The European Parliament Industry, Research and Energy Committee on September 2 approved plans for €114 million for cities, regions and other local entities interested in imrpoving their environmental performances. The resources are part of the unallocated funds of the European Energy Programme for Recovery, launched in July 2009. The types of projects that could be covered include: Smart energy grids, mobility plans and more efficient street lighting. Source: European Parliament
Under pacts signed on July 29 by India’s junior science minister Prithviraj Chavan and UK minister for science and universities David Willets in New Delhi, the two countries will invest £ 3 million (US$ 4.7 million or Indian rupees 218.06 million) each to promote partnerships between groups already working on fuel cells. The proposed initiative will address systems research programmes in fuel cell technologies including energy support through joint India-UK academic programmes. Sh. T. Ramasami, Secretary, Department of Science & Technology informed that Indo-UK joint workshop on fuel cell technology would be organized during September 15-17, 2010 at Centre for Fuel Cell Technology Chennai. More information on the Indian Ministry of Science and Technology website.
New incentives for scooters up to 400cc could be defined by the end of the year if a part of the funds established in spring will be unused. The government allocated several million euro for the purchase of household appliances (dishwashers, refrigerators, etc..), kitchens, boats and marine engines, broadband for the very young, etc.. The 12 million earmarked for two-wheelers were sold out in less than 20 days, while funds for other categories have not been fully used. The undersecretary for Economic Development Stefano Saglia said that “If the trend of applications for incentive do provide that – by the end of the year – the funds allocated have not been fully used by the recipient sectors, they will be driven to sectors that can develop more demand”. Source: Infoconsumatori
Fabbrica del Sole presents its hydrogen house, a completely self-sufficient off-grid building, producing energy from renewable sources such as photovoltaic, wind, hydro, geothermal, and using hydrogen as a storage system which allows energy consumption during peak periods, for example winter. Hydrogen is produced through an electrolyzer powered by surplus electricity and demineralized water. Hydrogen can then be stored in metal hydrides or low pressure tanks to be used for: for fuel cell cogenerators; direct combustion to produce electricity and heat; combustion gas in boilers or furnaces, gas cookers in the kitchen, or hybrid vehicles. The building is also able to independently manage water, wastewater, and telephone connectivity. In the following links, please find: A video describing the project The brochure of the project
Automotive industry, OEMs, universities and research centers have joined forces to win the challenge of sustainable mobility with the electric car. An ambitious plan involving 17 between universities and research centers and 70 companies including Fiat, Ferrari, Brembo, Piaggio, Pininfarina, Dallara, Eni and Enel. The starting point are two platforms, one for the electrical mobility and the other for innovation, which will founded tomorrow at the Ministry of University and Research, in order to facilitate convergence on sustainable mobility between research community and industry. The initiative was promoted by Assoknowledge (Confindustria) and Ata (Technical Automobile Association), who decided to gather the best Italian innovators with the aim to gain leadership in a rapidly growing market segment, which in 2015 will represent 10% of the world car market. The initiative also represents de adoption of a bottom-up approach in which targets are no longer defined at political level, but are set by a venture (backed by institutions) which has the aim to focus energies and resources – establishing a meeting point between all existing initiatives in this direction – thus increasing the chances to access EU funding for sustainable mobility. Source: Repubblica Download Manifesto: Italian Electrified Mobility Technology Platform.
Researchers at Padua and Trieste were able to reproduce in the laboratory a phase of photosynthesis. This increases the possibility of building a high-efficiency hydrogen generator employing water and solar energy. A very efficient and stable nanostructured, oxygen-evolving anodes were obtained by the assembly of an oxygen-evolving polyoxometalate cluster (a totally inorganic ruthenium catalyst) with a conducting bed of multiwalled carbon nanotubes. Source: Nature Chemistry and Università di Padova
