Google has already invested US$15m in Makani, which was founded in 2006 and is based in Alameda, California.

Rather than using fixed wind turbines, Makani is pioneering a new type of wind turbine that is attached to an autonomous wing, which is tethered to the ground. Air moving across the turbine blades forces them to rotate, driving a generator to produce electricity.

Earlier this month, the company carried out the first ever fully autonomous flight of its kite-type power system.

The tethered wing can fly between 250m and 600m in the air, where the winds are stronger.

Makani is testing a 30kW prototype of the product but is planning to develop a 600kW version. The company believes its technology will be able to produce power at up to half the cost of traditional wind turbines.

On its website, Makani said the Google acquisition would provide it with the resources to accelerate its development.

"The timing couldn't be better, as we completed the first ever autonomous all-modes flight with our Wing 7 prototype last week," the post said.

Google confirmed the acquisition in the following statement from Astro Teller, the director of Google X: "Makani Power's technology has opened the door to a radical new approach to wind energy. They've turned a technology that today involves hundreds of tons of steel and precious open space into a problem that can be solved with really intelligent software. We're looking forward to bringing them into Google[x]."

The Google X facility in California is already home to projects such as Google's self-driving car and the augmented reality eyewear Google Glass.

The Climate Gathering is following on from a meeting of international climate experts that took place in the Burren, Co Clare, at the end of February.

The three-day Dublin event is being organised by the Greens/European Free Alliance in the European Parliament and the Climate Gathering, an initiative of Green Foundation Ireland.

The goal of the Dublin Climate Gathering will be to answer questions on how to bring about a low-carbon revolution using the internet as a key driver.

In the vein of open innovation, the event's organisers believe change can happen when there is collaboration between civil society, business, government and academia.

While people have already signed up for the event, the organisers are seeking input from other thinkers from the worlds of science, technology, politics and culture for their perspectives.

Those who are interested in taking part in the Dublin Climate Gathering may email their ideas (200 words on what you would like to bring to the gathering and why you would like to be there) before 3 June.

The event will kick off on 17 June to complement the European Commission's Digital Assembly that is taking place in Dublin in the same week.

Image of Ha'penny Bridge in Dublin via Shutterstock

The plane's pilots and co-founders André Borscherg and Bertrand Piccard are attempting a coast-to-coast flight of the US over the next few months. That's before they set their sights on a solar-powered flight around the world in 2015 with the Solar Impulse HB-SIB - a plane that is currently being built.

Earlier this month, Solar Impulse completed the first leg of its trans-American journey, flying from San Francisco, California, to Phoenix in a flight that lasted 18 hours.

The flight from Phoenix to Dallas, which was piloted by Borscherg, lasted 18 hours and 21 minutes, with the plane landing in Dallas at 1.08am (CDT) on 23 May.

On the next leg of its journey, the plane is destined for St Louis, Missouri, in early June, before flying to Washington, DC, and then landing in New York in early July.

The aircraft has a 63-metre wingspan - equal to that of an Airbus A340 - but weighs just 1,600kg. Solely powered by the sun, the plane captures the sun's rays via its 11,628 solar cells to drive its four electric engines. The plane's lithium polymer batteries, which weigh 400g, are also charged to enable nighttime flying.

In 2010, Borscherg piloted Solar Impulse during a 26-hour flight to achieve the longest and highest flight ever carried out by a solar plane.

O’Driscoll, who was speaking on day two of the Open Innovation 2.0 conference at Dublin Castle today, started off by saying that the old way of matching supply with demand needs to change in the electricity industry.

He said the electricity industry is at the beginning of a “transformational journey” similar to where the telecommunications industry was 25 years ago.

“What is going to happen is you will have the merging of the electricity industry, ICT, telecommunications and the internet,” he said.

In the UK, 36pc of all primary energy is used for space heating and water heating in buildings, O’Driscoll said.

“Buildings offer huge potential for energy storage,” he explained.

O’Driscoll also touched on how 30pc of the UK’s electricity will come from renewables by 2020, while in Ireland that figure will probably be 40pc. He said a fundamental challenge will be how to manage the intermittency of renewable energy.

“How do we maximise the opportunity from distributed energy storage in buildings?” he asked. The idea is around storing the intermittent renewable energy for future use when there is consumer demand.

“One of the biggest issues is how to store intermittent electricity supply. You are going to have to break the link between demand and consumption.”

Enabling the smart grid

Enter Quantum, the new space and water heating energy-management system Glen Dimplex is pioneering and in which the company is investing €10m.

The system works by storing excess energy generated by wind farms at off-peak times and then releasing it as heat when it is needed.

According to Glen Dimplex, the Quantum system is set to revolutionise the way energy companies charge storage heaters while maximising the use of renewable wind energy. The goal is also to help owners save money on energy costs when they install the low-carbon electric heating system in their homes.

Glen Dimplex is currently deploying the Quantum system as part of a pilot project using 140 homes in partnership with the Green Way in Dublin.

Today, O’Driscoll described Quantum as being a “smart-grid enabler”.

“It is the most exciting technology we have developed. Quantum is the first smart grid-enabled electricity heater,” he said.

O’Driscoll also hinted at a new alliance that Glen Dimplex will be forging with Intel and Eirgrid. The aim, he said, would be to allow Ireland to become a world leader in enabling the smart grid.

Watch our video interview with O’Driscoll, where he covers the future of the electricity industry, talks about the Quantum system and evaluates the challenges in achieving a smart grid.

Open Innovation 2.0 - Interview with Sean O’Driscoll, CEO, Glen Dimplex Group 

More on Open Innovation 2.0:

Knowledge triangle must surround entrepreneur, Alexander von Gabain says (video)

Amenities review app takes top spot in Open Innovation – Better Cities competition (video)

McClaren’s Peter van Manen: 'the future of Formula 1 is data-driven' (video)

Intel CTO predicts next generation of PCs will challenge standalone tablets (video)

Innovation Luminary Awards celebrate innovation leadership

Interview with Alexander Osterwalder of Business Model Canvas fame (video)

Interview with Mikko Huuskonen, Finnish government (video)

Interview with DG CONNECT's Bror Salmelin (video)

Intel’s Martin Curley: we will need two Earths to support human life (video)

SolarPrint and Intel demo energy harvesting device at innovation event

Innovation about execution, not just invention, says EIT’s Alexander von Gabain

Dr Stephen Hawking says world needs a more sustainable trajectory

The Open Innovation 2.0 conference is taking place at Dublin Castle over the next two days. In tandem, a digital showcase is running at the Mansion House and is open to the public.

