The UK Government has adopted the radical policy of using open-source, in preference to commercial, software.

Under the new policy, agencies will be required not only to consider open source solutions and make the choice soley on the basis of value-for-money, but will give peference to open source solutions where there is no cost difference and will actively seek to avoid becoming locked in to proprietary software.

The Minister for Digital Engagement, Tom Watson, said that “The world of technology has moved on hugely since we last set out our thinking on open source, which is why it was so important to update our policy. Open-source products are more competitive and have become easier to include in business, and major players in the IT industry now support the use of open standards."

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The Chery Automobile Co., China’s largest maker of own-brand cars, has unveiled its first plug-in hybrid.

Chery claims that its S18 can travel 150 kilometres using just its batteries - compared with 64 kilometres claimed for General Motors’ Chevy Volt, due to go on sale next year.

The S18 can be fully charged in as little as four hours and be 80 percent powered via a quick charge at a specialist station in 30 minutes.

Chery will be China’s second mass manufacturer of plug-in hybrid cars, following BYD Electronics which already has a model on sale. BYD’s F3 DM can run for 100 kilometers using only batteries. It takes as little as seven hours to fully charge and can be 50 percent powered via a quick charge at a specialist station in just 10 minutes.

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California’s per capita electricity use has remained constant since the 1970s - despite ever-larger homes, more electric gadgets and almost doubling of the State’s economy. In the rest of the United States, per capita consumption has increased by 50%. On average, Californians emit 20% less greenhouse gases than people in such "green" countries as Germany and Denmark,

How did California do it? In part, by promoting strong building standards and aggressively deploying energy-efficient technologies, including such obvious measures as better insulation, energy-efficient lighting, heating and cooling.

But some of the strategies are less obvious. The State found that the average residential air duct leaked 20 to 30 percent of the heated or cooled air it carried - so, it required leakage rates to be below 6 percent, and now inspects every seventh new home to check. About 15 percent of the light in outdoor lighting for parking lots and streets was directed up, illuminating nothing but the sky - new outdoor lighting must cut that to below 6 percent. Flat roofs on commercial buildings must now be white to reflects the sunlight and keep the building cooler, reducing air-conditioning energy demands.

But the big benefit came from "decoupling" utility company profits from how much electricity they sell. Electricity companies take a share of any energy savings that they help consumers and businesses achieve. The State does not specify how this is to be done - that’s left to the utility company. But the effect is to put energy-efficiency investments on the same competitive playing field as generation from new power plants. Which produces savings for consumers, profits for the utilities and savings and reduced greenhouse gas emissions for the State.

(Based on Sources including Newsweek and the International Herald Tribune).

Also see How Germany Does It

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The CSIRO’s Future Manufacturing Flagship is developing flexible, large area, cost-effective printable plastic solar cells.

The research is based on the polymer technology which the CSIRO developed for printing plastic banknates and which is now used in 21 countries as well as Australia.

The initial printing trials are being conducted at Securency International, a banknote printing company.

Launching the trials, Victorian Minister for Energy and Resources, Peter Batchelor, said “These solar cells are cutting edge technology and offer advantages over traditional solar technology because of the potential to mass produce the cells cheaply and install them over large areas such as rooftops. “The technology used for these cells is still in its infancy, but this project aims to speed-up the development of this technology and take it from research to rooftops as quickly as possible.”

Mr Batchelor said the project was at the half way point and the progress being made was extremely good with these printing trials occurring six months ahead of schedule.

The Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator Kim Carr said "The trial could also lay the ground work for a world leading Australian industry in printable electronics."

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Google has launched a number of initiatives related to climate change and renewable energy.

In the lead-up to the Climate Change Convention (officially called the 15th Conference of Parties or COP15) in Copenhagen in December, Google and the Danish Government have launched a YouTube COP15 channel. On the channel, you can submit your thoughts and questions on climate change. These videos will be broadcast on screens around the conference in December and rated by viewers of the channel. The top-rated contributions will be aired globally during the COP15 CNN/YouTube debate on December 15th, and the top two submissions will win a trip to Copenhagen.

Google, again in collaboration with the Danish government, is also launching a series of Google Earth layers and tours which show the potential impacts of on the Earth of different global emission scenarios. The first tour is introduced by Al Gore.

