Renewable Energy News

The mid-July press release from Britain’s Department of Energy & Climate Change announcing the launch of long awaited feed-in tariffs for residential heating system was fairly straightforward. The press release explained what the tariffs were for, how much would be paid, and for how long.

By 2020 the Azerbaijan government plans to increase its share of renewable energy sources to 9.7 percent of its total energy consumption, which is three times higher than today's rates. This goal is part of its recently approved plan “National Strategy for the Development of Alternative and Renewable Energy Sources in 2012-2020.”

A new network of offshore wind power is planned to be constructed along the East Coast. The key to this design is the creation of a main line that would serve as a “backbone” connecting wind farms together and alleviating the hassle of running individual power lines from each individual farm itself to the coast. The main transmission line is suppos

AGL Energy Ltd., Australia’s largest developer of renewable energy projects, said it will go ahead with a A$450 million ($408 million) solar project in New South Wales state with First Solar Inc.

A few days ago, I read a blogpost from marketing author and speaker Seth Godin about the theory that there are six basic emotions that drive people to take action. After I read it, I of course wondered if the same emotions applied to solar marketing. Short answer: Yup. You can read Godin’s original post here, but the six basic emotions he identifie

Despite the opportunities fueled by new offshore projects and enhanced efficiencies in operating existing sites, the European wind industry today faces challenges around energy and wind power costs – a problem made worse by the current squeeze on operating budgets.

Two years ago the UK renewables market was booming; solar panels offered consumers a strong return-on-investment and at the UN Climate Change Conference heads of state from around the world came together in a pledge to cut their country’s carbon emissions.

Tiny wood borers known colloquially as gribbles make their own enzymes and use them to eat through docks in harbor towns, earning enmity from fishermen all around the world.

Solar panels provide the greatest benefit in areas with consistent sunshine, right? Wrong, say researchers at Pennsylvania’s Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). Solar energy, which aims to improve human health and reduce pollution by phasing out coal plants, actually provides the most benefit in the cloudy East and Midwest, as opposed to the sunny So

In an update to our coverage of questions raised about the European Commission’s investigation into alleged Chinese solar panel dumping, new reports say the Commission has notified the analysis firm which provided the data on Europe’s solar market that it will itself be investigated.

American and European companies still lead the latest ranking of utility-scale solar project developers to be published by Wiki-Solar. However, Chinese players are leaping up the rankings.

In California, Sapphire Energy announced it has paid off the loan guarantee awarded to the company by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In Dec. 2009, the company was awarded a $54.5 million loan guarantee through the Biorefinery Assistance Program, administered by the USDA Rural Development-Cooperative Service, to build a fully integrated, algae-to-crude oil commercial demonstration facility in Columbus, New Mexico.

Peru may be best known for Machu Picchu and other Incan and Aztec treasures, but the nation is looking to its future with new plans to use solar to provide electricity for about 2 million of its poorest residents by the end of 2016. Considering that Peru is the third largest county in South America and has a population of 24 million that’s bringing

A new report from the Environment America Research & Policy Center acknowledges what it deems are the top 12 U.S. states for solar energy ranked by several criteria, from new and cumulative installed capacity to actual electrical generation to a variety of solar energy-friendly policies. Most are unsurprising, but there are some worthy comparisons — and criticisms — to be made.

The most recent energy sector reforms passed in Spain represent the fourth time that a sweeping set of retroactive changes has rocked the country’s renewable energy (RE) industry. This new Royal Decree Law modifies billions of Euros worth of renewable energy contracts in a move that, when added to previous retroactive measures, will almost undoubtedly trigger insolvencies across the sector.

Dutch banking group Rabobank has highlighted the growing use of geothermal energy to heat commercial greenhouses in the Netherlands. In a new analysis, the bank sees increasing geothermal energy use as a major and relatively cheap way to improve the financials and the stability of the Dutch greenhouse industry.

Four months after announcing it would put its U.S. wind business on the auction block, BP reportedly is calling off the prospective sale, saying that it has determined that the timing isn't right -- though the fate of that business remains undetermined.

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There has been an uptick of interest in renewable energy heating and cooling in the past year, with several U.S. states and other countries establishing favorable incentives. After a two-year slump due to the global economic downturn, Navigant Research predicts that the geothermal heat pump market (GHP) will nearly triple to $17.2 billion by 2020, which is a “slow but steady growth” for the industry, according to Navigant analyst Mackinnon Lawrence.

The spewing smokestacks of Brayton Point have always been prominent landmarks in my life. On a road trip with family or friends, seeing the brown towers spring up on the horizon, in a strange way, represented home. Of course, as a child I had no idea that the coal and gas/oil-fired plant was the largest of its kind in New England and one of the lar