, nhằm giảm thiểu các tác động của tăng giá điện lên nền kinh tế. Như vậy, từ 1.3 tới, giá điện bình quân sẽ tăng từ 1.077đ/kWh hiện nay lên 1.242đ/kWh, tương đương tăng 15,28%. Với mức tăng giá này, nhiều chi phí của EVN tiếp tục bị “treo lại” chưa phân bổ vào giá thành, tỉ suất lợi nhuận trên vốn nhà nước của EVN bằng 0 và giá than chưa tăng trong cơ cấu giá điện.