The Ten Essential Renewable Energy Stories This Week

Welcome to the end of the work week.  Congratulations, you have successfully navigated through the sticky web of work, yet again.  And, as a reward EnergyBoom has compiled all the best renewable energy and technology stories into one place, so you can ease on into relaxation mode much quicker.

But before you fall asleep on the couch, let's get you to the prized information:

This week's 10 Hottest Renewable Energy Stories You May Have Missed:

1.  Renewable Energy, Winning By Default - Renewable technologies may emerge as the world's primary energy sources not necessarily as a result of their better performance or smaller environmental impact, but rather because of necessity--oil and gas reserves are becoming increasingly uncertain, and may have peaked.

2.  Chrysler's Plug-Pulling on Electric Vehicle Development Could Have Serious Consequences - Chrysler's promise to develop electric vehicles was essential to the company receiving its extraordinarily large government bailout package.  Now that Chrysler has pulled the plug on its pre-bailout electric vehicle plan, what will happen?

3.  Greenbuild 2009: Al Gore, Sheryl Crow & The Importance of Green Building - This year, with the help of celebrities such as Al Gore and Sheryl Crow, the Greenbuild conference stressed that green building must be made available to all people as a means to boost quality of life around the world.  Currently, 70% of the United States' electricity is consumed by buildings--talk about inefficiency and disparity.

4.  Mozambique's Biofuel Crops vs. Food Security Dilemma - The plight of the biofuel industry has struck Mozambique.  The country recently allowed 20% of its arable land to be used for the development of the biofuel feedstock, jatropha.  This has sparked a huge food vs. fuel debate both within the country and abroad. 

5.  Mayors of U.S. and European Cities Urge World Cooperation on Climate Change - The mayors of the largest cities in Europe and the United States have authored "The Stockholm Appeal on Climate Change."  This declaration calls for national governments to come to a legally binding agreement at the United Nations Copenhagen Conference in December.

6.  Wind Power: Cel Phone Towers Powered by Wind - Helix Wind Corp. is taking its funky and apparently more efficient wind turbine to Core Communications Group. In a pilot project, Helix will use two smal vertical-axis wind turbines to power some of Core Communications' cell phone towers.

7.  ACEEE Ranks States on Energy Efficiency - The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy has released its State Energy Efficiency Scorecard.  This scorecard ranks all 50 states on their energy efficiency policies, programs, and practices.  See which state finished first and which one finished last.

8.  Ride On! Hit the Road with Hybrid Scooters - Scooters often get lost in the shuffle when talking about hybrid and electric vehicles.  However, three companies have designed some jaw-dropping hybrid scooters, including the Piaggio MP3, which has three wheels and can travel at 89 mph.

9.  Energy Innovations Achieves World-Leading Efficiency with New Sunflower HCPV System - Solar panel manufacturer, Energy Innovations has announced that its latest Sunflower module has achieved a world leading 29% conversion rate.  This is almost double the average conversion efficiency for flat plate photovoltaic solar systems.

10. New Energy Efficiency Standards for EU Buildings - Joining the movement to reduce the energy consumption of buildings, the European Union is close to passing legislation that would impose high-efficiency standards for all new public sector buildings starting in 2018, and all residential and commercial buildings starting in 2020.

Well, that's wraps it up.  You can now shut your eyes and glide on into the weekend.

In case you did not know, you can easily keep up-to-date with EnergyBoom by following us on Facebook and Twitter.