Founded in 2008, SolarPrint is developing dye sensitised solar cells (DSSC), a printable photovoltaic technology that converts light from any source into energy.

The company's target is to power wireless devices for building energy management.

SolarPrint is involved in a research collaboration with Intel's Energy and Sustainability Lab to create the light energy harvesting CO2 and temperature-sensing device. The goal of the project is to show how self-powered wireless sensors can be integrated into buildings in order to manage resources more efficiently.

As part of its wider Sustainable Connected Cities initiative, Intel integrated SolarPrint's light energy harvesters to develop a working prototype.

Roy Horgan from SolarPrint said the multi-sensor solution has the potential to be used in schools and public buildings to monitor and control CO2 and temperature levels in such buildings.

In December, SolarPrint raised €1m in funding to develop its technology. The investment came from Bank of Ireland Seed Capital, Kernel Capital and a group of private investors.

Hawking was echoing the views expressed earlier this morning at the Open Innovation 2.0 conference at Dublin Castle by Prof Martin Curley of Intel Labs Europe that by 2015 the equivalent of two Earths will be required to sustain the planet’s population.

Despite technological innovation, consumption of the world’s resources is exceeding supply.

“You only have to observe the financial carnage of last few years to show we need a new structure for economic development.

“A new trajectory is also required for sustainability,” Hawking warned, pointing to measurements noted on 9 May by the Mauna Loa monitoring station in Hawaii, which found that the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was less than 400ppm.

The last time the Earth hit 400ppm was about 2m-3m years ago during the Pleistoscene era – when there were forests in Greenland and the seas were up to 20 metres higher than today.

Hawking said that the nature of innovation is emerging at a fast pace and he welcomed the new paradigm called Open Innovation 2.0.

“This will involve mass collaboration on a scale never seen before,” he said.

“I am excited. I hope that collective and collaborative intelligence can co-create a manifesto for a more sustainable trajectory.

“Courage and confidence are critical as we move towards a more sustainable global economy,” Hawking said.

In his video message to some of the leading innovation leaders in Europe, Hawking finished with these words: “Look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Be curious. Thank you for listening.”

The Governor of Massachusetts Deval Patrick, who is in Ireland this week to attend events such as the eHealth conference in Dublin, will be witnessing the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Green Way and ACTION today.

Last year, the Green Way forged a similar alliance with San Jose's Environmental Business Cluster in Silicon Valley.

As for ACTION, it stands for the Association of Cleantech Incubators of New England. Its goal is to accelerate the growth of early-stage companies and create more green jobs in the New England locality.

In Dublin, the Green Way was set up in 2010 to support clean-tech companies in the region.

The new partnership between ACTION and the Green Way will aim to help clean-tech incubators and their client companies in both clusters tap into business alliances and commercialisation opportunities not available in their own localities.

Both clusters will now look to provide local support to clean-tech companies from New England and Dublin that wish to avail of services in the other region.

Such services will include strategic mentoring, investment guidance, customer acquisition advice, market intelligence and funding opportunities, according to Ronan King, who is chairman of the Green Way.

"We are creating a transatlantic clean-tech ecosystem that will create market opportunities for our members," he said.

Companies associated with the Green Way will also be eligible for membership benefits at more than 12 clean-tech incubators throughout New England. Similarly, ACTION companies will also be able to access the Green Way's resources and expertise.

"Partnerships such as this are a great benefit to both Ireland and New England," said Kevin McCarthy, vice-president, Cleantech, Energy and Utilities at Enterprise Ireland in Boston. "We look forward to working with both organisations."  

The philanthropic organisation, which was founded by the American industrialist John D Rockefeller 100 years ago, will be inviting cities to apply for the 100 Resilient Cities Centennial Challenge from August.

City government officials or major institutions within cities will be able to nominate their city through a formal application process.

Winning cities will be named in three rounds over the next three years, with the final round of winners announced in 2015.

Each city will get membership of the resilient cities network, while they will also be given support to hire a chief resilience officer so that they can plan strategies against health, environmental and economic risks that result from catastrophes, such as natural disasters.

Judith Rodin, president of the Rockefeller Foundation, said that when the organisation was founded in 1913, just one in 10 people lived in cities. Now, more than 50pc of the world's population lives in cities and more than 75pc of people are expected to live in cities by 2050.

She said that in today's hyper-connected world, challenges are distinguished by their frequency, scale and ability to cross over borders and across continents.

Pointing to how storms now threaten the eastern seaboard of the United States every few years, Rodin said that urban disasters can impact millions of people and shut down entire economic systems and supply chains.

"We can't predict when or where the next crisis will hit. The only thing we know for sure is that they will. But despite that certainty, cities on the whole are woefully unprepared to manage these shocks, lacking the technical expertise and financial resources to create and execute resilience strategies on a citywide scale," she said.

The Rockefeller Foundation will work with the 100 selected cities to help them develop technical plans to enable them to become more resilient.

Rodin said that building resilience is about enabling a city to rebound more quickly, fail more safely and to be able to withstand shocks.

Photo: Buildings in the Seagate neighbourhood in Brooklyn, New York, sustained damage as a result of Hurricane Sandy last year. Image by Anton Oparin/Shutterstock

The GreenTouch global study, which is published today, shows the net energy consumption in overall networks can be reduced up to 90pc by 2020.

GreenTouch is a consortium of leading information and communications technology (ICT) industry, academic and non-governmental research experts dedicated to fundamentally transforming communications and data networks, including the internet, and significantly reducing the carbon footprint of ICT devices, platforms and networks. As well as Bell Labs, members include AT&T, Fujitsu, France telecom, Huawei, and academic institutions like Cambridge in the UK, Berkeley Labs in the US, and DCU and Waterford Institute of Technology in Ireland.

