The development of Africa’s energy sector appears to be characterised by success followed by failure, progress and then stagnation. But is this a realistic assessment of the continent’s power sector, wonders Claire Volkwyn. And more importantly, how has it changed over the past 25 years and what can we expect in the decades to follow?

Energy efficiency programs promise to be a “win-win”: by reducing energy consumption, they lower households’ electricity bills and greenhouse gas emissions at the same time. That’s why when lawmakers are allocating spending with an eye to both the pocketbook and the climate, energy efficiency is always a go-to—filled with what appears to be low-hanging fruit.

THE one-off electricity bill subsidy for the tourism industry announced by the Penang government is open for application from today. State tourism and creative economy committee chairman Yeoh Soon Hin said the state government has responded swiftly to the movement control order 3.0 by allocating RM1mil for Penang’s tourism industry within 48 hours of the announcement.

Washington: Scientists have transformed a piece of wood into a flexible membrane that generates power from the same type of electric current that the human body runs on. This energy is generated using charged channel walls and other unique properties of the wood's natural nanostructures, according to researchers from University of Maryland in the US.

The effort to reduce harmful global greenhouse-gas emissions involves the tricky challenge of addressing the environmental dangers embedded in the status quo without adding undue costs and burdens that could stifle economic growth. This provides strong incentive for investors and policy makers who care about the environment and the economy to prioritize innovative solutions.

The way we normally recycle plastics is a downward spiral of waste and degraded materials, but there is another option – turning plastic back into the oil it was made from.

In an article written for Rinnovabili, Martina Leveni, PostDoc researcher at the Ohio State University, shares an interesting take on how CO2 can be used to utilise geothermal energy. We initially credited another publication and author with the text, but it is based on her article in Rinnovabili. In the article she describes the so-called CO2 Plume Geothermal technology (CPG), which allows to store CO2 to produce energy from geothermal.

What benefits can utilities achieve by deploying and leveraging distributed intelligence for the reliability of their grid networks? David Lukcic, director of AMI strategic solutions at US utility Tampa Electric Company, lists six advantages. When utilities start to make decisions at the grid edge by leveraging data acquired from digital technologies and intelligent devices, distributed intelligence comes into play.

An approximately $2.5 billion plan to bail out Texas’ distressed electricity market from the financial crisis caused by Winter Storm Uri in February was approved by the Texas House Thursday. The legislation would impose a fee — likely for the next decade or longer — on electricity companies, which would then get passed on to residential and business customers in their power bills.

IBM says it has made a significant breakthrough in computer processors by creating a 2nm chip in its test lab. IBM claims its test chip can improve performance by 45% over current 7nm commercially available products. It is also more energy efficient - using 75% less energy to match current performance, IBM said.

China is shaping up to be the first real test of Big Tech’s ambitions in the world of carmaking, with giants from Huawei Technologies Co. to Baidu Inc. plowing almost $19 billion into electric and self-driving vehicle ventures widely seen as the future of transport.

Solar electric and wind power systems have been in use for decades, but only now has the idea of turning windows into solar panels become a reality, through companies such as ClearVue. Their patented technology and ClearVue PV product offer the first truly clear solar glass on the market, and available to purchase now, which promises to fill cities with buildings that actively reduce energy usage while also generating electricity to contribute to building running costs.