Cleantech and Environmental News – Latest Headlines

Sunlight to jet fuel - project demonstrates the entire production path of 'solar' kerosene

A new solar reactor technology has been pioneered to produce liquid hydrocarbon fuels suitable for more sustainable transportation.

April 28, 2014 Read more

How to count methane emissions

Study provides new metric for comparing the greenhouse gases methane and carbon dioxide.

April 28, 2014 Read more

Halving hydrogen provides insights for better, cheaper fuel cells

First view of nature-inspired catalyst after ripping hydrogen apart provides insights for better, cheaper fuel cells.

April 23, 2014 Read more

Stronger first quarter for global investment in clean energy

Small-scale solar in Japan and the US, and renewable power financings in emerging markets, help investment to rise 10% compared to Q1 2013.

April 22, 2014 Read more

Power to gas: Storing the wind and sun in natural gas

An option to store the electricity won from sun and wind is to use it for the production of chemical energy carriers. Still, the power-to-gas process is far from being economically efficient at the moment. The HELMETH EU project is aimed at demonstrating that efficiencies of more than 85 percent can be achieved by better using the synergies of existing process steps.

April 22, 2014 Read more

Solar fuels: A grand challenge of 21st century chemistry (w/video)

Solar army commander leads research group on quest for affordable solar fuels.

April 22, 2014 Read more

Climate Action Plan steps up sustainability strategy

As the global importance for a low-carbon economy grows urgent, Cornell has posted its most aggressive carbon-reduction strategy to date: the Cornell Climate Action Plan Update and Roadmap 2014-15. The plan focuses on climate neutrality, academic innovation and leadership, clarifies next steps for a dozen future key maneuvers, and highlights five dozen additional carbon reduction actions.

April 17, 2014 Read more

Surprising material could play role in saving energy

Scientists have discovered a surprising material that is the best in the world at converting waste heat to useful electricity. This outstanding property could be exploited in solid-state thermoelectric devices in a variety of industries, with potentially enormous energy savings.

April 17, 2014 Read more

A greener source of polyester - cork trees

On the scale of earth-friendly materials, you'd be hard pressed to find two that are farther apart than polyester (not at all) and cork (very). In an unexpected twist, however, scientists are figuring out how to extract a natural, waterproof, antibacterial version of the first material from the latter.

April 16, 2014 Read more

Environmentally compatible organic solar cells

Environmentally compatible production methods for organic solar cells from novel materials are in the focus of MatHero. The new project aims at making organic photovoltaics competitive to their inorganic counterparts by enhancing the efficiency of organic solar cells, reducing their production costs and increasing their life-time.

April 16, 2014 Read more

Genetically modified tobacco plants as an alternative for producing bioethanol

Researchers have conducted a study into genetically modified tobacco plants from which it is possible to produce between 20 and 40 per cent more ethanol; this would increase their viability as a raw material for producing biofuels.

April 14, 2014 Read more

Pioneering findings on the dual role of carbon dioxide in photosynthesis

Researchers have found that carbon dioxide, in its ionic form bicarbonate, has a regulating function in the splitting of water in photosynthesis. This means that carbon dioxide has an additional role to being reduced to sugar.

April 13, 2014 Read more

Odds that global warming is due to natural factors: Slim to none

An analysis of temperature data since 1500 all but rules out the possibility that global warming in the industrial era is just a natural fluctuation in the earth's climate, according to a new study.

April 11, 2014 Read more

Passive houses save lots of energy

Housing is the easiest sector to change if we are to reach the climate targets.

April 11, 2014 Read more

Energy efficiency is still the cheapest energy resource

Energy efficiency programs aimed at reducing energy waste cost utilities only about three cents per kilowatt hour, while generating the same amount of electricity from sources such as fossil fuels can cost two to three times more.

April 10, 2014 Read more

New world record for crystalline silicon-based solar cells

Panasonic Corporation today announced that it has achieved a conversion efficiency of 25.6% in its HIT solar cells, a major increase over the previous world record for crystalline silicon-based solar cells.

April 10, 2014 Read more

Scientists model a win-win situation: growing crops on photovoltaic farms

A new model for solar farms that co-locates crops and solar panels could result in a harvest of valuable biofuel plants along with solar energy.

April 9, 2014 Read more

DLR tests solar aircraft for round-the-world trip

To fly once around the world, across continents and oceans - powered by the Sun; this is the unprecedented goal of the SolarImpulse project. The flying venture is expected to take place in 2015, using an extremely lightweight aircraft covered with solar cells and powered by four electrically driven propellers.

April 9, 2014 Read more