According to a new study of NASA satellite data, global plant productivity that had once been flourishing with warming temperatures and an extended growing season is now declining due to regional drought. Plant productivity is a measure of the photosynthesis process that green plants use to convert solar energy, carbon dioxide and water into sugar, oxygen and ultimately plant tissue. During the 1980s and 90s…

Installing solar modules is typically a job reserved for certified professionals — however with renewable technologies advancing at such a rapid pace, solar panel installations may soon be as simple as 1,2,3. The “Sunfish”, designed by Chad Maglaque and Clarian Technologies, is a comparatively inexpensive solar module kit anticipated to release in stores by spring 2011. To begin installation, consumers would need to purchase a power module, circuit monitor and pluggable solar panel(s)…

Through an arrangement with the Indian Parliament, the Punjab Energy Development Agency has invited bids for installing an 80 kW solar PV system. The solar array would provide battery backup for the Parliament building in the off-chance of a blackout, however over 50 percent of the generated power would be fed back into the grid. The project would help promote the use of solar PV systems which remain unpopular due to the high costs and lower efficiency when compared to other…

Gottlieb Paludan, a Danish architectural firm, has come up with a revolutionary plan to store green energy which may solve the world energy crisis. The firm has proposed to take the world’s uninhabited islands and turn them into Green Power Islands, in which power would be generated on land through wind or solar — depending upon the climate — and the surrounding water would be used to store the power using pumped hydro. Pumped hydro is an efficient and feasible way…

A free, live, interactive web event is taking place on Wednesday, August 11, 2010 in which the authors of An Introduction to Sustainable Transportation and Transport for Suburbia will be exploring the difficulties that sustainability poses for transport planners. Preston L. Schiller and Paul Mees will introduce the latest opinions on transport policy from local, regional and global perspectives and offer innovative solutions. Join this event and discover…