The study applied advanced modelling to better understand potential network operations in 2020, taking into account the dramatic increases anticipated in communications traffic over the next decade. The research evaluated energy efficiencies in different types of networks, comparing those in 2010 with those incorporating technologies and architectures the consortium has identified that could be in use by 2020.

“At GreenTouch, we are almost exactly three years into our journey and we have made great progress," said Van Landegem, who is also vice-president of Global Operations for Bell Labs, the research arm of Alcatel-Lucent, and a member of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council for Sustainability. "As well as the tremendous findings of our research, those three years also resulted in great progress in terms of membership. We started off with a handful of founders and we now are at 53 members. That is also a great achievement.

“By means of setting these disruptive, bold and ambitious goals, we were able to bring together the parties and get them to do the research together," he said. "Because this is long-term research, you can get rid of competitive forces and collaborate. The result of that is fabulous in terms of what we can achieve in research. And there are still technologies we're working on that are not announced in this report, so we can still go much further."

Open innovation is the key, according to Van Landegem, who gave a keynote at Silicon Republic's Green Growth Forum back in January of this year. "Because it is such an ambitious goal, because it is such a complex type of effort in terms of the complexity and broadness of the field in technology, one company cannot achieve this. You have to work together.

“We believe that we have with GreenTouch is a blueprint of what industry can achieve if you bring together all the stakeholders. You can achieve a lot in terms of the big societal challenges. You need this kind of open innovation."

It's a theme he will pick up when he returns to Dublin to speak at the Open Innovation 2.0 conference in Dublin Castle from 20-21 May.

Research outcomes

Technical chair of GreenTouch Thierry Klein spoke to us about some of the details of the research.

“The outcome of this comprehensive research study is that it is possible to reduce net energy consumption in networks by up to 90pc within the 2020 timeframe," he said. "The key word there is 'net'. So we're saying we can reduce the energy consumption in the network while handling the traffic growth. So it's not just about making sure the energy consumption doesn't go up, but ensuring that energy consumption goes down by 90pc. This is pretty impactful for the operators, because this really means they can handle the applications and the services that generate this traffic and generate the revenues they need while actually paying less for their electricity bill. They can improve their carbon footprint and still provide the products and services that their customers will want."

Klein pointed to some of the underlying findings of the report, like the potential impact for mobile networks, which he says stand to benefit the most from energy efficiency efforts, given they are currently the most inefficient and yet the fastest-growing networks in terms of data volumes. The report finds that mobile networks could realise potential energy-efficiency improvements of up to 1,043 times.

There are benefits to be had in energy efficiencies in fixed-line and core networks, too, he added, although these would be less dramatic given they are already relatively energy efficient. The modelling shows potential improvements in fixed-access networks of 449 times, and improvements in the core network of 95 times.

The study was conducted as part of GreenTouch's Green Meter analysis, to assess progress towards its goal. For the purpose of the report, energy efficiency was defined as the ratio of the useful traffic carried by a network and the total energy required to support that traffic over a year.

Some of the new technologies, architectures and protocols included in the 2020 modelling are small cells deployment in dense urban environments, infrastructure-sharing across operators, discontinuous transmissions during periods without traffic, dynamic allocation of resources and the GreenTouch-developed Bit Interleaved Passive Optical Network (Bi-PON) protocol.

GreenTouch will continue its work on network architectures and technologies to further the consortium's progress and issue reports through 2015, with the next update expected later this year.

This week, Scotland’s Energy Minister Fergus Ewing granted consent for Samsung to develop an offshore demonstration wind turbine with an installed capacity of up to 7 megawatts (MW) at the Fife Energy Park in Methil, Scotland.

Scottish Enterprise is to give Samsung stg£6.04m in support for the project, with the South Korean company set to start building the 7MW prototype turbine later this year. The turbine will be placed on the sea bed around 35 metres from the shore.

At the site, Samsung will be testing new designs and models for offshore wind turbines with the goal of increasing the reliability and efficiency of the power they produce. The project will run for five years in Fife.

During a visit to Samsung Heavy Industries in South Korea this week, Scotland’s Finance Secretary John Swinney welcomed the consent for the new development.

“The site at Fife Energy Park offers the ideal location for a cutting-edge test centre like this,” he said.

Lena Wilson, chief executive of Scottish Enterprise, said Samsung’s plans reflect Scotland’s growing reputation as a location for companies for the next generation of offshore wind energy. 

“The success of companies in Scotland in securing business from Samsung shows we’re building a strong supply chain - which is critical,” she said.

Scotland has a target of installing offshore wind installations with the capacity to generate 10,000 MW of power by 2020. It has set a new decarbonisation target to cut carbon emissions from electricity generation by more than four-fifths by 2030.

Comprised of six turbines, the Carn Hill wind farm will have the capacity to generate renewable power to meet the electricity demand of almost 8,000 homes each year, according to Gaelectric. The wind farm development is located about 12 km (eight miles) outside of Belfast City.

In March, Gaelectric raised €65m to deliver its portfolio of onshore wind-energy projects across the island of Ireland. By 2017, the company is aiming to install 164MW of generation capacity via 13 wind-farm projects. The company now has eight wind farms at various stages of development in Northern Ireland.

Last year, Gaelectric received planning approval for two wind farm projects in Co Derry. The wind farms will be located in Smulgedon, north-east of Dungiven, Co Derry, and at Monnaboy on Loughtermore Mountain.

Barry Gavin, Gaelectric's finance director, said today that the opening of the Carn Hill wind farm will contribute significantly to the generation capacity of the company's Northern Ireland portfolio.

"The official opening marks a major milestone for our business and further strengthens Gaelectric's platform in the energy market. It will assist us in providing 13.8MW towards Northern Ireland's renewable energy targets," he said.

Through its energy storage division, Gaelectric is developing an energy storage project using compressed air energy storage (CAES) technology at a site near Larne in Co. Antrim.

_{Barry Gavin, finance director, Gaelectric; Northern Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson; deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness; and Brendan McGrath, CEO, Gaelectric, at the Carn Hill wind farm's sub station}

Scientists will use data from the Biomass radar mission to determine the amount of biomass and carbon stored in the world's forests with greater accuracy than ever before, the ESA said today.

