Secunia Security Advisory - SUSE has issued an update for kernel. This fixes a vulnerability, which can be exploited by malicious, local users to perform certain actions with escalated privileges.

Secunia Security Advisory - SUSE has issued an update for MySQL. This fixes multiple vulnerabilities, which can be exploited by malicious users to compromise a vulnerable system and by malicious people to conduct brute force attacks.

Secunia Security Advisory - SUSE has issued an update for gnutls. This fixes a vulnerability, which can be exploited by malicious people to potentially cause a DoS (Denial of Service) in an application using the library.

Secunia Security Advisory - SUSE has issued an update for opera. This fixes multiple vulnerabilities, where one has an unknown impact and others can be exploited by malicious people to compromise a user's system.

Secunia Security Advisory - SUSE has issued an update for opera. This fixes a vulnerability with an unknown impact.

Secunia Security Advisory - SUSE has issued an update for flash-player. This fixes two vulnerabilities, which can be exploited by malicious people to compromise a user's system.

Secunia Security Advisory - SUSE has issued an update for wireshark. This fixes multiple vulnerabilities, which can be exploited by malicious people to cause a DoS (Denial of Service) and potentially compromise a vulnerable system.

Secunia Security Advisory - SUSE has issued an update for libvirt. This fixes a vulnerability, which can be exploited by malicious people to potentially compromise a vulnerable system.

Secunia Security Advisory - SUSE has issued an update for samba. This fixes a vulnerability, which can be exploited by malicious people to conduct clickjacking attacks.

Secunia Security Advisory - SUSE has issued an update for libvirt. This fixes two vulnerabilities, which can be exploited by malicious people to cause a DoS (Denial of Service) and potentially compromise a vulnerable system.

Secunia Security Advisory - SUSE has issued an update for ruby on rails. This fixes multiple vulnerabilities, which can be exploited by malicious people to conduct SQL injection attacks and to compromise a vulnerable system.

Mandriva Linux Security Advisory 2015-046 - Stephen Roettger of the Google Security Team, Sebastian Krahmer of the SUSE Security Team and Harlan Stenn of Network Time Foundation discovered that the length value in extension fields is not properly validated in several code paths in ntp_crypto.c, which could lead to information leakage or denial of service. Stephen Roettger of the Google Security Team reported that ACLs based on IPv6 ::1 addresses can be bypassed.

Mandriva Linux Security Advisory 2015-140 - If no authentication key is defined in the ntp.conf file, a cryptographically-weak default key is generated. ntp-keygen before 4.2.7p230 uses a non-cryptographic random number generator with a weak seed to generate symmetric keys. A remote unauthenticated attacker may craft special packets that trigger buffer overflows in the ntpd functions crypto_recv() (when using autokey authentication), ctl_putdata(), and configure(). The resulting buffer overflows may be exploited to allow arbitrary malicious code to be executed with the privilege of the ntpd process. A section of code in ntpd handling a rare error is missing a return statement, therefore processing did not stop when the error was encountered. This situation may be exploitable by an attacker. Stephen Roettger of the Google Security Team, Sebastian Krahmer of the SUSE Security Team and Harlan Stenn of Network Time Foundation discovered that the length value in extension fields is not properly validated in several code paths in ntp_crypto.c, which could lead to information leakage or denial of service. Stephen Roettger of the Google Security Team reported that ACLs based on IPv6 ::1 addresses can be bypassed. The ntp package has been patched to fix these issues.

HP Security Bulletin - A potential vulnerability has been identified with Openview Network Node Manager (OV NNM). This vulnerability could be exploited remotely by an unauthorized user to gain privileged access. Affected versions: Openview Network Node Manager (OV NNM) 6.2, 6.4, 7.01, 7.50 running on HP-UX, Solaris, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Linux.

Debian Security Advisory DSA 830-1 - Drew Parsons noticed that the post-installation script of ntlmaps, an NTLM authorization proxy server, changes the permissions of the configuration file to be world-readable. It contains the user name and password of the Windows NT system that ntlmaps connects to and, hence, leaks them to local users.

