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Here's a look at some of the changes a British government report on global warming warned could occur:

Americans care about the environment, but they don't usually vote that way in elections for president or Congress.

BRITISH industry could face enforced cuts in energy use for the first time since the early 1970s because of the crisis at the country's biggest nuclear generator.

While traditional energy sources like nuclear, coal and petroleum still power U.S. cities, alternative energy is seeping in as a potential replacement. A move by the Village of Northbrook and a plan from Gov. Rod Blagojevich has opened a spot for one renewable energy source: wind power.

Britain issued a call for urgent action on climate change on Monday after a hard-hitting report painted an apocalyptic picture of the economic and environmental fallout from further global warming.

Effective November 1, China will make sweeping adjustments to the tariffs imposed on a large number of imported and exported products--including the imposition of 5% export tariffs on crude oil, coal and coal-based coke, the
Chinese Ministry of Finance said in an announcement October 27.

As America's energy dependence rises as a centerpiece of the national political debate, the Apollo Alliance released two reports today documenting significant potential job gains from renewable power development in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

The public and policy makers are deluding themselves into thinking natural gas prices will remain relatively low, Dow Chemical Chairman and CEO Andrew Liveris said Monday.

The Tennessee Valley Authority has been giving a lot more business to fewer suppliers since 2002. By maximizing its buying power, it has been able to trim the cost of procurement -- as much as $500,000 a year -- by about a half percent a year.

Following is a ranking of industrialised nations by their rises in greenhouse gas emissions between 1990 and 2004, issued by the UN climate change secretariat on Monday.

Each year Americans dispose of roughly 13 million refrigerators and freezers and many of those contain chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) that deplete the ozone layer and contribute to climate change.

Gary Asay raises thousands of hogs in this small town near the Mississippi River, and for years he's had nothing much around him but farmland stretching in every direction.

Guy Negre, who has designed aircraft engines and a Formula One race car, has been working on the idea for years. He and his son, Cyril, told CBS News that the car would be non-polluting and extremely cheap to operate, with a cost of about $2 for every 120 miles.

THE bill for cleaning up atomic waste has soared by GBP 2 billion to GBP 65 billion, with the watchdog set up to deal with Britain's nuclear legacy warning that costs could rise further.

Global warming and energy security will likely be dominant issues of the 21st century, UK Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks told Euromoney's London conference on financing new nuclear construction October 30.

Wind energy is among the one of the most effective renewable energy technology to meet the environmental challenges & rising global energy demand. The "Global Wind Energy Market (2006)" report provides research and objective analysis on Global wind energy Industry.

ICE Brent futures powered below $60/barrel Monday as concerns over possible threats to Gulf oil installations eased and the market anticipated bearish US weekly stock data later in the week, brokers said.

Major investors are pushing Canadian companies for more disclosure on greenhouse gas emissions to gauge the financial risks, but have yet to start avoiding stocks due to poor public information, a top pension fund chief said Monday.

Japan imported 19.55 million kl (122.9 million barrels or 4.09 million b/d) of crude in September 2006, down 2.0% on the year and off 2.3% from the previous month

The cost of heating homes with natural gas is down significantly from last year, and the impact could be especially big in the Twin Counties.

UK's NDA will be responsible for the geologic disposal of higher activity wastes, and Nirex will be subsumed into the NDA, the UK's Environment Secretary David Miliband announced October 25.

An ocean dead zone off Oregon that killed fish, crabs and sea worms in an area bigger than Rhode Island last summer lasted nearly three times longer than any of its predecessors before dissipating with autumn's change in the weather, scientists said Monday.

Oil prices slipped below $60 a barrel Monday on doubts that OPEC would pursue proposed production cuts and as geopolitical concerns lifted.

The conservative government in Poland plans to invest well over 1 billion in the energy sector in an attempt to modernize its infrastructure, and perhaps more crucially, reduce its dependence on Russia, its main supplier of oil and gas.

A proposed $3.6 billion coal-fired electric project in western Kansas would cause health and environmental problems for generations to come, opponents of the facility said Thursday.

With nations trying to secure energy diversity and security of supply - coupled with high oil prices - renewables are being targeted as the next best option to oil. And with many government initiatives rolling out in recent years, the market is buzzing positively on renewable energy.

The geomagnetic field was quiet to active. Solar wind speed at ACE has decreased from approximately 600 km/s to 490 km/s. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit reached high levels today.

Greenhouse gas emissions by industrialised nations rose in 2004 to the highest levels since the early 1990s, and governments must do more to fight global warming, the UN climate change secretariat said on Monday.

Finds windmill generators in Europe have problems with creating electricity when it is needed.

A sharp increase in wind-power capacity in Europe is challenging utilities to stabilize their electric grids in the face of sometimes wildly fluctuating wind-energy levels, while calling into question some of the greenhouse-gas reducing claims of windmills, according to a recent study.

The UK has provided a way for companies from non-Kyoto countries to participate in the global carbon market through the Clean Development Mechanism, Climate Change Minister Ian Pearson announced in Beijing today.

British finance minister Gordon Brown announced a raft of new "green" measures at the launch on Monday of a report by chief British government economist Nicholas Stern calling for urgent action on climate change.

UK environment minister David Miliband will later Monday announce the government is to introduce a new climate change bill to parliament, finance minister Gordon Brown said Monday. He was speaking at the launch of the Stern
Report on climate change.

The UK government's long-awaited Stern report on the economics of climate change, released on Monday, called for global greenhouse gas emissions to be brought down more than 80% below current levels in order to stabilize climate change.

Although many exploration and production companies had been planning to bid in the US Minerals Management Service's canceled Central Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 201, many may actually be "relieved" at the cancellation because it gives them more time to prepare for another sale later in 2007, the CEO of a top global seismic data company said Monday.

A New York utility found Sept. 11 debris in a manhole next to Ground Zero four years ago -- but didn't launch a systematic search of its underground vaults, the New York Daily News has learned.

•"The market feels very negative, but its unlikely prices will fall back to $50 per barrel," one broker at Bache Financial said. The market appeared to be looking towards the expiry of the US products market to more clearly define future price direction.

•Ample supplies of gasoline and heating oil in New York Harbor, home of the NYMEX delivery point, sent product prices plummeting Monday

It's a global leader in the technology, and turbines are a common sight, but criticism and challenges persist.

Lars-Bo Hilker sits at an outdoor table sipping a beer and gazing off into the distance. He comes here once a week, he says, and the turbines have become a welcome fixture in the view, particularly considering the alternative. "It's better than nuclear," he says.

A multi-state Clean Air Act (CAA) settlement, reached today with oilseed processor Bunge North America Inc. and three of its subsidiaries, will eliminate more than 2,200 tons of harmful pollution emissions per year when fully implemented. The $13.9 million settlement covers 12 plants in eight states, each of which has joined the United States as a co-plaintiff.

“The bottom line is that biodiesel is spreading like wildfire as more public and private fleets, government agencies and individuals realize biodiesel’s environmental and health benefits,” said Joe Jobe, chief executive officer of the National Biodiesel Board.

Haze polluting the Arctic has thickened in the past decade despite lower emissions by Russian factories, perhaps because of more forest fires or pollution from Asia, an international report said on Thursday.

Australia will build the world's biggest solar power plant amid warnings of blackouts within five years unless it can increase electricity generation to meet growing demand for air conditioners.

Baltimore has signed a $14 million contract with a Milwaukee-based company to generate electricity from the methane produced by the city's Back River sewage treatment plant -- a project officials say they expect to save the city $1.4 million a year in energy costs while also improving air quality.

The pine beetle infestation in British Columbia is beginning to have an impact on the quality of logs reaching sawmills, the chief executive of West Fraser Timber Co. , Canada's second largest softwood lumber producer, said Thursday.

Bolstered by record ethanol exports, Brazil is considering raising the current 20 percent mixture of ethanol in gasoline to 25 percent,

With three days until a presidential election run-off, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Thursday said new data shows a dramatic slowdown in the destruction of the Amazon.

British Energy could have to turn down the heat by 10% at five its key, but creaking, nuclear generators to keep them working, putting further strain on the country's electricity supply.

Oilseed processor Bunge North America Inc. has agreed to a US$13.9 million pollution settlement that will use most of the money on projects to cut the company's emissions at a dozen processing plants, the US Justice Department said Thursday.

California sued six of the world's largest automakers over global warming on Wednesday, charging that greenhouse gases from their vehicles have caused billions of dollars in damages.

China International Trust and Investment Corp (CITIC) has agreed to pay 1.9 billion dollars for Canada-based Nations Energy's oil assets in Kazakhstan. The deal represents an example of China's drive to secure global energy assets as it acquires power supplies for its fast-growing economy.

The Department of Justice filed a brief on Tuesday with the Supreme Court on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency outlining its position that the agency does not have the authority to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.

