We’ve been talking a while ago about Michael Strano and his thin carbon nanotubes that can transform fuel poured onto them into electricity. A chemical reaction is set up by heating the nanotubes, triggering the transformation at a speed of 10 meters per second.

Các kết quả từ chương trình kiểm toán năng lượng của EECA cho thấy trung bình các công ty có thể giảm 20% chi phí sử dụng năng lượng. Điển hình là cứ mỗi đô la đầu tư vào việc kiểm toán năng lượng sẽ tiết kiệm được 7,50 đô la chi phí năng lượng.

Leave it to larger-than-life Texas to lead the U.S. into a new energy future. While the state is most closely associated with oil, it has also been an early pioneer of wind power, and is beginning to embrace solar energy along with armloads of new green jobs. Now the San Antonio Water System has set the national bar high in the sewage-to-biogas field, by becoming the first water district to hook a biogas facility up to a commercial gas pipeline.

First announced in 2006, the facility represents an investment commitment of $1 billion and opens up extensive new opportunities for economic development in Vietnam. The facility is the largest assembly and test factory in Intel’s global manufacturing network, with a total area of 46,000 square meters, equal to the size of 5 ½ football fields. Production commenced in the middle of this year, starting with production of chipsets for laptops and mobile devices for Intel customers worldwide.

With the second largest tidal range in the world, about 50 feet, the Severn estuary has been eyed for years as a potential energy source, particularly as the appetite for sustainable energy sources has been growing over the last few years. The U.K. has pledged to have 40 percent of its electricity generated from renewable sources by 2020 to meet European Union requirements.

In a first-of-its-kind melding of solar technology with high speed rail facilities, the clean energy company Enfinity will install 16,000 solar panels on the two-mile long roof of a rail tunnel in Belgium. If the name Enfinity doesn’t ring a bell it soon will. The Belgium-based company has trained its sights on the U.S. energy market and is poised to step up commercial and utility scale solar installations here, from coast to coast. New green jobs, much?

Arizona is one of the four most improved states in terms of energy efficiency, according to a study released today by the American Council for an Energy – Efficient Economy. The state ranked 18th, up 11 spots from 2009, tying Utah for the most movement. Close behind were New Mexico and Alaska, which both leaped eight spots.

Municipal governments looking to tap into New Jersey’s cost-saving energy audit or “Direct Install” programs can get the assistance they need under a shared services program unveiled by the Burlington County Freeholders in cooperation with the county Bridge Commission.

South Yorkshire is the greenest part of Yorkshire, according to The Energy Saving Trust. The Trust says that since April people in South Yorkshire have installed more renewable energy systems than the rest of the region put together. There are now a total of 426 installations in the county - most of them in Sheffield, followed by Rotherham, Barnsley, and then Doncaster. That compares with 199 installations in West Yorkshire, 78 in North Yorkshire and 40 in the Humber.

In these difficult economic times for Island contractors and associated trades, builders have adapted. From grand, expensive, multi-year construction jobs, some have changed pace to accept small-scale renovations or additions. Some who have been the lead builders on big projects have taken work as subcontractors. Some have turned to specialization, including specialization in energy conservation and renewable energy techniques.

On the afternoon of October 14th, People's Committee of Hanoi discussed with the Chairman of the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) of Japan and theMinistry of Natural Resources and Environment about preparing for the implementation of the project "Building a system to treat waste of power industry" in an area of 1 ha of Nam Son Waste Disposal Complex, Soc Son district.

On October 18th, Phu Tho Department of Investment and Planning anounced that provincial People's Committee of Phu Tho granted the certificate of investment for the Construction project of Biomass bio-power plant at Rung Xanh area, Phong Chau town, Phu Ninh district. The unit implementing this project is Vietnam Hi-tech Bio-renewable Energy Joint Stock Company.

A new discovery at Rutgers University looks likely to lead to the creation of efficient and inexpensive solar cells made of plastic. The researchers discovered that excitons - energy-carrying particles generated by packets of -can travel on the order of a thousand times farther in organic semiconductors than previously thought.

According to a new study of food waste in the U.S., it takes the equivalent of 1.4 billion barrels of oil to produce get a year’s worth of food to the market, but about 350 million barrels of that goes down the drain in the form of wasted food. The study, reported by The American Chemical Society, is noteworthy not only for what it includes about food-related energy, but also for what it leaves out.

An Israeli firm called R-Jet Engineering has designed a new jet engine that could lower the fuel consumption by 25%. Just like current jet engines are twice as efficient compared to those built in the 1960s, this one, if applied on commercial airplanes, could offer significant savings in fuel and greenhouse gases.

Although electric cars aren't exactly new, the first ones having been built in the late 1800s, they've taken a while to catch on. In recent times, consumers were limited to odd-looking vehicles that couldn't go far or fast---except for those few individuals with enough money to buy the luxury Tesla sports car.

Getting the real prototype built has been a challenge. Kitegen Research had to abandon the initial plans of building the first prototype near the town of Berzano, not far from Torino, in Italy, after almost a year of trying to persuade the local NIMBY contingent. That has generated almost one year of delay; since everything had to be moved to the new site and a completely new set of permits had to be obtained.

In honor of Blog Action Day on the topic of water, here is a bit of good news about a new low-cost, energy efficient method for purifying drinking water without the use of chlorine. Scientists at Stanford University have developed a new kind of water filter that uses a combination of silver, cotton, and electricity to kill up to 98 percent of E. coli bacteria in contaminated water. The system was recently described in the American Chemical Society journal.

With rapid industrialization, the world has seen the development of a number of items or units, which generate heat. Until now this heat has often been treated as a waste, making people wonder if this enormous heat being generated can be transformed into a source of electric power. Now, with the physicists at the University of Arizona finding new ways to harvest energy through heat, this dream is actually going to become a reality.

Toyota Motor Corp officials have recently announced that the company plans to introduce two new versions of its Prius Hybrid into the auto market. The vehicles will be unveiled at the Detroit Auto Show, scheduled for Jan 2011. This way, Toyota hopes to bolster their dominance of the electric and hybrid vehicle market in the U.S.