European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has announced “historic” plans to make Europe “the first economy for the low-carbon age”.He said Europeans wanted “a vision and a plan of action” against climate change and the measures would cost 3 euros (£2.10) a week for every citizen.
The aim would be a 20% cut in the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, which could rise to 30% with a global deal.
He told the European Parliament there was a cost, “but it was manageable”.
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Amid a drop in solar company stocks and concerns over a green-tech investment bubble, Sanford Bernstein analysts issued a report on Tuesday that takes the long view on alternative energy, arguing that the sector is a relatively safe bet.

Persistently high fossil fuel prices and environmental regulations mean that alternative energy technology companies are poised for growth in the coming years, the investment firm said in its report, one of several over the past two years to analyze the changing energy business.
During a teleconference, analysts said there is no end in …

Serbia cemented its ties with Russia Tuesday, allowing Moscow a major role in its economy through an agreement with energy giant Gazprom to develop the Balkan country’s oil and gas industry.The move, which follows a similar deal last week between Russia and Bulgaria, was widely seen as increasing Moscow’s energy presence in the region and confirming Serbia’s Russian links.
“The government of Serbia adopted … the draft Agreement with the government of Russia on cooperation in the energy and gas field,” a government statement said.
The deal covers a pipeline to be …

Thousands of renewable energy jobs could be lost unless a tax credit set to expire at the end of this year is extended, industry trade groups said Tuesday.Tax breaks for various clean energy industries, including wind and solar, along with language requiring investor-owned utilities to generate 15 percent of their electricity from renewable sources were left out of the energy bill President Bush signed last month.
About $20 billion in investments yielded nearly 6,000 megawatts of new renewable energy in 2007 along with tens of thousands of jobs nationwide that are …

In the many years in which the Prince of Wales has attended official functions he has never appeared quite like this. At the alternative energy conference in Abu Dhabi he was not exactly there in the flesh. There was no video link either.
Instead, delegates were treated to a full-size, walking, talking, fiddling hologram of his royal highness, who made a brief speech then vanished back into thin air.
His appearance was the talk of the 2,500 delegates at the World Future energy summit, most of whom had flown thousands of miles …

The country’s power monopoly, the Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) said Tuesday it has agreed with the Bolivian government to build a 120 megawatt hydroelectric plant as part of its ambitious Misicuni project.
KEPCO signed a memorandum of understanding with the South American country’s state electrical utility, ENDE, to kick off pre-feasibility studies at the site in central Bolivia, according to company officials.
Bolivia’s rivers are known to have considerable, largely untapped hydroelectric potential, while the per capita electric consumption remains low. As part of its efforts to improve services, the state-run …

Biofuels have a place in filling U.S. energy needs, but they can’t solve the entire problem.
Cellulosic ethanol can be part of it, but the necessary technology development probably won’t come as fast as is hoped, some 160 members of the Northwest Alfalfa Seed Growers Association heard here Monday.
There are currently no U.S. ethanol plants using cellulose as their seed stock, said Don Wysocki, Oregon State University extension soil scientist stationed at Pendleton, Ore. The first one is likely five to 10 years away from construction.
Biodiesel processing is expanded rapidly, but …

Ontario is on its way to becoming a major centre for solar power, and will soon see thousands of solar panels spread out over acres of land, feeding clean power into the power grid.
Year-end numbers show an explosion of interest in building solar generating systems, from individuals who want to put a few panels on their roof, to businesses investing in huge solar farms.
<h3>A huge increase in contracts to supply the grid means the province may soon be home to some of the planet’s biggest arrays</h3>
By Richard Blackwell
Globe and Mail …

The global wind energy market is set to keep growing in 2008, despite pressure on turbine makers from raw materials prices, but it is likely to slow in Germany, the German Engineering Federation (VDMA) said on Tuesday.Thorsten Herdan, head of VDMA power systems, said Germany, one of the world’s biggest markets, would probably experience a further slowdown after shrinking by 25 percent in 2007.
“Worldwide we see further growth,” Herdan said.
“The situation in the supply markets is a little tight and that has to do with the fact that lots of …

One day nearly four years ago, it suddenly seemed like a good idea to give solar electricity a try at home — home, for me, being an apartment house in Washington Heights, alias upstate Manhattan. The price of electricity was climbing. A war was being fought, if not over oil, then certainly over the ground the oil was in. Solar technology had proven that it could generate real power.
And while the building may not have been in the eternal sunshine of Arizona, it does stand on one of the highest …