Looking to expand the water efficiency market, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued its first set of specifications to certify professionals in this field.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen L. Johnson recent announced a proposed Renewable Fuels Standard Program that would double the use of renewable fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel.

New Energy Star specifications for computers and related equipment are expected to prevent greenhouse gas emissions equal to the output of 2.7 million cars annually.

By 2005, EPA's climate protection partnership programs had more than a decade of success delivering environmental and economic results. A diverse and growing set of partner organizations have delivered sizeable emissions reductions and made significant progress towards meeting the President’s greenhouse gas intensity reduction goal for 2012.

Each year Americans dispose of roughly 13 million refrigerators and freezers and many of those contain chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) that deplete the ozone layer and contribute to climate change. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and eight utilities have launched the new, voluntary Responsible Appliance Disposal program.

Ethanol prices in the US Atlantic Coast market Wednesday pushed to 71 cents/gal over spot conventional unleaded gasoline, a reaction to a train derailment that exacerbated an already tight supply situation.

The University of California at Davis on Tuesday formally unveiled a digester that converts food scraps and other garbage into natural gas and methane. The gases can then be converted to electricity. The system, developed by the university and Onsite Power Systems, is essentially a sealed network of tubes and chambers where bacteria consume leftovers and then excrete gases.

Russia's Gazprom has warned that the country might see a repeat of the last winter fuel crisis due to poor preparedness of the regions to the new season and called for the government to interfere.

According to the International Association for Natural Gas Vehicles (IANGV), there are currently approximately 4.6 million CNG-vehicles in operation worldwide

Promoting the environmental benefits of renewable fuels is the focus of the new SmartWay Grow & Go program, launched today by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Tempers are no longer at a boil. But, consumers still feel hot under the collar. Oil and natural gas prices are still high. While it may be convenient to blame traders and in particular hedge funds that have pumped billions into those commodities, volatility is tied a lot more closely to market fundamentals and to supply and demand.

Home Depot Inc. has agreed to offset all the carbon emissions from its Atlanta headquarters and some of the emissions from workers´ commutes and business trips through reforestation.

I've had huge gas bills in the past, but nothing prepared me for the shock when I opened my Peoples Gas bill Monday night and saw the amount due: $27,933.55. Ouch!

Brent crude futures in London drifted lower Friday, extending the previous day's losses, after Norway's Statoil confirmed it has restarted 200,000 b/d of shut-in production in the North Sea. The front-month December Brent futures contract was 41 cents lower at $60.44 per barrel trading down towards the intra-day low of $60.13 per barrel.

The Philippines will wait until calmer weather in January to start siphoning off around 1.4 million litres of oil trapped in a submerged tanker off its central coastline, an official said on Thursday.

USC earth scientists turn up clues to explain disappearance of 90 percent of ancient species

The Permian-Triassic extinction, as it is called, is not the one that wiped out the dinosaurs. Nor does the cause appear to have been a meteorite strike, as in that famous event.

China will invest 1.5 trillion yuan (US$187.5 billion) to increase the ratio of renewable energy consumption, said Wu Guihui, vice-director-general of the Bureau of Energy under the National Development and Reform Commission.

Freddie Mac yesterday released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) in which the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 6.40 percent with an average 0.4 point for the week ending October 26, 2006, up from last week when it averaged 6.36 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 6.15 percent.

North America increasingly will rely on more difficult, unconventional sources of natural gas over the next few decades, energy industry leaders said Monday.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission will spend the next three years studying the nation's 63 nuclear plants to develop a more accurate picture of the consequences of a major radiation release.

December crude futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange opened 5 cents higher at $61.45/barrel Thursday as sentiment slowly turned more bullish in the wake of Wednesday's US petroleum inventory data.

Georgia Tech and Southern Co. have been looking into a possible wind project, but increasing costs for the turbines along with a stalled regulatory process make it an unlikely prospect for the near future

$1 million "biogas" plant that opened Tuesday is designed to process up to 10 tons of food waste daily, feeding tanks of microbes that, in turn, excrete hydrogen and methane,

Can nuclear energy save us from global warming? Perhaps, but the tradeoffs involved are sobering: thousands of metric tons of nuclear waste generated each year and a greatly increased risk of nuclear weapons proliferation or diversion of nuclear material into terrorists' hands.

The celebration was essentially an hour of back-to-back remarks from a long line of politicians, including Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who praised what would be called the Prairie State Energy Campus.

The geomagnetic field was at predominantly quiet levels. An isolated active period was observed at middle latitudes between 25/0600 and 0900Z. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux at geosynchronous orbit reached high levels again today.

Insurers in the United States could offer incentives to homeowners who invest in renewable energy systems or energy efficiency, suggests a major insurance firm and a leading conservation group.

Sandia National Laboratories researchers are working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), University of Cincinnati and Argonne National Laboratory to develop contaminant warning systems that can monitor municipal water systems to determine quickly when and where a contamination occurs.

Imagine pulling up to a filling station, inserting the nozzle into the tank and the gas flowing into your tank is ... hydrogen.

It's colorless, odorless and the byproduct of burning hydrogen is water vapor, quickly and safely absorbed by the environment. One pound of hydrogen supplies three times as much energy as a pound of gasoline. And it's the most plentiful element in the universe!

No wonder scientists are trying to figure out how to make hydrogen work as a practical fuel.

The Scottish Executive has opened a GBP8 million fund to support marine energy projects in Scottish waters and bolster the country's strong position in renewable energy production.

Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Samuel W. Bodman today announced the selection of nine projects totaling nearly $24 million aimed at developing novel and cost-effective technologies to capture the carbon dioxide (CO2) produced in coal-fired power plants so that it can be safely and permanently sequestered.

The biofuel industry is growing by 25 to 50 percent each year in the United States, a new report states. The industry includes about 200 companies with combined annual revenue of about $3 billion

Appalachia is best known for its coal resources, but “wind power is significantly underdeveloped in the region, and has the greatest potential for development along the ridge lines of the Appalachian Mountains,” explains ‘Energizing Appalachia

More than 150 organizations and businesses from 38 states have endorsed the ‘Sustainable Energy Blueprint’ for the United States.

The policy document was developed by member groups of the Sustainable Energy Coalition to outline “a plausible strategy and timeframe for rapidly expanding the use of energy efficient and renewable energy technologies to enable a dramatic reduction in greenhouse gases, while simultaneously phasing out nuclear power and ending most energy imports,” explains co-ordinator Ken Bossong.

Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Samuel W. Bodman today announced $100 million to fund 25 hydrogen research and development projects that can help change the way we power our nation.

Expects To Add Over 2,700 Megawatts In 2006; New Projects Strengthen Energy Security. The U.S. wind energy industry is on track to install a record 2,750 megawatts (MW) of generating capacity in 2006, which will produce about as much electricity as is used by the entire state of Rhode Island and help strengthen energy security, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) said today

The agency overseeing the dismantling of old British nuclear power stations raised the estimated cost of operations, closure and clean-up to 72.3 billion pounds (US$136.2 billion) on Thursday.

Combatting climate change over the next decade could be worth £30 billion to British companies, according to one of the world's largest oil companies. Minimizing global warming will not bankrupt the UK economy, says the report.

The Bush administration filed legal papers late Tuesday detailing its position in a landmark Supreme Court case that has huge implications for US climate change and energy policies.

US Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman is expected Friday to announce that the agency will spend $450 million over the next 10 years to fund projects designed to demonstrate technologies capable of capturing and storing carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas.

The nuclear power industry has seen more than 50 plant shutdowns that lasted longer than a year, and federal regulators need to step up the efforts to prevent more of them, according to a new report from a Cambridge-based advocacy group.

The Water Environment Federation approved a new climate change resolution during its annual Weftec conference.

The federation´s board of trustees voted Oct. 20 to formally recognize climate change and its impacts on the planet´s natural hydrologic cycle, which is the movement of water between the atmosphere, land and groundwater.

The university will show off an experimental facility next week that takes wilted lettuce, fish heads and other leftover food bits and turns it into biogas, a combination of natural gas and carbon dioxide. Separating the CO2 leaves commercial grade natural gas.

Canada's wind energy industry contributed $736 million to Canada's Gross Domestic Product in 2005 according to estimates released today by the Canadian Wind Energy Association (CanWEA). It is also estimated that there were 1,200 full-time equivalent jobs (FTE) in the wind energy industry in 2005, an increase of 65% over 2004

Some thought he was crazy and would blow himself up in failure. But Michael Stritzki was determined to someday operate his home in rural Hunterdon County on hydrogen created by the sun.

Nineteen eighty-four is the year when the Earth reached the limits of its capacity to provide for us. Since then we have been using the Earth’s natural resources at a rate that increasingly exceeds what it is able to replenish. The consequences of man’s growing demands and rising consumption are both predictable and dire — much more real than any Orwellian novel.

