Energy Efficiency

Australia tips solar as its cheapest electricity source by 2040
August 07, 2012
A comprehensive new study has been published by Australia’s new Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics (BREE), providing “the best available and most up-to-date cost estimates” for 40 utility-scale electricity generation technologies between now and 2050, albeit under Australian conditions.
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Shimizu zero emisssions building
Japanese building claims world's lowest CO2 emissions
August 07, 2012
One of Japan's largest construction companies is making a bold claim. Shimizu Corp believes its new Tokyo headquarters emits less carbon dioxide per square meter than any other building in the world. Thanks to a myriad energy-efficiency technologies and renewable energy installations, the building uses only 38 kilograms per square meter of CO2 annually, estimates Shimizu. That's 62 percent less than the average emissions of most Tokyo office buildings, says the company.
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Green investment growth
Market research firm says cleantech industry far from dead
CleanBiz.Asia Staff
August 06, 2012
Research company Frost & Sullivan is bucking the current, downbeat perspective on the cleantech industry by emphasizing its the long-term outlook in a new report. In particular it identified smart water, energy efficiency and energy storage as markets set for growth. And while renewable energy prospects are not as bright as they once were, the research firm still sees opportunity.
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Sinopec buys waste heat system
August 03, 2012
Sinopec, one of China’s top integrated petrochemical companies, is installing waste heat to energy and emission reducing system. To be online in 2013 at its Hainan petrochemical plant, it is UK-listed Wasabi Energy's first sale into China. The 4.0 Mw Kalina technology power plant will capture waste heat from the paraxylene (PX) process stream and turn it into zero emission electricity as well as reducing the overall greenhouse gas emissions from the petrochemical plant.
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Seoul puts stronger focus on building energy efficiency
August 01, 2012
Seoul began implementing new measures this week requiring major buildings to disclose their electricity use and expanding the scope of facilities subject to energy consumption monitoring.
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Sumitomo's factory electricity storage system goes online
July 25, 2012
The world's biggest redox flow battery storage system has come online at Sumitomo Electric Industries’ Yokohama Works factory, announced the company.Also boasting as being Japan's largest concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) unit, it has a  total power generation of 200kW and was developed along with Nissin Electric, Sumitomo Densetsu and the Meidensha Corporation.
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China lays out plan for 50-GW solar by 2020
July 23, 2012
The Chinese government said it will accelerate the pace of solar power installations after 2015, part of a program including funds from the state to cap carbon emissions while satisfying the nation’s demand for electricity, according to a report in Bloomberg.
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Energy, environment top of China’s strategic industries plan
July 22, 2012
China has released a plan for the development of its new strategic industries from now to the end of 2015, according to a statement released Friday by the State Council.
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Malaysia ready to be ‘generous’ toward hybrid car makers
July 22, 2012
Malaysia’s International Trade and Industry Ministry is ready to grant generous incentives to car manufacturers from both national and non-national assemblers to encourage the production of hybrid and cost-effective models for the Asean market, according to The Star newspaper.
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India sets goals for its states' renewable energy purchases
July 22, 2012
The government of India has set possible renewable purchase targets for all states for the next five years following the completion of a study on the subject by the Forum of Regulators, a statutory body of electricity regulators.
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Solar-powered buses roll off assembly line in China
July 19, 2012
China has introduced futuristic hybrid buses which draw power from solar panels mounted on their rooftops, Xinhua reported today.
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Higher FiT for Indonesia's waste-fired power plants
July 17, 2012
The Indonesian government has tried to boost renewable energy development investment and has set the feed-intariffs for Jakarta's waste-fired power plants. Making the projects more attractive to investors, it set the rate at around 12 to 14 US cents per Kilowatt-hour (kWh). The rate set was nearly double what analysts and consultants expected and while comparable to biomass projects, a higher tariff rate than conventional power rates.
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Singapore firm begins development of home-grown EV
July 16, 2012
Singapore’s Mayton Automotive is working with Chinese and US partners to develop its own home-grown electric car, according to news reports.
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China CleanTech sub indicies, 2Q2012
China CleanTech Index under-performs peers in June
CleanBiz.Asia Staff
July 13, 2012
The China CleanTech Index has reported an 8.1 per cent loss in June, a worse performance than all its benchmarks and it was down 10.8 per cent for the year. Only days after Bloomberg New Energy Finance reported  that China was driving global growth in the clean energy sector with a 92 per cent surge in investment in the second quarter of 2012 over the first quarter, the Index showed that investor confidence is still shaky.
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Swiss to cooperate with China on eco-park development
July 12, 2012
An eco-industrial park will be built in Zhenjiang city, Jiangsu province, as a strategic cooperation project between the Chinese and Swiss governments, officials at the second Sino-Swiss Economic Forum announced on Tuesday.
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Kia and SK Innovation collaborate to put S. Korea on EV map
July 12, 2012
South Korean firms Kia Motors and SK Innovation Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding to co-operate on the development and marketing of electric vehicles, according to the Korea Times.
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Japan to follow clean energy push with advances in storage
July 11, 2012
That Japan launched its generous feed-in tariff scheme for solar, wind, biomass and geothermal from 1 July 2012 is well-known, but another announcement the country made last week on energy-storage batteries could place it in an altogether different league in the clean energy industry, says Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
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China needs to move faster to succeed in electric car industry
July 11, 2012
Experts have said that the next 10 years will be critical for China's electric car industry and have urged even greater efforts to boost the industry development. The comments came as the fifth annual report 2012 Chinese Auto Industry Development Report was released Monday.
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Commercial building energy retrofit market to double by 2020
July 10, 2012
According to a new report from Pike Research, the global market to retrofit commercial buildings to improve their energy efficiency will expand from USD80.3 billion in 2011 to USD151.8 billion by 2020. Western Europe will remain the largest market for energy efficiency retrofits in commercial and public buildings, but its share of world revenues will drop from 41 percent in 2011 to 37 percent in 2020.
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Tight-fisted investment in clean energy
Global investment in clean energy sector continues to slide
CleanBiz.Asia Staff
July 09, 2012
Global clean energy investment remained sluggish in the second quarter of 2012, with venture capital & private equity investment and project finance activity both falling quarter-on-quarter. According to Clean Energy Pipeline project finance totaled USD34.6 billion, its second lowest quarterly level during the last two years, while venture capital and private equity investment (excluding buyouts) reached USD1.9 billion, its lowest quarterly level since the beginning of 2009. Similarly, IPO activity languished with clean energy companies only securing USD1.1 billion through IPOs globally in the last quarter
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