Prince Charles, who has always been noted for his green ethics, is hoping to install solar panels on the roof of his London residence Clarence House. He is hoping that if fitted, the solar panels will generate enough power to run the heating and lighting within his house.

However officials have said that the Prince will only be permitted to fit solar panels to Clarence House if they do not compromise the look of the 180-year old property.

It is believed that it would cost around £150,000 to fit solar cells to Clarence House however the energy savings would mean that this initial cost would be recouped by 2021.  Read more... (161 words, 1 image, estimated 39 secs reading time)

A Nepalese inventor believes he has found the solution to the World’s energy needs thanks to a new type of solar panel which uses human hair.

Milan Karki, 18, comes from a rural village in Nepal. The young inventor uses hair as a conductor in solar panels instead of silicon, one of the normal components used in solar panels. Silicon is very pricey whereas hair is not therefore the new solar panels are a lot more cost effective.

Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world. Many rural areas in the country lack any electrical supply and even in areas with electricity, there may be shortages of up to 16 hours a day.  Read more... (260 words, estimated 1:02 mins reading time)

British households look set to be hit with increased energy bills after a green White Paper was unveiled last week. The charges have been dubbed by some as ‘green stealth taxes’. The funds raised will be used to help tackle climate change by building alternative power generators such as wind turbines.

At present, the renewables part of power bills stands at around £55 on average. Subsidising renewable energy further could more than double this figure to as much as £120 per year by 2014. The UK Energy Research Centre has predicted by 2050, the renewable energy subsidy will cost the economy £17 billion a year – around £700 per household.  Read more... (277 words, estimated 1:06 mins reading time)

UK technology firm Quantasol has come up with specially tailored solar cells to help boost their efficiency.

The premise behind the invention is that there are different forms of light around the world – at the equator, the sun may be burning hot however at higher latitudes, the sunlight is a lot weaker. Partly this is because the atmosphere acts as a light filter so the light reaching the ground will vary from place to place, and will also vary according to different atmospheric conditions.  Read more... (322 words, estimated 1:17 mins reading time)

One of the biggest problems associated with renewable energy is the lack of reliable energy outputs. However researchers believe they may have come up with a solution which involves treating lots of dispersed power sources as one big entity, with the added bonus that it would not need a radical overhaul of current power infrastructure.

Energy grids need to match supply and demand for energy as closely as possible – too much energy and there could be an overload, too little energy and there may be power cuts. Many renewable energy sources such as wind or solar power are notorious for having wildly fluctuating outputs meaning that as more and more renewable energy sources come online, grids are going to have to start being able to cope with these less reliable energy sources.  Read more... (305 words, estimated 1:13 mins reading time)

A new solar plant in California is due to have construction started on it in the next few months. Unusually, the solar plant is not your typical photovoltaic solar panels – instead, BrightSource Energy will be using solar thermal technology.

Photovoltaic cells are what most people think of when solar power is talked about. Photovoltaic cells are the most popular form of solar power and there are plenty of these types of cells available for residential use.  Read more... (334 words, estimated 1:20 mins reading time)

Laser fusion power stations are the new hope for limitless renewable energy. The National Ignition Facility (INF) in California is a large facility covering the size of three football fields in a 10 storey building and it is hoped that it will be the first machine that produces more energy than it consumes.

The project has taken over 15 years to complete and it is hoped that the machine will help solve the world’s energy problems.  Read more... (279 words, estimated 1:07 mins reading time)

Geothermal energy is generally seen as a clean, renewable source of energy but it appears that in fact it may be neither.

In 2006, the Hellisheidi geothermal plant about 30km from Reykjavik, Iceland, came online. Since then, several problems have appeared.

Firstly, local residents found that they had to clean their silverware every couple of days as it was covered in black soot. Before the plant had come along, cleaning would be every couple of months.

Truck drivers in the area found that the rubber in their suspension and steering become hard and prone to breaking – an occurrence that would normally take a lot longer.  Read more... (455 words, estimated 1:49 mins reading time)

Many people are looking at ways to green up their homes – from water reuse and reduction of electricity consumption through to solar panels. Wind turbines are a popular idea however they may not be as great as the marketing blurb would like you to think.

Wind turbines often aren’t particularly effective when used in a residential situation.

- Firstly, buildings cause turbulence and wind turbines dislike turbulence. Wind turbines much prefer smooth flows of air. Unfortunately, buildings redirect wind causing small eddies and different streams and this can lead to a confused turbine that doesn’t perform brilliantly even when the wind is fairly strong.  Read more... (264 words, estimated 1:03 mins reading time)

Permission to build the World’s largest offshore wind farm has been given. The wind farm will sit off the coast of Britain in the Thames Estuary and will feature 341 wind turbines. When the project is complete, the turbines will generate up to one gigawatt of electricity.

E.ON, one of three energy companies involved in the project, has said that it is hoped that the wind farm will be up and running by 2012, in time for the Olympics.  Read more... (293 words, estimated 1:10 mins reading time)