The contract includes the design and supply of WFGD systems for the coal-fired Cholla Units 3 and 4 that will reduce SO2 emissions by approximately 95%. The equipment is currently planned to be operational in mid 2008 for Unit 4 and a year later for Unit 3 and has a contract value in excess of $25,000,000.

Oil major BP Plc knew as early as 2002 of an "appreciable" buildup of potentially corrosive sediment in a segment of an oil transit pipeline at the Prudhoe Bay oil field that led to the shutdown of the biggest field in the United states in August.

ICE Brent futures plunged over a dollar on Monday morning to the lowest levels seen since October 12 as the crude complex shrugged off news of confirmed cuts in crude sales by OPEC lynchpin Saudi Arabia to focus on
refinery maintenance in the US and warm weather in the US and Europe.

The European Commission attacked European Union states over their emissions plans on Monday, demanding cuts in the number of pollution permits proposed for the 2008-2012 period of the bloc's trading scheme.

Wind farm construction in Canada doubled in 2006 from a year ago, enabling it to power 370,000 homes with the renewable energy, Canadian Wind Energy Association President Robert Hornung said Monday.

The Canadian Wind Energy Association Monday urged the federal government to reinstate wind power tax credits that expired in April, saying uncertainty over future federal support threatens wind development in Canada.

Cutting down tropical forests often makes people poorer, hurts endangered species and emits greenhouse gases, so perhaps rich countries could pay to help keep trees standing, the World Bank said on Monday.

Former James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan and other celebrities gathered Sunday to protest a natural gas facility proposed for a site 14 miles off the Malibu coast.

As the world's largest gas producer and the source of a third of Europe's gas imports, the dominance of Russia on the global energy stage is undisputed. Plans to construct a number of coal-fired power stations along the Russian/Chinese border will serve to increase this dominance, further boosting the continued rise of the energy superpower.

The world -- especially the Western United States, the Mediterranean region and Brazil -- will likely suffer more extended droughts, heavy rainfalls and longer heat waves over the next century because of global warming, a new study forecasts.

The United States and the European Union met on Tuesday in Helsinki to seek ways to curb greenhouse gases and promote clean energies, setting aside years of disputes over the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol which caps emissions.

Gold has led the precious metals complex on a significant downslide on the New York exchanges Monday morning, leaving most traders puzzled as to whether these markets are in an uptrend or downtrend.

A Holiday Inn in Sarasota can serve as an inspiration to businesses everywhere trying to cut costs. It recently reduced its energy bill by $3,000 a year by adding a reflective roof.

Despite the high fuel costs, there are ways for companies to reduce energy consumption and save money.

The European Union should adopt binding energy savings targets and look into launching a new trading scheme to encourage businesses to use renewable energy sources, Denmark's prime minister said on Friday.

Despite a few nasty pockets of outages, the country managed to weather the summer with no large-scale, prolonged blackouts similar to the epic Northeast power failure of three years ago.

We likely will not be so lucky in years to come, say many of the executives responsible for producing electricity for America.

With predictions of a mild winter and falling gasoline prices filling the evening news, Americans might be lulled into believing that there is no need to worry about energy. But, the wild fluctuations in energy and fuel prices in the last several years, demonstrate clearly that Americans can not simply hope for mild temperatures. We must take charge of our energy use and actively look for ways to use less energy in order to avoid outages, weather price surges and aid energy security.

Beneath our seas, reserves of frozen methane hold more energy than all other fossil fuels put together. But can we get at them without causing environmental meltdown?

FuelCell Energy, a leading manufacturer of ultra-clean and efficient electric power generation plants for commercial, industrial and government customers, today announced it has finalized terms with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for a $36.2 million Phase I award to develop a coal-based, multi-megawatt solid oxide fuel cell-based hybrid system.

ICE Brent crude futures in London extended Monday's losses as market skepticism about OPEC cutting real barrels prompted fears of oversupply and pushed prices lower, traders said.

The Chicago Tribune reports that the Second City has taken a big step toward potentially axing its blue-bag recycling program with the launch of a pilot curbside program in seven wards across the city.

CASH-rich Indian companies are actively eyeing Scottish oil and gas services groups to meet their fast-increasing energy needs. Despite having access to India's natural oil and gas reserves, many lack the know-how, oil rigs and engineering talent needed to extract the reserves. They see Scottish services companies as a way to plug the gap.

Iraq is confident that it can boost its crude production to 4 million b/d by 2010, using its own financial and technological resources, oil minister Hussein al-Shahristani told a press conference in Tokyo Tuesday.

Israel imports 90 percent of the approximately 250,000 barrels of oil it uses daily from former Soviet Union countries via tankers, a fact that will figure prominently in Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's talks with President Vladimir Putin and other top Russian officials in Moscow this week.

Russian oil giant Lukoil believes it can transform itself over the next decade into one of the world's largest fully integrated energy companies with an enormous retail presence across the U.S. and refining capabilities and oil reserves that extend far beyond Russia.

Michigan State University is growing crops such as sunflowers, corn and soybeans on 2 acres of the 110-acre site for research into possible reuse of this and other brownfield locations.

Management at OKG, which operates Sweden's three Oskarshamn reactors, said in a statement October 20 that it is investigating why three incidents involving shortcomings in radiation protection routines have occurred at the plant
within a few weeks.

JACK McConnell must publicly rule out new nuclear power, opposition MSPs said yesterday, after news that a reactor at Hunterston in Ayrshire is to be shut because of safety fears.

Even as its third-quarter results showed increases, Peabody Energy is delaying the startup of its 30 million to 40 million short ton/year School Creek mine in Wyoming's Powder River Basin as part of a production scale-back prompted by near-term softening markets,

It would take until at least 2010 to regulate large polluters under the Conservative government's new Clean Air Act, according to a leaked internal document.

Greenland's massive ice sheet has lost nearly 100 gigatons of ice annually recently, much of it in low-elevation regions along the continent's southeastern coast, including the southern tip.

Americans are recycling more and throwing away less according to a new report released by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The proportion of renewables in Germany's electricity mix could rise to over 20% by the year 2012, grid operators' association, the VDN, said Tuesday. The industry group said this would be largely due to the expansion of biomass, wind and solar power.

The geomagnetic field has been unsettled to active with one period of minor storming. Solar wind speed remains elevated though it has been slowly and steadily decreasing. Its current speed is approximately 550 km/s. The greater than 2 MeV electron flux reached high levels today.

The geomagnetic field has been quiet. Solar wind speed remains elevated due to a recurrent coronal hole high speed stream. Its current speed is approximately 500 km/s.

Saudi Arabia has begun to follow through on its OPEC pledge to cut crude production by 380,000 b/d from the beginning of November by telling customers that they will receive less crude next month, an OPEC delegate said Monday.

Three quarters of Italians see genetically modified (GMO) foods as a health hazard, according to research published on Friday.

The world urgently needs a new climate change accord to avoid the worst impacts of global warming, including violent storms and severe water shortages, the head of the conservation group WWF said.

Consumers are getting a break. But the declining price of natural gas is not a permanent phenomenon and one that is directly tied to supply and demand. Now that such prices are half the cost of a year ago, producers are less inclined to take risks while homeowners will use more of it. And, in time, prices will rise again.

US Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy Dennis Spurgeon said the Department of Energy's pursuit of nuclear fuel reprocessing will include an "off-ramp" in the event there is not sufficient progress on an advanced nuclear fuel or a nuclear reactor.

•Saudi Arabia announced that it would remove 1.2 million b/d from crude sales in November primarily to the far east. However, one broker suggested that this cut has not had the required clout to elbow crude higher as it has long been expected and factored in. He added that skepticism remains over the extent that other OPEC members will follow suit.

•ICE Brent crude futures in London extended Monday's losses as market skepticism about OPEC cutting real barrels prompted fears of oversupply and pushed prices lower, traders said. "Hedge funds have been heavy sellers amidst the lack of bullish news," Man Financial said adding that market is looking for more concrete evidence of real cuts.

Economic development officials in Grand Forks and Fargo agreed this week to oppose the City 20/20 renewable energy initiative, which has also come under fire from elected leaders.

In a joint resolution, the Grand Forks Region and Greater Fargo Moorhead economic development corporations said they support the growth of the renewable energy industry but prefer that it come about by market forces or federal incentives.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released its Acid Rain Program 2005 Progress Report today, marking the 11th year of one of the most widely regarded and successful environmental programs in U.S. history. Since 1995, the program has significantly reduced acid deposition in the United States by decreasing sulfur dioxide (SO2)and nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions.

Superior Court Judge George Levine ruled Wednesday that a state utility regulator examining a whistleblower case does not need to hold a hearing on an anti-nuclear activist's complaint about nuclear safety at Millstone Power Station.

A Menlo Park, Calif., company has created an alliance of scientists to focus on producing biocrude oil from algae by 2010.

Oil facilities in the Middle East have greater potential for terror attacks than those in the US because Al-Qaeda terrorists have greater sanctuary in Islamic countries, a US university professor said Monday.

