Pune: Some years ahead, you may dump your 'outdated' smartphones and instead use advanced cognitive radio. Defence Institute of Advanced Technology (Diat), India's premier defence research institute, is working on developing an intelligent communication system called cognitive radio. Diat officials claimed that the next generation communication system will overtake today's smartphones.

/ PRNewswire Africa / - For the African Development Bank's Energy, Environment and Climate Change Department, transforming Africa means powering a climate-smart and greener continent. It entails supporting transformative infrastructure projects to increase energy access backed by both large-scale and off-grid solutions, promoting sustainable use of natural resources, supporting climate-resilience with concessional climate and environmental finance, and ensuring that all projects comply with international and social best practices.

Some energy projects are large-scale transformative projects. They involve blending public and private capital with the help of concessional climate and environmental finance and diversifying the energy mix to include clean and renewable energy sources such as hydro (e.g Inga in Democratic Republic of Congo), geothermal (e.g. Rift Valley) or wind and solar power (e.g. in Morocco).

Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas (13th CD), issued the following news release:

This week, U.S. Congressman Mac Thornberry (R-Clarendon) introduced the latest version of his bill to promote domestic energy production. H.R. 2081, the "No More Excuses Energy Act of 2013," would encourage the production of all forms of domestic energy including oil and gas, nuclear, and alternative energy and fuels.

"Congress needs to reduce the amount of regulation coming out of Washington and encourage all forms of energy production here at home," said Thornberry. "We need national energy policies that create jobs and grow the economy; basically, we should be trying to replicate what Texas has been doing the past 15 years. This bill is meant to do just that - help to lower energy prices and create jobs by getting government out of the way of producers."

The following information was released by North Dakota Senator John Hoeven:

Senator John Hoeven today called for a states-first approach to the regulation of hydraulic fracturing and energy production. Hoeven made the statements during a roundtable of the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources comprised of representatives from the energy industry and environmental groups. He also called on Congress, industry and various interest groups to work together to address the nations energy needs using all of the nations energy resources.

The following information was released by West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin:

U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), along with Senator John Hoeven (R-ND), introduced the All-Of-The-Above Federal Building Energy Conservation Act of 2013 to improve the energy efficiency of federal buildings. The legislation ensures that alterations and additions to federal buildings meet minimum energy efficiency requirements, encourages the use of energy management systems and maintains those systems proper operation.

The following information was released by the office of the New York Attorney General:

New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced today that he has joined a coalition of states petitioning the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to fix critical omissions in the proposed scope of its review of the hazards of allowing the long-term storage of nuclear waste to linger in communities that are home to nuclear power plants. The petition also calls on the Commission to make necessary changes to its regulations to ensure states and other affected parties are able to raise site-specific concerns about long-term nuclear waste storage at particular plant sites, such as the unique setting of the Indian Point nuclear facilities in Westchester County.

"We are petitioning the NRC to order staff to comply with the court's order and federal law by fixing critical omissions in the scope of its review of on-site storage of nuclear waste," saidAttorney General Schneiderman. "NRC staff is continuing to ignore serious public health, safety and environmental risks related to long-term, on-site storage. The communities that serve as de facto long-term radioactive waste repositories deserve a full and detailed accounting of the risks."

The following information was released by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce:

Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Ranking Member David Vitter (R-LA) and House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) today sent a letter to Gene Dodaro, Comptroller General of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), asking for a report on the methods and procedures currently being utilized by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to conduct cost analyses when developing and proposing new policies and regulations.

The following information was released by the Washington State Senate Democratic Caucus:

Kevin Ranker

Sen. Kevin Ranker, D-Orcas Island, released this statement today on signing Senate Bill 5603 into law:

The following information was released by the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor:

The University of Michigan Institute for Social Research has awarded more than $250,000 in fellowships to 54 graduate students and researchers in its ongoing effort to support young scholars and innovative social science research.

The Philip Converse and Warren Miller Fellowship in American Political Behavior was given to Elizabeth Mann and John Jackson, a team affiliated with the Department of Political Science and ISR's Center for Political Studies. Mann is examining the evolution of partisanship among the U.S. electorate and what factors explain changes and stability in individual and aggregate partisanship over time.

 Stringent regulations aimed at minimizing vehicle emissions have spurred the global emission control catalyst market. The market will also grow in tandem with the automotive and energy segments in Asia-Pacific, as rising vehicle sales and escalating demand for power add to the need for emission control catalysts.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan (http://www.chemicals.frost.com), Global Market for Emission Control Catalysts, finds that the market earned revenue of more than $6.70 billion in 2012 and estimates this to reach $14.22 billion in 2019.

