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In a letter delivered today, 201 businesses and organizations - joined by 236 individual activists - urged the Members of the U.S. Senate to focus on sustainable energy strategies, oppose nuclear and fossil fuel subsidies, and approach cap-and-trade carefully when it takes up climate change legislation (S.2191) next week.

The combination of technology and nature allows the system to treat various pollutants including fine suspended solids, trash, floatables, oil and grease, sediments, heavy metals, particulate and dissolved metals, as well as nutrients and bacteria.

The Australian Biodiesel Group plans to switch to products that are not dependent on subsidies, do not compete with food and have clearly defined routes to market in a bid to diversify into other areas of renewable energy, the company said late-Wednesday.

Battered by record high gasoline prices, Americans are finally parking their SUVs and embracing energy conservation, but any impact on world markets could be slow in coming.

Five Arctic coastal nations agreed on Wednesday to let the UN rule on conflicting territorial claims on the region's seabed, which may hold up to one fourth of the world's undiscovered hydrocarbon reserves.

British Energy says it intends to capitalize on its low carbon credentials and has an evolving strategy in its trading and sales department.

Seven of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases are in the south, including two cities each in Tennessee, Ohio and Kentucky, it said.

The BlackLight Process is said to generate enormous amounts of cheap, non-polluting heat that will replace the thermal power in coal, oil, gas and nuclear power plants that is then converted to electricity.

Government legislation that will require all gasoline sold in Canada to contain 5 percent ethanol by 2010 passed the House of Commons on Wednesday.

Nuclear power companies in China aim to join automobile and electronics makers as export powerhouses, but big domestic expansion plans may not leave them the capacity to make an overseas push for more than a decade, analysts say.

A coalition of environmental and public health groups is suing the U.S. EPA for setting new ozone standards the groups contend are too lax.

On paper the case for new nuclear in Europe is as compelling today as it was during the 1970s oil crisis, indeed more so because of new imperatives to control CO2 emissions.
Until CO2 regulations are set in stone well beyond 2020 a nuclear revival of substance is doubtful.

Dow Chemical Co announced Wednesday that on June 1 it will raise the price of all of its products by up to 20%, depending on their exposure to rising energy, feedstock and transportation costs, and will review all terms to its customers.

The conventional drinking water disinfection methods, which have seen extensive use, include chlorine gas disinfection and chlorine solutions. The advantage of these methods is in the vast amount of experience gained over the years. However they do suffer from serious disadvantages, including the cost of the material, especially in liquid chlorine facilities...Recent years have seen a rise in the importance of "green" technologies for protecting the environment and for decreasing the use of various chemicals.

As everyone in European power knows, TVO's 1,600-MW Olkiluoto-3 EPR nuclear power plant in Finland is two years behind schedule and well over budget.

Focus Fusion reactors can provide virtually unlimited supplies of cheap energy in an environmentally sound way. Focus Fusion reactors are safe and environmentally sound: No radioactive by-products or pollutants are produced. The end-product is harmless helium gas. Focus Fusion reactors would be free of radioactivity and the small number of low-energy neutrons emitted could be easily absorbed in several inches of shielding.

Focus Fusion reactors are cheap.

Food prices will remain high over the next decade even if they fall from current records, meaning millions more risk further hardship or hunger, the OECD and the UN's FAO food agency said in a report published on Thursday.

Supporters and detractors of legislation to reduce US greenhouse gas emissions by 71% by 2050 predict that there will be enough votes to allow a debate in the US Senate next week, but there may be more politics than policy development after that.

Global warming will likely drain more water from the Great Lakes and pose added pollution threats to the region's vulnerable ecosystem, environmental groups said in a report issued on Wednesday.

Industry must shoulder a share of the burden of financing demonstration carbon capture and storage projects because with carbon risk will come reward, EC Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs told participants...

Public fountains are dry in Barcelona, Spain, a city so parched there’s a €9,000 ($13,000) fine if you’re caught watering your flowers. A tanker ship docked there this month carrying 5 million gallons of precious fresh water – and officials are scrambling to line up more such shipments to slake public thirst.

Japan's ITOCHU CORP intends to invest at least 110 billion yen (US$1.1 billion) to develop solar farms in Eastern Europe, where the governments are expanding support for clean energy project

"It was the largest volume of gasoline sold in April since we have started compiling statistics in 1955," a METI official said.

An abrupt release of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, about 635 million years ago from ice sheets that then extended to Earth’s low latitudes caused a dramatic shift in climate, triggering a series of events that resulted in global warming and effectively ended the last “snowball” ice age, a UC Riverside-led study reports.

With Wednesday's passage of a House bill that could extend the production and investment tax credits, many in the industry are cautiously hoping for an end to a political standoff that has threatened to cripple the nation's renewable energy industry.

Advantage Rent A Car says it will become the first major "all green" rental car company in the United States.

OPEC director of research Hasan Qabazard said Thursday the oil market is
well supplied and that he sees no need for the exporting group to increase its
production target.

Minnesota has joined the national Curbside Value Partnership program to increase recycling in the state.

Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) announced yesterday that its Conventional Mortgage Home Price Index (CMHPI) Purchase-Only Series registered a 10.4 percent drop in U.S. home values during the first quarter of 2008 on an annualized basis, following a downward revised 9.9 percent annualized drop in the fourth quarter. Over the four quarters ending with the first quarter of 2008, home sales prices fell an average of 4.4 percent in the CMHPI Purchase-Only Series – the largest annual fall in values over the 39-year history of the series.

Returning from the U.K. after another week of glorious weather (Global warming will make Merry Olde England quite more habitable, of course), I’d like to think I’ve seen the future of the debate in the U.S. over a low-carbon or zero-carbon future, and it’s as confusing as one could ever imagine.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued updated guidance to its fuel cycle and materials licensees regarding the potential need to store some low-level radioactive waste onsite for an extended period after the low-level waste disposal facility in Barnwell, S.C., closes to much of the nation.

Any new build was "likely to be in partnership with others," because reactor vendors are not going to be willing to take on all the risk.

"Right now the oil market is tight and there isn't a lot of additional supply that can come on at very short notice and the market looks like it's going to remain under pressure for some time to come," Johnson said in an interview.

As the Senate is poised to vote on the Lieberman-Warner America's Climate Security Act, a new poll finds an overwhelming majority of Americans oppose the higher energy costs the bill would impose.

Arizona Public Service has launched an investigation of an "unusual incident" that occurred Wednesday during the ramp-up of its 1,245-MW Palo Verde-2 nuclear power reactor, which has been offline for refueling since April 1, the utility said Thursday.

RayTracker supports a wide range of available PV panel types. PV panels mounted on a RayTracker system can yield an up to 38% increase in annual energy production compared to stationary PV panels, according to the company

The impact of skyrocketing oil prices and weaker economies has reduced international air traffic growth for the first four months of this year, the International Air Transport Association said in a statement Thursday.

New York and 13 other states are suing US Environmental Protection Agency claiming it violated the Clean Air Act in revising ozone pollution standards in March, the New York attorney general said on Wednesday.

Clouds have typically posed a problem to scientists using satellites to observe the lowest part of the atmosphere, where humans live and breathe, because they block the satellite's ability to capture a clear, unobstructed view of Earth's surface. It turns out, however, that these "obstructions" are worth a closer look, as clouds and their characteristics actually serve a valuable role in Earth's climate.

"The sea temperature around the coast of Britain has risen by more than one-and-a-half degrees in just a few generations," he said.

"If global warming continues it will have an impact on different species of fish.

It's been more than a century since the first natural gas wells were sunk in the United States - shallow holes in the rigid shale formations of Appalachia. As experience grows, so does the number of successful wells, which in turn increases the amount of recoverable gas.

There is, however, a sense among market analysts that the price may be inching up slowly, with some buyers said to be willing to pay $61/lb U3O8.

Biofuels based on ethanol, vegetable oil and other renewable sources are increasingly popular with government and environmentalists as a way to reduce fossil fuel dependence and limit greenhouse gas emissions.

...because while many people are preoccupied with the carbon output of coal use, coal's composition causes lots of other bad consequences that tend to be hidden from public view.

Air Products will provide a dedicated hydrogen fuelling station and storage facilities for the Islands' hydrogen-powered cars as part of the Comhairle's Hebridean Hydrogen Seed (H2seed) project.

The UK government Friday said it was announcing new measures to combat fuel poverty, the condition in which householders struggle to afford the energy they need to cook food and keep warm.

General Motors has announced that the US Department of Energy has taken delivery of a Chevrolet Equinox electric vehicle powered by a hydrogen fuel cell.

Markey, who chairs the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and
Global Warming, said his bill was intended to be a "lessons learned" report
after 16 months of exploring the issue of climate change.

The Bush administration released a climate change assessment on Thursday -- four years late and pushed forward by a court order -- that said human-induced global warming will likely lead to problems like droughts in the US West and stronger hurricanes.

The US was the fastest growing wind-power market in the world for the third straight year in 2007, with a 46% increase in wind capacity and $9 billion in new investments, the US Department of Energy said in a report released Thursday.

Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE) yesterday released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) in which the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 6.08 percent with an average 0.6 point for the week ending May 29, up from last week when it averaged 5.98 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 6.42 percent.

The US Senate's leading Republican on energy issues said Tuesday that the country's reliance on oil imports is weakening the country diplomatically, militarily and economically, presenting the nation with an unprecedented challenge.

US Senator Jeff Bingaman, the New Mexico Democrat who is chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, urged the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission Tuesday to "dig deeper" into the role of speculators, which lawmakers contend have pushed energy and agricultural futures prices to record highs this year.

The leading US climate bill would have serious economic impacts on states across the country if enacted, according to state-by-state calculations released by The Heritage Foundation on Thursday

Two senior members of the US House of Representatives are questioning the factual basis of the Bush administration's nonproliferation defense of Russia's nonproliferation record, a key part of the justification for the administration's decision to sign a nuclear cooperation agreement with Moscow.

Volkswagen AG and Japanese electronics group Sanyo will jointly develop highly efficient lithium ion batteries for use in hybrid drive cars and, eventually, in all-electric cars.

•Global crude futures extended Thursday's losses on Friday on the back of a strong US dollar and a dramatic weakening in the distillates futures complex ahead of the NYMEX heating oil expiry at the end of trading today.

•In addition, the stronger US dollar and efforts of the US CFTC to increase transparency in commodity trading may reduce incentives to increase positions in oil futures, analysts said, resulting in NYMEX light sweet crude dropping below the $125/barrel mark in earlier trading.

A major environmental group formally urged Ottawa on Tuesday not to proceed with plans to sell oil and gas rights in the Beaufort Sea in Canada's Arctic, saying not enough had been done to protect the area's wildlife

The French navy has given up the idea of trying to deliver humanitarian aid directly to Myanmar and will instead divert its cargo to neighbouring Thailand, the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Friday said he saw "no limit" to the ongoing surge of oil prices and said the "world must get used to" them.