An oral arguments hearing was held Oct. 2 in Navajo County Superior Court during which both sides were able to give their side of the story on whether or not to dismiss. The suit involves more than 7,000 acres owned by Aztec south of Joseph City on which APS has drilled wells to furnish water for the Cholla Power Plant.

One Australian farmer commits suicide every four days, defeated by the country's worst drought in 100 years which has left them with dust-bowl paddocks and a mountain of debt, says a national mental health body.

A rupture in a heat exchanger at Bulgaria's only nuclear power plant has caused a leak of radioactive solution, local media reported on Tuesday.

Two projects in California and Oregon may soon be the first in the United States to convert the ocean's energy into electricity. In San Francisco, California, Mayor Gavin Newsom has announced that the city will explore the possibility of generating power from the tidal flow under the Golden Gate Bridge.

A California green-energy company plans to buy a 53-megawatt power plant in Niagara Falls and convert it to burning waste wood instead of coal.

Wind turbines are built where it is windy, solar plants where it is most sunny and geothermal plants where the earth's natural heat is close to the surface. However, California's existing high-voltage transmission lines may not reach those remote areas where thousands of megawatts in renewable generating plants need to be built.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said his state will partner with seven Northeastern states to battle global warming.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and New York Governor George Pataki have agreed to explore ways to link California's future greenhouse gas emission credit market with the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states' Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) upcoming market, Schwarzenegger's office said Monday.

California's new laws designed to curb greenhouse gas emissions may be a harbinger of things to come in other states. But, at this point, it is unknown what will happen and whether the industry will be able to meet its challenges.

Through its subsidiaries, Chevron has spent more than $1.5 billion on renewable energy projects since 2000, according to the San Ramon, Calif.-based corporation.

China's annual growth slowed slightly in the third quarter to 10.4 percent, but China’s economy is still firmly on course to log a fourth consecutive year of double-digit expansion.

A ballot proposal local voters will decide in November is about power bills and how to keep them stable, but it’s also tied to a growing Western environmental issue.

Southeast Asian civic groups on Thursday urged governments to name and shame those responsible for the haze that has blanketed the region, and warned that losses could top US$9 billion.

A building boom that would add scores of new coal-fired power plants to the nation's power grid is creating a new dilemma for politicians, environmentalists and utility companies across the United States.

Should power companies be permitted to build new plants that pollute more but are reliable and less expensive? Or should regulators push utilities toward cleaner burning coal plants, even if it means they will cost more and are based on newer, yet still unproven, technology?

Cyprus Tohono Corp. has agreed under a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency consent order to clean up part of a mine on an Indian reservation that is contaminating Arizona groundwater.

The First Minister's plan to step up investment in renewable energy while the lives of existing nuclear plants were extended was dealt a blow after it was revealed there were serious cracks in boiler pipes at the Hinkley Point plant in Somerset.

20Oct2006--Global crude futures in London and New York extended Thursday's gains as reaction to the announced OPEC cuts from actual production took hold. Prices were also supported by the comments from the Saudi oil minister for a possible further output cut in December.

The report concluded that wind farms located within radar line of sight of an air defense radar have the potential to degrade the ability of the radar to perform its intended function. The magnitude of the impact, according to the report, depends upon the number and location of the turbines.

Dominion is hoping that Virginia's State Corporation Commission will approve requests that will guarantee cost recovery for its proposed 500-MW power plant that would burn 2 million short tons/year of local coal (PCT 2/25/05).

Pennsylvania already has awarded more than a quarter of the $500 rebates available this fiscal year under a first-come, first-serve program for state residents who purchase new hybrid electric vehicles,

A report by the Department of Defense on where wind farms can be located does not go far enough and leaves future projects up to military approval, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin said Monday.

On Oct.17, US EPA updated its Hurricane Katrina web site pages to include the results from additional samples collected at the Murphy Oil Site in Louisiana. Pursuant to a FEMA mission assignment, US EPA is overseeing Murphy Oil's ongoing sampling activities of residential and other properties. Today EPA posted samples taken as part of two ongoing efforts.

To provide the public with the most up-to-date information on climate change, EPA is unveiling its new climate change Web site. The site provides the latest scientific information and highlights a wide range of U.S. government programs that are actively addressing climate change at the local, state, national and international levels.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today released the 2007 Fuel Economy Guide to help consumers make well-informed choices when purchasing new vehicles

Four states have awarded nearly $61 million over the past month and a half to support clean energy projects. The states include California, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and New York

GE's 40 units will utilize biogas created during the fermentation of agricultural waste, including maize, crop residues and animal manure. Residual material in the digester can be used as a valuable fertilizer.

As the autumn weather approaches, Toronto Hydro's Summer Challenge program is starting to reflect positive results.

Demand for hybrid-electric vehicles will hit 4.3 million units by 2015 around the world and then nearly double by 2020, a new study reports.

Mountain View Internet giant Google revealed plans Monday to install what industry watchers say is the nation's largest corporate solar project.

Rhode Island consumers and businesses that buy "green" electricity through the New England GreenStart program may be eligible for a tax break.

The renewable energy sector is attracting over $30 billion of investment a year, but future growth will depend on advances in energy storage technology. This is the conclusion of a recently published report by Cambridge UK based analysts, CarbonFree.

In the first half of this year, the household “deficit” was running at an annual rate of $497.6 billion or 5.5% of disposable personal income. How do households continue to run up record deficits? There are only two ways an entity is able to spend more than it earns – borrow and/or sell assets. And U.S. households are engaging in both.

A NUCLEAR reactor at Hunterston in Ayrshire is to be shut down because of safety fears. The decision by British Energy, the UK's biggest power generator, to shut down the Scots reactor and another at Hinkley in Somerset wiped GBP800m off its value as its shares fell by 25per cent.

16Oct2006-Crude oil futures in London appeared to have found temporary support as the market waited for further direction from OPEC, meeting in Doha Thursday to discuss possible output cutbacks, brokers said.

Utilities Ordered to Compensate Homeowners For Power From Solar, Wind, Water Projects. Canada's Ontario province has ordered local utility companies to pay homeowners or businesses for any electricity they generate from small solar, wind, water or other renewable energy projects, beginning next month.

Sixty-one organizations have contributed significant efforts in reducing and recycling materials, and reducing or eliminating priority chemicals in products and waste, including lead, mercury and cadmium. The organizations, including utilities, schools, electronic and chemical companies, and consumer product manufacturers, among others, are members of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's National Partnership for Environmental Priorities or WasteWise programs.

10/13/06--Freddie Mac yesterday released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) in which the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 6.37 percent with an average 0.5 point for the week ending October 12, 2006, up from last week when it averaged 6.30 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 6.03 percent.

Fund managers this month turned negative on energy and emerging-market stocks for the first time in almost five years, according to a survey by Merrill Lynch. Merrill's poll of 210 fund managers, who together manage $643 billion, was conducted between October 6 and October 12.

Well developed financial markets are a necessary condition for a currency to play a role as a reserve currency. The introduction of the euro greatly improved the functioning of euro financial markets. This paper investigates whether euro financial markets have developed sufficiently to facilitate the emergence of the euro as a reserve currency on par with the US dollar.

King Coal is back. Years of punishing increases in natural-gas prices have the nation’s utilities preparing to shift away from expensive gas-fired generation in favor of more than 150 new coal-burning plants.

For the first time, a major U.S. manufacturing facility has been sited and built next to a landfill specifically to use the landfill gas as fuel. The new Jenkins Brick Company's $56 million manufacturing plant in Moody, Ala., will use landfill gas to fuel its kilns, satisfying 40 percent of the plant's energy needs initially, with 100 percent projected in 10 years as the landfill grows.

There is "no large-scale evidence" that US natural gas producers are shutting in production in response to lower market prices, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission staff said Thursday.

Is the Mesaba Energy Project the answer?
Promotors of the Mesaba Energy Project say that with newer and cleaner technology, the proposed new power plants would do less damage to the earths ground, water and air, and to health than traditional power plants. Is doing less damage the answer to meeting the energy needs of the future?

When more than 100 ambassadors gathered at the United Nations nuclear agency to mark its 50th year of juggling global arms and energy demands, organizers were surprised by the ambitious agenda that the envoys had in mind:

10/20/06--Freddie Mac yesterday released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) in which the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 6.36 percent with an average 0.5 point for the week ending October 19, 2006, down slightly from last week when it averaged 6.37 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 6.10 percent.

The vast sheet of ice that covers Greenland is shrinking fast, but still not as fast as previous research indicated, NASA scientists said Thursday.

Like any lucrative new market, the Clean Development Mechanism inspires creativity.

Take Nigeria, for example.

Staff at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission want commissioners to rewrite federal regulations to reflect security improvements put in place at nuclear reactors after the 2001 terrorist attacks.

