E.U. policy helped reduce air quality in harbors

A European Union policy which limits sulfur content in fuels for ships at berth or at anchor in ports has helped decrease sulfur dioxide emissions from shipping in E.U. ports. By measuring key air quality parameters in certain harbors before and after the sulfur content limits were enforced, an average decrease of 66 percent in sulfur dioxide concentrations were found.

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Portuguese police force add Nissan Leaf to their fleet

The Polish police will be adding eight electric vehicles to the force to patrol the country’s large urban areas and arrive at scenes of the crime “in near silence.” Portugal’s Polícia de Segurança Pública, which concentrates largely on large urban areas in the country, will be receiving eight Nissan Leaf police cars for the force’s Safe School Program but they said the vehicles can also be used for other police duties.

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Bulgarian wind industry group suing government over feed-in tariffs

The Bulgarian Wind Energy Association is suing the country’s State Energy and Water Regulatory Commission over the latter's decision to slash the feed-in tariff for wind power by 22 percent, which will be put into full effect this month.According to SeeNews Renewables, the association says the cut is too large and is not “in line” with the current market situation.

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European Commission affirms plans to cut more emissions from cars and vans

The European Commission proposed new targets to further diminish carbon emissions from new cars and light commercial vehicles or vans by 2020. The targets seek to reduce average emissions from new cars from 135.7 grams of carbon per kilometer in 2011 to only 95 grams per kilometer in 2020, with a fixed target of 130 grams of carbon per kilometer in 2015.

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E.U. beefing up technology research for its ‘smart cities’

Aiming to gain more knowledge in the area of “smart technologies” for cities, the European Union will spend 365 million euros ($449 million) in 2013 that will fund energy, transport and communications research that will tackle common problems like congestion and energy waste.

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Extreme weather hammering E.U. transport sector

Extreme weather conditions are costing the European Union\'s transport system at least 15 billion euros ($18.423 billion) a year, according to a study from VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. The most vulnerable to extreme weather is road traffic compared with other modes of transport, with one factor that sector’s not being centralized or professionally controlled, unlike rail and air travel.

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University of York opens new center for development of green chemicals

Britain’s University of York opened the £2.5 million Biorenewables Development Center yesterday. The facility, funded by the U.K.’s Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the European Regional Development Fund, aims to be a headquarters for the development of renewable chemicals.

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Group urges E.U. leaders to invest in renewables, not oil

The European Wind Energy Association urged leaders who attended the European Union summit in Brussels last week to invest in renewable energy to create more jobs instead of importing oil from Russia and Algeria. \"If E.U. leaders want to create jobs in Europe they should invest in renewable energies.

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Q.Cells sells thin-film solar business to China’s Hanergy

China’s Hanergy Holding Group Limited and Germany’s Q-Cells signed an agreement for the former’s acquisition of Solibro, Q-Cells subsidiary that works with thin-film solar technology. Solibro has developed a co-evaporation technology for producing copper indium gallium diselenide solar modules under the brand name Q-Smart. Based in Germany’s Solar Valley in Thalheim, Solibro currently runs two factories with a combined capacity of 135 megawatts peak and has produced and sold more than 140 MWp.

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German R.E. sector records 380,000 jobs for 2011

Germany’s renewable energy sector, including power generation from solar, wind and biomass, created 381,600 jobs in 2011, with renewable energy installations bringing in 22.9 billion euros ($28.805 billion) in investments. According to a Federal Environment Ministry study, the development and production of renewable energy technologies and the supply of electricity, heat and fuel from renewable sources continues to be a booming business in Germany.

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