Rio+20

UN chief asks youth to ‘make some noise’ ahead of Rio+20 conference - Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today asked young people from all over the world to “make some noise” to help accelerate progress on the negotiations of the United Nations Sustainable Development Conference (Rio+20) which will take place in Brazil next month. (UN News Centre)

Head of UN Development Program says Rio summit is about motivation, not binding agreements - The head of the U.N. Development Program says next month’s summit on sustainable development is less about binding agreements than about motivating countries into action. (The Washington Post)

Rio+20 and sustainable commerce: More efforts on the way - There are 35 days to Rio+20, and within about the same time Microsoft will start to act on its dramatic announcement few days ago that it is going to join the “green” ranks and move toward carbon neutrality starting this July. (EcoSeed)

Rio+20 must address the process of change, not just its content - A few weeks ago, the Government of Brazil, in collaboration with the United Nations Development Program, launched an interactive website intended to support discussion in the lead up to the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), which takes place next month. (Nick Perkins, SciDevNet)

Sustainable energy policy

U.S. Solar Tariffs on Chinese Cells May Boost Prices - The U.S. yesterday imposed tariffs of as much as 250 percent on Chinese-made solar cells to aid domestic manufacturers beset by foreign competition, though critics said the decision may end up raising prices and hurting the U.S. renewable energy industry. (Ehren Goossens, Brian Wingfield and William McQuillen, Bloomberg BusinessWeek)

China rejects US solar dumping ruling, companies warn tariffs might hurt clean energy industry - China’s government on Friday rejected a U.S. antidumping ruling against its makers of solar power equipment and Chinese manufacturers warned possible higher tariffs might hurt efforts to promote clean energy. (The Washington Post)

CM stresses on developing non-conventional energy sources - Chief minister Nitish Kumar said the energy requirements can be fulfilled only with the renewable energy through generation of more biomass, husk power and solar plates. (Times of India)

Renewable energy

Small Island Nations Banding Together for Hydroelectric, Renewable Power Development - A declaration adopted by 20 small island developing states could potentially increase the percentage of hydroelectric power in their overall energy mixes. (Michael Harris, Renewable Energy World)

Apple to use only green power for main data center - Apple Inc. plans to power its main U.S. data center entirely with renewable energy by the end of this year, taking steps to address longstanding environmental concerns about the rapid expansion of high-consuming computer server farms. (Poornima Gupta, Reuters)

Energy efficiency

Project on Development and Promotion of Solar Heating Applications Launched - Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Shri Gireesh B. Pradhan today launched a project on development and promotion of solar concentrator based heating applications in India. (Press Information Bureau, Government of India)

Small Wind Energy Goes Urban In Italy, Korea, Brazil And Texas (video) - Streetlights usually operate at electricity rates like the ones we pay in our private homes. So having that energy provided by some form of renewable energy, means that every cent is saved and for municipalities, whose budgets are being squeezed, that’s something serious to consider. (Jennifer Hicks, Forbes)

Demand for energy needs inquiry - Peter Hughes said that although his body supported renewable options, he wanted to see a balanced, affordable, sustainable and secure energy policy. (BBC)
Energy access

Nigeria: From Dirty Diesel to Clean Energy - "When I call my family in Lagos, Nigeria, my dad complains about power being out again. Because of inadequate power-generation capacity, blackouts are common and many residents and businesses rely on diesel generators for their power supply," said entrepreneur Bimbola Adisa. (Kathryn Mcconnell, All Africa)
Is environmentally sustainable water, energy and land for all possible? - How do you ensure access to safe water, energy and land in a way that benefits the poorest people on the planet but does not harm the environment? (The Guardian)