November crude futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange opened 15 cents lower at $58.45/barrel Friday, shrugging off OPEC's 1.2 million b/d production cut announced late Thursday.

The Ontario Power Authority Monday said it had signed long-term power purchase agreements for the output of seven new, natural-gas fired cogeneration projects totaling 414 MW.

Oil producers' cartel OPEC said Monday its ten members with quotas under a notional 28 million b/d output ceiling produced an average 27.6 million b/d of crude in September, down from 27.73 million b/d in August.

OPEC's plan to cut crude production by 1 million b/d is "a done deal," Algerian oil minister Chakib Khelil said Wednesday on the eve of the oil cartel's emergency meeting in the Qatari capital, Doha.

With rising concern about energy sources, landfill gas (LFG) has emerged as an easily available, economically competitive, and proven energy resource. As of January 2005, there were 375 LFG energy (LFGE) projects in the United States, generating electricity or providing direct-use energy sources for boilers, furnaces, and other applications.

This year's Antarctic ozone hole is the biggest ever, government scientists said Thursday.

The so-called hole is a region where there is severe depletion of the layer of ozone _ a form of oxygen _ in the upper atmosphere that protects life on Earth by blocking the sun's ultraviolet rays.

The sun emits radio energy with a slowly varying intensity. This radio flux, which originates from atmospheric layers high in the sun's chromosphere and low in its corona, changes gradually from day-to-day

TXU's effort to build 11 coal-fired power plants in Texas received a boost Wednesday when the state's environmental agency issued draft permits for six plants.

After lagging behind gold for more than two weeks, platinum has shown some leadership in New York Monday, with the nearby contract making strong gains and helping palladium in its rally also.

Sulfur dioxide emissions from electric power plants in 2005 were 5.5 million tons below 1990 levels, according to a new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency report.

PPM Energy, ScottishPower’s competitive U.S. energy business, today announced its intention to expand its wind development activities to Canada through its affiliate PPM Energy Canada.

WHEN the country is going through a severe power crunch, it is relevant to ponder the steps that need to be very urgently considered to augment power production.

Proton Energy Systems Inc., a subsidiary of Distributed Energy Systems Corp., announced today that its hydrogen technology group has signed a contract with Shell Hydrogen LLC, part of Royal Dutch Shell to install a hydrogen fueling system in the New York City metropolitan area. The contract will showcase Proton's onsite hydrogen generation technology for vehicle fueling.

The Electric Power Generation Association expressed its support for a plan to significantly reduce mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants in a way that balances environmental and economic interests, but disappointment in the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) for rejecting a plan that goes beyond federal requirements.

The geomagnetic field is expected to be at unsettled to minor storm conditions on 20 and 21 October due to a coronal hole high speed stream becoming geoeffective. Quiet to unsettled conditions are expected on 22 October.

If the Legislature takes to heart the governor's energy policy plans released Wednesday, individual Utahns will no longer be able to deduct the cost of renewable energy systems.

Ten instructors from Novovoronezh "are carrying out final training of Iranian specialists on the premises of the nuclear power plant that is under construction in Bushehr", the head of the centre, Aleksandr Ivanchenko, told ITAR-TASS today.

Spire Corporation today announced that it has entered into a contract with Prosperity Solar Power, Inc. of Taipei City, Taiwan to provide Spire's ten megawatt turnkey photovoltaic (PV) module manufacturing production line. This will be the first large photovoltaic module production line established in Taiwan.

Every step taken through ticket gates at JR Tokyo Station now helps generate electricity.

Six miles offshore in Cape Cod's Nantucket Sound, Cape Wind Associates proposes to build the nation's first offshore wind farm - - 130 wind turbines, each with propellers 440 feet high -- in these federal waters.

That plan has sparked a five-year fight against the project, bringing together some strange allies.

A new survey of nearly 100 global companies shows about 75% are actively measuring their "carbon footprint" -- the range of greenhouse gas emissions from their direct and indirect operations.

Grand Forks and Fargo voters will be making a momentous choice for the two cities come, when they vote on a renewable energy initiative called City 20/20.

Electricity-producing buoys proposed off Oregon coast. Wave energy buoys proposed for the Oregon coast could generate enough electricity to power about 2,000 homes, supporters say.

Toyota is starting production of the Camry Hybrid at a plant in Georgetown, Ky., the first hybrid vehicle produced in North America by the company.

The number of oxygen-starved "dead zones" in the world's seas and oceans has risen more than a third in the past two years because of fertilizer, sewage, animal waste and fossil-fuel burning, United Nations experts said Thursday.

U.S. Geothermal Inc., a renewable energy development company focused on the production of electricity from geothermal energy, announced today that recent drilling indicates the company's geothermal resource at Raft River, Idaho has the potential to be extensive.

The new head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission thinks he can cut the time it takes to license a nuclear power plant in half, to about two years.

we will be supplying 100% of the power and electricity consumed by the city of Vidalia, Louisiana through the Vidalia Power and Light Public Utility.

The UK Government launched Monday a consultation on "the effectiveness of current gas security of supply arrangements to ensure the UK market is as resilient as possible," the Department of Trade and Industry said.

The operator of Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant was fined GBP500,000 ($929,000) Monday after 83,000 litres of radioactive acid leaked out of a broken pipe, British media reported Tuesday.

US Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman late Thursday said it was best for oil producers and consumers alike to allow free markets to determine issues of supply, demand and price. Bodman was commenting on OPEC's decision at an
emergency meeting in Doha late Thursday to cut crude output by 1.2 million b/d from November 1.

Assuming all 38 US natural gas storage projects currently approved by regulators are completed, the nation's gas storage capacity should increase by 197 Bcf, or 5%, by the end of 2008, the Energy Information Administration
said Tuesday.

Plenty of short-term exceptions however, and more volatile reversals likely through November........

The Bush administration is putting in place plans to approve more than 118,000 new oil and natural gas wells on federally owned land in Colorado,

Dozens of Silicon Valley executives and politicians signed a letter Monday demanding that federal lawmakers lessen the nation's dependence on oil, ensure more flex-fuel vehicles are sold and use electricity for transportation.

In a quiet, air-conditioned room deep inside the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant sits a small pool filled with water colored an unnatural blue. It's packed with radioactive waste.

Water scarcity harms the case for using food crops to make biofuels, a leading environmental author and journalist said on Thursday.

Marketers have been selling prepaid power in Texas for years but most plans have estimated customers' use and subjected them to true ups. Dallas-based marketer REPower, a start-up firm is marketing a novel prepaid plan to apartment dwellers using an innovative meter

•Global crude futures in London and New York extended Thursday's gains as reaction to the announced OPEC cuts from actual production took hold. Prices were also supported by the comments from the Saudi oil minister for a possible further output cut in December.

•The front-month ICE December Brent futures contract was trading 26 cents higher at $61.15 per barrel with WTI for November delivery trading 34 cents up at $58.84 per barrel. ICE WTI for December was 33 cents higher at $60.83 per barrel.

•The comments by Saudi Arabia almost implied that the recent cuts are not enough hence the December statement," said a Bache Financial broker. Late last night, OPEC confirmed that the cartel would cut by 1.2 million barrels per day from the actual September volumes.

•Despite the recent price increase, brokers said that prices remained on a downward trend with supply outstripping demand in both crude oil and products.

Giant wind turbines have become a common sight winding along Mill Plain Boulevard, as tractor-trailers haul the towers and blades from ships at the Port of Vancouver to wind farms sprouting up across eastern Washington and Oregon.

The World Resources Institute has released a 26-page guide instructing businesses, universities and nonprofit institutions how they can acquire renewable energy.

Massive peat bogs in Siberia and elsewhere may have helped spur global warming at the end of the last ice age some 12,000 years ago, scientists reported Thursday.

BP Wednesday was facing more questions about its safety program in Alaska after a Congressional panel demanded to know why the oil major failed to disclose that it had received an order from the state of Alaska in 2001 requiring the company to inspect its Prudhoe Bay pipelines.

The Bush administration is open to raising mandatory ethanol consumption targets set by Congress, as well as to new tax credits or other financial incentives to get more ethanol-powered vehicles on American roads, Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said Thursday.

US President George W. Bush on Thursday said that falling gasoline prices are "good news" for consumers, but said he was worried that lower pump costs would stunt development of alternative energy fuels.

California's failure thus far to meet federal air quality standards for soot and smog indicates the trouble the state is likely to have meeting goals established in its recently enacted climate-change law, the chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality said Wednesday.

Canada's Conservative government tried to deflect criticism on Wednesday that its environmental plan may actually permit greenhouse gas emissions to increase, contrary to the country's Kyoto commitments.

Failing to fight global warming now will cost trillions of dollars by the end of the century even without counting biodiversity loss or unpredictable events like the Gulf Stream shutting down, a study said on Friday.

