It would be the biggest Concentrating Solar Power on earth, built in the North African desert to supply Europe with power.

And did I mention hugely expensive? (at least $400 billion)

Visionary? Euro-imperialism? A costly alternative to rooftop solar panels across Europe? You decide.

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If you've developed space travel vehicles, you know about solar energy and the robust management of electricity grid feed-ins.

And if you have worked on the country's nuclear deterrent capabilities, you know something about nuclear power.

So here is a piece about how Lockheed Martin and BAe are getting into the renewable energy business.

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Faced with energy shortages, the climate might be right for budding wind energy entrepreneurs.

Feed-in tariffs and a sense of urgency among energy-intensive businesses and the World Cup organisers could produce the momentum needed to get renewable energy off the ground in South Africa.

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Cool. 

From Shanghai Daily:  "Samsung South West Asia headquarters President and CEO J.S. Shin and Indian Minister for New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah pose at the global launch of Samsung's first solar powered mobile phone, the Solar Guru 1107, priced at 2,799 rupees (US$59) in Noida, India, yesterday."

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600 wind turbines are to built in western New South Wales at Silverton, near Broken Hill.

I remember the name "Broken Hill" from Geography classes around 27 years ago. It is synonymous in my mind (and presumably, with a name like that, many other minds) with mineral extraction.

Funny to think of it becoming a center for renewable energy, rather than just industrial extraction.

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Kiva, an internet-based micro lending group established in 2004, continues to connect entrepreneurs in developing nations with small loans via the internet and microfinance institutions while remaining a  not-for-profit despite pressure to become for-profit. The founders of Kiva, which means "unity" or "agreement" in Kiswahili, Matt Flannery and Jessica Jackley, are choosing to honor their commitment to their donors and remain a non-profit 501(c)(3) despite urging to go for-profit and make even more money for the small to medium entrepreneurial ventures they support.

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The Thames Array will comprise 175 wind turbines located 12 miles off the Kent and Essex coast.

Investors decided to fund the £2.1 billion initial investment round, so enabling the project to move ahead. Once completed it could generate enough energy to power a quarter of the homes in Greater London.

The investors include E.ON (Germany), Dong Energy (Denmark) and Masdar (Abu Dhabi). Royal Dutch Shell dropped out of the project last year.

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China has been getting on top of the technology required for so-called "clean coal" energy production, driving down their costs in the process.

The Chinese government has also been getting utilities to shut down an old, higher polluting power plant for each new "clean coal" plant constructed.

It's still a second rate strategy compared to, say, natural gas power stations, but it is something.

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BusinessWeek has done an analysis piece arguing that biofuel innovation is destined to benefit the existing oil majors, not the VC-funded startups.

A thorough and interesting read.

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According to a new report from the Union of Concerned Scientists, "despite 20 years of research and 13 years of commercialization, genetic engineering has failed to significantly increase U.S. crop yields."

This won't be good news for Monsanto...

(Via Science Insider)

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