Solar panels floating on the sea: the idea may sound like something from science-fiction, but an Italian firm has made it a reality. In the first scheme of its kind in the world, the panels turn on the water in order to follow the sun. As well as providing renewable energy, the scheme is cheaper to install than traditional solar panels.Duration:02:11

To support the movement for a sustainable and just future, Working Films has brought together ten groundbreaking filmmakers with cutting-edge grassroots organizations to create a dynamic new film collaborative. Reel Power brings you stories from the frontline of our energy future that will get your community talking and taking action. Films participating in the series include: Cape Spin, Cooked, Deep Down, Dirty Business, Gasland, Green Shall Overcome, Solarize This, Split Estate, Sun Come Up, and When Two Worlds Collide. Sign up for updates on Reel Power and find out how you can bring the films to your community at workingfilms.org/reelpower.

Northern Pass is a project proposed by PSNH. It is a 180 mile corridor through much of New Hampshire, including the White Mountain National Forest. Over 1000 towers, up to 140 feet, will be built along the corridor if the project is approved. The purpose of the project is to bring hydro-electricity from Hydro-Quebec to Massachusetts and Connecticut. This form of energy is not a renewable, green energy. The rivers dammed in Quebec have caused major environmental devastation along Quebec’s northern coast. Northern Pass has been soundly denounced by many New Hampshire residents.

www.euronews.net In Dartmouth, in the UK, technicians are working on a sort of “aquatic bicycle pump” which could be the future of renewable energy. In tests, the Searaser has produced enough energy to power a light bulb, but this is only a prototype and the finished Searaser will be around 13 times bigger than this. Alvin Smith, the inventor of Searaser said: “It is really only a bicycle pump with a float on it. As this pump goes up and down it sucks sea water and pumps sea water out, purely through the action of the waves.” He came up with the idea about 10 years ago while playing with an inflatable ball in a swimming pool. Searaser pumps seawater using a vertical piston between two buoys – one on the surface of the water, the other suspended underwater and tethered to a weight on the seabed. Alvin Smith explained: “You have got the Searaser in the water that will be operated by the waves and swell, anything from half a metre swell or more it will work. You pump it to a tank or reservoirs then you can hydro on demand electricity through your turbine.” As the ocean swell moves the buoys up and down, the piston works like a pump, sending seawater through a pipe to an onshore turbine to produce electricity.or to a coastal storage reservoir. It can then be released through a generator as required. The ideal site for the machines is in water about 25m deep near a cliff face. Alvin Smith says that the most important aspect of Searaser is that it means low-carbon energy can be …

With no mainland electricity connection, and after decades of using diesel generators, the people of community-owned Isle of Eigg switched on their own renewable electricity supply in February 2008. In a unique system, wind, water and sun provide 24 hour power for the island’s 85 residents. This ten minute film tells you how it happens! See www.islandsgoinggreen.org for more information.

Find out about the plan to Repower Australia with 100% Renewable Energy.

This edition of Energy 101 highlights the benefits of electric vehicles, including improved fuel efficiency, reduced emissions, and lower maintenance costs. For more information on electric vehicles from the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, visit the Vehicle Technologies Program website: www1.eere.energy.gov

This video was created by Bowdoin College students www.bowdoin.edu in cooperation with the Maine Energy Investment Corporation www.renewmaine.org.

Visit – www.SolarStirlingPlants.com – Solar Stirling Plant is a revolutionary innovation that works by using the sun Heat for making free electricity. This is a completely different solar energy generator called – Stirling Plant, it is a method that produces 12x more energy in comparison to the expensive solar photovoltaic electricity systems. The best part regarding this, it is much cheaper to produce than regular solar panels, and it is simple to build, meaning you dont really need any technical skills in advance of building it.Solar Stirling Plant harnesses the power of the sun, thus it produces absolutely free and clean eco-friendly energy therefore works fully off this grid. This is a new method to generate free energy. The principle of this Solar Stirling Plant has been researched for a long time, and now after the we modified The design and simplified it to a point that everybody are able to build it, we decided to make it available to the general public. As a source of heat the Solar Stirling Plant uses parabolic reflector dishes to assemble all the sun rays which than are focused and concentrated within a spot in focus point of the parabolic dish, where the stirling engine is going to be placed. Instead of trying to build power from the scattered sun rays similar to the basic solar panel does indeed, by focusing the uv rays onto the Solar Stirling plant you will be able to generate 12 times the maximum amount of energy than the regular sun power panels, and …