Thirteen companies are setting new targets for reducing their emissions, which range from 9 percent up to net zero. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is recognizing these Climate Leaders for pledging to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, EPA is welcoming 21 new organizations to its program. Efforts by the Climate Leaders are estimated to prevent the greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those from 7 million cars.

PacifiCorp is considering building three conventional coal-fired power plants by 2014, an approach that has angered Oregon consumer groups and public officials critical of the pollutants the facilities would emit.

When an online news service reported last month that Progress Energy was in secret merger talks with Southern Co., environmentalists in North Carolina let out a collective groan.

Few electric utilities have elicited the enmity of environmentalists in past years as has Southern, one of the nation's largest utility companies, based in Atlanta.

The campaign encourages U.S. residents to replace a conventional bulb or fixture in their home or workplace with one that has earned the government's Energy Star label for energy efficiency. If every U.S. household changed a single light bulb to an Energy Star bulb, it would save enough power to light more than 2.5 million homes.

The US Department of Energy plans to consider a second path for a rail line in Nevada to the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, documents showed.

Research indicates there might not be enough power available from renewable resources to meet the initiative's requirement that large utilities get 15 percent of their power from clean energy by 2020.

Forcing power companies to produce more wind, solar and other types of clean power could cost more, and clean the air less, than I-937 supporters project.

Wobbles or variations in the Earth's orbit and tilt are associated with extinctions of rodent and mammalian species, Dutch scientists said on Wednesday.

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Samuel W. Bodman today announced more than $13 million to fund new research in solar technologies. This funding, part of President Bush's $148 million Solar America Initiative, will support the development of more efficient solar panels, known as photovoltaic devices.

EPA is today releasing a guide to help states get more productive use out of millions of tons of sand discarded by the foundry industry.

US government data that lowers the expected 2006/2007 world corn harvest and raises prices was not as negative for ethanol producers as it seemed, according to analyst Jacques Rousseau Thursday.

"Despite the implementation of the European Emissions Trading Scheme, it is highly unlikely that the EU will be able to meet its Kyoto protocol obligations," the company said in its eighth European Energy Markets Observatory report.

The European Commission will propose a long-term ‘road map’ for renewable energies by the end of this year, as part of “the most important and ambitious energy package it has ever presented.”

European Union member states have signed off a Eur724 million ($908 million) budget for a renewed Intelligent Energy Europe program to support renewables and energy efficiency projects from 2007-2013.

Financial institutions are increasingly investing in energy networks, energy suppliers with a captive market and water companies. These investments provide solid if unspectacular returns, though the appetite for lower-risk investments contrasts with the rush to finance projects in wholesale energy, which characterized investment strategies earlier this decade.

Consumers can conserve energy -- and reduce their utility bills -- with tips offered at a series of statewide forums hosted by a new group.

The Nebraska Energy Assistance Network formed about a year ago to help educate consumers about energy conservation. It also wants to raise awareness of loan programs aimed at improving the energy efficiency of homes.

The European Union needs to become more transparent, socially conscious and environmentally friendly if it wants to move forward, French Socialist presidential frontrunner Segolene Royal said on Wednesday.

Gold was indicated lower in London morning trade Wednesday, tracking oil lower. Spot bullion was bid at $571.65/oz at 0918 GMT Wednesday, slipping $0.45 from its late New York spot price and little changed from its London afternoon close Tuesday of $571.40/oz.

The Environmental Protection Agency is requesting proposals to fund projects and activities that support the Methane to Markets Partnership. The partnership is an international initiative to reduce global methane emissions by promoting methane capture-and-use projects in four major sectors including agriculture (animal waste management), coal mining, landfills, and oil and gas systems.

As the federal government rolls out its clean air and climate change package, Environmental Defence and the Canadian Environmental Law Association have released the most comprehensive publicly accessible online ranking and tracking of large industrial greenhouse gas emitters across Canada.

Africa's two highest mountains _ Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya _ will lose their ice cover within 25 to 50 years if deforestation and industrial pollution are not stopped, environmentalists warned Thursday.

13Oct2006--ICE Brent futures were stronger Friday as the market on bullish sentiment after Statoil and Shell announced a combined shutdown of 315,000 b/d of crude production, brokers said.

12Oct2006--ICE Brent futures recovered after an early dip on Wednesday as the market awaited firm action by OPEC on a proposed 1 million b/d production cut following days of inconclusive negotiation.

The proposed project will be situated at an existing biomass energy plant located in Central New Hampshire. Once completed, the proposed project will generate approximately 16 megawatts of gross electric capacity.

Around dinner time Saturday evening, an equipment operator at the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station in the midst of a post-startup test of the plant's second reactor spotted a cracked test line.

Deregulation is an amorphous term, particularly in the utility sector. While the concept has been applied in many ways and all with regulatory safeguards, it does not rely solely on market forces. In fact, most of the roughly two dozen states that have "deregulated" -- restructured is a much better word here -- employ a hybrid model.

"Standardized" and "master" agreements for greenhouse gas emissions trading are likely to emerge nationwide, following the lead of two states and a seven-state region adopting programs to reduce carbon dioxide, the main gas
targeted by advocates of global warming theory.

More than 100 million Americans will enjoy greater protection of their drinking water under a new rule issued today by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The rule targets utilities that provide water from underground sources and requires greater vigilance for potential contamination by disease-causing microorganisms.

Norway's centre-left government said on Thursday it would finance the bulk of a pioneering project, carried out with oil company Statoil, to build the world's biggest facility to capture and store carbon dioxide emissions.

Crude production from OPEC's eleven members rose by 40,000 barrels per day last month, to 29.95 million b/d in September from 29.91 million b/d in August, a Platts survey of OPEC and oil industry officials showed October 10.

"This will be our largest recovered energy project to date and the first of its type under our direct ownership," Dita Bronicki, president and CEO of Ormat, said in a statement. The plants generate power using hot exhaust gases from existing natural gas turbines that operate compressor stations.

Pacific Gas & Electric Thursday said it will buy up to 8,000 Mcf/d of pipeline-quality renewable natural gas produced from cow manure in a deal with Microgy, a subsidiary of Environmental Power.

Political maneuvers could pull the plug on two Central Illinois wind farms, one in Livingston County and the other in Woodford County.

"In order to preserve the level of prices, it is necessary for the non-OPEC oil producers to support OPEC's moves at self-restraint,"
- Iran's OPEC governor, Hossein Kazempour Ardebili was quoted as saying Thursday in reference to a possible OPEC cut, but also pressing the non-OPEC producers to follow suit

"OPEC will announce formally in the next few days a reduction of one million barrels per day from its actual production in order to remove supply surplus to global demand, either by issuing a formal statement or by holding an emergency meeting during the current month of October,"
- Attiyah said.

A transition from fossil fuels to renewables will require “continued improvements in cost and performance of renewable technologies,” says the strategic plan of the U.S. Climate Change Technology Program.

The geomagnetic field is expected to be predominantly quiet on 13 October. Expect quiet to active levels on 14-15 October, with isolated minor storm conditions possible on 15 October, due to a recurrent coronal hole.

Two dozen Senate Democrats have signed a letter to President Bush calling for the federal government to significantly increase funding for alternative energy programs and incentives encouraging cleaner and more diverse energy sources.

Think money doesn't grow on trees? Take a closer look at projects being done by 42 student design teams, who received $420,000 in grants from EPA to research and develop sustainable environmental solutions.

An executive with a company building a liquefied natural gas terminal on the Texas Gulf Coast on Thursday said he is still bullish on the project's long-term viability despite recent moves by LNG-producing countries to divert supplies to markets elsewhere in the world.

SURRY - One of two nuclear reactors at Surry Power Station remained shut down Sunday after two electrical transformers that provide backup power to the plant quit working.

Baskets overflow with fresh greens. Tomatoes blush a deep red. The competition for customers' attention is fierce at the Heirloom Organics farm stand during the lunch-hour rush.

For the first time, Popular Mechanics has awarded its annual top ten honor to an automobile, citing the Tesla Roadster, with its "6831-cell lithium-ion configuration that can propel the car 250 miles between charges".

The U.S. Department of Defense says construction of windfarms should proceed, providing the turbines do not interfere with military radar.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has warned countries in western and northern Africa to be on the alert for an outbreak of locusts, which devastated the regions' farms in 2004.

The US League of Conservation Voters plans to throw its support behind moderate Republicans who have had what they consider favorable voting records on energy and the environment, even if it means Republicans, who scored lower overall on LCV's annual survey, retain control of Congress, it said Wednesday.

Closer coordination of US foreign and energy policies is essential to effectively promote alternatives to oil and energy security throughout the world, the Council on Foreign Relations said in a report released Thursday.

USDA Natural Resources and Environment Under Secretary Mark Rey and Benjamin Grumbles, Assistant Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Water, today signed a partnership agreement to establish and promote water quality credit trading markets through cooperative conservation.

•Market players are waiting to see if OPEC reaches an agreement to slash its 28 million b/d ceiling by 1 million b/d. OPEC has yet to make a formal announcement on its agreed cuts.

