Cleantech and Environmental News – Latest Headlines

'Solar sponge' soaks up carbon dioxide emissions

Scientists have created a 'solar sponge' which captures and then releases carbon dioxide using the power of natural sunlight.

February 12, 2013 Read more

Climate double whammy: UV light melts Arctic ice and turns frozen organics to CO2

Ancient carbon trapped in Arctic permafrost is extremely sensitive to sunlight and, if exposed to the surface when long-frozen soils melt and collapse, can release climate-warming carbon dioxide gas into the atmosphere much faster than previously thought.

February 12, 2013 Read more

Producing hydrogen from wet biomass

Hydrogen can be produced sustainably using other sources than just wind power: the European research project SusFuelCat aims to improve the process of extracting hydrogen from wet biomass.

February 12, 2013 Read more

Spotting the invisible cracks in wind turbines

A new approach is available for real-time monitoring of the structural health of wind turbine components during exposure to turbulences.

February 12, 2013 Read more

Some 27,000 remote sensing systems based on alternative energy will be deployed annually by 2020

Renewable and alternative energy sources for remote sensing, monitoring, LIDAR, and SCADA installations.

February 11, 2013 Read more

Forging new diplomatic bonds through science and technology

One of the most pressing global challenges is how to leverage the power of new knowledge to help address the global economic and environmental challenges. New science and technology diplomacy responses are emerging from smaller industrialized nations working with developing countries.

February 11, 2013 Read more

Low-carbon hybrid energy systems - China's future energy solutions

A low-carbon solution to high-carbon energy resources such as coal is proposed by their high efficient integration with either nuclear or renewable energy, which may figure out the strategic solution to China's future energy development.

February 10, 2013 Read more

Germany has installed five times as much solar power capacity as the U.S.

Germany has installed about 30 gigawatts of solar capacity, providing between 3 percent and 10 percent of its electricity. The United States, by contrast, has somewhere around 6.4 gigawatts of solar capacity.

February 9, 2013 Read more

GDF Suez to build Africa's largest wind park in Morocco

French utility GDF Suez has announced the construction of the 300MW Tarfaya wind farm in Morocco, which will be the largest wind project in Africa. The project is owned in partnership with Nareva Holding, a Moroccan energy company.

February 9, 2013 Read more

CleanTech Map of the world launched- highlights Israeli technologies

Israel NewTech is launching an exciting new tool to showcase Israeli companies' projects in the cleantech arena throughout the world - the CleanTech Map. This Facebook application allows visitors to view Israeli cleantech projects and installations anywhere in the world.

February 8, 2013 Read more

Prehistoric plant plays key role in new water-energy landscape

One ingenious remedy to solve ten problems. A small water plant called Azolla will play a key role in a park project that received a grant of 6.5 million euros from the European Regional Development Fund.

February 8, 2013 Read more

Fluorescent label sheds light on radioactive contamination

Researchers in Japan have developed a way to detect caesium contamination on a scale of millimetres enabling the detection of small areas of radioactive contamination.

February 7, 2013 Read more

Current oversupply of solar panels is a good thing

It opens the door to solar as a critical source of power and makes way for long term breakthroughs.

February 7, 2013 Read more

Renewable energy now cheaper than new fossil fuels in Australia

Unsubsidised renewable energy is now cheaper than electricity from new-build coal- and gas-fired power stations in Australia.

February 7, 2013 Read more

Hydrothermal liquefaction - the most promising path to a sustainable bio-oil production

Scientists at 2 Danish universities have made a major breakthrough in producing high-quality and cost-effective bio-oil using hydrothermal liquefaction.

February 6, 2013 Read more

China was world's largest wind market in 2012

Bloomberg New Energy Finance finds China installed 15.9GW of wind power in 2012, 35% of the world's new onshore capacity.

February 6, 2013 Read more

Alstom signs billion euros wind turbines contract with Brazil

Alstom Renewable Power announced on 6 February 2013 the signature of a memorandum of understanding with Renova Energia, leader in wind power generation in Brazil, to supply, operate and maintain in Brazil around 440 onshore wind turbines for a total amount exceeding EUR 1 billion.

February 6, 2013 Read more

Mercury contamination in water can be detected with a mobile phone

Chemists have manufactured a sheet that changes colour in the presence of water contaminated with mercury. The results can be seen with the naked eye but when photographing the membrane with a mobile phone the concentration of this extremely toxic metal can be quantified.

February 6, 2013 Read more