Chinese soldiers were working round the clock on Tuesday to dig a giant sluice to ease pressure on a swelling "quake lake," with plans to evacuate 100,000 people to avert a new disaster, state media said.

The U.S. Department of Energy has taken another significant step in its on-going efforts to develop a process to store carbon dioxide in unmineable coal seams. The DOE is providing an additional $1.8 million grant to Virginia Tech's Virginia Center for Coal and Energy Research...

The chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee told members of the Cleveland City Club that the rush to produce food-based fuel is a faulty energy policy that is contributing to worldwide hunger and international unrest.

The Czech Republic will press for more "realistic" EU climate policies as well as a coordinated pan-EU power transmission system during its EU presidency in the first half of 2009, Czech Vice Prime Minister Alexander Vondra said on Friday.

Electronics maker Kyocera Corp. is launching its latest "environment and safety promotion plan" that includes greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals.

The company wants to reduce such emissions by 44 percent per unit by fiscal year 2010 when compared to 1990 levels.

Big emerging economies called on rich countries to help finance clean energy technologies on Saturday as a meeting of environment ministers sought to add momentum to the fight against climate change.

Exxon Mobil Corp is pulling contributions to several groups that have downplayed the risks that greenhouse gas-emissions could lead to global warming, continuing a policy started in 2006 by Chief Executive Rex Tillerson.

For once, American Indians want to hear more hot air from politicians. Or, rather, any air at all - when it comes to political support for wind and other alternative forms of energy.

Environment ministers from the G8 rich nations on Monday urged their leaders to set a global target to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, a small but vital step in the fight against climate change.

A Sacramento city councilwoman visited a Japanese energy plant last week to watch plasma torches vaporize garbage at temperatures hotter than the sun's surface. She returned more confident that the technology could help her hometown solve its garbage dilemma.

GreenHunter Energy is opening the nation’s single largest biodiesel refinery on June 2 on the Houston Ship Channel.

The facility, a converted waste oil refinery, gives the company direct deepwater access and the opportunity to ship products via barge, rail and truck, the company said.

Failing to address climate change could cost the U.S. economy between $1.9 trillion and $3.8 trillion annually by 2100, according to a report released May 22 by an environmental advocacy group.

Honeywell (NYSE:HON) today announced a $4.25-million permanent load-shifting program with Southern California Edison (SCE) that will reduce the utility bills of commercial customers and decrease electricity consumption during peak day-time hours.

House Republicans led by Representative Joe Barton of Texas offered a legislation package on Thursday that includes loan guarantees for up to six coal-to-liquid facilities that capture and store carbon dioxide emissions.

The civil engineer and his Iowa City-based company, Midriver Power LLC, envision the current of waters passing through the dam's overflow conduit producing another kind of current -- electricity -- that is now made in Iowa mainly by burning coal transported by rail from Wyoming's Powder River Basin.

Iran has stopped all gas exports to Turkey after a huge explosion struck the pipeline on the Turkish side, a senior Iranian gas official said Monday. National Iranian Gas Company director for production, transfer and dispaching, Hassan Montazer Torbati, was quoted by the Mehr news agency as saying the blast hit a 40-inch gas pipeline.

The Japanese government plans to cooperate with the private sector to promote wider use of so-called green electricity, generated by natural energy like wind and sunlight.

A new generation of nuclear power plants is on the drawing boards in the U.S., but the projected cost is causing some sticker shock: $5 billion to $12 billion a plant, double to quadruple earlier rough estimates.

Emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) through human activities have a well known impact on the Earth's climate. What is not so well known is that the absorption of this CO2 by the oceans is causing inexorable acidification of sea water. But what impact is this phenomenon having on marine organisms and ecosystems? This is a question to which researchers have few answers as yet.

The fact that oil supply and demand seem to be locked into well-worn patterns seems to have made the price of oil itself almost irrelevant -- and it has given the market a free pass to surge even higher, for now.

Production at the giant Cantarell complex in the Sound of Campeche --long the mainstay of Mexico's crude output -- slumped by 33% year on year in April, twice as fast as the decline forecast for this year by the state-owned Pemex, Energy Ministry figures showed Monday.

With energy prices going through the roof, an alternative lifestyle powered by solar panels and wind turbines has suddenly become more appealing to some. For architect Todd Bogatay, it has been reality for years.

"We cannot forever be in a market system in which the price is permanently on the rise, to the benefit of producers, who are building up major oil revenues. I have decided to alert all of my G7 colleagues to discuss this issue, among consumer nations, and that we present it to producing nations."
Finance Minister Christine Lagarde called on the G7 on Tuesday to press oil-producing nations to boost output in a bid to bring down prices that have reached record highs and thrown a spanner in oil-fired economies.

Region 997 is an Axx group in an alpha magnetic configuration and has two spots that were seen in white-light imagery. The geomagnetic field was at predominately quiet levels.

Russia is expected to complete the split of its industry and energy ministry into two separate bodies next week, as new energy minister Sergey Shamtko will soon get deputies appointed to him, a representative of the new industry and trade ministry said Friday.

A NUCLEAR fusion laboratory designed to recreate the temperatures and pressures inside the sun could be built in Oxfordshire under plans being drawn up by British scientists The aim is to build the world’s most powerful lasers and use them to blast tiny pellets of hydrogen fuel to create energy.

Royal Dutch Shell Monday said it had shut down some of its production in Nigeria's oil-producing Niger Delta after a new militant attack on a flowstation in the southern Rivers state.

A lush, well-manicured lawn is one of those features that helps define suburbia. Large swaths of neatly-cut grass aren't typically a dominant characteristic of the big city landscape, but lawns sure seem important in the 'burbs. And the greener the better.

Toyota Motor Company joins a growing parade of Japanese automakers ramping up production of new batteries to meet growing demand for hybrid vehicles like the Toyota Prius.

Turkey today dropped its strongest hint yet that it will sign up to the Kyoto Protocol on combating climate change, and will join in international efforts aimed at cutting greenhouse gasses.

US environmental advocates are nervous that record crude oil prices will lead to a boom in production of fossil fuels like motor fuel from coal, Canada's tar sands, or shale in Colorado that would emit more planet-warming gases than conventional oil.

Landmark legislation that would cut US greenhouse gas emissions by about
70% by 2050 is slated for a vote June 2 in the US Senate, where its chief
sponsor plans to offer a package of sweeteners -- "cost-containment" measures
and nearly $7 trillion in transition incentives -- in an effort to persuade
lawmakers to support the controversial measure.

The international fight to control climate change heads to a new arena in June when the Senate is to debate a bill that could cut total US global warming emissions by 66 percent by 2050.

You can buy and sell world currencies on a trading floor. And you can pick up produce at a neighborhood marketplace.

But how do you construct a market for climate change pollution?

•Crude futures remained firm in European morning trading amid ongoing supply concerns, as renewed violence in Nigeria supported prices after the long weekend on both sides of the Atlantic, sources said. However, despite the bullish sentiment, activity was still subdued in European morning trading, reflected in choppy trading patterns, sources said.

Imagine a Scotland circled by farms of giant offshore wind turbines with blades that span an area the size of the London Eye. The wind-technology industry was this week given the chance to show how interested it is in building wind farms in the seas around Scotland.

Norway could become "Europe's battery" by developing huge sea-based wind parks costing up to $44 billion by 2025, Norway's Oil and Energy Minister said on Monday.

While critics are expected to raise hundreds of legal challenges to the planned Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, the Department of Energy bid to win a license to build it likely will hinge on only a couple of key issues, an industry official said Thursday.

Though the US is the world’s largest producer of geothermal electricity, generating an average of 16-billion kWh of energy per year, this is still only a fraction of what it could be producing.

While most companies are watching soaring oil prices with an eye on rising costs some renewable energy executives are licking their lips at the prospect of "spectacular" growth.

Based on studies about the incidence of childhood leukemia involving a large number of households, the Institute found that power line magnetic fields are a possible cause of the cancer.

Electric and magnetic fields, also known as EMFs, are invisible lines of force associated with the production, transmission and use of electric power. The fields can be found near high-voltage transmission lines, secondary power lines and home wiring and electric lights.

A large quantity of nitrogen compounds emitted into the atmosphere by humans through the burning of fossil fuels and the use of nitrogen fertilizers enters the oceans and may lead to the removal of some carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, concluded a team of international scientists led by Texas A&M University Distinguished Professor of Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences Robert Duce.

As the debate and controversy over ethanol production and its effects on global food supply and prices rages on, just last month BP announced its first foray -- and the largest to date by a multinational oil company -- into Brazil's sugar cane-based ethanol industry.

In this week's video the Western North Carolina Green Building Council and Americangreen.tv feature an interesting story about the town of Black Mountain, North Carolina and its journey to becoming a sustainable community in every aspect. You'll be impressed with the towns green initiatives and how the townspeople are working to accomplish them.

Parts of Maryland are still at risk for isolated blackouts as early as 2011 unless new transmission lines are built to get energy to where it's needed most, regional grid operator PJM Interconnection told state utility regulators yesterday.

The construction of a proposed dam on Brazil's Xingu river will flood homes of 16,000 people, dry rivers and fuel logging, activists and tribal Indians warned on Wednesday as concern over Amazon destruction rises.

Finding ways of safely burying carbon dioxide could be the only way of keeping greenhouse gas emissions below dangerous levels, the International Energy Agency's chief economist said on Thursday.

Carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels rose in the United States by 1.6 percent in 2007, according to a report released May 20 by the Energy Information Agency, part of the federal government.

California's dream is to host a carbon-free power plant. By 2011, the 50-megawatt facility would use natural gas or synthetic gas made from coal and subsequently re-inject all heat trapping emissions more than one mile underground.

Russia and China have signed an agreement worth more than $1 billion on construction of a uranium enrichment factory as well as supplies of Russian low-enriched uranium to China, the head of Russia's state-run Rosatom nuclear corporation Sergei Kiriyenko said in televised comments Friday.

Chinese engineers are starting to make headway against lakes that have formed behind landslides, threatening yet more devastation on the earthquake-stricken valleys downstream.

The leading climate change bill in the US Senate will provide trillions of dollars to consumers and industry through 2050 in an effort to ease the switch to a low-carbon economy, according to a summary of the bill distributed May 16 to Senate offices.

Fuel costs are the biggest catalyst in the latest flurry of consolidations in the US airlines industry, analysts say, and may bring about more trouble as with the exception of a few, none of the airlines has prepared for today's cost environment.
"Unless fuel prices rapidly retreat, it stands to reason that additional carrier bankruptcies cannot be ruled out," - JP Morgan Securities report.

