Latest News

Goldman strikes gold in California

New York, 28 July 08 - Commodity traders at Goldman Sachs are acquiring a taste for the Californian desert, where developments in solar power are taking off. Like most bets wagered by the US broker-dealer, its investment in solar power, and energy in general, has started to pay dividends.Cogentrix Energy, bought by Goldman Sachs in 2003 for $2.4bn (€1.5bn), has become one of the most active filers of land claims to develop solar plants in the desert, with the first due to go online in 2012.

Last year, Goldman Sachs' fixed income, currencies and commodities group generated record revenue of $16.2bn, 13% higher than in 2006.

Urgent action needed on climate change

Melbourne Australia, 21 July 08: A a new book says even that is not enough, warning that the global warming threat to the planet has been drastically under-estimated.

Presenter: Sen Lam
Speaker: David Spratt, co-author Climate Code Red: The case for Emergency Action

Gore urges 100% renewables in 10 years

JULY 27, Washington(AFP) - Nobel laureate and former US vice president Al Gore on Thursday urged Americans to shoot for the moon and make a total shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy to avert a global crisis sparked by climate change.

"I challenge our nation to commit to producing 100 percent of our electricity from renewable energy and truly clean carbon-free sources within 10 years," Gore told thousands of people who packed into a conference hall near the White House to hear the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize winner speak.

Garnaut Review Draft Report: Climate Positive Summary

Written by Nick Witherow, Carbon Manager, Climate Positive.

The Garnaut Review released its draft report on Friday 4th July. The following week Professor Garnaut took his draft report onto the road, and in a series of public forums, presented the preliminary findings of the review and took questions from the floor.

Green energy makes Samso self-sustaining

08 July 2008, Copenhagen, Denmark - RESIDENTS from the Danish island of Samso are paving the way towards a greener future by running their island on renewable energy.The island's 4300 inhabitants turned to wind power, energy cooperatives and heat pumps to become carbon neutral - and now produce more energy from renewable sources than they use, The New Yorker reported.

Samso moved to become carbon-neutral after winning a renewable energy contest in 1997 and now has 11 large wind turbines and a dozen smaller turbines on land, and another 10 offshore.

No More Arctic Ice this year - possibility says US Navy Scientist

June 27, ABCNews - Experts Worry About a Disturbing Trend at the North Pole and the very real possibility of its first Ice-Free Summer

The distinct possibility that this summer -- for the first time in

Hot times ahead for Australia

Peter Jean

July 07, 2008 12:00am

Mercedes to phase out fossil fuel powered cars in 7 years

London, 3 July 2008 - MERCEDES are aiming to end the need for filling your fuel tank with petrol or diesel within just SEVEN YEARS.The German firm are determined to make their model range run on alternative fuels - to improve costs, become more eco-friendly and because the oil supply will eventually run out.

There are 50million jobs worldwide associated with the car and more than 80 per cent of goods are transported by road.

Hawaii mandates solar hot water on all new homes

In a groundbreaking law, Hawaii has become the first state to mandate that all new homes be outfitted with solar water heaters.

Starting in 2010, all new single-family homes in the state will have to include solar water heaters, or they will not be granted permits. A few reasonable exceptions will be allowed, including for homes under forest canopies.

Thin-Film Solar to Grab 28 Percent Solar Market by 2012

Thin-film solar technology, or thin layers of photovoltaics that can be printed onto flexible surfaces, will make up 28 percent of the solar market by 2012, says a report out this morning from Lux Research. Thin-film solar technology, which is being developed with materials like amorphous silicon, cadmium-telluride and copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS), is the next generation in solar technology and, through low cost materials and manufacturing processes, is poised to bring down the cost of solar production dramatically.In dollar amounts, thin film is projected to bring in $19.7 billion in sales in that time frame. That's significant sales for a technology that's just starting to gain traction. Companies making more mature versions of thin-film solar, using amorphous silicon and cadmium telluride, are aggressively ramping up their lines. This includes companies such as investment darling First Solar, as well as Calyxo and Primestar. Lux says cadmium telluride manufacturing can be less than a third of the cost of traditional silicon solar panels.

As the Lux report points out, the companies making the cutting edge versions of thin film based on CIGS are just starting to reach the market. Nanosolar touted its 1GW, 100-feet-per-minute thin-film solar equipment in mid-June and Arizona-based Global Solar is supposed to start producing its CIGS-based thin-film solar strings this month.