Alternative Energy

Apr 19, 2011 at 08:21 | Kurt Cobb

Nuclear researchers knew long ago that reactor designs now in wide use had already been bested in safety by another design. Why did the industry turn its back on that…

Apr 18, 2011 at 10:36 | Stuart Burns

Every time there is a spike in the cost of energy such as the ’73 crisis and the ’79/80 oil price spike — and then again in ‘07/08 — alternative…

Apr 13, 2011 at 09:05 | Jess McCabe

A leaked draft of the World Bank’s energy strategy says renewables and hydropower will receive a bigger proportion of financing from the institution, with further restrictions imposed on coal projects.…

Apr 13, 2011 at 09:04 | Ferdinand E. Banks

When the subject was oil, my students at the Asian Institute of Technology (Bangkok) were politely asked to study the situation in the United States. It told me everything I…

Apr 12, 2011 at 08:13 | Economywatch

Higher oil prices are usually good news for clean energy because they make costly technologies like solar and wind less daunting to investors. But for one of the world’s most…

Apr 12, 2011 at 08:10 | Graham Cooper

PensionDanmark, a pension fund with around €14 billion ($20 billion) under management, has made its second investment in offshore wind farms and is planning more. A consortium led by PensionDanmark…

Apr 11, 2011 at 09:08 | Stuart Burns

Events at Fukushima in Japan have put the spotlight not just on nuclear power as a source of energy, but on the storage of nuclear waste. Some of the gravest…

Apr 06, 2011 at 07:00 | Jess McCabe

The UK should turn its stockpiles of spent nuclear fuel into a £10 billion ($16 billion) economic opportunity, according to a report from the Smith School of Enterprise and Environment.…

Apr 04, 2011 at 01:47 | RFE/RL staff

After three weeks of efforts to regain control of Japan's damaged reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, several bits of bad news this week showed the job could…

Mar 31, 2011 at 04:44 | Stuart Burns

So following the near meltdown of several reactors at Fukushima Nuclear Power, it’s dead is it? Well, to follow one FT article, you could be mistaken for thinking that…

Mar 31, 2011 at 04:40 | Al Fin

First, green energy is diffuse, and it takes a tremendous amount of land and material to harness even a little bit of energy. Jesse Ausubel, director of the Program for…

Mar 30, 2011 at 04:10 | SciDev SciDev

The World Still Needs Nuclear Power — But it Must be Safer and More Transparent Earlier this month, an explosion in the energy sector caused immense destruction, costing the lives…

Mar 30, 2011 at 04:03 | David Caploe PhD

The race is on to find alternate sources of fuel and energy and quit dependence on oil, especially with ever increasing and volatile oil prices. But are alternate energy sources…

Mar 30, 2011 at 04:01 | Al Fin

Platinum, which represents at least a quarter of the cost of fuel cells, currently sells for about $65,000 per kilogram. These researchers say their activated carbon nanotubes cost about $100…

Mar 29, 2011 at 04:34 | Gloria Gonzalez

The near-meltdown of nuclear reactors in Japan may derail already shaky prospects for a US clean energy standard (CES) and an expansion of the US nuclear fleet. Prospects for a…

Mar 28, 2011 at 03:13 | Gail Tverberg

The usual plan for spent nuclear fuel in the United States is to transfer it to a cooling pool and then after some time to transfer it to dry cask…

Mar 28, 2011 at 03:04 | Environmental Finance

Plans to build the largest solar power plant in the Middle East moved a step closer to reality after financing closed on the $600 million Shams 1 project in the…

Mar 24, 2011 at 14:22 | Professor Chris Rhodes

97% of world market supplies of rare earth elements (REEs) come from China and look to become insecure in regard to meeting "green" energy targets, since exports of REEs are…

Mar 23, 2011 at 16:39 | Gail Tverberg

We are at a crossroads with respect to nuclear energy, having discovered a new way (or several new ways) that nuclear plants can fail. How do we deal with such…

Mar 23, 2011 at 16:29 | SciDev SciDev

Four of the reactors at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan seem to be steadily moving towards progressive core melting. If sizeable core melt occurs, very dangerous species of…