Duke Energy Carolinas today announced it will purchase the entire electricity output of the nation's largest photovoltaic solar farm to be built in Davidson County, N.C., north of Charlotte.

The combined benefits of silicon, sunshine and hydropower are expected to bring 500 new "green" jobs to Niagara Falls over the next three years.

Boise State University will receive $41,000 a year for the next three years to manage the construction of small wind turbines at up to a dozen rural Idaho schools.

A community action agency has started to promote wind energy and expects to have windmills available for installation this summer.

Trash, rubbish, whatever you call it, the 1.6 billion tonnes of stuff the world throws away each year -- 250 kilograms per person -- is being touted as a big potential source of clean energy.

With the introduction of a greenhouse gas cap-and-trade scheme in the US, global carbon markets could be worth almost €2 trillion (USD $3.1 trillion), with total transaction volume forecast at 38 billion tonnes carbon dioxide equivalent (Gt CO2e) per year by 2020, according to Point Carbon...

Coal's importance in the world energy mix is set to increase in the future, according to the chief economist of the Paris-based International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol.

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on Wednesday offered legislation to slash greenhouse gas emissions in the coming decades while adding protections for consumers and industries.

Eleven citizen and environmental groups in West Virginia and Maryland have filed a 60-day notice about their intent to sue a wind power project.

Fifty percent of Americans believe federal laws governing drinking water are not strict enough, according to a scientific opinion poll conducted for the Water Quality Association.

Recent spikes in oil prices have intensified competition for limited supply chain resources among offshore wind, oil and gas and onshore wind projects, analyst John Westwood of UK consulting firm Douglas-Westwood said Wednesday.

The head of the U.S. EPA will be on the hot seat this afternoon when he appears before a House committee examining alleged White House interference in EPA rule making

Democrats in the House of Representatives Tuesday succeeded in passing
legislation to allow the United States to take legal action against OPEC if
the oil cartel were found to be conspiring to fix prices, a move the White
House earlier in the day threatened to veto.

The US House of Representatives Wednesday passed 263-160 a major tax incentives bill that would authorize $20 billion in credits for the energy
industry, including extensions of incentives for wind, solar, and other
renewable energy resources and $1.5 billion to develop carbon-control
technologies.

Houston will move forward with a permanent green waste recycling program following a successful six-month pilot project.

Carbon dioxide spewed by human activities has made ocean water so acidic that it is eating away at the shells and skeletons of starfish, coral, clams and other sea creatures, scientists said on Thursday.

When the mainstream media "broke" the news story in March 2008 about the contamination of drinking water with pharmaceutical and personal care products, the reaction of water testing experts and water treatment authorities was: "That's old news. We've known about it for years." This reaction contrasted with the surprise in the general public, fearful of rampantly contaminated drinking water.

More than 50 major green investors called on the U.S. Senate in a letter to enact strong federal legislation to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

An Irish company that's building devices to harness the power of ocean waves to generate electricity announced yesterday that it plans to open its U.S. headquarters in Annapolis.

UK offshore wind development costs have soared over the past few years, making the economics of such projects marginal at best. However, at a time when other players are abandoning such projects on the grounds of sub-optimal returns, Scottish & Southern Energy is reportedly going ahead with the construction of the world's largest offshore wind farm.

The New York Times, in an editorial published today, characterized President Bush's request for more oil from Saudi Arabia as unseemly special pleading.

"The next president is going to have to do a lot more to reduce America's consumption of fossil fuels and its dependence on the Saudis," the Times said.

The nations mayors are putting forth their full support behind Senate Environment and Public Works Chairman Barbara Boxers revised version of the pending Climate Security Act (S.2191), which will enable cities and the country to make systematic reductions nationwide in U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.

Saudi Arabian oil minister Ali Naimi was quoted Wednesday as saying the sharp rise in crude oil prices was unexpected and undesirable for either producers and consumers but he blamed factors other than supply and demand fundamentals for record oil prices.

What if making a solar cell was as easy as printing a newspaper? What if it was flexible, light and above all, cheap? The current photovoltaic (PV) market, dominated by expensive and fragile silicon, would be revolutionized.

Two students from the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business recently started a business that supplies electricity to rural villages in India by gasifying the rice husks that are a waste product of rice milling.

The DEP filed a lawsuit following the incident. On Aug. 23, 2005, a leak developed in the facility´s waste ash basin, which lead to a spill of more than 50 million gallons of water and ash into the Delaware River. The basin is a lined, water-filled storage area for ash created by coal combustion. The ash settles to the bottom and the water from the surface discharges into the river.

The price premium charged for new, customer-driven green power is 80¢ per kWh in some regions of the US, according to the latest annual ranking of leading utility programmes.

US onshore federal lands contain an estimated 31 billion barrels of oil and 231 Tcf of natural gas, although some 60% of the lands with the potential for oil and natural gas development are presently closed to leasing, according to an inventory report released Wednesday by the Bureau of Land Management.

Qatari oil minister Abdullah al-Attiyah was quoted Thursday as ruling out the need for OPEC to hold an extraordinary meeting, saying that oil supply and demand fundamentals were in balance and demand for crude was expected to fall.

Industrial facilities and many businesses in the San Francisco Bay area soon will pay a fee for emissions of greenhouse gases.

New information about a security scare has forced the operator of the 2,311 MW Oskarshamn power station to take a unit offline Wednesday night, operator OKG said Thursday.

The Senate environment committee, chaired by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., has approved a bill that would force the EPA to allow California to enforce its own law limiting greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles.

ILLINOIS: A summer with no air-conditioning is a harsh reality for consumers across the state finding themselves unable to keep up with soaring utility rates and facing the prospect of having their electricity disconnected. On Tuesday, the Illinois State Senate moved to prevent that, unanimously passing legislation to keep utility companies at bay during the height of summer heat. The bill is now set to be sent to the Governor.

The Senate environment committee has approved a bill that would reduce air pollution from ships and other marine vessels visiting U.S. ports.

Unless solutions are found to the world's future energy supplies wars will soon be fought over oil, if they have not already been, a leading Scottish businessman warned yesterday.

California's two leading public pension funds and two of its top finance officials Tuesday morning urged the U.S. Senate to pass legislation to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

There is so much talk today about carbon legislation that I'd like to ask a really basic question. How do carbon markets work? And how do they help foster the development of renewable energy?

The Department of Energy is calling on U.S. colleges and universities to propose new projects to enhance the long-term use of coal.

Two former uranium miners said May 12 that their experiences with radiation contamination have strengthened their determination to keep uranium companies out of the Navajo Nation in New Mexico.

Successful hedgers have ideally hedged about 50% of their fuel needs but their advantage really lies in having managed risk proactively years ago compared with their counterparts, which are left with spot prices or minimal hedges ranging around 20%, an airlines analyst at UBS analyst said.

A US appeals court on Wednesday threw out a Washington state law barring the federal government from adding radioactive waste to the Hanford nuclear disposal site until existing contamination is cleaned up.

...saying that ferrosilicon was "a good example of people being lulled into a false sense of security. People didn't expect this kind of volatility." He said that traders and consumers alike had been caught out. "Everyone's caught on this and the Chinese are reneging left, right and center," he added.

Republicans in the US House of Representatives on Tuesday said that they will release the details of an energy plan Wednesday to increase domestic oil and natural gas production and open new areas to drilling.

US House Republicans on Thursday announced they are in the process of introducing 15 bills to address increasing oil and gas prices, as well as developing domestic sources of oil, gas and alternative sources of energy.

Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE) yesterday released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) in which the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 5.98 percent with an average 0.5 point for the week ending May 22, down from last week when it averaged 6.01 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 6.37 percent.

US consumption of renewable energy fell 1% in 2007 to 6,830 trillion Btu from 2006, largely because of a sharp drop in hydro-electric generation last year, the US Energy Information Administration said.

The germs that help cattle eat grass and gorillas gorge on leaves may have been the secret weapon that let mammals populate the planet, researchers reported on Thursday.

The US Department of Energy (DOE) will fund US$7.5m for research and development to advance the viability and cost-competitiveness of advanced water power systems.

As Congress prepares to begin consideration of climate change legislation, a coalition of eight national water organizations today called on senators and representatives to recognize the severe impacts that global climate change will likely have on water resources in the United States.

•July ICE Brent futures touched the $129/barrel mark for the first time during European morning trading on Wednesday, while July NYMEX crude pierced the $130/b mark ahead of the weekly US petroleum data release, on the back of a weaker US dollar as well as bullish German economic data, sources said.

•In addition, fresh fund money seems to have come into the market, attracted by record-high flat prices despite weakening spreads especially for ICE Brent and gasoil, sources added.

•"It seems we have some more funds injections into the market. New record highs just seem to give us a new target to aim for...meanwhile the spreads are falling out of bed, clearly they are moving in the opposite direction," a London-based broker said. "Although you would never, you could almost say you could place your mortgage on it," the broker added.

•Looking at US stock data expectations, analysts surveyed by Platts forecast builds throughout the barrel, with crude seen up 900,000 barrels, while gasoline and distillates are expected to have increased by 500,000 and 1.45 million barrels, respectively.

The US could source 20% of its total electricity need from wind by 2030 if the cost of wind technologies were reduced, if new transmission infrastructure were installed and if domestic manufacturing capability were enhanced.

Global production of solar photovoltaic (PV) cells increased 51 percent in 2007, to 3,733 megawatts (MW),..

One does not often feel present at the launch of something civilization changing. Electricity was in the air at the recent Washington International Renewable Energy Conference, which attracted a swarm of more than 8,600 energy entrepreneurs, government officials and academics from around the world.

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin will release her decision on endorsing a proposal by TransCanada to build an Alaska natural gas pipeline Thursday morning Alaska time, the governor's office announced Monday.

Fewer but more intense hurricanes may form in the Atlantic Ocean as the globe warms toward the end of this century, according to a new study that counters predictions of more frequent cyclones due to climate change.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates has been selling off his stake in beleaguered West Coast ethanol producer Pacific Ethanol, slashing the shares held by his Cascade Investment company to 1.4 million from 10.5 million over the last six months, according to securities filings.

Two Great Lakes senators have introduced a bill that would limit phosphates in dishwashing detergent to help reduce water pollution that leads to so-called dead zones.

They will discuss a deal to help the kingdom develop civilian nuclear power for medical and industrial uses as well as generating electricity. The agreement provides access to safe, reliable fuel sources for nuclear reactors and demonstrates what the Bush Administration calls Saudi leadership as a non-proliferation model for the region.

The survey also indicates that 60 percent of participants said they always turn out the lights when leaving and 31 percent always adjust the heat or air conditioning when leaving a room.

