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SolarWorld Announces New Silicon Source

SolarWorld AG (SME.MU) announced its subsidiary, Deutsche Solar AG, will implement a self-developed, innovative and material-saving technology for the production of solar wafers from silicon together with two partners from the Netherlands. Deutsche Solar AG, a leading manufacturer of solar silicon wafers, has established the RGS Development BV headquartered in the Netherlands in cooperation with the Netherlands research institute ECN (Energy Research Center of the Netherlands) and the investment company Sunergy Investco. The Joint Venture will build a pilot plant for the production of innovative and resource-saving silicon wafers by the beginning of the year 2007. “In the Ribbon-Growth-on-Substrate (RGS) process we developed, the object is to gain the solar wafer as a film by applying the silicon on a carrier material thus avoiding the sophisticated cutting of silicon blocks which is the method of choice today,”, explains Prof. Dr. Peter Woditsch, CEO of Deutsche Solar AG, the new technology. “We expect that through the industrial use of the RGS technology the silicon demand can be reduced to 60%. In conjunction with the reduction of other production costs this may lead to significant cost savings in wafer production.” The SolarWorld AG group is the only fully integrated solar power company […]

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Financial Giant Goldman Sachs Takes Leadership on Urgent Environmental Issues

Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) has adopted the first comprehensive environmental policy by a global investment bank. The policy acknowledges the scientific consensus on climate change and calls for urgent action by public policy makers and federal regulators to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It is also the first in the financial sector to acknowledge the degradation of global “ecosystems services”: the provision of water and food, control of pests and pathogens, renewal of fertile soil, control of floods, and more. In another industry precedent, Goldman Sachs announced it would establish and fund a $5 million Center for Environmental Markets, which will engage in research to develop public policy options for establishing markets around climate change, biodiversity conversation and ecosystem services. CEO Henry Paulson Jr. said the center would open within six months and would help shape public policy. Goldman Sachs also announced it would invest $1 billion in renewable energy projects and businesses, and that it plans to be a leading U.S. wind energy developer and generator. It also plans to promote LEED green building standards and Forest Stewardship Council certification standards. Finally, as a major owner and operator of fossil fuel-fired power plants in the U.S., Goldman Sachs agreed to publicly […]

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