For all its great insolation, Israel has less than 2 MW of installed PV capacity. Quietly, however, the country is moving toward a decent – albeit limited – PV rooftops program. By William P. Hirshmann

For some time, supply has limited demand on the PV market – but what determines demand? The short answer: price.

The PV sector is the renewable energy business with the most significant investment activity today. More than 25% of the money invested in clean energy technologies is going to solar PV. The conference gave a perfect opportunity to review PV market trends and industry developments, to understand the specifics of solar PV technology and to explore the best instruments with which to finance both PV projects and companies.

"Last year saw huge growth in world’s wind turbine generation increasing by 26.6% to nearly 100,000MW and saving 200 million tonnes of CO2 emissions", the Senior Vice-President of the World Wind Energy Association, Peter Rae, said in Launceston.

This report gives an overview over the world market for electricity generation from wind energy and reviews the year 2006.

California has been a leading state for solar in the U.S. and 2008 will be a bell-weather year for expanding the use of solar in California; however, without the federal tax credit extension, the outlook is uncertain for customers, installers, employees and companies who would like to sell their products in this state. By Sue Kateley

Project development usually gets the headlines, but it's O&M that makes wind power a reality.  By John Dunlop, AWEA

All new homes built in Germany from January 1st 2009 will be required to install renewable energy heating systems under a new law called the Renewable Energies Heating Law (Erneubare-Energien-Wärmegesetz).  By Jane Burgermeister

Germany's biodiesel production capacity is set to rise to a record 5 million tons in 2007, but analysts have warned that the boom in the country's biodiesel industry is coming to an end after the industry failed to block the government from rolling back a key tax relief scheme in court this July. By Jane Burgermeister

In February 2006, President Bush launched an ambitious plan called the "Advanced Energy Initiative." Its aim is to reduce America's crude oil imports from the Middle East by 75 percent by the year 2025.  By Jan Suszkiw, Agricultural Research Service