Scientists from across the world applied statistical models to published data on changes in 829 physical systems and around 28,800 plant and animal systems —on both global and continental scales — some with data going back to 1970.

One in eight of the world's birds are at risk of extinction as climate change puts birds under great pressure, a leading conservation group warned on Monday.

By making simple calculations based on old utility bills, gasoline purchases and recycling practices, a community, business, group or individual can figure its carbon footprint, or total contribution to the forces of global warming.

More than 8,400 customers of PreBuy Electric are being switched to another retail provider because the company failed to meet financial obligations to the state's grid operator.

The National Association for Business Economics expects little economic growth in the first half of 2008 – first-quarter gross domestic product increased only 0.6 percent - and a panel of 52 NABE members look for GDP growth of 0.4 percent in the second quarter.

Ebermann said that the European Union expressed full support to the Egyptian peaceful nuclear program. He also underlined that the EU is buttressing use of clean energy to reduce gas emissions.

A majority of oil and gas executives surveyed by the KPMG consulting firm expect oil prices to fall below $100/barrel by the end of this year because fundamentals do not support prices at current levels, according to Bill Kimble, executive director of KPMG's Global Energy Initiative.

Some U.S. efforts to save the environment have become part of a popular trend rather than an effective solution, some energy and environmental experts say.

"With financial markets still reeling from the global credit squeeze, and growing inflationary pressures dollar demand for gold reached $20.9 billion in the first quarter of 2008, a 20% increase over the same period in 2007 and more than double the level of four years earlier," the WGC said in a statement.

Internet search giant Google Inc. (Mountain View, Calif.) is in discussions with Israeli solar company Ormat Technologies Inc. about potential cooperation in renewable energy projects.

A group of female elders recently completed a walk around Lake Michigan in what they call a ''spiritual petition'' to raise awareness about the urgent need to end pollution and to restore and protect the earth's waters.

Mark Rosenzweig watched with suspicion as a tanker truck sidled up to a local Burger King's grease bin last month. The driver plunged a hose into the 300-gallon tub of used French-fry grease and slurped it into his tank.

Poor countries will struggle to produce more grain and help to ease a global food crisis given many of their farmers abandoned their fields due to stiff competition from rich nations, Mexican President Felipe Calderon said.

Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius late Friday vetoed two related bills that supporters of Sunflower Electric Power's 1,400-MW coal project had attached to economic-stimulus measures to secure an air permit for the electric cooperative's $3.6-billion project.

Goldman Sachs forecast further price rises over the long term for an oil market already hitting new highs on a daily basis in a report released by its commodities group on Friday.

European Union lawmakers backed a watered-down law on "green crime" on Monday that would make dumping toxic waste or illegally transporting hazardous materials a criminal offence throughout the bloc.

Floe, a virtual polar bear on National Grid's Web site, can help National Grid customers analyze and measure the environmental effects of their routine daily activities, including eating, drinking, driving and making home heating energy choices.

The fight against unnecessary and costly water leakage, technology is almost certainly the most effective weapon at our disposal. Several recent and emerging developments are showing a great deal of promise in not only winning the war, but by actually changing the way in which it is fought.

Those who filed a federal whistle-blower lawsuit against EnergySolutions say they hope their fourth attempt at their suit will be successful.

OPEC president Chakib Khelil said Monday that Saudi Arabia's plan to boost its crude production by 300,000 b/d was a "sovereign decision" by the oil producer group's most powerful member.

It’s “perfect” for renewables in that climate change concerns seem to be marginalizing coal, at the same time as relative availability has marginalized natural gas, and safety and cost issues continue to haunt nuclear power.

While the nation debates possible solutions to the escalating U.S. energy crunch, a University of Alaska Fairbanks professor is working to advance a carbon dioxide sequestration project. That, combined with increased coal consumption, could provide long-term, low-cost energy in an environmentally balanced manner

...despite their imposing presence and the stark contrast with the rolling pastures and corn fields, the turbines have received a warm welcome here.

"No... the market is already saturated with oil and an increase in output will not affect the price....This action is more of a political move ... it will only increase reserves," Nozari said.
Iranian oil minister Gholamhossein Nozari said Saturday that OPEC would not increase oil supply because that would lead to higher inventories and not lower prices, describing Saudi Arabia's unilateral decision to raise output by 300,000 b/d as a political move.

The geomagnetic field was at quiet to unsettled levels. Solar wind observations from the Ace Spacecraft have shown a steady increase in velocity from around 340 km/s to 400 km/s in the past 24 hours.

Just when you thought: “things couldn’t get any worse.” It just did. According to MSNBC, “Fannie Mae says it is doing away with higher minimum downpayment requirements for borrowers in distressed real estate markets.

Santa Cruz and Mohave County residents will begin paying more for electricity from UniSource Energy Services starting June 1 as increased costs for wholesale power and other charges kick in.

Southern California Edison (SCE) today proposed to the California Air Resources Board the first major set of "early action" greenhouse gas reduction projects developed since California enacted Assembly Bill 32 -- the historic climate change legislation that aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2020.

The U.S. EPA is inviting the public to comment on a request by the state of Texas to reduce the volume of renewable fuel required in gasoline sold nationally.

Thailand's Bangchak Petroleum has begun construction of a 300,000 liter/day biodiesel plant in Bang Pa-In in Ayutthaya province with first production slated for mid-2009, a company official said Friday.

Part I of this article discussed the types of energy created from various sources, and examined wind and bioliquids. Part II of this article will continue with a discussion of energy from biomass, solar, and ocean and river currents.

Researchers have been unable to build an ideal “photonic crystal” to manipulate visible light, impeding the dream of ultrafast optical computers. But now, University of Utah chemists have discovered that nature already has designed photonic crystals with the ideal, diamond-like structure: They are found in the shimmering, iridescent green scales of a beetle from Brazil.

The Bush administration on Friday proposed keeping potentially oil-rich wetlands in Arctic Alaska off-limits to drilling because of their ecological sensitivity, a reversal of its earlier plan.

US energy-related CO2 emissions rose 1.6% in 2007, driven by a 2.2%
increase in GDP and weather patterns that boosted energy consumption for both
heating and cooling, the US Energy Information Administration said on Tuesday.

US Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison on Monday proposed freezing the federal mandate for corn-based ethanol at this year's level, contending that using so much grain for fuel was pressuring the food supply.

•Crude futures were steady on Tuesday, poised to hit fresh record highs with momentum remaining bullish across the barrel ahead of the June NYMEX crude contract expiry at the end of trading today.

•Ongoing supply worries surrounding Nigeria were keeping flat crude prices firm despite weakening inter-month spreads and Saudi Arabia's pledge to increase crude supplies from June.

To avoid the most catastrophic consequences of global climate change, industrialized nations need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 80% by 2050, according to the author of the Air & Waste Management Association's (A&WMA) 38th Annual Critical Review...

The newly commercialized facility is the second to be constructed by Air Products to supply hydrogen to Petro-Canada's refinery, as well as several additional customers in the Edmonton area. An earlier facility was successfully placed on-stream in June 2006.

Recent turmoil in the airline industry may just be the canary in the “oil mine” that wakes up Americans to the idea that the era of cheap oil is over. Inexpensive energy underpins our economy and our way of life.

The new study identifies a link between reducing sulphur dioxide emissions from burning coal and increasing sea surface temperatures in the tropical north Atlantic, resulting in a heightened risk of drought in the Amazon rainforest.

It's US National Bike to Work Day on Friday and Americans are facing record high gasoline prices, but most commuters will stick to their cars.

Magnetic Power Inc. has become aware of a revolutionary achievement. After 17 years of research, a 37 year old inventor in Bangladesh has shown professors from an engineering university, as well as other scientists and electrical engineers, that he has created magnetic energy conversion systems that produce electricity without any need for fuel.

Detractors of ethanol are trying to decelerate its take off. Ethanol production is ramping up to meet federal mandates, which critics say has created global food shortages and potentially more greenhouse gas emissions.

President Bush on Tuesday sent a recently signed nuclear cooperation agreement with Russia to the US Congress for review despite opposition from some key lawmakers.

Canadian net electricity exports in 2007 were nearly double the five-year average of 15.7 TWh, and generated about C$3.1 billion (US$3.08 billion) in revenue, the National Energy Board said in its Canadian Energy Overview 2007.

Increasing the amount of renewable energy in Ontario's electricity supply is a key part of the province's energy plan. By 2025, the goal is to have 15,700 megawatts (MW) of renewable power on-line, double the amount in 2005.

US regulators are proposing to weaken air quality laws, which would allow new coal-fired power plants to pollute US parks from Shenandoah in Virginia to the Great Basin in Nevada, a new report said on Thursday.

Power generators with a carbon-intensive fuel portfolio are set to lose billions of euros under the European Commission's plans for the post-2012 EU emissions trading scheme, a French university academic said Thursday.

The high price of oil and global warming are pushing an agenda to find alternative sources of energy.

Douglas County is gearing up to be prepared should those efforts -- at least where wind is concerned -- reach area forests and farmlands.

DOE is seeking bids for a contract worth up to $2.6 billion to manage and operate the repository project at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, the department said May 13.

The economic slowdown, regulatory conflicts and competition from China pose the main risks to future growth of the solar industry, the head of the European Photovoltaic Industry Associations told Reuters.

Rapidly rising steam coal prices in Europe over the last year have sent shockwaves through the entire energy complex and affected a sea change in how this vital energy source is traded.

Over half of respondents (53 percent) demonstrated a negative outlook for the U.S. economy in the second half of 2008. Furthermore, the price of oil was cited as the issue having the greatest negative impact on the current and future business climate...

Fitch Ratings says global banks have already written down more than 80% of their losses from subprime mortgage assets. In a special report published yesterday, the agency estimates total market losses from subprime mortgage assets at USD400bn, though estimates may be as high as USD550bn, depending on the method of calculation used.

'Our ancestors once lived here, as we do today,'' he said. ''Their homes, gardens, hunting grounds and ceremonial places were here. When they passed on, they were laid to rest in these sacred lands. The earth itself is intertwined with the flesh, blood and bones of our ancestors. We are the caretakers of these sacred places, and in this spirit, we say 'welcome home.'''

He then referred to the central matter before the group: discussions in preparation for the following day's meeting with a representative of the U.S. Department of State concerning the TransCanada Keystone Pipeline.

Human-generated climate change made flowers bloom sooner and autumn leaves fall later, turned some polar bears into cannibals and some birds into early breeders, a vast global study reported on Wednesday.

Gold and silver clearing statistics were lower across the board in April compared with March levels, with measures in silver declining more steeply, the London Bullion Market Association said Thursday.

Green Mountain Power Corp. today announced a groundbreaking new approach to accelerate the adoption of solar energy by Vermont homes and businesses.

