Now that the election is over, it’s time to move on to other things. My own personal obsession is the environment and conserving energy and water, reducing our carbon footprint and so on. This story will share some helpful energy conservation tips that are very much needed ahead of this Holiday Season.

There is considerable worldwide demand for new types of reactors for the rapid and well- controlled production of high value chemicals. Charl Stemmet has developed the porous foam reactor, which has an energy efficiency ten times higher than traditional reactors at comparable production rates. Industrial partners such as BASF, DSM and Shell will make use of the research results. The project was funded by Technology Foundation STW.

Talk of rising energy prices has prompted many people to consider investing in new home electronics and appliances that promise to reduce electric bills thanks to improved energy efficiency. This thrifty thinking has another added benefit: using less energy is also good for the environment.

When it comes to supercomputing energy efficiency, IBM (NYSE: IBM) cannot be beaten -- that's according to the findings of the latest Supercomputing 'Green 500 List' announced by The Green500.org,

The latest bright idea in energy-efficient lighting for homes and offices uses big science in nano-small packages to dim the future Edison's light bulb.

From solar power to computer chips to advanced lighting, new materials developed by chemists are helping consumers reap the benefits of advanced electronics, according to an article scheduled for the July 15 issue of Chemical & Engineering News.

General Motors Europe, part of the leading global automotive group, Veolia Environnement, world leader in environmental services, the energy developer Clairvoyant Energy and the Government of Aragon, Spain, today announced a further commitment to energy efficiency with the construction of the world’s largest capacity rooftop solar power station.

Nicholas & Company is building a model data center that delivers significantly more computing power per watt. The Salt Lake City based, 500 employee, food distributor has increased its computing capabilities while holding energy costs level by virtualizing applications, and consolidating its servers and storage on IBM systems.

IBM and Umeå University announced today that the most powerful Windows-based computer in Europe is being installed at the supercomputer center known as HPC2N. Scientists at HPC2N will use the powerful system – running on a beta version of Windows HPC Server 2008® – for basic as well as applied research.

Whether for stopping cars or bullets, titanium is the material of choice, but it has always been too expensive for all but the most specialized applications.

Reinforcing its leadership in power management and energy-efficient products, National Semiconductor Corp. (NYSE:NSM) today launched an initiative to help customers create more energy-efficient systems that use less power, generate less heat, have a smaller form factor and/or longer battery life.

Fujitsu Limited announced today that it has become a Contributor Member of The Green Grid, the first Japanese company to take a leadership role in the global consortium dedicated to advancing energy efficiency in data centers and business computing ecosystems.