Just when it seemed that a permanent nuclear waste storage site might be derailed, the possibility has come roaring back. A bill to speed up time frames and remove some procedural obstacles to implementation of such a repository is now before Congress.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich announced the funding to Horizon Wind Energy, LLC for the construction of a 198-megawatt wind project in eastern McLean County. The facility is the first phase of a planned 400-megawatt wind farm, which, when fully built, would be one of the largest land-based wind farms in the world.

This “Low-Cost Scenario” reduces greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the U.S. by over 40% from the baseline projection without adverse impacts on the economy; without significant additional costs to utility customers, and without carbon taxes, cap-and-trade or similar programs.

Transportation-related emissions reduction opportunities are discussed in this article – yesterday’s article addressed cost-effective means of reducing electric generation-related emissions. Together, this “Low-Cost Scenario” reduces greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the U.S. by over 40% from the baseline projection without adverse impacts on the economy; without significant additional costs to utility customers, and without carbon taxes, cap-and-trade or similar programs.

Alcan Inc. is building a $180 million aluminum waste recycling plant in Quebec that will process about 80,000 metric tons of aluminum annually starting in the second quarter of 2008.

Brazil, the world's biggest producer of ethanol from sugarcane, is expanding exports of its biofuels and expertise. Argentina is stepping up production and use of biodiesel and ethanol to ease demand for fossil fuels in the face of a declining supply of oil and natural gas...

The state of Arizona is seeing a resurgence of interest in its geothermal resources, according to a report from the Geothermal Energy Association.

“Arizona contains acres and acres of clean sustainable geothermal resources, and improved economics and advanced technology have made geothermal resource development an attractive alternative to reduce Arizona's reliance on fossil fuels,” says Daniel Fleischmann.

ONE-QUARTER of Scotland will be covered by woodland under ambitious plans to expand the country's forestry industry and encourage the use of wood as a renewable energy resource.

US Department of Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman has extended until December 1 an emergency order requiring Mirant to operate a coal-fired power plant outside Washington despite attempts by local residents to shut it down
because of sooty emissions.

The request for information involving the SBF 120, which was conducted for the first time in France this year on a sample of the country's 120 biggest corporations, assesses the corporate risks and opportunities associated with climate change and global warming.

More than 100 advocacy groups are urging Congress to oppose the interim spent fuel storage facilities called for in House and Senate energy appropriations bills for fiscal 2007 and to concentrate, instead, on safeguarding spent fuel
at reactor sites.

Copper thieves are posing more than a nuisance to the community. Police said overnight Wednesday electrical lines were cut by metal thieves, exposing live electrical lines that posed a threat to electrocute anyone who made contact with them.

Iowa State University researchers are working to improve a process that could make the production of ethanol cheaper by cutting the use of natural gas from the process. Researchers say natural gas is the second largest expense in the ethanol process behind the corn.

We are walking down a slippery slope again this Autumn 2006, with El Niño rumors and misconceptions abounding, as they were in Autumn 2002.

North Korea's underground explosion produced hugely varying estimates of its character and size. North Korea said the explosion was nuclear, but only the Russian government's defense minister immediately agreed, saying the blast equated to 5,000-15,000 kilotons of TNT. Officials elsewhere demurred on whether the explosion was nuclear, conventional, or a nuclear fizzle.

Forest fires that ravaged parts of eastern Alaska and western Canada in 2004 exacerbated the already-high levels of ozone pollution in Houston, Texas, some 5,000 kilometers [3,000 miles] away.

THE energy regulator Ofgem has threatened Britain's power companies with more controls if they do not "raise their game'' by making it more appealing for households to generate their own electricity from domestic wind turbines and solar panels.

Any plans to create a nuclear waste dump in the Warwickshire countryside will be opposed, council chiefs promised yesterday.

The warning comes in the wake of concern by environmental campaigners that 12 sites previously earmarked as potential burial sites in the county are back on the table.

Saving $30, and protecting the environment, is as easy as changing a light bulb. If every American household changed a single light bulb to an Energy Star bulb, it would provide enough power to light more than 2.5 million homes, while saving consumers money.

ICE Brent crude futures in London fell Tuesday despite the ongoing tension surrounding North Korea and moves towards a possible OPEC output cut, brokers said.

ICE Brent crude futures hit their lowest level this year on Wednesday as traders awaiting the latest US stock data reacted to continued ample supplies, high inventory levels and fears of an economic slowdown in the US, the world's
biggest oil consumer.

Inbox 101006
I came across another interesting op-ed piece in yesterday´s Toronto Star about the waste situation in Ontario. The gist of it is that the province´s environmental regulations are stacked so heavily in favor of landfilling vis-à-vis other waste disposal methods such as incineration, waste-to-energy and gasification that those alternatives may as well not exist as far as Ontario´s government leaders are concerned

NRG’s Indian River Power Plant in Millsboro was the center of attention as Cape Region residents testified about health problems, pollution and energy needs at a public hearing Thursday, Sept. 28, in Georgetown.

Kuwaiti Oil Minister Sheikh Ali al-Jarrah said Monday that consultations were under way among OPEC producers on a proposal to cut production by 700,000 b/d to 1 million b/d, but there were still differences among members on how to divide the cut, the official Kuwait news agency reported.

Anyone who's been to or even by a landfill knows it can have a certain aroma. Lately, though, some of Maryland's landfills have begun to smell like money.

Most Americans will pay less to heat their homes this coming winter as slightly higher demand due to colder weather is offset by sharply lower natural gas prices, the US Energy Information Administration said Tuesday.

A concrete disposal vault at the US Department of Energy's Savannah River Site in South Carolina is leaking radioactive waste, a state official said Thursday.

The Duke Energy lines in the distance don't connect to his rural property. Carter and his wife, Lynn, live completely off the grid, a supreme achievement in the energy counterculture.

Saying South Dakota regulators ignored evidence of global warming, four energy and environmental groups have appealed that state's decision to approve construction of the controversial Big Stone II power plant near the Minnesota border.

PG&E is First Utility to Offer Cool Roof Rebates on Homes with Steep Slope Roofs. It's the first and only one that offers "Cool Roof" rebates on homes with steep slope roofs, as well as flat roofs. Other utilities that offer a rebate only offer it for flat roofs.

Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel (ULSD), the single, most far-reaching environmental and public health achievement since lead was removed from gasoline, is now available for consumers at the pump.

"We support (the) OPEC (proposal) to stabilize oil prices. It is no problem for Indonesia if our quota were cut. We are ready to do it."
- Indonesia's OPEC governor Maizar Rahman discussing the proposed OPEC production cut.

"Due to OPEC cuts and an anticipated tightening of product balances, we expect crude prices to gradually firm into the mid-60s range over the next 30-45 days."
-Calyon head of energy market research Mike Wittner wrote in a report regarding the impact of an OPEC production cut on crude prices.

"The Islamic Republic is hostile to the production and utilization of nuclear weapons and to destruction."
-Iranian government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham outlining Iran's response to the North Korean nuclear test.

Millions of people could become homeless in the Asia-Pacific region by 2070 due to rising sea levels, with Bangladesh, India, Vietnam, China and Pacific islands most at risk, says Australia's top scientific body.

Russia will build the third and fourth units of the Tianwan nuclear power plant following the successful startup of the first and second units, Federal Atomic Energy Agency (Rosatom) head Sergey Kiriyenko said after a visit to the construction site and a conference with Russia's Chinese partners.

With an estimated $535 extra spent per household on gasoline this past year, coupled with rising CPG product prices, U.S. consumers have certainly felt their budgets strain. Yet, the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry does not appear to have been negatively impacted.

A surprising new University of Colorado at Boulder study indicates winds circling high above the far Northern Hemisphere have a much greater impact on upper stratospheric ozone levels than scientists had thought.

Dominion Resources shut down one of its two nuclear reactors Saturday night at Surry Power Station after steam in a nearby turbine building blew sheet metal siding off the building into power lines that supply electricity to the reactors' safety systems.

The joint US/Canadian task force that investigated the August 14, 2003, blackout on Monday released its final report on the recommendations stemming from the outage, noting that many steps have been taken to improve the reliability of the bulk power grid.

The threat of terrorism is pervasive, particularly in light of turbulent world events. Emergency response plans are thus becoming the norm. And utilities have a vital role to play. Not only do they provide essential services but they are also in a position to assess just how vulnerable communities are and any effects of a horrific act.

Gold and platinum futures contract prices saw a limit drop on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange, according to TOCOM Wednesday. Gold futures fell Yen 60($0.51)/g each and platinum Yen 100/g each on the TOCOM.

The UK Government launched Thursday a consultation "seeking views from industry, investors and other stakeholders" on how to reach the target in the July energy review report of getting 20% of the UK's electricity from renewables by 2020.

