5 Top Clean Energy Stories of 2014

The steady march of renewable energy, primarily wind and solar, toward mainstream usage continued apace in 2014. Read more >>>
alternet.org

Clean Affordable Energy for All in the 21st century

Meeting the energy needs of all countries while staying within environmental limits requires goals and indicators that adhere to the climate science. The post-2015 development framework must catalyse major emissions reductions through energy demand reduction (efficiency and behavior change) and increasing renewable energy generation.Read more >>>
Sudan Vision

IPCC chief: Rich nations must fund stabilization of climate

The chairman of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) R K Pachauri remains hopeful that the developed world would be more forthcoming once all countries provide their 'Intended Nationally Determined Contributions' (INDCs) or in other words a clear roadmap of their voluntary actions to fight the threat of climate change. Pachauri, who is also member of India's Prime Minister Council on Climate Change spoke on the course of action India should adopt to move to a low-carbon growth path, and the future of Green Climate Fund--meant to help developing countries in their mitigation and adaptation goals. Read more >>>
The Economic Times

The Eight Best Things To Happen To Renewable Energy In 2014

Here are eight news stories from 2014 about amazing technological advancements around the world to remind you that, at least for the renewable energy sector, this past year wasn’t so bad. Read more >>>
thinkprogress.org

Why Climate Change Is Not Inevitable

...  physics is inevitable: if you put more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, the planet warms, and as the planet warms, various kinds of chaos and ruin are let loose. Politics, on the other hand, is not inevitable. For example, not so many years ago it would have seemed inevitable that Chevron, currently the third biggest corporation in the country, would run the refinery town of Richmond, California, as its own private fiefdom. You could say that the divine right of Chevron seemed like a given. Except that people in Richmond refused to accept it and so this town of 107,000 mostly poor nonwhites pushed back. Read more >>>
The Nation

NREL Demonstrates 45.7% Efficiency for Concentrator Solar Cell

The Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory has announced the demonstration of a 45.7 percent conversion efficiency for a four-junction solar cell at 234 suns concentration. This achievement represents one of the highest photovoltaic research cell efficiencies achieved across all types of solar cells.
NREL's new solar cell, which is designed for operation in a concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) system where it can receive more than 1,000 suns of concentrated sunlight, greatly improves earlier designs by incorporating an additional high quality absorber layer to achieve an ultra-high efficiency. Read more >>>
thomasnet.com

No definitive deal in Lima climate change talks

The 20th session of the United Nations Climate Change Conference mainly had a two-point agenda: to come up with a blueprint for a hopeful Paris Agreement next year and finalise the form and content of INDCs, or Intended Nationally Determined Contributions, to be submitted by early 2015. Put simply, on how much each country, rich or poor, is willing to reduce carbon emissions.
No definitive deal was clinched at the global climate change talks that concluded in Peru recently. There wasn’t supposed to be one. The Lima Call for Climate Action can at the very best be seen as a “statement of good intentions”.  Read more >>>
The Tribune

India Plans 100 MW Solar Power Capacity To Cover Canals

The Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) has issued guidelines to set up 100 MW solar power capacity over and along the canals in the country. The total cost of the program will be around $160 million, out of which about $38 million will be provided as financial assistance by the central government. All of the projects will be required to be commissioned within a span of three years. Read more>>>
CleanTechnica

$10 billion Green Climate Fund wants immunity from prosecution

UN-linked climate change fund intended to finance climate change projects around the world, is determined to win sweeping U.N.-style immunities from prosecutions for its global operations. If the GCF succeeds in its broader negotiations, not only billions but eventually trillions of dollars in climate funding activities could fall outside the scope of criminal and civilian legal actions, as well as outside examination, as the Fund, which currently holds $10 billion in funding and pledges, expands its ambitions. Read more >>>
Foxnews

Lima Call for Climate Action Puts World on Track to Paris 2015

UNFCCC in its press release says that a new 2015 agreement on climate change, that will harness action by all nations, took a further important step forward in Lima following two weeks of negotiations by over 190 countries. The Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) will form the foundation for climate action post 2020 when the new agreement is set to come into effect. Countries also made significant progress in elevating adaptation onto the same level as action to cut and curb emissions. Read more >>>
UNFCCC

IEA released its Energy Efficiency Market Report 2014

The global energy efficiency market, according to IEA, is worth at least $310 billion a year and growing, making it the world’s first fuel. Among 18 IEA countries examined, total energy consumption was down 5% between 2001 and 2011 primarily as a result of investments in energy efficiency. Read more >>>
Breaking Energy