Its Earth Observation Programme board today approved Biomass out of three candidates for the next Earth-observing mission.

The satellite is expected to launch in 2020 for a five-year mission that will provide, for the first time, P-band radar measurements from space to help improve scientists' understanding of the role that forests play in the Earth's carbon cycle and in climate change.

The ESA said Biomass should also give reliable insights into tropical forest biomass to help implement the UN Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) initiative. This is an international effort to reduce carbon emissions from deforestation and land degradation in developing countries.

“Biomass is an innovative new addition to the Earth Explorer satellite series," said Volker Liebig, director of ESA's Earth Observation programmes. "It will play an important role in quantifying forest biomass - information necessary to better understand the carbon cycle."

Until recently, it was not possible to row across the Northwest Passage but melting sea ice has changed all of that, so the adventurers will also use their expedition as a platform to highlight the impact of climate change.

The Northwest Passage is a sea route that connects the Arctic and Pacific Oceans. It is a series of waterways through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America and through the Canadian Arctic archipelago.

Irish natives Paul Gleeson, Denis Barnett and Kevin Vallely, and Canadian Frank Wolf, will set off from Inuvik in the Northwest Territories in Canada on 1 July in their 25-foot long customised rowing boat called The Arctic Joule.

_{The Arctic Joule customised boat that will be used by the four rowers. Image via Last First}

They will row in continuous shifts for 24 hours a day, seven days a week during their adventure, which is expected to take two to three months, ending at Pond Inlet in Nunavut, Canada.

Gleeson said it wasn't long ago that the Northwest Passage was the sole domain of steel-hulled ice-breakers.

"We hope by making this traverse completely under human power in a row boat, without sail or motor, in a single season we will be able to demonstrate first-hand the profound affects climate change is having on our world," he said.

Irish renewable energy company Mainstream Renewable Power is sponsoring the expedition, which will go by the name Mainstream Last First.

Mainstream's chief executive Eddie O'Connor said the company was sponsoring the rowing attempt, as it will draw attention to global warming.

"The melting of the permafrost and the release of methane hydrate is perhaps the biggest single calamity that mankind faces and it's all down to human-induced global warming," said O'Connor.

Wheels Couriers will be trialling the Renault Kangoo van to explore the viability of using light commercial electric vehicles in a city-centre location.

ESB has already installed a charging point at the company's Dublin office. The data collected from the trial will aim to show how drivers can make savings in terms of running and maintenance costs by switching to electric vehicles.

Dublin Institute of Technology's Department of Transport Engineering is responsible for managing the pilot trial that is focusing on Dublin City, in particular.

The pilot is part of the EU's ENEVATE (European Network of Electric Vehicles and Transferring Expertise) project. It involves 14 partners from north-west Europe that are aiming to speed up the pace of innovation and competitiveness in the electric-vehicle sector.

In Ireland, ESB is rolling out charging infrastructure for electric vehicles around the country. Already, 1,200 charge points have been installed in public spaces, as well as service stations and people's homes.

Today, companies in the wind-energy sector converged in Tullamore, Co Offaly, for a conference to share ideas about the scope to set up manufacturing bases in the midlands in order to supply components for wind farms and create jobs in the process.

Mainstream is developing the 'Energy Bridge' project that aims to export 5,000MW of wind power from Ireland to the UK, starting from 2017.

O'Connor today said Mainstream Renewable Power invited companies that it has relationships with to come to the Tullamore event.

"We wanted to explain what is possible if we in Ireland get our act together and start exporting green power to the UK," said O'Connor. "There will be lots of jobs and these companies are here to demonstrate how these jobs will get created."

Representatives from 30 global wind-turbine companies and manufacturers of transmission technologies, such as Siemens, ABB, General Electric, Alstom, LM Wind Power, XEMC Darwind and Goldwind exhibited at today's event.

The goal, according to O'Connor, is to set up a supply chain in the midlands. He said that Offaly County Council has already designated an area where it would like such manufacturing companies to locate their bases.

"We are going to see a replacement for the jobs that are going to be lost in Bord na Móna by 2020. We can see that coming from wind energy in the middle of Ireland," he explained.

O'Connor said the Energy Bridge project will require turbine components, transformers, converters, cables and road infrastructure that will cost in the region of €7bn. The ideal scenario would be to attract manufacturers to set up plants in the midlands so that this equipment doesn't need to be imported, he said.

"On top of that there is going to be another €6bn in terms of the cost of building the grid to the UK," said O'Connor.

Energy Bridge

The Energy Bridge project is proposing to capture wind power generated onshore and offshore in Ireland, transport it under the Irish Sea and connect it to the UK via a grid connection.

"I am very confident that not only will we be able to afford and build the turbines in the midlands, but we will be able to ship the wind power across dedicated cables going into the UK," explained O'Connor.

As for where Energy Bridge is at right now, he said that landowners are being signed up, enough to supply 1,500MW of wind power.

"We have got the grid booked in the UK. We are interacting with the government over there and in Ireland to make sure the inter-governmental agreement gets signed. We have opened up negotiations with the supply chain for the cables because there can be a very long lead time for the supply of cables," added O'Connor.

In total, he said that 1,700 wind turbines will need to be built in order to generate the 5,000MW of wind energy for the Energy Bridge project.

As for Mainstream, O'Connor said that the company is aiming to build at least 660 wind turbines in the midlands region as part of that 1,700 turbine figure.

Today's event is being hosted by Offaly County Council along with Mainstream Renewable Power. The latter is developing the 'Energy Bridge' project that proposes to export 5,000MW of wind power from Ireland to the UK, starting from 2017.

Eddie O'Connor set up Mainstream in 2008, after Airtricity was sold to E.ON and Scottish and Southern Energy.

According to Mainstream, Energy Bridge will capture wind power generated onshore and offshore in Ireland, transport it under the Irish Sea and connect it to the UK via a grid connection that the company has already secured.

Today's conference is being held to explore supply chain opportunities for businesses as a result of the Energy Bridge infrastructure project.

