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When former programme manager for the Rooivalk Helicopter Kobus Meiring moved onto his next project, the Southern African Large Telescope in the Western Cape, he looked up at the stars and saw the future. Meiring must have realised that the future was green, so in 2005 he co-founded Optimal Energy with former military experimental test pilot Mike Lombard, mechanical engineer Jian Swiegers, electronic engineer Gerhard Swart and aeronautical engineer Ratilal Rowji. Together they set about creating Africa's first zero-emission six-seater multi-purpose electric vehicle with support from the Department of Science & Technology's Innovation Fund and the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC).

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has developed a tool to allow network administrators to remotely change power management settings on Windows XP, and thus save energy and reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. The EPA developed the tool because Microsoft did not give system administrators the ability to natively manage power settings on XP systems over a network, and this may be hindering adoption of the power management functions in many companies.

Less than 1% of the world's deserts could generate as much electricity as the world is currently using, according to an international network of scientists and engineers, and backed by detailed research by the German Aerospace Centre and the U.S. Department of Energy.

Countries considering emissions schemes with free pollution permits should think again, says watchdog organisation WWF as European energy companies stand to reap windfall profits of up to $111 billion from carbon trading. A WWF commissioned study has warned that design faults in the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) allow companies to make huge profits from carbon emission allowances received for free under National Allocation Plans.

The German Reichstag is likely to become the greenest parliament building in the world when it switches to 100% renewable energy later this year. The German government hopes that the switch to clean energy will boost the country's reputation as one of the greenest in the world and help the renewable energy sector.

The Scottish Government will offer a £10 million (R155 million) prize for development of the best technology for electricity generation from wave or tidal power.

South Africa's environmental crime fighters, the Green Scorpions, have been so successful that a partnership with the United Kingdom to train them will be extended by two years.

The cost of decommissioning ageing UK nuclear plants has risen by £12bn to £73bn (R1.1 trillion) since 2005 according to the National Audit Office. But the government has warned that prospective bidders for any future nuclear power stations will be required to demonstrate detailed and costed plans for decommissioning, waste management and disposal.

More than 700 veterans who witnessed atomic explosions in the South Pacific in the 1950s have joined a compensation claim against the British Ministry of Defence. Many of the veterans, including the captain of the Navy warship, HMS Diana believe that the British government was deliberately testing the effects of radiation on the men as well as the ship. The ship was ordered to steam through the fallout from two atomic explosions.

UN World Food Programme (EFP) head Josette Sheeran has warned that European Union countries needed to look more carefully at the effect that biofuels were having on food prices. Sheeran warned the European Parliament that soaring energy and grain prices, the effects of climate change and demand for biofuels were affecting the World Food Programme's ability to deliver food aid to developing countries.