Scotland is on the brink of a green jobs revolution with 50,000 posts expected to be created in the next decade, careers experts claim.

Greenhouse gases are at higher levels in the atmosphere than at any time in at least 800,000 years, according to a study of Antarctic ice on Wednesday that extends evidence that mankind is disrupting the climate.

As the week closed in Asia, Hin Leong had accumulated 3.3 million barrels of jet fuel in a buying spree that began last week,

Carroll County has become the first jurisdiction in Maryland to allow wind turbines in private yards. County commissioners approved zoning changes allowing the wind energy systems.

Since the election of Canada's Conservative government in 2006, criticism of its approach to environmental protection has been fairly sustained. Its former and present environment ministers were lambasted for stalling the process at climate change conferences in Nigeria and Bali

I like to gather fuel and want to watch it burn,
It seems to fill a hidden sense and that is what I yearn,..

* Inflation risk back as global challenge
* Rising energy and commodity prices central to new concerns
* Requires policy response by governments to promote energy investment and agriculture

Have you ever tasted a penny? I can't recall ever having done so, but I feel like I just did after reading this vivid Associated Press report about the shipbreaking business in southern Texas.

Will there be another "Hail Mary" attempt to get approval of the coal-burning plants project in southwest Kansas?

Opponents and supporters of the project said Tuesday that it's possible.

Mesa Power LLP, a company created by legendary energy executive T. Boone Pickens, has placed an order with General Electric to purchase 667 wind turbines capable of generating 1,000 megawatts of electricity, enough to power more than 300,000 average U.S. homes.

Electricity retailer National Power Co. promised customers a fixed rate of around 11 cents per kilowatt-hour. Last week, the company took that promise back.

It's simply a matter of the US presidential election and United Nations climate change talks being on different timetables, but when the Bush administration officials take their places at the December UN climate negotiations in Poznan, Poland, it will be three weeks after a new president is elected.

The two firms -- one from Houston, and the other from Gloucester, Mass., -- intend to generate power using underwater turbines.

Torrential tropical downpours lashed Myanmar's Irrawaddy delta on Friday, deepening the misery of an estimated 2.5 million destitute survivors of Cyclone Nargis and further hampering the military government's aid efforts.

The Nigerian government has lost an estimated Naira 150 billion ($1.3 billion) in revenue as a result of arson attacks on petroleum products pipelines over the past eight years,...

Nissan Motor Company, Ltd., announced yesterday that it plans to introduce an all-electric vehicle in the United States and Japan in 2010. The vehicle will then be mass-marketed to consumers throughout the world in 2012.

Rising amounts of nitrogen entering the oceans from human activities are less beneficial than previously thought as a fertiliser for tiny marine plants that help slow global warming, scientists said on Thursday.

"The national debate on climate change has now shifted from whether we need to act to what we need to enact," said Bill Johnson, Progress Energy´s chairman, president and CEO.

"Our two countries agreed to strengthen the protection of energy resources, enhance peaceful nuclear cooperation, broaden the fights against global terrorism and bolster nonproliferation. Our global economy depends greatly on Saudi Arabian energy...The US has a keen interest in helping the Saudis protect their energy infrastructure against terrorism, as demonstrated by the unsuccessful terrorist attack against the kingdom's Abqaiq plants in February 2006."
The United States has agreed to help oil giant Saudi Arabia protect its energy installations against possible terrorist attacks, the White House said Friday in a statement.

"The market is well supplied. More oil will encourage more squandering of oil in consuming countries...We will continue sending oil to the US at the present levels of 1.5-2 million b/d, and [continue] operating our refineries there."
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez told a group of visiting newspaper editors from the US that while he does not favor OPEC countries or even Venezuela on its own increasing oil exports, he will continue to send oil to the US at the present level of 1.5-2 million b/d.

East Kentucky Power Cooperative, which currently supplies power to Farmers Cooperative's 23,500 members in Barren, Metcalfe and Hart counties, is looking for the renewable energy

Legislation that would renew billions of dollars in tax breaks for solar, wind, biomass and and other renewable energy sources and extend a proposed new tax credit for ethanol fuels not produced from corn advanced in the US House of Representatives on Thursday.

"There is going to be a boom -- massive adoption -- in the residential market, which we can already see this year. If people can go green and save money why would they not do it?"

Saudi oil minister Ali Naimi Thursday said Asian oil consumption was projected to increase by 20 million b/d by 2030, accounting for 60% of the growth in world demand.

Some 80% of this increase in demand will be met by supplies from the Middle East...

Senate Republicans failed Tuesday to win passage of a proposal that would have boosted domestic production opportunities for conventional energy producers. The proposal was rejected by a 42-56 vote.

Sen. Lamar Alexander, chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, is calling on the United States to launch a "5-year New Manhattan Project to put America firmly on the path to clean energy independence within a generation."

Southern California's electricity system will be challenged this summer, and power emergencies may result if an extended drought leads to massive wildfires, the main US electricity reliability watchdog said on Wednesday.

Dallas-based Mesa Power, which in August announced plans to build 4,000 MW of wind generation in the Texas Panhandle, on Thursday said it had placed an order with General Electric for 667 wind turbines that have a combined generating capacity of 1,000 MW.

Q: On a utility scale, which of these two technologies is cheaper: photovoltaics (PV) or concentrating solar thermal (CST)?

The Earth comes to us with a safe and clean nuclear power plant built in that can provide all of the energy we need. We learned how to tap this geothermal energy decades ago, yet we still seem to prefer gathering fuel and burning it for virtually all of our power needs.

What is the price you pay to purchase a gallon of gasoline for your car? Depending on what part of the country you live in, it is probably between $3.50 and $4.00 per gallon.

U.S. and Mexican federal and state agencies have signed an agreement to clean up 3.5 million scrap tires that have piled up along border states.

Hervé Philippe, a Université de Montréal professor of biochemistry, is a committed environmentalist who found that his own research produces 44 tonnes of CO2 per year. The average American citizen produces 20 tonnes.

The spot price of uranium continued to tumble over the last week and now stands at $60 a pound U3O8, according to the latest reports from Ux Consulting and TradeTech.

In a statement issued after talks in Riyadh between President George W
Bush and Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, the White House said the two countries
had agreed "to strengthen the protection of energy resources, enhance peaceful
nuclear cooperation, broaden the fights against global terrorism and bolster
nonproliferation."

Congress' new agriculture bill, which looks certain to become law, would tighten rules for lumber imports in an effort to discourage environmentally destructive, illegal logging overseas.

The US Federal Trade Commission has agreed to launch an inquiry into ongoing record high gasoline prices, US Senator Dick Durbin's office reported said Wednesday.

Under the decision, the polar bear's habitat, which includes the energy-rich Chukchi Sea, could receive protection. For oil and gas companies, the designation could mean anything from the need to take additional measure to ensure bears' safety to outright restrictions on development.

Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE) yesterday released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) in which the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 6.01 percent with an average 0.6 point for the week ending May 15, down from last week when it averaged 6.05 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 6.15 percent.

US Senate Republicans Thursday sought to preempt upcoming floor debate on the leading climate bill as the top Republican on the Environment and Public Works committee released a white paper saying the measure was too costly.

US uranium production in 2007 totaled 4,533,578 lb, up 10% from 4,105,626
lb in 2006, DOE's Energy Information Administration said in a report released
May 14.

...the largest settlement to date with many of America's leading oil companies over drinking water contamination caused by the gasoline additive Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (MTBE).

Cherokee people have historically been both oppressed and oppressors; but so often, that history of oppressing others is ignored or equivocated. It astounds me, as a Cherokee, that our people continued to own slaves after the Trail of Tears.

I recently attended Goldman Sachs' third annual alternative energy conference in New York, along with 1,000 others. The take away is that is there is increased investor interest in the sector, but the key stumbling block is still the lack of regulatory certainty for the deployment of more capital.

•With heating oil futures bouncing back up and sentiment generally remaining bullish despite the lack of big headlines, a rally ahead of the weekend appears likely, according to analysts

As alternative energy grows in popularity, the Frederick County Commissioners have started to ponder zoning for residential solar and wind energy systems.

World biodiversity has declined by almost one third in the past 35 years due mainly to habitat loss and the wildlife trade, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said on Friday

"This is a future world," Mohler said as he stood in his driveway looking up at the gleaming panels on his roof. "But we need to figure out how to improve (solar) technology and bring down the costs.

Corporate America and major green groups are starting to build ties as companies see the benefit of getting ahead of a trend toward environmental responsibility.

The fundamental price driver for the German forward curve, especially year-ahead, over the past year has shifted away from emissions to coal, according to a survey of traders and analysts by Platts.

After three years of clandestine development, a Georgia company is now going public with a simple, natural way to convert anything that grows out of the Earth into oil. The inventor's formula is simple. Basically, biomass (such as grass clippings or wood chips) plus the right bacteria equals gasoline or diesel fuel.

Saudi response to US request for more oil expected to be polite, but hardly meaningful

Oliver Twist, desperate with hunger, rose from the table and advancing to the master, basin and spoon in hand, said, "Please, sir, I want some more."

Talk of curbing speculative trading in petroleum markets has the potential to bleed into the gas market, according to industry insiders, who warned that, despite the historically high price of commodities, the reining in of such players could have devastating effects on energy trading.

A toxic gas present in air pollution and tobacco smoke plays a significant role in triggering tuberculosis infection, according to a new study from researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).

China has closed several major highways and expressways in southwestern Sichuan and northwestern Shaanxi provinces, after Monday's strong earthquake caused landslides,

An earthquake devastated south-western China, killing close to 10,000 people and trapping hundreds of others under schools, factories and houses while the worst-hit area was still cut off from rescuers on Tuesday.

It is estimated that Americans produce 4.4 pounds of waste per day, or 229 million tons of trash annually nationwide. This waste represents a virtually endless source of cellulosic feedstock for the production of biofuels that potentially will be available to CleanTech at almost no cost, and in some locations at a profit.

INDIA- Coal fuels nearly two-thirds of power generation in the country and any shortage will affect people's lives directly. Combined with the near-constant shortfall in gas supplies and seasonal problem with hydel units, the situation looks grim.

The country is already facing about 14% power shortage at peak hours.

Biofuels “will have to play a significant role if the world is to make meaningful reductions” in carbon emissions, says the International Energy Agency.

Biofuels are one factor in the recent shortage in grain stocks and surge in food prices, but it is “very important to differentiate between types,” IEA explains in a policy position. Most biofuels can displace imported oil and diversify energy resources, but some current first generation biofuels “may compete with food, fibre and feed production.”

Danish wind tower manufacturer Vestas Wind Systems A/S plans to build the world´s largest tower manufacturing plant in Colorado by the end of 2010.

