News

China charges full consumption tax on refined oil

China is levying a full consumption tax on refined fuel oil and three other oil products retroactively from Jan. 1, Xinhua learnt from an official circular on Thursday.

Critics say U.S. policy has lagged to become an "impediment" to renewable energy efforts

The Bush administration will invest $18.4 million in biofuel projects through grants to U.S. corporations and universities, Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer said yesterday.

PV sector is the renewable energy business with the most significant investment activity

Germany, Spain, Italy, France show constant growth in photovoltaic investments

The PV sector is the renewable energy business with the most significant investment activity today. Spain appears to represent the challenges of unsustainable development, with a growth surpassing 300% in 2007. This is one of the conclusions of the 2nd International Conference on Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Investments, in Frankfurt.

The SEF Alliance - an international coalition of public funds dedicated to building clean energy markets

A new, member-driven platform has been created under the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to improve the effectiveness of public and publicly backed funding entities to finance and transform clean energy markets.

Development Banks substantially to increase clean energy financing

Clean energy investments and grants from international development banks and organisations reached $8.3bn in 2007, up from $6bn in 2006.

They May Not Use Gasoline, but They Sure Burn Through Water

One way to reduce the world?s dependence on oil is to produce more cars that get their power from the electrical grid rather than the gas pump.

Biofuel boom threatens food supplies

Growing use of such crops wheat and corn to make biofuels is putting world food supplies in peril, the head of Nestle, the world's biggest food and beverage company, warned Sunday.

IEA urges to overcome market barriers to increased energy efficiency in buildings

Existing buildings are responsible for over 40% of the world?s energy consumption and an impressive amount could be saved by applying energy-efficient technologies and practices. This is one of the conclusions of the latest IEA publication entitled ?Promoting Energy Efficiency Investments: Case Studies in the Residential Sector?.

Majoring in Renewable Energy

As business and industry are taking more interest in renewable energy, academia is not far behind. Anticipating increased demand for new technical and design skills, colleges and universities across the nation are offering degree programs in the field.

For Carbon Emissions, a Goal of Less Than Zero

If the world is going to sharply reduce the amount of carbon dioxide pumped into the atmosphere by midcentury, then many businesses will have to go carbon neutral, bringing their net emissions of the greenhouse gas to zero.