Renewable Energy

Electric avenues that can transmit the sun’s energy onto power grids may be coming to a city near you. A subsidiary of Bouygues SA has designed rugged solar panels, capable of withstand the weight of an 18-wheeler truck, that they’re now building into road surfaces. After nearly five years of research and laboratory tests, they’re constructing 100 outdoor test sites and plan ...

Developing countries have made unprecedented pledges to consume more clean energy tomorrow even as they are leading the way today with record new wind and solar project completions, a recent edition of Climatescope concludes. Climatescope, the clean energy country competitiveness index and online tool supported by the UK and US governments, offers a compelling portrait of clean energy activity in ...

America’s first offshore wind farm has commenced commercial operations and is now sending electricity to New England’s grid, it was announced on Monday, December 12 2016. The Block Island Wind Farm is located off the cost of Rhode Island and is a 30 megawatt, five turbine installation. A submarine transmission cable system is linking the energy produced by the wind ...

Made up of 32,680 photovoltaic panels, the new 10 megawatt facility is the country’s first grid-connected solar plant and will generate clean, low-carbon, sustainable electricity to 40,000 homes, schools and businesses in the area Uganda’s first major – and East Africa’s largest – solar plants officially commenced operations on Monday, December 12 2016. The country’s Minister of State for Energy, ...

Google, a trendsetter in the field of corporate purchases of wind and solar energy, made a striking proclamation Tuesday, December 6, 2016 – it forecasts that, by next year, it’ll be purchasing as much renewable electricity as it uses across its vast operations. Overall, the company now has, under contract, 2.6 gigawatts (or billion watts) of renewable energy generating capacity, predominantly wind ...

Underscoring the importance of environmental protection and management in the work of peacekeeping missions, the United Nations Department of Field Support (DFS) has launched a new strategy to maximise its peace operations’ efficiency in the use of natural resources, and to minimise their risk to people, societies and ecosystems. “Environmental performance is crucial to ensure that we do no harm ...

At a signing ceremony on the margins of the recent UN Climate Change Conference (COP22) in Marrakech, the Austrian Federal Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management and the Ministry of Climate Change of Vanuatu signed a funding agreement amounting to $1 million to electrify rural areas. The Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Action (NAMA) on “Rural Electrification in Vanuatu” aims to boost sustainable income ...

Nigerian entertainer, Yemi Alade, has taken the lead in spreading Shell’s #makethefuture campaign which aims to inspire youths and entrepreneurs for bright energy ideas that can help in the global quest for more and cleaner energy. The multiple award nominee and winner of the 2015 MTV African Music Award for Best Female Artist joined Shell-organised 50 Night tour of Kenya ...

Participants at a side-event at the recently held UN climate change talks (COP22) in Marrakech, Morocco have described the Africa Renewable Energy Initiative (AREI) as a project initiated by Africans for Africans in an effort to accelerate and scale up the harnessing of the continent’s huge renewable energy potential. A representative of Dr. Youba Sokona, Head of AREI Independent Delivery Unit at the ...

A World Bank top official has called on the government in Nigeria and others globally to reform their financial sectors to make it easier to lend to renewable energy development over fossil fuel. John Roome, who is the bank’s Director on Climate Change, made the call during a chat with Fellows of the Internews’ Earth Journalism Network (EJN) to the just ...