WASHINGTON, DC - The U.S. House of Representatives today approved H.R. 271, the Resolving Environmental and Grid Reliability Conflicts Act by voice vote. The bipartisan legislation, introduced by Reps. Pete Olson (R-TX) and Mike Doyle (D-PA), will ensure America's power companies are able to comply with Department of Energy emergency orders to maintain grid reliability without facing penalties for violating potentially conflicting environmental laws.

The Canadian Wind Energy Association issued the following news release:

Alberta can once again be a leader in renewable energy development and address global concern about the province's environmental record by meeting rising electricity demand with new clean wind energy. WindVision 2025: A Strategy For Alberta, released today by the Canadian Wind Energy Association (CanWEA), makes the case for the strategic deployment of more wind energy in Alberta in a direct response to a challenge by Alberta Energy Minister Ken Hughes for the renewable industry to put forth policy solutions to help "green the grid".

Since the country's first wind farm was constructed in southern Alberta in 1993, the province has installed 1,100 MW of wind energy - but this represents just a small fraction of the available resource. Alberta currently sits in third place for total installed wind energy capacity - behind Ontario and Quebec. WindVision 2025 makes the case that Alberta is well positioned to take strategic advantage of its significant wind resource, access to skilled trades, and interest by independent power producers.

The following information was released by the office of Texas Rep. Mac Thornberry:

This week, U.S. Congressman Mac Thornberry (R-Clarendon) introduced the latest version of his bill to promote domestic energy production. H.R. 2081, the "No More Excuses Energy Act of 2013," would encourage the production of all forms of domestic energy including oil and gas, nuclear, and alternative energy and fuels.

"Congress needs to reduce the amount of regulation coming out of Washington and encourage all forms of energy production here at home," said Thornberry. "We need national energy policies that create jobs and grow the economy; basically, we should be trying to replicate what Texas has been doing the past 15 years. This bill is meant to do just that - help to lower energy prices and create jobs by getting government out of the way of producers."

By TIOL News Service

NEW DELHI, MAY 23, 2013: AS per the re-assessment studies carried out by Central Electricity Authority (CEA) during 1978-1987, the hydro power potential in terms of Installed Capacity (I.C.) is estimated at 148701 MW out of which 145320 MW of the potential consists of hydro electric schemes having I.C. above 25 MW.

Australia, May 23 -- Ivor Kempson, Queensland, owns the trademark (1452980) for 'EVOLUTION SOLAR AUSTRALIA' and 'GLOBE CUTS SATELLITE & RADAR' from Oct. 20, 2011, through Oct. 20, 2021.

I'd like to thank our witnesses for being with us today. Today we are meeting on four bills to expand American energy production, create American jobs, cut through bureaucratic red tape and streamline a regulatory process that is forcing companies to avoid federal land for energy production in search of state and private land more amenable to energy development.

We will be hearing witness testimony on four bills. H.R. 555, the "BLM Live Internet Auctions Act," would bring BLM leasing into the 21st century by amending the Mineral Leasing Act to allow BLM to conduct lease sales through the internet.

New Delhi, May 23 -- In Uttar Pradesh, about 824 MW of grid interactive power generation capacity have been installed through renewable energy sources. Apart from this, about 212 MW off grid renewable energy power generation capacity have been also installed.

TESTIMONY-BY: ALLISON M. MACFARLANE, CHAIRMAN

AFFILIATION: UNITED STATES NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Statement of Allison M. Macfarlane Chairman United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Committee on Senate Environment And Public Works

May 23, 2013

Chairman Boxer, Ranking Member Vitter, Chairman Carper, Ranking Member Sessions, and Members of the Committee, I appreciate the opportunity to appear before you today. I am honored that the President has nominated me to continue my service on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. I also want to thank my family for their constant support and for being here with me this morning.

Last June, I committed to you that I would foster a collegial, productive working environment at the NRC. The NRC faced challenges, and I committed to meet them. From the first day, I made it my practice to meet regularly with my fellow Commissioners to hear and understand their views and establish collegial relationships with each of them. I value their expertise and perspectives. I believe we have alleviated these challenges and are now focused on our important safety and security mission.

Japanese regulators are in the process of deciding which nuclear reactors are not safe enough to operate because of the existence of active faults, but the task has proved tough with clear room for improvement.

Assessments of suspicious faults at three nuclear power plants have been proceeding in parallel so far, and the first evaluation finalized by a panel of experts was accepted by the Nuclear Regulation Authority on Wednesday.

At a press conference, NRA Chairman Shunichi Tanaka gave full support to an assessment that a fault beneath the No. 2 reactor at the Tsuruga plant in western Japan is active.