Limited energy access constrains the opportunities of up to 1.5 billion people worldwide. Most rural villages in East Malaysia are not grid connected, and rely heavily on high-cost diesel fuel for electricity and transportation. State plans for a series of mega-dams have dramatically raised the profile of these communities and the stakes in local energy services versus a larger development agenda. We examine village energy access in the Baram Basin, Malaysia using a hybrid energy resource optimization framework. We find least cost options for energy services come from a mixture of locally managed small-scale hydroelectricity, biogas generators and accompanying batteries. 

In order to enable low-carbon, sustainable energy development in line with EU requirements, Kosovo should promote the use of renewable energy resources, officials said.

Coal is currently used to generate about 90 percent of the electricity consumed in Kosovo, and is a key contributor to high carbon dioxide levels and pollution.

With the adoption of the Energy Secretariat Ministerial Council's decision on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources in December 2012, Kosovo committed to making 25 percent of its energy from renewable resources by 2020.

"It would be unrealistic to envisage complete electricity production from coal thermo power plants with renewables. And we have to take into account that all renewable resources, except big hydro power plants, still need a subsidy scheme. Subsidies have to be bigger if the price of electricity is going to be below the production costs," Janez Kopac, director of the Energy Community Secretariat, told SETimes.

Wind and solar remain small components of the U.S. energy portfolio, but two new data points out this week suggest they’re starting to to hit their stride.

Renewable energy always seems to get a “but” whenever it comes up in discussion about American energy sources. As in, “It would be nice, but…” it’s impractical, unreliable, or just too small a piece of the puzzle to really matter. As nuclear safety engineer Homer Simpson prayed one Thanksgiving: “And Lord, we are especially thankful for nuclear power, the cleanest, safest energy source there is. Except for solar, which is just a pipe dream.”

Low-cost solar power could supply more than a third of all energy needs in the Western U.S., if the nation can hit its targets for reducing the cost of solar energy, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley.