“Solar Power” no longer refers just to chunky photovoltaic panels. A variety of tools for turning sunlight into usable energy– thin-film solar, solar thermal, solar heating, and more– are undergoing a burst of technological acceleration. Whether it’s powering an entire housing development or simply heating your house, taken together, their potential is huge. [...]

Animal Fat Converted into Biodiesel Fuel at Bio refineries There is a new drive to make fuel off the fat of the land. In early 2009, High Plains Bioenergy opened a biorefinery next to a pork-processing plant in Guyman, Okla. The refinery takes pork fat — an abundant, low-value by-product of the industrial [...]

Second-generational biofuels created from inedible Parts of Plants Promise Near-term Alternatives to Oil. Biofuels can be made from anything that is, or ever was, a plant. First-generation biofuels derive from edible biomass, primarily corn and soybeans (in the U.S.) and sugarcane (in Brazil). They are the low-hanging fruits in a forest of possible [...]