Ukraine will start importing natural gas exclusively from three Central Asian countries, and nothing from Russia, in 2007, Ukrainian Energy and Fuel Minister Yuriy Boyko said late Tuesday.

North Baja Pipeline has received preliminary approval from the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to expand its system in California and Arizona to accept more regasified liquefied natural gas from Mexico.

Cool conclusion to September now to be followed by Indian Summer episodes for Central and Eastern States.

Wells Fargo & Co. said it has agreed to purchase 550 kilowatt-hours of wind energy each year for the next three years, a acquisition that will make the San Francisco-based financial services firm the largest corporate buyer of renewable energy in the United States,.

•- ICE Brent crude futures hit their lowest level this year on Wednesday as traders awaiting the latest US stock data reacted to continued ample supplies, high inventory levels and fears of an economic slowdown in the US, the world's biggest oil consumer.

Scotland's "wind rush" - the massive surge in applications to build windfarms - may be coming to an end, the environment minister signalled yesterday.

A bad storm in Alaska last October generated an ocean swell that broke apart a giant iceberg near Antarctica six days later, U.S. researchers reported Monday.

The waves traveled 8,300 miles to destroy the iceberg,

We, as a nation, have the ingenuity, know-how, and determination necessary to create an energy secure America. By working together, we can find exciting new ways to build America’s use of domestic, non-polluting renewable energy. If you believe in a renewable energy future for America, please join us by adding your name to this vision statement.

The Idaho Public Utilities Commission is hearing arguments in a case that could kill small-time wind farms or open the door for a proliferation of alternative-energy entrepreneurs.

3Oct2006-Front-month ICE Brent futures fell through the important psychological level of $60/barrel Tuesday purely on technical reasons, continuing Monday's collapse, brokers said. The market continued to ignore output cuts from Nigeria and Venezuela.

Caltex Australia has begun supplying diesel fuel containing 2% biodiesel from its terminal in the east coast city of Newcastle. In a first for Australia, all of the 550 million liters/year of diesel supplied by Caltex from its Newcastle terminal is to contain biodiesel.

Climate campaigners said on Tuesday they expected a British government report on the global costs of climate change to make it clear that major concerted action was needed now.

Years of punishing increases in natural gas prices have the nation's utilities preparing to shift away from expensive gas-fired generation in favor of more than 150 new coal-burning plants.

2Oct2006-Benchmark US crude futures were unwinding Friday's modest gains in Asian trading Monday, despite news that other OPEC producers might join Nigeria and Venezuela in implementing supply cuts.

EPA has changed its national air quality monitoring regulations as part of a strategy to update technology and keep pace with more advanced approaches to air quality management.

Gold has failed to sustain its brief move back above the $600/oz level, undermined by slumping oil prices, with spot gold testing support around the $592/oz level in morning London trade Tuesday.

Gov. Jim Doyle made a stop at Elkhorn Industries in Superior today to pitch plans for a $450 million private-public investment in renewable energy.

The theft of scrap metal is increasing in Europe on the back of current high price levels, recycling group Eurometrec warned Monday.

Wind turbines installed at five Scottish schools at a cost of Pounds 50,000 generated savings of less than Pounds 50 in the first year of their operation.

Idaho Power Co. received more applications for wind-powered projects than expected in the last two years. Under federal law, Idaho Power is required to contract with small wind projects to promote renewable energy. Idaho Power filed the plan with state regulators on Friday afternoon.

Today, the energy companies Shell Hydrogen B.V. and Total France, along with the vehicle manufacturers BMW Group, DaimlerChrysler AG, Ford Motor Company, General Motors Europe AG, MAN Nutzfahrzeuge AG and Volkswagen AG announce their joint approach to advance hydrogen as a fuel for road transport in Europe.

Iran has warned Japan that it has only two more days to give a final answer on the two billion dollar contract to develop the Islamic republic's largest onshore oil field. Government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham said that if no positive answer was forthcoming, Tehran would seek another partner to develop the Azadegan oil field in southwestern Iran close to the Iraqi border.

Ireland's energy demand is forecast to grow by 2-3%/year out to 2020, with continued heavy dependence on imported fossil fuels and a need to invest in energy infrastructure, according to a green paper entitled, "Towards A Sustainable Energy Future For Ireland" published October 1.

Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco Monday blasted the US Congress for failing to reach an a deal to give Gulf Coast states a share of federal offshore royalties, and urged her state's congressional delegation to "pull together to hold the feet of Congress to the fire."

Targets have become an essential tool in measuring success at many levels of Government and business, but can they count for anything if no one is held accountable?

Salt River this week announced that it is looking for partners willing to help it restore Mohave to service. Restoration would cost about $1.1 billion including $500,000 for pollution-reduction equipment.

Many new renewable energy technologies “are, or soon will be, economically competitive with the fossil fuels that meet 85% of U.S. energy needs,” says a report prepared by the Worldwatch Institute and the Center for American Progress.

A recent report by Uppsala Hydrocarbon Depletion Study Group, based in Sweden, said that for Canadian oil sands projects to be successful, nuclear power plants need to be built to provide energy needed.

And we built our national culture around this concept of personal mobility. It sets the parameters of our space and time, enables the range of daily activity, and expands the universe of opportunity. Approximately 75 percent of America's 135 million workers commute to work. Alone.

The area of the so-called hole -- a thinning in the ozone layer during the South Pole winter -- is the same as in the record year of 2000, according to measurements by NASA, said Geir Braathen, ozone specialist at the Geneva-based World Meteorological Organization.

But Braathen said of greater concern is that the amount of ozone gas particles remaining in the hole is even lower than in 2000.

Environmentalists, health advocates and the City of Chicago scored a victory this week when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency overturned a state permit for a coal-fired power plant in Will County.

Autumn has arrived. And the country may turn a new leaf. More than a year after the energy act became law, federal regulators are following through on their congressional instructions to help design the next generation of nuclear reactors -- one that might propel the nation into a new era of electricity generation. It's now a test of wills. No new plants have been started in a couple decades. T

The second annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative has resulted in numerous commitments to promote the use of renewable energies.

The probe is widely interpreted as part of a campaign by the authorities to put pressure on foreign companies operating in Russia.

S.C. Johnson & Son Inc. reports that it used 34 percent less fossil fuel last year compared with 2000 consumption, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 17 percent in just one year.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday signed a bill that will limit the state's coal-fired imports by requiring signed contracts for baseload power to comply with a greenhouse gas performance standard.

Airing a laundry list of concerns, the Sierra Club has asked Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius to issue a moratorium on the permitting of coal-fired power plants in the state.

Spot gas prices along the Gulf Coast tumbled as much as 70 cents Friday as several points dipped below the $4/MMBtu-mark on listless weekend demand, the November NYMEX gas futures contract's Thursday losses and moderate weather.

One-quarter of the nation's electricity could come from renewable sources like wind, the sun and the ocean tide within two decades' time, a California conservation group claimed Thursday.

Italy aims to expand its photovoltaic energy programme greatly this year, officials say, in a revamp welcomed by the industry to boost the laggard solar power sector.

What, exactly, is an "energy company"? That used to be an easy question to answer, but no longer. Now, it seems, just about everybody wants in on the energy game.

The 2005 Energy Policy Act (EPAct 2005) significantly changed the regulatory risk of operating a transmission system for an Investor Owned Utility (IOU). Section 1284 establishes fines for civil penalties of $1,000,000 per violation per transaction per day.

U.S. legislation to implement a market-based allowance program to cap GHG emissions would promote renewables, natural gas and nuclear, according to a government analysis.

A proposed U.S. law would increase investment in renewable energies by US$49 billion by 2009 and create 530,000 jobs.

Some time this month, the number of Americans will surpass 300 million, a milestone that raises environmental impact questions for the only major industrial nation whose population is increasing substantially.

The United States will forgive about 20 percent of the $122 million debt owed by Guatemala so the money can be used to protect threatened plants and wildlife, the government said Monday.

Ethanol producers expect the Bush administration to push for more research money to make biofuels cheaper and more widely available to drivers, the industry's main trade group said on Friday.

The US Supreme Court on Monday set a date of November 29 for oral arguments in a global warming case it agreed to hear earlier in 2006.

The plaintiffs in the case -- a coalition of states and environmental groups -- believe the federal government is obligated under the Clean Air Act to regulate emissions of carbon dioxide and other so-called greenhouse gases in order to combat global warming.

•- Front-month ICE Brent futures fell through the important psychological level of $60/barrel Tuesday purely on technical reasons, continuing Monday's collapse. The market continued to ignore output cuts from Nigeria and Venezuela and has briefly started to look to Wednesday's US inventory data where builds in products are expected once again.

Northbrook is doing its part to make the air better to breathe by turning wind into water.

By signing an electricity contract last month the village became the first municipality in Illinois, and one of the first in the country, to purchase enough wind-generated energy to run an entire municipal utility, its water plant.

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