Manufacturing base

Per Mainstream, Energy Bridge will require 1,700 turbine towers, 5,000 blades, 1,700 nacelles, 16,000 kilometres of inter-array cabling, 1,700 converters, 30 electrical substations and 400km of HVDC underground cables between 2016 and 2020.

Rather than importing these materials, which Mainstream estimates would be worth well in excess of €7bn, the plan is to attract manufacturers to set up plants in the midlands.

At the moment, Ireland is home to about 1,000 operating wind turbines with a capacity of about 2,000 megawatts (MW). The industry employs 1.5 people for each megawatt installed, according to Mainstream. But by making Ireland a manufacturing base for wind-farm components, there could be scope to directly employ between four and eight people per megawatt that is installed, suggests Mainstream's O'Connor.

"This is a game changer for Ireland. It is already being done successfully in other countries so we really need to focus on making this happen," he said.

"This is about taking the wind blowing freely above our heads and turning it into a multi-billion euro industry with tens of thousands of jobs. Unemployment in the midlands is more than 3pc above the national average. This has the potential to make a real difference in an area that needs it most," added O'Connor.

Wind-turbine players and manufacturers of transmission technologies, such as Siemens, ABB, General Electric, Alstom, LM Wind Power, XEMC Darwind and Goldwind are exhibiting at today's event in Tullamore.

Damien Harte from wind turbine blade manufacturer LM Wind Power said today that it would make sense for the supplier to set up a dedicated blade manufacturing plant in Ireland's midlands. He said this move could spawn 800 jobs.

"Over a five to eight-year period, that could mean a total investment of about €550m in the region," said Harte.

Meanwhile, XEMC Darwind's Larry de Vaal said the wind turbine manufacturer has already looked at manufacturing opportunities in Ireland. With a project of this scale, he said there is a "very real opportunity" to locate component manufacturing, assembly, installation and long-term maintenance in the midlands.

Once it is operational in 2014, Bord na Móna said the waste gas-to-power project will produce 5.6MW of renewable electricity, enough to power 14,000 homes.

The plant will be located in the Drehid Landfill site near Allenwood, Co Kildare. Once it is built, its ongoing operation will create between three and four permanent jobs.

Gas is continually produced from the decomposition of waste in the landfill site and is currently safely flared. Bord na Móna said the project will use four gas engines, each rated at 1.4MW electrical output, to deliver 5.6MW of renewable electricity.

"This is a very exciting project for the company that underlines how jobs and business activity in Bord na Móna can be directly supported by renewable-energy projects," said John Daly, head of resource recovery at the semi-state body.

He added that the Drehid project will substantially reduce emissions of methane, which is a potent greenhouse gas when released directly into the atmosphere.

Announcing the new fund yesterday, Scotland's Energy Minister Fergus Ewing said that the Scottish Innovative Foundation Technologies Fund would be used to develop wind turbines that are sited in water depths greater than 30 metres.

"Scotland pioneered the world's first deep-water offshore wind development and our innovation and offshore engineering expertise will play an increasingly important role as the industry moves to harness the wind further offshore - where both the energy resources and the technical challenges are greater," said Ewing.

He added that the funding would help lower costs in developing the foundations needed for wind turbines in deeper water and more varied seabed conditions.

"It should also benefit Scottish companies through the supply chain, securing jobs and boosting our economic recovery," said Ewing.

Maggie McGinlay, who heads up energy and clean technologies at Scottish Enterprise, said that the fund would make a "significant contribution" to helping reduce the costs of offshore wind and create an internationally renowned industry in Scotland.

“The innovation supported by this fund will act as a further catalyst for the industry in Scotland as we develop a renewables sector that competes on a global scale," she said.

Google also came first in last year's rankings.

This is the sixth such leaderboard from Greenpeace since the environmental organisation launched its first one back in 2009.

Following on Google's and Cisco's heels, Ericsson came in at third place in the analysis, while Fujitsu was ranked fourth, and Sprint, Wipro and Hewlett-Packard all tied for fifth place.

Greenpeace has ranked 21 firms based on their progress in offering products and services that reduce energy demand, their management of their own energy footprints. and whether these companies use their influence to advocate for government policies that encourage the adoption of renewable energy and energy efficiency.




_{21 companies and how they ranked in the 2013 Greenpeace Cool IT Leaderboard}

Three new companies make an appearance in the latest rankings – Hitachi, Sprint and Toshiba. Meanwhile, Greenpeace has dropped Oracle and TCS, which were included in last year's leaderboard, due to their "significant decline in performance".

As well as this, Apple, Facebook and Amazon were not included in the IT rankings because Greenpeace believes their operations are not broad enough to be compared to companies that offer energy solutions to climate change as core aspects of their business models.

Trends

According to Greenpeace, this year's leaderboard shows that more companies are increasing their commitment to renewable energy.

However, Greenpeace said that companies are still punching below their political weight by not demanding a shift to energy policies that will unlock investment in smart grid and other IT clean energy solutions.

“The IT sector's progress will continue to be blocked by large, dirty electric utilities until more companies embrace their political power and advocate for climate-friendly decentralised energy policies," said Gary Cook, a senior IT analyst at Greenpeace.

Last week Google, for instance, announced its plans to expand its data centre in Lenoir, North Carolina. In tandem with this news, Google put pressure on the electricity utility Duke Energy, which has pledged to develop a new programme for large companies that want to buy renewable power for their operations.

Greenpeace said that its analysis also found signs of technology companies advocating for smarter energy policies at national level in the US, Japan and in India. It pointed to how Sprint, Wipro, and SoftBank have all prioritised policy changes to incentivise investment in energy efficiency and renewable energy. 

And of all companies assessed, Microsoft has improved the most in the leaderboard. Greenpeace said this is because the software giant "finally used its considerable influence" in Washington to support an extension of wind energy tax incentives in the US.

While Facebook was not included in the evaluation, Greenpeace said that the company's announcement yesterday that it is to build its next data centre in Altoona, Iowa, capitalising on wind-generated power there, is evidence of how forward-thinking technology companies can bring clean energy to the grid.

