Department of Energy
In response to the growing nuclear crisis in Japan, United States Energy Secretary Steven Chu answered questions about nuclear energy safety in the U.S. with a clear message: U.S. reactors are safe.
Just weeks after Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa P. Jackson stood in front of the U.S. Senate to outline how the Agency would use funds in President Obama's proposed 2012 budget, Energy Secretary Steven Chu made his case to the Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development of the House Committee on Appropriations.
As the United Kingdom closes its Energy Market Reform (EMR) consultation with the Associate of Electricity Producers (AEP), questions over carbon emissions and efficiency wait to be answered. The cost of energy, however, is set to rise regardless of where it comes from.
Industries everywhere are finding ways to save not only on energy and its costs but through the use of wireless networks and in numerous other ways too.
Here are the Top 10 Renewable Energy News Stories You May Have Missed this Week:
1. Air Force Scientists Collect 99 Percent of Wave Energy - A growing industry, wave power technology is increasingly becoming more efficient. Scientists at the U.S. Air Force Academy base in Colorado Springs have demonstrated that submerged wave energy converters can harness up to 99 percent of the kinetic energy inherent in an ocean wave.
Michigan state has been the backbone of the United States' auto industry for over 100 years and Senator Debbie Stabenow aims to keep it that way. For the Lansing Democrat rebuilding the nation's auto industry means paving a way to support electric vehicle production.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has raised the amount of ethanol that can be blended in gasoline from 10% (E10) to 15% (E15) for passenger vehicles manufactured between 2001-2006.
This will be known as the year a small group of companies exploring for “rare earth elements”, known in the red-hot niche sector as REEs, dramatically outperformed all other clean tech and energy efficiency companies, as well as all other sectors of the stock markets.
Shares of several companies pursing REEs, which are critical ingredients in wind turbines, electric vehicles, thin-film photovoltaic (PV) solar system and high-efficiency lighting, have increased more than two or three times in 2010. Examples: Molycorp, Inc., (NYSE: MCP) +394 percent, Lynas Corporation Limited (ASX: LYC.AX) +260 percent, Avalon Rare Metals, Inc. (TSE: AVL.TO) (AMEX: AVL) +125 percent , Rare Element Resources Ltd. (AMEX: REE) (CVE: RES.V) +361 percent, China Shen Zhou Mining & Resources Inc. (AMEX: SHZ) +1200 percent; and penny stock Focus Metals Inc. (CDNX: FMS.V) +232%.
Algae derived biofuel is a potential game-changer, but most players are years away from competing with conventional fuel on price. Viral Genetics [VRAL] and their subsidiary VG Energy believe they may have found a way to dramatically reduce production costs using proprietary technology developed through their novel research on cancer.
In a recent speech at the National Press Club, Steven Chu, U.S Secretary of Energy, compared the success of China and other countries in alternative energy to the mobilization of American scientific and technological innovation following Sputnik in the 1960s.
