energy demands

(American Chemical Society) Meeting the world's growing energy demands while minimizing global warming will be one on the biggest challenges humanity has every faced, said Dr.

Raymond Orbach, the US Department of Energy's Under Secretary for Science, in the first of two special podcasts on "Confronting Climate Change" from the American Chemical Society's podcast series, "Global Challenges/Chemistry Solutions."

Researchers report an advance toward the next generation of plastic solar cells, which are widely heralded as a low cost, environmentally-friendly alternative to inorganic solar cells for meeting rising energy demands.

Plastic solar cells, fabricated from bulk heterojunction materials comprising semiconducting polymers and fullerenes, have already demonstrated promising performance.

Nuclear energy must increase by more than 10% each year from 2010 to 2050 to meet all future energy demands and replace fossil fuels, but this is an unsustainable prospect.

According to a new report such a large growth rate will require a major improvement in nuclear power efficiency otherwise each new power plant will simply cannibalize the energy produced by earlier nuclear power plants.

Nuclear energy must increase by more than 10% each year from 2010 to 2050 to meet all future energy demands and replace fossil fuels, but this is an unsustainable prospect.

According to a report published in Inderscience's International Journal of Nuclear Governance, Economy and Ecology such a large growth rate will require a major improvement in nuclear power efficiency otherwise each new power plant will simply cannibalize the energy produced by earlier nuclear power plants.

Nuclear energy must increase by more than 10% each year from 2010 to 2050 to meet all future energy demands and replace fossil fuels, but this is an unsustainable prospect.

According to a new report such a large growth rate will require a major improvement in nuclear power efficiency otherwise each new power plant will simply cannibalize the energy produced by earlier nuclear power plants.

In a finding that could help ease concerns about the potential environmental impact of manufacturing solar cells, scientists report that the manufacture of solar cells produces far fewer air pollutants than conventional fossil fuel technologies.

Solar energy has been touted for years as a safer, cleaner alternative to burning fossil fuels to meet rising energy demands.

However, environmentalists and others are increasingly concerned about the potential negative impact of solar cell (photovoltaic) technology.