“We're excited to have found a new home in Iowa, which has an abundance of wind-generated power," said Jay Parikh, Facebook's vice-president of infrastructure engineering, in a blog post yesterday. He said that when Altoona is completed by 2014 it will be among the most advanced and energy efficient data centre facilities of its kind.




_{Artist's concept of the future Facebook data center in Altoona, Iowa. Image via Facebook}

Main green computing image via Shutterstock

The ministers are convening in Dublin Castle for the second day of the informal energy meetings to discuss everything from unconventional oil and gas to ICT and energy innovation, energy efficiency and the integration of variable renewable sources in Europe.

Ministers have also been sharing ideas on a Commission consultation paper, known as the Green Paper, to agree to a 2030 framework for climate and energy policies.

Unconventional oil and gas

At a press conference this morning, Oettinger spoke about unconventional oil and gas. Looking to global energy markets, he said there is no doubt that shale gas developments are a game-changer.

He said the EU would have to develop its gas strategy with new sources and to produce more unconventional gas within the energy mix in member states.

Oettinger touched on how the European Commission could look to some expertise and legal frameworks in order to combine such unconventional gas options with the EU's environmental issues.

Towards 2030 targets

He then turned to the EU Commission's Green Paper. The document is under public consultation until 2 July as EU leaders have not formally agreed upon the type of climate and energy targets that should be set for 2030.

Oettinger said the process to Europeanise energy and climate change policies has been in progress for perhaps 10 years. "Our internal energy markets, regulations, our treaties and our 20-20-20 targets are the main, relevant instruments," he said.

Known as '20-20-20' the EU's key objectives for 2020 are to achieve a 20pc reduction in EU greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from 1990 levels. This is in addition to raising the share of EU energy consumption produced from renewable resources to 20pc and achieving a 20pc improvement in the EU's energy efficiency.

"20-20-20 means efficiency, means renewables, means CO2 emission reductions up to 2020," said Oettinger, adding that we need to look beyond 2020 to come to a next level of binding targets up to 2030.

Common targets?

He said that while there are different positions in member states, the informal debate in Dublin between EU environment and energy ministers showed that there is an agreement to continue this European story beyond 2020 and up to 2030.

"We should develop a common strategy, common energy and climate change policies ... and we should have binding targets," said Oettinger.

The Green Paper proposes that by 2030, GHG emissions will need to be reduced by 40pc in the EU in order to reach a GHG reduction of between 80-95pc by 2050.

The paper is also proposing that 30pc of energy would need to come from renewable sources by 2030.

While it is open among ministers about the targets and at which level they should be agreed upon, Oettinger said the Dublin meeting shows there is an agreement to continue a framework beyond 2020 up to 2030.

The consultation process within member states is ongoing, but he said the general agreement is that there needs to be a strategy to Europeanise energy and climate change policies.

"No doubt member states have different energy mixes and shares, but our challenge, our ambition, is to come to agreement," said Oettinger.

Power-One is a manufacturer of solar inverters, which are used to convert the direct current generated by solar panels into the alternating current required by electricity grids. The company is headquartered in Camarillo, California, and employs almost 3,300 people, mainly in China, Italy, the US and Slovakia.

Power and automation technology player ABB is to offer Power-One stockholders US$6.35 per share in cash, or a total of around US$1bn equity value, the two companies confirmed yesterday.

ABB is hoping that its acquisition of Power-One will help position the group as a leading global supplier of solar inverters to a solar PV market that the International Energy Agency has forecast will grow by more than 10pc per year until 2021.

"Solar PV is becoming a major force reshaping the future energy mix because it is rapidly closing in on grid parity," said ABB's CEO Joe Hogan. "Power-One is a well-managed company and is highly regarded as a technology innovator focusing on the most attractive and intelligent solar PV product."

Power-One will be integrated into ABB's discrete automation and motion division. It manufactures solar inverters, ranging from residential to utility applications. It also has a power solutions portfolio that is adjacent to ABB's power conversion business.

In 2012, Power-One made US$120m in earnings on sales of about US$1bn.

Earlier this year, Panasonic entered into a strategic alliance with Power-One to develop and produce energy storage systems for residential and commercial markets.

As for ABB's existing solar inverter portfolio, the group is aiming to generate sales of more than US$100m in this area in 2013. Last year, ABB invested about US$1.5bn in R&D around solar inverter technology.

Solar panels image via Shutterstock

The combined turnover of the 12 organisations involved in PV (photovoltaic) crops is in excess of €3bn.

The two Irish organisations are being funded a total of €650,000 to provide their input from the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7). The funding to RED-T for the project is €375,000. The funding to DIT is €275,000.

Funded through the European Commission’s Department of Research and Innovation, the project is aimed at improving the performance and viability of solar energy for Europe.

The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) has assisted RED-T’s application process.

Called PV Crops (PhotoVoltaic Cost reduction, Reliability, Operational performance, Prediction and Simulation), the 12-partner pan-European consortium is working together to deliver 19 results, including training, company spin-offs, toolbox solutions, database systems, technical documents, and solar power technology developments.

RED-T provides specialist knowledge in flow battery energy storage. The incorporation of energy storage in PV generation plants will allow further mitigating power fluctuations, allowing shifting the power injection from its generation by the PV modules.

This proposal aims to integrate flow batteries into PV systems. The integration of RED-T’s patented flow batteries in PV systems will contribute to mitigate PV power fluctuations and to help the grid to incorporate more than 30pc of PV generation. It will also allow maximising the benefit from the sale of electricity at peak-demand prices, thereby reducing overall electricity tariffs.

DIT is providing to the group its recognised expertise in solar power generation and its integration into the grid involving researchers from the Dublin Energy Lab (DEL) and the Electrical Power Research Centre (EPRC). Also, with DIT’s Hothouse team commercialising research at five times the average rate of universities in Europe, the institute will head up many of the PV crops commercialisation activities aimed at delivering the 19 outputs the project will work to provide.

The PV crops consortium will initially work on developing hardware and software solutions aimed at refining and enhancing the testing systems at PV plants and BIPV (building-integrated photovoltaics). In tandem, the group will work on toolboxes for prediction of energy production and for managing the resulting power fluctuations.