Co-authors of the leading climate change bill are still convinced their cap-and-trade legislation is the appropriate economic and environmental prescription for the country -- even though it would likely raise out-of-pocket prices for household energy.

In January, the EC made a “far-reaching package” of energy and climate change proposals, including a draft directive to promote renewable energy and to increase its share to 20% by 2020. “Offshore wind energy has the potential to make a significant contribution...

Maine--Barring any legal challenges, installation of the Beaver Ridge wind turbines could begin this summer.

MIT students work on a new kind of solar generator that employs low-cost materials. Here they mount the frame of the concentrator (which will be mounted with mirrors) on the base near Tang Hall on Memorial Drive.

The two-year upstream oil and gas development contracts in Iraq that 35 foreign companies have qualified to bid for "represent a major opportunity for producers to be well placed when long-term contracts are awarded," a new report concluded.

People were making ethanol at home long before there were cars. They called it moonshine. With gas prices going through the roof and everyone worried about global warming, a California company is betting people will jump at the chance to use the same technology to turn sugar into fuel for less than a buck a gallon.

He argued that the US should move forward with a carbon cap to deal with climate change even if large developing nations are not willing to take that step themselves.

World oil production fell by 400,000 b/d last month to an average of 86.8 million b/d, partly due to lower OPEC volumes and partly to weaker-than-expected non-OPEC supply, the International Energy Agency said Tuesday.

License approval would mean EnergySolutions could accept up to 20,000 tons of low-level radioactive waste from closed nuclear reactors in Italy. The bulk of materials would be processed and recycled at an EnergySolutions facility in Tennessee. About one- third of the materials would be metal to be recycled for "beneficial" use, EnergySolutions' Tye Rogers said

The head of the parent company of Utah's largest electricity supplier says the nation should work to create funding for developing energy resources that use more efficient technologies in order to reduce carbon emissions.

"The current oil prices are suitable and there is no need to hold an [extraordinary] OPEC meeting....Even if prices reach $200, we do not feel that a meeting is needed."
Iran oil minister Gholamhossein Nozari has said that current oil prices are suitable and that even if they climb to $200/barrel there is no reason for OPEC to meet, the oil ministry's Shana news agency reported Tuesday.

"More crude would prompt a more rapid crude stock build and would improve refining margins, allowing more distillates to be produced. In our opinion, this is a bull market driven primarily by demand potential outstripping slow supply growth -- notably non-OPEC. With no slack in the system, prices have had to rise to choke off demand growth and bring the market into balance."
World oil prices are fundamentally caught up in a "bull market" as a result of supply failing to keep pace with demand, the International Energy Agency said Tuesday. Despite OPEC's insistence that markets remain well-supplied with crude, the IEA said consumer countries were right to argue that more oil from the cartel would help to ease record prices.

There is a slight chance for an isolated C-class event from the new active region making its way onto the solar disk from behind the east limb. The geomagnetic field has been at quiet levels.

World rice output is expected to hit a record high this year, but growing demand and export curbs should keep prices high, at least in the short term, the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation said on Monday

Tempe, Arizona-based public power utility Salt River Project said Monday it has agreed to buy the output from a 575 MW peaking power plant that TransCanada Corp. plans to build.

What distinguishes American Indian communities from nation-states are different values, cultural understandings and goals. In the United States, American Indian nations have different cultural understandings on a variety of significant levels: creation teachings, understandings of political community, political processes, stewardship of the land and relations with the natural world.

It wasn't a ribbon cutting ceremony, it wasn't a ground breaking-- it was all about throwing a switch.

Solar energy's presence is now felt. If its influence is to expand, however, researchers must innovate and develop tools to store the power.

Turkey's Energy Minister Hilmi Guler said they aimed at saving 315m euros until 2013 with an annual production of 4.4bn kWh through geothermal power plants.

Desperate survivors of Cyclone Nargis poured out of Myanmar's Irrawaddy delta on Sunday in search of food, water and medicine but aid workers said thousands would die if emergency supplies do not get through soon.

A new draft of the leading US climate change bill would allow for greater use of carbon offsets from the developing world in the form of new energy projects and forest preservation...

Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are talking more about "clean coal" and less about global warming as they woo voters in West Virginia and Kentucky -- two states that sit at the heart of the nation's coal economy.

US fire managers are forecasting a grim year for blazes in drought-plagued Western states, just weeks after a premature start to the Southwest's wildfire season.

Three US lawmakers on Friday said they would pursue a new five-year effort to support research aimed at developing clean supplies of energy within the US.

...the Arizona senator will say he wants the US to return to 2005 emission levels by 2012 and then reduce emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 and to a level 60% below that by 2050.

Federal subsidies to renewable energies in the US rose to US$4,875 million in 2007, from US$1,417 million in 1999.

This total includes US$5m in direct expenditures, US$173m in federal electricity support, US$727m in research & development, and US$3,970m in tax expenditures, explains the Energy Information Administration...

•Crude futures were weaker Monday, retreating from all-time highs, with some profit-taking and national holidays on mainland Europe putting the brakes on last week's bull run, market sources said.

•"It is very quiet today," a London-based broker said. "There is a calming down in the market and a holiday across Europe. It seems people are more concerned about the price of oil rather than geopolitical situations at the moment."

For 35 years, Bruce Lemke has tilled the high hills of extreme northeast Nebraska to reap corn and beans.

Now he's among a couple of handfuls of farmers being given the opportunity to harvest a new crop -- wind.

US light crude futures traded at just over $120/barrel on May 6 but the message from oil producer group OPEC remains the same: Don't expect us to increase production, because there is no shortage of crude; prices have been rising because of the weak US dollar, speculative activity, insufficient refining capacity and geopolitics

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has given hope to a growing group of Natives from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in what's being called a classic ''David vs. Goliath'' battle for federal oversight involving a proposed expansion of a nearby uranium mine.

Calling carbon storage technology too expensive and a hollow answer to the environmental issues surrounding coal as an energy source, two local environmental groups on Monday protested federal legislation they say encourages development of coal-based power production.

The head of the International Energy Association, Nobuo Tanaka, visited Europe's largest biomass plant that uses only wood as fuel in February, hailing the 66 megawatt (MW) biomass plant in Austria, as a "model project" for the up-and-coming forest-based bioenergy industry.

Brazil plans to move ahead over the next few years with an ambitious nuclear program that includes power plants and an atomic submarine, Science and Technology Minister Sergio Rezende said Wednesday.

Lula said Brazil wanted to start oil production from its massive offshore Tupi field in 2010, which will turn the country into a large oil exporter.

Scientists and policy experts at the first ever Georgia Climate Change Summit on Tuesday forecast more severe storms, droughts, floods and less Georgia coastline.

The biggest challenge in dealing with this onslaught, experts say, is building the political will to try and do something about it.

County commissioners are drawing a line in the sand over power lines.

The board voted unanimously Tuesday to "demand" that Progress Energy install any new transmission lines underground in existing utility corridors and "with the best available technology."

The new projects will demonstrate the entire CO2 injection process - pre-injection characterization, injection process monitoring, and post-injection monitoring - for large scale injections of one million tons or more to test the ability of different geologic settings to permanently store CO2.

A transition from La Niña to ENSO-neutral conditions is possible during June- July 2008.

La Niña continued to weaken during April 2008, as reflected by changes in sea surface temperatures (SSTs) across the equatorial Pacific Ocean.

Taxpayer assistance for the Texas energy industry totals billions of dollars annually -- a high price that can hide what consumers pay to cool their homes and fuel their cars -- according to a new report by Texas Comptroller Susan Combs.

Experts believe Chile's Chaiten volcano could continue belching out vast clouds of ash for months but distraught residents evacuated from nearby towns say they yearn to return as soon as possible.

Tapping major natural gas resources in the Canadian and US Arctic region will improve North American energy security, speakers at the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston said Tuesday.

Private equity firm First Reserve infused Osage Bio Energy with a $300 million investment for the ethanol distributor to build four barley-based ethanol and protein feed production facilities, mostly in the Southeast US, First Reserve said Wednesday.

A new company hopes drivers will kick the oil habit by brewing ethanol at home that won't spike food prices.

While installation of solar, wind, and other forms of renewable energy has enjoyed a meteoric rise, much of the energy we produce is wasted. By most accounts, the U.S. still wastes a third or more of the electricity it produces, making conserved energy potentially one of our most abundant and clean energy resources

A senior World Bank official said on Thursday that countries should not greatly increase biofuels production until there is more clarity about how much they have contributed to the global food price crisis.

Green cars come in many varieties. Natural gas is one of them, considered to be a much cleaner and cheaper alternative than conventional oil. In fact, Honda's Civic GX, a natural gas car that cost about $25,000 and is sold only in New York and California, is the "greenest" of them all.

Four environmental groups said today they will sue Duke Energy unless the company stops "illegal" construction at its Cliffside power plant.

That means Duke hasn't done enough to control mercury or other toxic pollutants, the groups claim.

An Australian renewables start-up is hoping to deflect local opposition to a wind farm currently under consideration by North Ayrshire Council, by applying to build a hydrogen plant that would allow it to feed electricity into the grid even on calm days.

Meet ammonia, the world's most underrated chemical, and just a single nitrogen molecule with three hydrogens attached. Learning how to make it from natural gas and air has changed the face of the earth as much as any technology, including the internal combustion engine, transistor, and antibiotics.

Concerns about man-made climate change continue to gain energy. We take a look at the other side with an article in this issue, about the skepticism over the need to curb our greenhouse gas emissions.

The continuing devaluation of the US dollar will see oil prices continue to rise, finishing the year around $160/barrel, Mehr news agency reported Wednesday, quoting a senior official from the National Iranian Oil Co

OPEC could schedule an emergency meeting before the next policy-setting gathering in September to try to prevent a super-spike in global oil prices, Libya's top oil official said Friday.

The Alberta Tar Sands are evil, but they keep Canada rolling in green by keeping America rolling, so they aren't going away soon. If they could only do something about their greenhouse gas emissions...

Ohio Governor Ted Strickland approved a bill last week that will require the state's utilities to draw on renewable or advanced energy for 25% of their electricity supply by 2025.

A dozen oil companies agreed to pay $423 million in cash plus clean-up costs to settle litigation over groundwater contamination from the gasoline additive, MTBE, lawyers representing public water utilities and public agencies in 17 states, told Reuters.

Residents of New York, Maine, and Houston have something in common they may not realize: When they pay their electric bills each month, the money ends up in the coffers of some of Europe's largest utilities.

It's fitting that I see this economic stimulus become a reality in Kansas City, because my visit here last December was among the events that convinced me that we needed to boost the U.S. economy, and do it early so it could make a difference in 2008.

Turn greenhouse gases to stone? Transform them into a treacle-like liquid deep under the seabed?

