A US-based company has successfully tested a revolutionary solar panel that is expected to cut the costs of photovoltaic solar power generation by more than 50 per cent, and herald a new era of improved efficiency and lower production costs of solar energy globally.
The panel, known as the Alubond Solar Collector Panel (SCP), was created [...]

Attendees of the fifth annual Clean-Tech Investor Summit, which starts Tuesday in Indian Wells, Calif., might notice a change in the agenda from previous years. The annual panel on cleantech investment exits –IPOs or acquisitions of venture-backed startups – has disappeared.
It’s a reflection of the economic environment, said Ron Pernick, a principal at research firm [...]

In a first for the CD industry, Victor Creative Media Co Ltd. has begun taking orders for CD/DVD cases made with rice-based plastic. While rice accounts for less than 10% of the material, the composite plastic uses significantly less fossil fuel than traditional plastic. Victor’s product has previously been used in paper fan handles and [...]

LED light bulbs are already more efficient than your average bulb, but researchers at the Renssalaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a new kind of LED that exhibits both improved energy efficiency and lighting performance. The researchers‘ polarization-matching LED shows an 18 percent increase in light output and a 22 percent increase in wall plug efficiency [...]

A Swedish inventor has unveiled a solar-powered water purifier that could provide billions of the world’s poorest people with access to clean and disease-free drinking water [video].
The device, called the Solvatten, (Swedish for ’sun water’), looks much the same as a standard jerrycan and can be filled with up to ten liters of water, opened [...]

Tremont Electric has launched a portable energy generator that allows users to charge handheld electronic devices simply by going for a walk.
The nPower PEG, launched at last week’s 2009 CES event, works on the principle of electromagnetic induction to create a 100% renewable energy source for everything from iPods to mobile phones. To get a [...]

OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) technology is still new, but the Universal Display Corporation has already developed a flexible OLED wristband prototype. The prototype, which is supported by the US Department of Defense, is currently on display at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
Read more of this story »

A simple chemical process employed by a Cornell University (NY) and DuPont research team may pave the way to thinner, lighter and more flexible transistors and solar cells. The long term goal of the project is to use nanotubes to create an economical electronics material that is just as good as silicon.
Read more of [...]

Steve Jobs’ absence hasn’t prevented exciting things from happening at this week’s MacWorld Expo in San Francisco. This morning, Apple unveiled the new 17 inch MacBook Pro, complete with a new energy efficient lithium-polymer battery.
Read more of this story »

A team of Taiwanese researchers has combined industrial wastewater and petroleum oil to make a new fuel that could largely eliminate the costly treatment of industrial air emissions from boilers, is an environmentally-friendly way to treat industrial wastewater, and could increase fuel efficiency by 14%.

Worldwide, many industrial processes depend on steam boilers that are powered [...]