Diagnosis tools are also to be developed that will uncover performance failures of PV systems. At the end of 48 months, it is planned to be able to deliver tried and tested energy management and storage systems tailored for PV plants and BIPV companies.

Photovoltaic solar cell image via Shutterstock

Energy ministers from the EU will be based at Dublin Castle on Tuesday and Wednesday for the talks that will focus on areas such as energy system integration and the application of new and developing technologies to boost energy efficiency and sustainability.

The meeting will be held back to back with the informal meeting of EU environment ministers that's taking place in Dublin today.

The environment ministers are discussing the EU Commission's Green Paper on a 2030 framework for climate and energy policies. The document is under public consultation until 2 July as EU leaders have not formally agreed upon the type of climate and energy targets that should be set for 2030.

According to the paper, by 2030 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions will need to be reduced by 40pc in the EU in order to reach a GHG reduction of between 80-95pc by 2050. This would ensure the EU would meet the internationally agreed target to limit atmospheric warming to below 2°C.

The EU has already set a target of achieving 20pc GHG emission reductions by 2020 compared to 1990 levels.

The Green Paper is also proposing that 30pc of energy would need to come from renewable sources by 2030.

Turning to the meeting of the EU energy ministers in Dublin, topics that will be up for discussion will include how smart technologies can better control energy consumption and the integration of renewable energy sources in Europe.

Energy ministers will also be opening up an initial discussion on the effects of unconventional gas and oil on energy supply, competitiveness and prices.

Dublin clean-tech cluster The Green Way is hosting the European Cleantech Cluster Forum that is being held at Dublin City Council's offices today. EU environment ministers are also set to attend the event, which is taking place as part of Ireland's presidency of the EU.

In Dublin in 2010, industry, academic institutions and public and semi-state players founded The Green Way to help support the clean-tech sector and to support Irish companies innovating in the space.

Last year, the Green Way forged a clean-tech alliance with the San Jose, California-based Environmental Business Cluster in Silicon Valley.

As for today's event, speakers will include clean-tech cluster managers from across Europe, as well as industry and academic experts in the clean-tech sector.

Mark Bennett from Dublin City Council said speakers from the International Water Association will also be discussing the business opportunities in the nexus between the water and energy sectors.

In addition, Irish companies will be showcasing their innovations to EU environment ministers during a clean-tech expo this evening.

Also at the event, the Global Cleantech Cluster Association will be revealing the findings of a new survey that gives an overview of clean-tech cluster activities worldwide.

"This event is evidence of the vibrancy of this sector in Dublin and of our capacity to be a global hub of clean-tech innovation," said Ronan King, chairman of The Green Way.

Sustainable energy image via Shutterstock

An Taisce manages the Green Campus initiative in Ireland on behalf of the Foundation for Environmental Education. The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government Phil Hogan, TD, today renewed UCC's status as a green campus.

The university was first awarded the green status in 2010 as a result of student-led environmental initiatives and an environmental review by the Buildings and Estates Department and academic staff.

In January, UCC also came third in a global green campus ranking involving 215 universities and institutes from 49 countries.

According to the university, recycling rates have increased from 21pc in 2007 to 75pc in 2012. Energy consumption on the campus has also been cut by 9pc, while there has been a cumulative saving on waste of nearly €1m in the past six years.

UCC's president Dr Michael Murphy said that the university is the first third-level institution in the world to be reaffirmed as a green campus.

Meanwhile, An Taisce's Dr Michael John O'Mahony spoke about how the university has adapted and developed the Green Campus programme over the last three years.

"It is evident that not only have they continued to reduce their environmental impact in areas such as waste, energy, water, travel and biodiversity but they have greatly increased the scope and impact of the programme in areas such as student and staff involvement, procurement and college-wide teaching," O'Mahony said.

Mark Poland, UCC's director of Building and Estates, said that staff and students and staff are continually trying to improve the university's environmental performance in waste management, commuting and energy.

Prof John O'Halloran, who heads up the School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, has been heavily involved with the project.

"Today's decision is reflective of UCC's mission to remain a truly green campus with the interaction of academic, support staff and the student community creating an exceptional combination of ideas and initiatives," he said.

_{University College Cork (UCC) president Michael Murphy; Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government Phil Hogan, TD; Dr Michael John O' Mahony of the Environmental Education unit of An Taisce pictured in UCC at a renewal ceremony to mark the world's first Green Flag campus}

The plant is based in Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania, and will have the capacity to generate 15 megawatts (MW) of solar PV power. It consists of 29,826 micromorph thin-film panels.

According to Masdar, the plant will contribute to 10pc of Mauritania's current electricity demand. The company expects the plant to displace 21,225 tonnes of carbon dioxide each year.

Mauritania's electricity grid, which is powered mostly by diesel generators, currently has an installed capacity of 144MW. With the country's energy demand increasing by 12pc annually, Masdar believes the new solar facility will help meet future electricity shortfalls and provide enough energy for 10,000 homes.

Speaking at the opening of the plant yesterday, Mauritania President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz said that energy access is a pathway for economic and social opportunity.

"This new solar power plant not only provides much-needed grid capacity for our people, it also proves that renewable energy can play a major role in the development of our country," he said.

_{The solar PV plant in Nouakchott, Mauritania. Photo via Masdar}

Masdar's CEO Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber said renewable energy has the potential to be a major contributor to the energy mix in developing countries, where access to conventional energy is limited.

The company is developing other renewable energy projects, including a 6MW wind farm in the Seychelles and a project in Afghanistan to supply 600 homes with off-grid solar PV systems.

Masdar itself is a strategic government initiative to grow a renewable energy industry in Abu Dhabi and around the world. One of its most recognisable projects in Abu Dhabi is the planned low-carbon urban development known as Masdar City that's currently being built.

Insurance group Lloyd's is hosting the event at Titanic Belfast, along with Invest Northern Ireland and the Green International Financial Services Centre (Green IFSC).

More than 200 players in the renewable energy sector from Ireland and the UK are meeting to discuss topics such as financing renewable energy projects, plus the role that insurers play in delivering such projects.