Cisco Security Advisory - Multiple vulnerabilities exist in the Cisco ASA 5500 Series Adaptive Security Appliances and Cisco PIX Security Appliances. These include Windows NT domain authentication bypass, IPv6 denial of service, and a Crypto Accelerator memory leak.

As a businessman exploring investments, I need simple answers, however complicated the problem. I wish to know: Are microgrids economical? How much investment is needed and for what? What are the factors that principally affect profitability, within the system and in the environment? If microgrids are not profitable at the present, when will they be? I recognize that understanding microgrids as a system requires complicated mathematics and modeling. I’m sympathetic to and respect those who do that.

Snohomish County Public Utility District announced it is abandoning plans to develop the 600-kW Admiralty Inlet Pilot tidal project in Washington's Puget Sound.

German electricity consumers will for the first time see a drop in the fee added to their bills to fund renewables, a boost for Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has pledged to curb the cost for voters.

U.S. electricity markets face years of higher prices as clean-air regulations shut more coal-fired power plants than earlier forecast, cutting supply and forcing producers to rely more on natural gas.

According to the latest "Energy Infrastructure Update" report from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC) Office of Energy Projects, wind power provided over two-thirds (68.41 percent) of new U.S. electrical generating capacity in October 2014. Specifically, five wind farms in Colorado, Kansas, Michigan, Nebraska, and Texas came on line last month, accounting for 574 MW of new capacity.

EON SE’s plan to spin off its fossil fuel plants marks a watershed moment in Germany’s renewables effort that will likely bolster the country’s already leading position in clean energy.

The siren call of 2020 corporate environmental sustainability goals is quickly getting louder, as corporate leaders realize they must go further today to achieve their sustainability targets for tomorrow. Increased use of renewable energy is an ambitious goal for some of the world’s largest companies, as 59 percent of the Fortune 100 and nearly two-thirds of the Global 100 have set GHG emissions reduction commitments, renewable energy commitments or both, according to a recent Ceres’ report, Power Forward: Why the World’s Largest Companies Are Investing in Renewable Energy. One global consumer products company, for example, plans to derive 30 percent of its energy from clean sources by 2020.

All of us here at RenewableEnergyWorld.com would like to wish everyone a very merry Christmas and a happy holiday season.

GDF Suez SA plans to double renewable power production capacity in Europe over the next decade as the utility shifts its focus away from developing more historic natural gas and nuclear energy sources in the region.

Ending a year-long race that had been nip-and tuck every month, renewable energy sources cumulatively provided more new electric generating capacity in 2014 than did natural gas.

The recent dramatic plunge in oil and natural gas prices, to their lowest level since the global recession in 2009, has some observers worried about the effect on clean tech. Conventional wisdom has it that renewables have a tougher time competing when fossil fuels are cheap, making grid parity (in the case of natural gas-fired electricity) more elusive for solar and wind power.

In a previous article, I had a conversation with former-CIA chief Jim Woolsey to discuss one of America’s greatest national security vulnerabilities, its power grid. The issues that Woolsey has been concerned with for over a decade has been the ease in which a terrorist group or other actor (think North Korea for example) could attack the grid and plunge the country into darkness for months, if not years. And if that seems far-fetched, just recall how a tree limb fell in Ohio in 2003 and blacked out the entire Northeast and part of Canada for several days.

The renewable energy industry has come a long way in relatively little time. The costs of renewable technologies continue to go down, while renewable capacities at many utilities continue to go up. Although, in many cases, renewable technology is mature and ready for utility-scale deployment, state and federal production and investment tax policies appear less evolved.

Last June, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed the first ever national carbon pollution standards for existing power plants. Fossil fuel-fired power plants account for almost 40% of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions, making them the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the nation and one of the single largest categories of greenhouse gas sources in the world.

According to the latest "Energy Infrastructure Update" report from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC) Office of Energy Projects, wind, solar, geothermal, and hydropower combined provided over 75 percent (75.43 percent) of the 1,229 megawatts (MW) of new U.S. electrical generating capacity placed into service during the first quarter of 2015. The balance (302 MW) was provided by natural gas.

