Big money flows into solar thermal power; researchers announce a potential solar breakthrough; and Lotus plans to make hybrid vehicles louder — and safer.

Solar thermal start-up Ausra lands $24.5 million: Solar thermal continues to gather momentum. Ausra — the Australian transplant now ensconced in Palo Alto, California — has announced another $24.5 million in venture funding. This round follows $30 million secured in February. Ausra is sitting on big contracts from Pacific Gas & Light and Florida Power & Light. But there are a few storm clouds on the horizon. The company says it may not be able to go ahead on its existing deals if Congress fails to extend federal renewable energy tax credits when they expire at year’s end. (CNET)

Gasoline prices may continue to drop as low as $3.50: Despite early jitters over Russia and Georgia’s hostilities in the Caucasus, oil prices continued to retreat Monday. The U.S. Energy Department reports that gasoline prices have followed suit, declining to a national average price of $3.809 a gallon. That’s down over seven cents from last week, and represents a new 90-day low. Oil Price Information Service analyst Tom Kloza thinks gasoline could go as low as $3.50 in coming weeks. That’s barring supply shocks, such as political upheaval in an oil-producing region or a major hurricane strike on Gulf Coast oil rigs. (USA Today)

Nanoantenna Arrays Seen As Possible Solar Cell Replacement: Researchers at the US Department of Energy’s Idaho Laboratory say they’ve found a way to bypass traditional solar cells and capture energy from the sun on plastic sheets covered with nanoantennas. If viable, the technology could conceivably provide an inexpensive alternative to traditional silicon-based PEV panels. The new nanoantenna concept is reportedly many times more efficient than existing solar cell technology. Another advantage: nanoantenna panels operate at infared. That means thery would be able to still gather some energy from ambient sources after sunset. (CleanTechnica)

High Voltage: Clean Energy and the Transmission Hurdle: The United States’ aging power grid is due for reinvestment, whether or not the country makes the inevitable transition to more renewable power sources. But it won’t be cheap. Duke Energy and American Electric Power have announced they’ll jointly build 240 miles of next-generation transmission lines at a cost of nearly $1 billion. Not only that, the project will likely take six years. This means the real bottleneck for technologies like windpower may not be turbine availability and public support, but getting the juice to market. (WSJ.com)

Making Hybrids Go Vroom: No, super-quiet cars aren’t always a good thing. If you’ve been overtaken on a bicycle or while walking by a hybrid in electric mode, you may already know this. The National Federation of the Blind are among the first to raise an organized call asking EV manufacturers to find some way of making approaching plug-in cars easier to detect. Here’s British carmaker Lotus’ solution: a waterproof speaker which digitally imitates the sounds of a conventional vehicle. The pitch and volume is keyed to the EV’s actual speed. Artificial engine noise is only projected in front of the car, reducing passenger compartment noise. (EcoGeek)

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