New Hampshire, USA -- Japan this week marks the one year anniversary of the devastating earthquake and tsunami that has since forced it to re-evaluate its nuclear strategy. In doing so, it also unveiled a plan that could have big implications for renewable energy across the continent.

Energy demands in South Asia are growing at rate of over 6.0 per cent a year - a pace that is far in excess of the region's capacity to meet. The fact that a sizeable section of the population does not have access to electricity makes energy security a daunting challenge for the countries of this region.

Iceland has lots of geothermal energy, Norway has hydropower. The wind blows hard in Scotland and the sun always shines in North Africa. Helen Knight explores plans to connect these diverse sources to a single network

Plans to supply all of Europe's electricity from renewable sources has come a step closer thanks to progress in efforts to build a continent-wide supergrid connected to North Africa and theMiddle East.

ABU DHABI — UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon launched on Monday an initiative designating 2012 as the International Year of Sustainable Energy for All, with the aim of reaching its set goals by 2030.

He called on governments, the private sector and civil society to actively support his initiative, at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi.

"This is the right time for this initiative," he said.