Europe’s utilities are re-evaluating their business models due to the energy transition. Members of POWER-GEN Europe’s Advisory Board consider how a reliance on fossil fuels is no longer politically desirable, forcing utilities to transform their portfolios to adapt to radical change.

Just over a decade ago, the state of California faced serious concerns about whether its utilities could generate and/or buy enough power to assure that the world’s seventh-largest economy could keep the lights on. The infamous California energy crisis, which affected several other western states as well, was a complex tangle of poorly structured deregulation, significant market manipulation (remember Enron?), and other causes. Along with rolling blackouts, California endured an official state of emergency that lasted 34 months, led to the recall and replacement of Gov. Gray Davis, and cost the state and its ratepayers billions of dollars — a cautionary tale for all states of electricity supply unable to meet demand.

Energy is Europe’s quiet crisis. While the clamour of failing economies, desperate migrants and political clashes grabs the headlines, energy policy is rarely front-page news, but it should be — the statistics are shocking.

Trillions of dollars will be invested in renewable energy over the next 25 years, driving some of the most profound changes yet in how humans get their electricity. That's according to a new forecast by Bloomberg New Energy Finance that plots out global power markets to 2040. 

After a year of being pummeled by opponents, Obama’s final carbon reduction plan emerged this week with an even stronger push for renewable energy.

Wind and solar energy are centerpieces of the Clean Power Plan, the United States’ first ever rule to reduce carbon dioxide from power plants.

The rule not only makes renewables one of the plan’s three central building blocks, but also creates special incentives to spur communities to build renewables more quickly than required.

The revised version of the rule comes after a year of review, hundreds of meetings and 4.3 million public comments delivered to EPA.  It requires that states come up with plans to cut carbon pollution from power plants by 870 million tons, or 32 percent below 2005 levels, in 2030.

British Columbia-based tidal developer, Yourbrook Energy Systems Ltd., is testing what it calls a prototype of a shallow water tidal-powered generator pump that could one day be used as part of a pumped storage hydroelectric project.
 

"The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word 'crisis'. One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity. In a crisis, be aware of the danger, but recognise the opportunity," said former U.S. president John F. Kennedy.

To those in the climate change field the name Mark Z. Jacobson needs no introduction. The director of the Atmosphere and Energy Program at Stanford University is credited with having written the book on computer modeling for atmospheric changes, as well as being a recognized expert in the impacts of energy production and a staunch supporter of renewables.

“I can remember as a young man driving from Carson City to Reno for the first time and I saw this steam coming out of the ground,” Nevada Senator Harry Reid told the geothermal industry last week. Although the congressman was in Washington DC trying to prevent a government shutdown, as his representative Vinny Spotleson reminded the audience, he and Senator Dean Heller both conveyed their support and appreciation of geothermal via video remarks at the opening plenary session of the GRC Annual Meeting and GEA Geothermal Energy Expo in Las Vegas.

October 17 marks the 40th anniversary of the start of the 1973 Arab Oil Embargo — an event that arguably launched the United States' ongoing pursuit of a national energy policy.

One of Europe's largest utilities is on the cusp of reportedly transforming its business from being a centralised energy provider into a decentralized energy provider.

The U.S. brought online nearly 700 MW of new electricity generation in October, and practically all of it was large-scale solar energy, according to data from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC) Office of Energy Projects.

In the global competition for appealing clean energy solutions, a leading entry is the new West Village at the University of California at Davis (UC Davis), which today celebrated significant progress toward its goal of becoming the largest planned “zero-net energy” community in the United States.

According to the latest "Energy Infrastructure Update" report from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's Office of Energy Projects, solar, biomass, wind, geothermal, and hydropower "units" provided 394 MW — or 100 percent — of all new electrical generation placed in-service in November 2013. There was no new capacity during the month from natural gas, coal, oil, or nuclear power. Renewable energy sources also provided 99 percent of all new electrical generating capacity in October.

European Union governments and the bloc’s executive arm are splitting over how to guarantee electricity supply as the region builds more renewable power.

U.K. renewable power generation rose 28 percent last year as more wind farms and solar plants came online, the Department of Energy and Climate Change said.

Simplifying finance vehicles for renewable energy will lure more investors and lower the costs of capital.