Cleantech ticker: 26 Feb. 2009

Cleantech news as it happens — check back for regular updates:

• Florida Power & Light today announced the groundbreaking for its new 25-megawatt solar photovoltaic plant, expected to be complete by the end of the year;
• Smart grid, meet smart freight, a concept being explored by the US Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory;
• Wacker Chemie today announced plans to build a $1 billion (US) polysilicon production plant in Tennessee;
• A researcher at Michigan State University has found that biodegradable mulch works as well as the plastic mulch now widely used in large-scale agriculture;
• Babcock Power and ThermoEnergy Corporation have together formed a new company that aims to develop and commercialise a new and advanced design for a carbon capture power plant;
• enXco today dedicated its 150-megawatt Shiloh II Wind Project in California;
• The New York Times today launched a new online section dedicated to Energy & Environment;
• The Long Island Carbon Footprint Project is gathering energy use and emissions data for every community on the island so officials will know where the most effective reductions can be made;
• Tech-On! reports that NTT DoCoMo is testing a DC-powered data centre in Tokyo with the goal of halving normal IT carbon dioxide emissions;
• A new study from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration finds that commercial shipping generates almost half as much particulate pollution as all the world’s cars;
• Minyanville reports that Internet service providers are increasingly hyping dial-up access to appeal to budget-minded customers;
• The Biotechnology Industry Organisation says advanced biofuel developments could generate up to 200,000 new US jobs by 2022;
• The Economist Intelligence Unit has released a new corporate survey in which 73 percent of those polled say energy efficiency improvements will be a top priority as businesses look to save money during the recession;
• Siemens Energy has started working with the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory on a $2 million (US) effort to boost wind-energy efficiency by improving the accuracy of weather forecasts;
• The Guardian reports that Centrica plans to create 1,500 new green jobs in areas like renewable energy, low-carbon energy and energy efficiency;
• A new report from Research and Markets finds that China expanded its wind power capacity by 6.3 gigawatts in 2008, bringing its total installed wind capacity to 12.2 gigawatts;
• Researchers at the University of Alberta and the National Research Council’s National Institute for Nanotechnology have developed a method that could help develop better-performing hybrid organic solar cells.