Sources of Information
MAGAZINES AND NEWS
Renewable Energy World magazine and news. This free on-line and printed magazine provides excellent market, industry, and technology articles and news, and there is also a paid daily e-newsletter and a free weekly e-newsletter, along with industry directories, jobs, and other services. There is also now a North-America-specific magazine in addition to the international magazine. The best single source for keeping track of renewables.
PV News -- A great monthly newsletter by the Prometheus Institute covering developments throughout the world. Comprehensively covers companies, policies, trends, installation data, and technology development. Requires subscription.
Photon International -- Solar PV industry news, with a free archive sorted by world region and also searchable. Magazine requires subscription.
Renewable Energy News -- daily free news from the World News Network.
Solar Buzz (World Solar Energy News) -- a great free source of industry and project news and information, including a freely weekly e-newsletter "NBuzz."
Solar Today -- free on-line monthly magazine from the American Solar Energy Society.
INFORSE Sustainable Energy News -- articles from around the world on policy, sustainable development, and grass-roots actions.
REFocus -- free magazine emphasizing projects, planned investments, future technology possibilities, and political and institutional developments.
ACADEMIC JOURNALS
Energy Policy
Energy--The International Journal
Environment
International Journal of Global Energy Issues
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews
Bioenergy International
Energy for Sustainable Development
ANNUAL MARKET AND TECHNOLOGY REPORTS
The Renewable Energy Division of the International Energy Agency (IEA) consistently produces several new reports on renewable energy each year. Here is a current list of IEA publications on renewable energy stretching from 1987-2010. In 2010, a dozen new "technolgy roadmaps" were published for a number of renewable technologies.
The IEA's annual Renewables Information 2009 -- with 2008 data provides comprehensive statistics on renewable energy supply for all OECD countries.
There are also many publications, news postings, links, and other information coming from the IEA "Technology Implementing Agreements". Each agreement is a set of projects called annexes and each project can result in its own set of reports. There is separate agreement for each renewable energy technology plus a cross-cutting agreement on "Renewable Energy Technology Deployment"
that focuses on markets, policy, and finance.
For example, the report Solar Heat Worldwide: Markets and Contribution to Energy Supply 2008 (Edition 2009), by Werner Weiss, Irene Bergmann, Gerhard Faninger, International Energy Agency Solar Heating and Cooling Program (Paris, 2009), is the best annual source of data and trends in solar hot water and heating, including avoided carbon emissions. The 2010 edition should be out in July 2010.
Annual industry reports and ongoing news streams are produced by a number of industry associations, including the U.S. Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) ("2009 Solar Industry Year in Review"), the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) ("Annual Wind Industry Report, Year Ending 2009"), the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA) ("EPIA Annual Report 2009" and "Global Market Outlook for PV until 2014"), and the European Solar Thermal Industry Federation (ESTIF) ("Solar Thermal Markets in Europe 2009").
For wind power there are two global reports: One is the Global Wind 2009 Report by the Global Wind Energy Council, which is a free annual report providing information on all countries and regions, industry trends, policies, emerging markets, and five-year forecasts. GWEC also produces an annual long-term scenario-based report, and the 2009 edition should be available soon (see the futures page).
And the other is the for-purchase "Wind Energy International" by World Wind Energy Association, which is produced every two years (latest edition 2009/2010), with in-depth country reports and topical reports.
OTHER WEB DIRECTORIES AND SOURCES
AGORES (A Global Overview of Renewable Energy Sources) - European "gateway" to renewable energy. Extensive site on policy, markets, applications, technologies, with focus on the European Union. Directories and links for "who's who" of organizations globally.
U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy - Contains technology information and many links to other organizations and resources, including U.S. agencies, trade groups, non-profits, universities, research organizations, newsletters, magazines, and products and services, all organized by technology.
REEGLE Information Gateway for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency. Links and content particularly related to policy and financing, sponsored jointly by REEEP and REN21. There is also an "actors catalogue" that links to many organizations engaged in renewable energy.
Renewable Energy Policy Project (REPP) - Provides web links to many other organizations, organized by technology. In addition, the Global Energy Marketplace provides over 1000 searchable listings of renewable-energy organizations around the world, for many different categories, with web links.
Bioenergy Wiki - Information on technologies, policies, standards, organizations, news, etc., all related to biomass and biofuels.
CADDET Renewables - Hundreds of project case studies for commercial applications including technical, economic and environmental characteristics.
Greentie - General information dissemination and directory of international suppliers and organizations.
Observ'ER - Statistics and other information on renewable energy equipment installed and energy produced, some of it found nowhere else.
World Renewable Energy Congress/Network(WREC/WREN) - Informational sharing, biannual congresses, and regional meetings and networking.