EU names renewable energy laggards

The European Commission has confirmed the EU is on track to narrowly beat its goal of generating 20% of its energy from renewable energy sources by 2020, releasing new figures that predict member states will together generate 20.3% of their power from renewables by the end of the decade, writes Computing.co.uk.

The data shows that 12 of the 27 member states are on target to meet their renewable energy targets, while 10 countries are in a position to exceed their targets.

However, the Commission also named and shamed five countries - Italy, Luxembourg, Belgium, Denmark and Malta - that are currently expected to miss their 2020 target.

Team D'Regen from Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, and Feng from Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Sarawak, were crowned the champions of the main and topical challenges, respectively, at the inaugural Digi Deep Green Challenge for Change, writes The Star.

The six-month competition was aimed at inspiring young Malaysians to discover new, meaningful and innovative renewable energy solutions.

It saw undergraduates from eight participating universities working on a series of challenges that focused on energy efficiency solutions for the mobile telecommunications industry and renewable energy solutions for Malaysian communities.

Helsinki is pioneering the world's most advanced municipal heating system, states Clean Technica.

New York City put in an early form of this district heating a century ago (the steam coming from ancient downtown loft radiators in the middle of winter nights is the remaining evidence). But that was before the computer age. A new twist on district heating is being pioneered by Finland in its capital city, Helsinki.

Excess heat from hundreds of computer servers in a new underground data centre will be captured and pumped to heat hundreds of homes and businesses throughout the city.