Thirty-five members of the Congressional Black Caucus have informed Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., that they will actively oppose reauthorization of the Native American Housing and Self-Determination Assistance Act unless it cuts off funding to the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, pending the nation's recognition of Cherokee freedmen and their descendants as tribal citizens.

"It is predicted that with the continuation of the current devaluation of the dollar, oil prices will be about 35% higher at the end of this year. As much as the value of dollar is appreciated or threatened, oil prices will go through fluctuations."
The continuing devaluation of the US dollar will see oil prices continue to rise, finishing the year around $160/barrel, Mehr news agency reported Wednesday, quoting NIOC director for marketing, Mohammad Ali Khatibi, a senior official from the National Iranian Oil Co.

"Current crude prices of around $122/b are extremely high. But they will likely hover above $100/b this year as there is no sign of prices easing."
Crude oil prices will likely hover "above $100/barrel" this year with the continuous flood of funds coming in from financial markets, coupled with the uncertainty over geopolitical situations, Nippon Oil president Shinji Nishio said Wednesday.

Solar activity was very low. No flares were detected. Geomagnetic field activity was at mostly quiet levels.

A large pool of unused emissions allowances, increased use of low-sulfur coal, more scrubbers being built and natural gas as a fuel for utilities -- are reducing sulfur dioxide emissions and their allowance prices but increasing carbon dioxide emissions

The State Senate gave final -- and unanimous -- legislative approval Monday to a tough new bill requiring drastic reduction of greenhouse gas emissions connected to global warming, and the GOP leader in the Senate said he expects Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell to sign it into law.

Tennessee ranks 14th in the nation in carbon emissions, 16th in per capita energy consumption and first in per capita electricity consumption.

There is much talk recently about the extent to which we can replace our dependence on fossil fuels with energy derived from renewable resources. While renewable energy holds great promise, there are some limitations to renewable forms of energy (as there are with anything) which are very widely proclaimed and generally used as “proof” that they can never solve all our problems.

Pipe has already been delivered to a North Dakota depot, and the U.S. Department of State has signed off on a permit to begin construction on the TransCanada Keystone Pipeline. Meanwhile, the State Department has not completed government-to-government consultations with affected tribes about the underground line, which will cross seven states from North Dakota to Oklahoma, bringing heavy crude oil from the oil sands of Alberta, Canada, to U.S. refineries. What's missing?

The United Nations estimated 1.5 million people have been "severely affected" by the cyclone that swept through Myanmar, with the United States expressing outrage on Thursday at delays in allowing in aid.

Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE) yesterday released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) in which the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 6.05 percent with an average 0.3 point for the week ending May 8 down very slightly from last week when it averaged 6.06 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 6.21 percent.

Researchers in the United States are set to begin testing underwater turbine systems that can produce electricity from ocean water flows.

Some congressional staffers have indicated strong reservations about the agreement, mainly because of Russia's relations with Iran.

•On Wednesday, NYMEX crude had surged to an all-time high trade of $122.73/barrel while Brent hit a new peak of $120.99/b, partly driven by the dollar's slide and despite news that ExxonMobil had fully restarted its Nigerian production.

•"There are really not much fundamental news out there to support the records... it is hard to say what is driving the market now other than fund money and the Goldman Sachs report yesterday, which was very supportive for the market," a London-based trader said.

With the fate of a key federal incentive in the balance, the U.S. wind energy industry continued new installations at a breakneck pace in the first quarter of 2008, putting 1,400 megawatts (MW) or approximately $3 billion worth of new generating capacity in place...

...an advocacy group, presented a statement on the Yankton's behalf to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues meeting in New York City during the last week of April. According to William Means, Oglala Lakota, IITC board member, that statement can now be referred to the U.N. General Assembly and other U.N. agencies, including the Human Rights Council and the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

Representatives of chambers of commerce, local governments and members of Congress took the podium to praise the project, which will employ 3,000 construction workers and 800 to 1,000 permanent employees.

Environmentalists insisted the plant isn't needed, saying alternative energy and energy efficiency could take its place. They also questioned the plant's cost to ratepayers.

High energy prices, the search for new power sources and uncertainties over future energy policies offer power companies challenges as well as opportunities.

Alberta will spend C$55 million ($54 million) this year to stem the spread of pine beetles, which have ravaged forests in neighbouring British Columbia, the Alberta government said Monday.

Brazilians are dancing in the streets. But will the hoopla last? The celebration comes amidst observations by key energy officials there that surveyors have discovered an area off-shore that may hold 33 billion barrels of oil. That would make it the largest such find in 30 years and the third biggest ever.

Now,...the conversation is on green buildings, solar PPAs, wind-power development, green-collar jobs, regional and organic foods, and clean-tech relief and development efforts in the developing world (to name a few).

The coal industry is so hungry for workers that at least some coal companies are snatching up coal mining engineering students before they make it through four years of college.

If the EPA continues its sloth-like pace on defining the health dangers of toxic chemicals such as formaldehyde, Congress will ramp up its intervention by legislating bans.

At the end of 2007, the Gulf of Mexico deepwater had 130 producing projects, double the amount five years ago, US Minerals Management Service Director Randall Luthi said Monday.

Duke Energy said Friday that its renewable energy development business has increased its "pipeline" of projects to more than 3,000 MW and has 280 MW of wind capacity under construction in Texas and Wyoming.

The nation's energy options will require new energy efficiency tools along with a host of fuels that are all supported by a substantial investment in generation and transmission. That's the view from an industry-sponsored report.

Greenpeace and more than 100 other environmental groups denounced projects for burying industrial greenhouse gases on Monday, exposing splits in the green movement about whether such schemes can slow global warming.

ExxonMobil plans to spend more than $100 million developing and testing a technology that could make the capture and storage of carbon dioxide from natural gas more affordable.

The exclusive agreement covers a biotechnological process to extract
fuels such as ethanol from non-food plant matter such as wheat and maize
straw, grasses or wood.

Global warming could gradually starve parts of the tropical oceans of oxygen, damaging fisheries and coastal economies, a study showed on Thursday.

“‘Edidence’ - Take a little fact and cram it full of lies.” Parish Lee, April 9, 2008

Hydrogen has traditionally been indispensable for transforming petroleum into many of the synthetic materials used in industrial production such as polymers, chemicals, and pharmaceutical raw materials. Currently, hydrogen is receiving a lot of press in the context of new applications involving renewable energy and clean technologies.

When Fred Humes, director of the Economic Development Partnership of Aiken and Edgefield counties, called an insurance company to get a policy for the state's first hydrogen-powered vehicle, the agent on the line did not know what to say.

Hydro-Quebec said Monday it accepted 15 bids from groups aiming to develop a total of 2,004 megawatts of wind-generated electricity that would come on stream from 2011 to 2015.

Indonesia is considering withdrawing from OPEC because it is no longer a
net exporter of oil, the country's president and oil minister said Tuesday.

The aim of the talks was to reach final agreements on the proposed Technical Services Contracts (TSC), which the Iraqis are seeking to conclude with the companies to boost oil production from Iraq's main producing fields.

The plan by Sunflower Electric Power and its partners to build two 700-MW coal-fired units at Sunflower's Holcomb power plant in western Kansas may have been dealt a fatal blow Thursday night

State officials are busy finalizing the rules that will allow Maine to participate in a first-in-the-nation approach to combating global warming.

More than 1,000 women protested outside Peru's Congress on Wednesday, banging empty pots and pans to demand the government do more to counter rising food prices, which have squeezed the poor from Kazakhstan to Haiti.

In a recent AAA Arizona online poll the auto club recently asked motorists what their price breaking point was for reducing or changing their driving habits.
While an overwhelming number of respondents admitted to already curbing their fuel consumption, one-fifth of motorists said that they would not change their driving habits no matter the price of gasoline.

It's the beginning of a new era, as National Grid launches a new brand campaign featuring the tagline, 'The power of action.' The campaign is designed to encourage customers to partner with National Grid and take action in making a difference by saving energy, managing their energy costs and protecting the environment.

National Grid proposed a $220 million energy efficiency program for upstate New York Monday to help the state achieve its goal of reducing energy use 15% by 2015.

A new solar energy system will soon make it possible to produce electricity at a wholesale cost of 5-cents per kWh (kilowatt hour). This price is competitive with the wholesale cost of producing electricity using fossil fuels and a fraction of the current cost of solar energy.

Water will be a likely font of controversy as Duke Energy moves toward building a new nuclear plant, its first in two decades, 40 miles southwest of Charlotte.

Shutdown of Ohio's two largest coal mines, which together produce nearly 12 million short tons/year, could be triggered by the Ohio Environmental
Protection Agency's proposed denial of a permit...

Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland signed into law an energy reform bill that will ensure the state, which relies heavily on coal-generated electricity, boosts its use of renewable energy.

The Polymer Energy™ system is robust by design, and can easily handle plastic that is contaminated with other kinds of waste such as metals, glass, dirt, water, etc. The system can tolerate up to 30% of other waste in the input plastic waste stream.

If the federal and state governments do not take dynamic measures to ease construction of new electrical generation plants, the U.S. economy could face crippling power shortages within a decade, according to Michael Morris, chairman, president and chief executive of AEP, parent company of Public Service Co. of Oklahoma.

A majority of adults in the US believe that suspending the gasoline tax for the summer is a bad idea, and 70% believe that politicians pushing the plan are doing so solely for political gain, according to a New York Times/CBS
News poll released Monday.

The region has a new cycle magnetic configuration and appears to be growing slowly. The geomagnetic field was at quiet to unsettled levels.

Members of the Rockefeller family are calling on Exxon Mobil Corp to make corporate governance changes and adopt a renewable fuels strategy to help address the soaring cost of energy.

Gasoline exporter South Korea will import gasoline for the first time in
three years this June amid heavy refinery turnarounds, industry sources said
Tuesday.

S. Carolina--Three proposals that would provide tax breaks for energy-efficient purchases were nearly defeated Thursday, but South Carolina's Senate leader saved them by agreeing to offer the incentives a year later.

The new 8-kilowatt solar power array on David Kokka's roof doesn't belong to him -- and he likes it that way.

Instead, the Fresno homeowner has rented his roof out, so to speak, to a Silicon Valley startup called Sun Run Generation LLC.

New Mexico--Gov. Bill Richardson is inviting entrepreneurs to submit applications for the Clean Energy Projects program, and the Energy Innovation Fund.

Too much of a good thing could be harmful to the environment. For years, scientists have known about silver's ability to kill harmful bacteria and, recently, have used this knowledge to create consumer products containing silver nanoparticles.

The United States and Europe should cut back on production of biofuels because they are hurting food supply at a time of rising prices, an adviser to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Monday.

Uranium mining in the United States may be about to surge, a spike in claims being filed indicates.

