Bamboo, a sustainable grass that grows wild in various parts of the world, can potentially curb global warming and offer revenue for local communities. The grass can capture carbon more quickly than any other fast-growing tree species, such as eucalyptus, according to Coosje Hoogendoorn, director of China-based International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR). Hoogendoorn recently spoke at the opening of Bamboo and Climate Change Mitigation, an advocacy campaign…

The U.S. Department of the Interior announced last Tuesday that construction will begin on the world’s largest solar power plant, which is to be built in Blythe, California. The facility will use Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) technology to deliver 1,000 megawatts of generating capacity — enough electricity to power 300,000 homes annually — and will span 7,025 acres of federal property in the Mojave Desert. Since the plant will be “dry-cooled”, it will use 90 percent less water than a standard “wet-cooled” solar thermal system of this kind. Solar Trust, the project’s developer, plans to use water from the Palo Verde Mesa…

First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond, recently announced that, with new goals set into motion, the country may be running off “at least” 100 percent renewable energy by the year 2025. “Scotland has unrivalled green energy resources and our new national target to generate 80 percent of electricity needs from renewables by 2020 will be exceeded by delivering current plans for wind, wave and tidal generation,” Salmond said this week at the Scottish…

MASH, or Multifamily Affordable Solar Housing, is a program using $108 million from the California Solar Initiative to help provide solar panels to lower income families. MASH has recently finished its first solar installation on Hacienda Townhomes, an inexpensive housing complex owned by the San Diego Community Housing Corporation. Several tenants living there only bring in…

The California Air Resources Board has unanimously decided to raise the state’s Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard to 33 percent by 2020. “The Renewable Electricity Standard means cleaner energy for California’s households and businesses,” said Air Resources Board Chairman Mary Nichols. “It will help clean our air and bring new solar and wind energy facilities to California with thousands of jobs in construction, operation and spin off…