Last week, Bill Weihl, Google’s "Green Energy Czar", said that the company is disappointed with the lack of breakthrough investment ideas in the green technology sector and is working to develop its own new technology.
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Compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs do contain mercury, which is a harmful substance - but does that mean that they worse than incandescent light bulbs?

According to the US Environmental Protection Agency:, CFLs contain an average of about 4 milligrams of mercury sealed within the glass - that’s less than one percent of the mercury in mercury thermometers, which average about 500 milligrams. The amount of mercury in CFLs is continually being reduced. The best CFL bulbs now contain as little as 1.4 milligrams.

During its 8,000 hour lifetime, a 13-watt CFL will use 104 kilowatt hours of electricity. Producing this much electricity from coal releases 1.2 milligrams of mercury. The equivalent 60-watt incandescent light bulb will use 480 kilowatt hours of electricity which releases 5.8 milligrams of mercury. That is, generating the electricity to power an incandescent light releases more mercury than is contained in a typical CFL.

Of course, the mercury in a CFL is only released if it is smashed. If it is recycled, no mercury is released; if it is sent to landfill, an average of 0.6 milligrams of mercury is released to the atmosphere.

So, the CFL is the clear winner in terms of the amount of mercury released.

But how dangerous is mercury, anyway?

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While rivals such as General Motors have scored major publicity coups with planned electric vehicles like the Chevrolet Volt, Ford has been quietly pursuing a pure battery-powered electric vehicle in tandem with plug-in hybrids. Ford has now announced plans to bring an electric car to market in 2011.

Ford’s car will be based on the new global Focus platform, due out in 2010, with the electrics being developed by a Canadian Company, Magna International.

Ford says that its electric Focus will have a range of 160 kilometres on a single full charge - which Ford says is ample for most motorists who travel less than 65 kilometres a day. Ford is also planning a plug-in hybrid version of the Focus but, because having two motors will make it more complex, it will be more expensive and will not go on sale until 2012.

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Scientists at the CSIRO’s solar cooling research project have developed a method of using solar thermal collectors, such as are used in solar hot water systems, to generate cooling for building air-conditioning.

Dr Stephen White, the project leader, says that “The solar cooling technology we are developing directly uses the natural heat from the sun to power a thermally-driven cooling process. While using heat to cool sounds like a strange concept, the technology we are developing is able use that heat in conjunction with an absorbent material – or desiccant – to dehumidify and cool air. This new type of desiccant cooling promises to be simpler and more cost effective than absorption chillers.”

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The world’s wind power generating capacity grew by 28.8%, or 27,000 megawatts, in 2008. This is easily the largest growth ever recorded and almost matches the total generating capacity of all of the coal-fired power stations in Australia.

The biggest growth was in the United States, where 8,358 megawatts of new wind generating capacity was installed - putting the US ahead of Germany with the largest installed capacity.

China doubled its installed capacity for the fourth year in a row. With 12,210 megawatts, China now has about half the wind generating capacity of the United States.

New Zealand, with just 4 megawatts of new capacity, had the smallest increase of any industrialised nation. Australia performed better than in past years - adding 482 megawatts for a total instlled capacity of 824 megawatts,

Installations slowed towards the end of 2008 because of the financial crises. Commenting on this, T Boone Pickens, confirmed that his 4,000 megawatt wind farm projsct in Texas would still go ahead despite the financial situation. However, he said that "with capital markets the way they are" obtaining finance would take longer "and at this point, I’d say by about a year."

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Michael Palin, a student designer at the University of Western Sydney, has been shortlisted for an Australian Design Award for a neat and attractive way of adding double glazing in a rental property.

The "inflatable window" is actually a clear polycarbonate sheet which has the same look and feel as glass. The clear sheet is fitted to a frame that that. uses an inflatable rubber tube to seal it into the window reveal. The rubber tubing provides a 100% air tight seal without damaging the building in any way.

The frame hides the inside of the existing window and the architrave and can be designed in a range of styles and painted if desired.

The secondary window is held into the frame with magnets, so that it can be easily removed and the window opened.

The Australian Building Codes Board says that 87% of heat loss and 48% of heat gain is through windows. Installing inflatable windows has been shown to improve insulation by up to 50%.

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