Opening the event, Eamonn Egan, Lloyd's country manager for Ireland, spoke about Ireland's capacity to generate far more wind energy than it needs for domestic consumption.

Conversely, he said the UK is not expected to meet its target of getting 30pc of all electricity from renewable sources by 2020 without buying "substantial amounts" of wind energy from Ireland.

Just this past January, Ireland's Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Pat Rabbitte, TD, signed a memorandum of understanding with Ed Davey, the UK's Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, to progress plans for an inter-governmental agreement that would allow Ireland to export excess wind energy to the UK.

"A number of ambitious projects are already in progress exploring these export prospects and insurance will inevitably have a key role to play in bringing these developments to fruition," said Egan this morning.

'Green' funds

Stephen Nolan, the executive co-ordinator of the Green IFSC, spoke about Ireland's proposition when it comes to renewables. He said the Green IFSC has targeted green funds as a core area to grow assets under management and create jobs in Ireland.

Nolan said the Green IFSC's goal is to increase Ireland-based assets serviced or managed in 'green' funds from US$20bn today to US$200bn by 2017.

Other speakers at today's conference included Mark Giulianotti, who is director at the Green Investment Bank in the UK, and former Bord Gáis chief executive John Mullins. Now managing partner at the investment advisory firm Augmentis Ireland, Mullins is in the process of setting up a solar investment company called Amarenco.

The original Lloyd's Titanic loss book is also on display at today's conference.

Lloyd's insured the Titanic 101 years ago and when the news was conveyed to London that it sunk, it was recorded in the book. This is only the second time in history that book has been in Belfast.

The IEA is presenting its findings from its latest clean energy progress report at its Clean Energy Ministerial in New Delhi, India. Ministers representing countries responsible for four-fifths of global greenhouse-gas emissions are at the two-day event.

The IEA's report has examined the latest global development and deployment of 11 clean-energy technologies and end-use sectors. It also provides specific recommendations to governments on how to scale up deployment of these key technologies.

The take-up of renewable technologies is one of the few bright spots in an otherwise bleak assessment of progress towards low-carbon energy around the globe, according to the agency.

"Despite much talk by world leaders, and despite a boom in renewable energy over the last decade, the average unit of energy produced today is basically as dirty as it was 20 years ago," said Van der Hoeven.

Wake-up call about CO2 emissions

The IEA's report features a carbon intensity index for the energy sector to show how much carbon dioxide is emitted, on average, to provide a given unit of energy. This index stood at 2.39 tonnes of CO2 per tonne of oil equivalent (tCO2/toe) in 1990, and had barely moved by 2010, holding at 2.37 tCO2/toe, claims the agency.

Van der Hoeven warned that with world temperatures creeping higher as a result of increasing emissions of greenhouse gases like CO2 – two-thirds of which come from the energy sector – the overall lack of progress should signal a wake-up call.

"We cannot afford another 20 years of listlessness," she said. "We need a rapid expansion in low-carbon energy technologies if we are to avoid a potentially catastrophic warming of the planet but we must also accelerate the shift away from dirtier fossil fuels."

However, the IEA report features some positive figures about certain renewables. For instance, mature solar photovoltaics grew by 42pc between 2011 and 2012, while wind technologies grew by 19pc in that same timeframe.

The report also looks at how emerging economies are stepping up their efforts around clean energy, with Brazil, China and India having increased policy support for the renewable electricity sector last year.

Shale gas

In the US, the IEA points to how a revolution in shale gas technology has triggered a switch to gas from coal. However, coal use has grown in other global regions. In Europe, the share of coal has increased in the power generation mix at the expense of natural gas, according to the agency.

In relation to carbon capture and storage technologies, scientists at the IEA stressed that these technologies will not reach commercial deployment stage until governments start making commitments in the form of appropriate policies.

The report features several recommendations for governments to accelerate the deployment of clean-energy technologies. These include reflecting the true cost of energy in consumer prices and implementing long-term, predictable policies that will encourage investors to switch to low-carbon technologies.

Technologies like electric vehicles, wind and solar will also need government support for several years more, said the agency.

The initiative, dubbed the 100 Thousand Solar Lantern Project, will see Panasonic donating its solar technology to electricity-deprived communities in developing countries, mainly in Asia and Africa.

In February, the company donated 3,000 of its compact solar lights to NGOs working in Burma in south-east Asia.

Panasonic has also donated 5,000 of these solar lights to NGOs and social enterprises in India, while communities in Kenya are also set to receive 2,000 lanterns in the near future.

The solar lantern operates by generating electricity from sunlight during the day and storing it in a battery. This means the lantern can be used as a small lighting fixture at night.

According to the International Energy Agency's 2011 World Energy Outlook, there are about 1.32bn people worldwide living without electricity, mainly in developing countries in Asia and Africa.

Many communities in these regions use kerosene lamps for lighting, but such lamps can pose fire risks as kerosene is highly flammable, as well as health risks as a result of the black carbon that's released.

Panasonic is aiming to have donated 100,000 of its solar lanterns to developing countries by 2018 to mark its 100th anniversary and to help such regions get better access to healthcare and education.

In his US$3.8trn budget, Obama is proposing tax increases and restraints on social security benefits. His budget plan for the US aims to cut the deficit by a net US$600bn over 10 years.

Fiscal year 2014 will run from 1 October 2013 until 30 September 2014.

As part of Obama's budget proposals, the US Department of Energy would get a US$28.4bn budget for 2014 – that's an 8pc increase on the 2013 budget.

This would include an extra US$615m to increase the use of clean power from renewables such as solar, wind, geothermal and hydropower.

In addition, the budget proposes US$575m for research into vehicle technologies and a US$282m funding pot to go towards research into next-generation biofuels.

It also outlines plans for US$16m to go towards enhancing the security of energy infrastructure and to work on energy recovery technologies.

The budget proposal calls for US Congress to set up a US$2bn Energy Security Trust that will, over 10 years, invest in research to come up with new technologies to run cars and trucks. This would include research into advanced batteries for electric vehicles, biofuels and hydrogen fuel cell technologies.

However, Obama's fiscal 2014 budget request for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would give the agency a US$8bn budget – a 9pc drop on 2013 levels.