US emissions could drop from 5.78 billion mt in 2012 to 1.70 billion mt in 2050--or by 1.8%/year--analysts at Deutsche Bank Research said in a survey published Monday in Berlin.

Key US congressional negotiators said Thursday night that they hoped a final agreement had been reached on the farm bill, after months of gridlock on everything from taxes to farm subsidies.

The Federal Reserve Board on Friday proposed rules to prohibit unfair practices regarding credit cards and overdraft services that would, among other provisions, protect consumers from unexpected increases in the rate charged on pre-existing credit card balances.

Japan Steel Works, the only company in the world that produces heavy
steel forgings for nuclear reactor vessels, has a three-year waiting list...

As Senate Democrats prepare to release a comprehensive bill this week aimed at reducing gasoline prices, one member of their caucus touted his own
bill Monday that could lead the US to take action against OPEC for alleged
violation of international trade rules by conspiring to manipulate the price
of oil.

Deloria emphasized the ''power of unique places that tell people who are paying attention that we are in a world full of life,'' said Daniel Wildcat, of Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kan.

“Drinking Water Week provides a natural opportunity for all of us to pause and consider the immeasurable value that a safe, reliable water supply plays in our daily lives,” said Gary Zimmerman, AWWA Executive Director. “We have some of the highest quality water in the world and this week we can all celebrate that achievement and also remind ourselves not to take it for granted.”

•Crude futures markets were firmer Friday, feeding off a late rally on Thursday with the influence of the US dollar exerting itself. "It is purely about the dollar, it is just that and nothing else," said a London-based trader.

Art Boyt says the reasons for no longer using renewable energy are dwindling.

"We're now at a point where the cost of wind energy is directly competitive with traditional energy sources," said Boyt, director of the Crowder College Renewable Technology Center...

Ward 1 City Councilor Bob McCarthy was driving home Tuesday night when he glanced out his car window at what he thought was a building. When he looked a second time, he realized the "building" was really a ship -- a ship that hasn't been seen in these parts for nearly six months

A US Senate and House of Representatives conference on the farm bill was
suspended again Tuesday after the US Department of Agriculture Secretary said
President Bush likely would veto the most conferee's recent agreement because
of controversial provisions that are not related to energy.

Five Arizona tribes and two environmental groups successfully worked together to gain protection for the desert nesting bald eagle, which is found mainly in Arizona.

A Coconino County commission has unanimously backed wind towers made in Flagstaff, sweeping aside concerns they would be unsightly or bothersome to neighbors.

Monitoring Earth's rising greenhouse gas levels will require a global data collection network 10 times larger than the one currently in place in order to quantify regional progress in emission reductions, according to a new research commentary by University of Colorado and NOAA researchers appearing in the April 25 issue of Science.

Within recent months biofuels have gone from making headline news as being the world's salvation for when the oil runs out to becoming a "crime against humanity." Almost every day the world's media run a story on the topic, often blaming biofuels for all the world's pending disasters.

Brazilian Indian leaders pitted against armed farmers in a bloody land conflict said on Wednesday they will fight on despite death threats, political pressure and military concerns over territorial sovereignty.

Canada's plan to ensure that gasoline contains 5 percent ethanol by 2010 won support in the House of Commons on Thursday despite increasing concern about the impact of biofuels on world food supplies.

A combination of strong demand, record oil and gas prices, concerns over energy security and a reluctance to recommit to nuclear energy, has seen a renaissance of coal in the European energy mix. This is a trend closely mirrored in the US and Asia.

The cooperative, owned by 86 members in nine western Kansas counties, will collect agricultural waste from its owners and process it into pellets for gasification boilers and sold to both commercial and residential operations.

The credit crunch has taken a bite out of the clean tech sector. But despite the critical situation, the industry is expected to go on to prosper.

Recent advances in technology have made removing salt from seawater and groundwater a realistic option for increasing water supplies in some parts of the U.S., and desalination will likely have a niche in meeting the nation's future water needs, says a new report from the National Research Council.

Developing countries should be prepared to take on binding emissions cuts by no later that 2020, according to a new report by Nicholas Stern.

The top Republican on the US Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Tuesday called for the repeal of a recent requirement that prohibits the military from using high-emissions alternative fuels.

US Indian tribes want to develop oil, gas and other natural resources on their lands, but federal agency delays are impeding the process, tribal leaders said Thursday.

On April Fools' Day 2003, I drove a shiny new blue 2003 Toyota Prius off the lot in Novato, California. I did note the irony of the 'holiday,' and hoped I would not be proven a fool for purchasing what was then fairly new technology, at least in the U.S. market. Five years later, I have not regretted the choice.

Global warming could gradually starve parts of the tropical oceans of oxygen, damaging fisheries and coastal economies, a study showed on Thursday.

The probability of additional increases in the global grain prices is now higher than before. This is due to the forecast of potential summer drought in the Midwest by agricultural meteorologist Dr. Elwynn Taylor of Iowa State University.

...increase in the number of Code Orange and Code Red air quality days is expected in the metropolitan Washington-Baltimore region this ozone season.

The Indonesian government will sell half of the 14 million barrels of crude oil in the country's oil storage facilities in a bid to increase revenues amid the skyrocketing oil prices, a senior official said Thursday.

Iraqi oil revenue is expected to reach $70 billion this year, more than twice what was expected, thanks to higher oil prices and a boost in production compared with a year ago, the US Inspector General's office said in a report to Congress Wednesday.

Critics looking at technical aspects of EnergySolutions' plans to import 20,000 tons of cleanup waste from Italy's nuclear reactors say state and federal regulators need more information before signing off on the Salt Lake City company's proposal.

I am an Iyeska, a mixed-blood - Oglala Lakota and bits of European nationalities, mostly Irish and English. Over the years we were called half-breeds or breeds, as well as various other names from both sides of our ancestry, many of them unprintable.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa signed a law on Earth Day that requires all new large building projects in the city to meet green building standards. Touted as the most aggressive green building plan of any big city in the United States...

Nevada's congressional delegation has asked the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission to extend the filing deadline for petitions and contentions related to the licensing of a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada.

Following unanimous Senate concurrence with an Ohio House bill, legislation to establish a 12.5%-by-2025 renewable electricity standard (RES) is headed to the desk of Governor Ted Strickland (D). The governor is expected to sign the bill on May 1st, but has offered no public statement regarding the final legislation.

A newly created microbe produces cellulose that can be turned into ethanol and other biofuels, report scientists from The University of Texas at Austin who say the microbe could provide a significant portion of the nation's transportation fuel if production can be scaled up.

Nigerian unions pressed on with a strike at ExxonMobil's Nigerian arm Wednesday despite calls for a suspension while talks with the company and state-owned NNPC who is mediating the talks continue.

The NPCC reported that New England, New York, Ontario, Quebec and the Canadian Maritime Provinces are likely to have sufficient supplies of electricity even under extreme weather conditions this summer.

Imagine a technology that would not only provide a green and renewable source of electrical energy, but could also help scrub the atmosphere of excessive carbon dioxide resulting from the burning of fossil fuels.

Pittsburgh has passed Los Angeles as the most polluted U.S. city in short-term particle pollution, according to the annual American Lung Association State of the Air report.

The message was clear: Residents along the State Road 54 corridor don't want high-powered transmission lines in their neighborhoods -- or anywhere in Pasco County.

Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr., told a Congressional subcommittee March 28 that the Navajo Nation remains opposed to uranium mining on or near its land, and will take whatever action necessary to prevent it.

"We understand that consumers are being hurt by high [gasoline] prices, and the commission remains vigilant in using its full authority to prevent unlawful behavior that affects gas prices."
The US Federal Trade Commission plans to decide by the end of the year whether to adopt regulations prohibiting manipulation of petroleum markets,

The geomagnetic field is expected to be quiet to unsettled on day one (02 May ). Quiet to unsettled conditions with isolated active periods are expected on days two and three (03-04 May), with isolated minor storm conditions possible at high latitudes, due to a recurrent coronal hole high speed stream.

Scientists at the University of Tel Aviv in Israel claim they have found a way to construct efficient photovoltaic cells costing at least a hundred times less than conventional silicon based devices, and with similar or better energy conversion efficiency.

Ohio--Hoping to capitalize on Ohio's manufacturing know-how, Brown on Wednesday unveiled a comprehensive energy initiative.

On a recent sunny afternoon Bob Loebelenz pauses to gaze 72 feet into the air at the spinning blades of his wind turbine, a small "clean, free electricity" smile creasing the corners of his mouth.

...even with losses and the massive challenge of building the infrastructure, this shows the potential of solar power.

“Alternative energy production has to become the new standard for American energy production – it’s critical to our national security, necessary for economic development, and right for our environment”

The Newcastle University team, led by Michael North, Professor of Organic Chemistry, has developed a highly energy-efficient method of converting waste carbon dioxide (CO2) into chemical compounds known as cyclic carbonates.

Electricity generated by the Three Mile Island nuclear plant saves state consumers about $288 million a year on their electric bills.

...acquired a 3.6-megawatt operating geothermal power plant and approximately 28,358 acres (44.3 square miles) of geothermal energy leases and certain ground water rights all located north of Reno, Nevada.

A growing divide is occurring within the solar industry over how best to incentivize state-level solar programs.

Uranium's long-term price has dropped to around $90 a pound U308, the first change in this indicator in about 11 months.

The US House and Senate is expected to vote Thursday on another short-term extension to the 2002 farm law to give negotiators more time to tinker with a new measure in an effort to address White House objections.

The US Department of Energy sought proposals Wednesday for $60 million in DOE funding for research that would help reduce the cost of concentrating solar power technology.

Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE) yesterday released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) in which the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 6.06 percent with an average 0.5 point for the week ending May 1, 2008, upfrom last week when it averaged 6.03 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 6.16 percent.

Researchers in the United States are set to begin testing underwater turbine systems that can produce electricity from ocean water flows.

A famous political columnist once labeled Washington, DC as the steering wheel of the nation -- not connected to anything. The recent Senate Finance Committee action sure seems that way to me.

On April 17, 2008 the Senate Finance Committee unveiled its package of extensions for expiring tax provisions, including energy tax incentives.

•"For a change, energy markets are now devoid of any bullish headlines," energy analyst Ed Meir said in a report Thursday.

Siberia's Lake Baikal has warmed faster than global air temperatures over the past 60 years, which could put animals unique to the world's largest lake in jeopardy, US and Russian scientists said.

The lake has warmed 1.21 degrees Celsius (2.18 degrees Fahrenheit) since 1946 due to climate change, almost three times faster than global air temperatures...

News 2008:

Find out what's going on in our area and around the World from an "energy" perspective!

Saudi response to US request for more oil expected to be polite, but hardly meaningful