The Global Energy Security War

In his opening address at the Atlantic Council’s Energy and Economic Summit 2014 in Istanbul (19-20 November), President and CEO Frederick Kempe immediately made it clear the Atlantic Council is playing for high stakes. “Europe is in the middle of an inflection point of its history”, he said. 2014 “is every bit as dramatic as 1815 – the year of Versailles”. Or, he added, 1989, the year of the fall of Communism. “The future of the international liberal order”, said Kempe, “is at stake”. Read more >>>
Energy Post

South Africa Doubles Plans for Renewable Energy

An additional 3,600 megawatts will be sought in accordance with the country’s integrated resources plan, and will include an additional 200 megawatts from smaller black-owned producers. The country has so far procured about 3,900 megawatts of capacity through three competitive rounds of bids by independent producers, with about $10 billion invested. That already exceeds the 3,725 megawatts initially sought from five bid windows. Read more>>>
Bloomberg

The 7 psychological reasons that are stopping us from acting on climate change

The new report from ecoAmerica and the Center for Research on Environmental Decisions (CRED) at Columbia University's Earth Institute -- entitled Connecting on Climate: A Guide to Effective Climate Change Communication -- seeks to help us better understand specific reasons. Rad more >>>
The Washington Post

UNEP's Adaptation Gap Report:Climate Change Adaptation Costs Likely to Hit 2-3 Times Current Estimates of $70-100 Billion per Year

The report finds that, despite adaptation funding by public sources reaching $23-26 billion in 2012-2013, there will be a significant funding gap after 2020 unless new and additional finance for adaptation is made available. Read more >>>
UNEP

Reuters - Why Energy Leaders Need to Read Cicero

As technologies unlock new resource opportunities and redefine relationships between producers and consumers, geopolitical events are posing new supply threats and difficult policy and investment decisions, all against a backdrop of the growing need for action on climate change. Successfully navigating such a complex landscape, whether in government, non-profit or private sector, requires a vastly different skill set than was needed not long ago.  Read more >>>
Reuters

Australian researchers made a major breakthrough to achieve highest solar power efficiency

A team from the University of New South Wales has achieved a record 40.4 per cent conversion efficiency by using standard solar cells combined with a mirror and filters. This special combination reduces wasted energy and eclipses the previous world solar power efficiency record of 36 percent.  Read more>>>
INDIATIMES

The US-China climate agreement opens doors for futher global progress

President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping reached a landmark deal in November to cut carbon emissions by 2030, the first such deal China has ever signed. Together, two nations are  responsible for 40 percent of global emissions  Read more >>>
PRI

Joint Statement of the U.S.-EU Energy Council

The sixth United States-European Union Energy Council met on Wednesday in Brussels.  The Energy Council, a forum on EU-U.S. energy priorities, promotes transparent and secure global energy markets, fosters policy and regulatory cooperation on efficient and sustainable energy use, and pursues joint research and development on clean energy technologies.  Energy security, Ukraine, energy policy & technology, climate & energy were among the issues discussed by Councsil. Read more
OfficialWire
 

Why Google Stopped Trying To Make Renewable Energy Cheaper Than Coal

In 2007, Google , the internet search giant based in Mountain View, CA  made a media splash by investing big-time dollars in an effort to develop a renewable energy technology that could compete economically with coal. The project was called RE<C and it ended only four years after it began. Read more>>>
Forbes

How Ukraine Is Changing Global Energy Flows

Increasingly isolated by the crisis, Russia is looking East for new energy markets. On September 1, 2014, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese Premier Zhang Gaoli initiated the construction of what they claim will be “the world’s largest construction project.” This 3,968 km “Power of Siberia” pipeline connecting gas fields between Russian’s Siberia and China’s Northeast region is expected deliver four trillion cubic meters of gas to China over the next thirty years. Read more ...
The Diplomat

Energy efficiency programs pay back nearly $4 for every $1

The Michigan Public Service Commission says State natural gas and electricity providers spent $253 million on programs to weatherize homes and replace inefficient water heaters, HVAC systems, and boilers with efficient models, that  will save customers $948 million over the life cycle of the replacements and upgrades. Read more >>>

/michiganradio.org

Good, Bad and Ugly of Lower Oil Prices

The net overall impact of this year’s 28 percent plunge in oil prices is positive for the global economy. But it isn’t universal, and it comes with negative dimensions that need to be well understood, lest they end up reversing the benefits. Read more>>>
BloombergView