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.

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.

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.

According to the company’s statements, the tall building will have a wind tunnel in the middle . The air will be converted to electricity as soon as it gets down to a series of turbines. The Betz limit value theory says that the maximum harvestable energy from the wind is 59.3% but the company claims that the system is not constrained by it.

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.

New Generation Biofuels Holdings, Inc. – nhà phát triển công nghệ nhiên liệu sinh học vừa khẳng định một lần nữa về hợp đồng đánh giá sử dụng nhiên liệu sinh học trong hệ thống lò hơi với thành phố Baltimore trong thời gian 1 năm. Theo công ty này đặt ở Columbia, Maryland, khối lượng lớn nhất của chương trình lần này có thể đạt 440 nghìn gallon.

According to a recently released report, Scotland is on track to meet its ambitious renewable energy goal of generating 80 percent of its electricity from renewable energy sources by 2020. In the report, Energy Trends, it was revealed that 27 percent of the electricity in 2009 was generated using renewable energy sources.

Sweden and Norway have agreed the bases for a common green certificate market, energy ministers for both nations said on Wednesday. A green certificate is a tradable commodity proving that a certain electricity has been produced using a renewable source of energy, such as wind, solar or hydropower. Environmental groups hope they can boost the use of renewables.

The extended tax credits will prove a great present for thousands of workers in the renewable energy industry. President Obama signed legislation on Friday extending key tax credits supporting renewable energy projects and biofuel use.

Korea is set to build 14 nuclear power plants by the year 2024 in an attempt to lessen its reliance on petroleum for electricity. At a public hearing in Seoul on Tuesday the Korean government announced a long-term plan for energy which calls for an increase in the portion generated through nuclear plants and renewable sources.

Officials with the Robins Air Force Base Energy Office are conducting feasibility on the use of plasma arc technology, which offers environmentally safe measures for waste disposal. "The process can take nearly any material and convert it to energy," said Judith Middlebrooks, an engineer with the Energy Office. "It uses extremely high temperatures to turn products into mostly hydrogen and carbon monoxide. Plastics are really great, but most any organic compound will work."

Statistics from the Ethiopian Ministry of Mines and Energy (MoME) indicate that the country spends about Ethiopian Birr 10 billion (US$800 million) annually to import petroleum products for domestic consumption. The figure, according to the MoME represents more than 90 percent of Ethiopia’s earnings from foreign trade each year. Were the country to tap some of its renewable energy potential, the energy independence it would achieve as a result, would be a boon to the economy.

An act as simple as replacing a light bulb could lead to billions of dollars in electricity savings, a new assessment by the United Nations Environment Programme shows. It studied the advantage of switching from obsolete incandescent lamp technology to compact fluorescent lamps or C.F.L.’s.

A day after Energy Secretary Steven Chu's "Sputnik speech," in which he warned that China was investing billions in renewable energy while American politicians bickered over small-potatoes stimulus spending on green technology, a report from Ernst & Young released Tuesday confirmed Asia's ascendancy.

Adding 265 gigawatts of wind-sourced electricity into the European grids by 2020 is expected to save 41.7 billion euros in electricity costs annually. Market trends and limited infrastructure stand in the way of wind power growth in Europe, stopping the inflow of billions of euros in power savings, according to a new report by the European Wind Energy Association.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said a fund it established to develop large capacity solar projects will increase the renewable energy resource to 3GW by mid-2013 in the Asia and Pacific region. Haruhiko Kuroda, president of ADB, said governments in Asia and the Pacific should invest in solar energy to help ensure their growth is environmentally sustainable.

Những phương tiện hybrid ngày càng phổ biến trên đường phố và giờ đây chiếc xuồng lai đầu tiên sắp được hạ thủy ở New York, Mỹ.Dự kiến hoàn thành vào tháng 4 năm 2011, chiếc xuồng Hornblower Hybrid sẽ sử dụng pin nhiên liệu biến đổi hydrogen thành điện.

The future, according to MiaSolé, a Californian start-up, is unrolling at one centimetre a second in a bland-looking building in Silicon Valley. Despite the location, and the fact that most other solar cells are made from silicon, MiaSolé’s cells are not. Ribbons of steel a metre wide and half a hair’s width thick spool through vacuum chambers in which they are sputtered with copper, indium, gallium and selenium—collectively known as CIGS. Out of the end comes a new type of solar cell which promises to be both efficient and cheap.

On November 19th, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, with the assistance of German Government through the Organization of German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and the German Energy Agency, put into use the grid connected solar system on the rooftop of the headquarters. The system will save approximately VND 12 million per year for electricity. Using electricity from renewable energy sources is considered the radical solution for the increasing energy demand in Vietnam.