Duke Energy, primarily a coal company, announced plans today to build its ninth wind farm in the U.S. - and fourth in Wyoming.
The latest project, dubbed "Top of the World," will be on 17,000 acres of private and public land that Duke Energy holds under long-term lease.
“We’ve always believed Duke Energy could become a major player in the wind power industry if we adhered to our strategy...
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Europe is set to begin removing standard light bulbs from its shelves - forever.
It's part of an EU agreement to phase out the use of incandescent bulbs over 3-years to help European countries lower their greenhouse gas emissions.
As of Tuesday, old standard frosted light bulbs and clear bulbs of 100 watts or more will no...
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Crude oil prices are heading down toward $71 a barrel this morning and one official from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries hints there is no need for a production cut.
Kuwait's oil official says an output cut at next month's meeting is unlikely and that ministers from the 12-member OPEC will focus on compliance with current...
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Morgan Stanley and Citigroup are each investing $100 million to finance separate wind farms, taking advantage of a new federal program that is paying cash grants to help cover the cost of renewable energy investments.
Under the program, the government will give a cash rebate for 30 percent of the cost of building a renewable-energy...
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Warren Buffett wants to up his stake in Chinese electric car and battery maker BYD.
BYD's chairman made the announcement today, sending the shares in his company up 8%.
MidAmerican Energy Holdings, a unit of Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, bought 10 percent of BYD for $230 million a share last...
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The organization that certifies buildings as energy efficient is changing some of its requirements.
LEED certification is the country's most recognized seal of approval for green buildings, affecting how builders get tax credits, attract tenants, charge premium rents and project an image of environmental...
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An investment breeze is beginning to pick up in the wind sector.
Morgan Stanley and Citigroup are each investing $100 million to finance separate wind farms, taking advantage of a brand-new federal program that is paying cash grants to help cover the cost of renewable energy...
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The high demand for rare metals used in hybrid vehicles and batteries has experts worried that supply won't be able to keep up.
Reuters reported Monday that worldwide demand for so-called "rare earths," covering 15 entries on the periodic table of elements, is expected to exceed supply by about 40,000 tons a year in coming years, unless major new production...
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The United Nations has opened talks in Geneva, focusing on helping the world better adapt to climate change, including a move to set up an improved worldwide weather surveillance system.
The meetings, called the World Climate Conference, will last all week. The talks include about 1,500 officials, diplomats and scientists. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon speaks on Wednesday. The goal is for nations...
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It's no laughing matter -- scientists say nitrous oxide is a climate threat.
A study to be published today by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says nitrous oxide, or laughing gas, has become the primary human-caused threat to the Earth's ozone layer.
Two-thirds of nitrous oxide is produced naturally from bacteria in soil. But the report says...
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Interior Secretary Ken Salazar says President Obama is committed to getting climate legislation passed.
Salazar talked energy Thursday at a high school in Colorado, joined by Gov. Bill Ritter, Rep. Betsy Markey, D-Colo., and Nancy Sutley, Chairwoman of the White House Council on...
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Midwest Generation of Illinois is being sued by the U.S. Justice Department and the state of Illinois for violating federal air pollution law.
Midwest Genertion operates six coal-fired power plants.
The lawsuit alleged it made changes to its coal-fired plants in Illinois without installing required pollution control equipment, and says the plants are illegally emitting large amounts...
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As President Obama starts wrapping up his vacation on Martha's Vineyard this weekend, offshore wind advocates are asking when a wind farm will be developed nearby.
The White House has said offshore wind should be a priority, but his administration has yet to grant a permit for new wind development -- onshore or off. And an Obama administration official tells the LA Times it will likely...
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While support for President Obama's health care plan is fading, a new poll shows Americans are behind the president when it comes to his energy plan.
The Washington Post-ABC poll finds three-quarters of Americans think the government should regulate greenhouse gas...
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The New York Times says United Kingdom officials are trying to figure out whether their energy future lies in nuclear power or coal.
A recent study by the Prime Minister's special representative on international energy, Malcolm Wicks, suggests the amount of power produced from nuclear plants should triple from 12.5 percent to nearly 40 percent...
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During a fact-finding trip across the the north Pacific Ocean, a group of University of California scientists found just that one person's trash is another's treasure.
A team of researchers from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego went on a three-week trip to learn the effects that trash can have on coastal marine life, studying plastic bags, wrappers...
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The House of Representatives is trying to set an example for energy efficiency, but at a price.
The federal government, the largest energy consumer in the country, is required by Congress to cut its energy consumption by 30 percent by 2015. But the House has a goal of cutting energy consumption by 50% by 2017, the 10th anniversary of House Speaker Nancy...
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Pacific Gas and Electric wants to take energy from wind farms and store it underground in California's Kern County. The utility hopes to take wind power generated at night - when the winds in California blow hardest - and use it to compress air, which would be stored in a formation of porous rock.
During the day, when the winds die down, that pressurized air could spin a turbine to...
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Several environmental groups are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to consider whether the Army Corps of Engineers is properly issuing fill permits for mountaintop removal mines.
Both Earthjustice and the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment filed a petition with the court today seeking...
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Tornadoes appear to be occurring all over the country as wind turbines are installed, raising concern over radar false alarms.
A wind turbine's spinning blades affixed to towers 200 feet high can make a turbine appear on Doppler radar like a violent storm or even...
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The Obama administration is putting the finishing touches on new auto fuel efficiency standards, a plan that would for the first time regulate carbon dioxide emissions from cars and light trucks.
The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday in its "Washington Wire" blog that that the EPA and the Transportation Department have sent...
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The families of six miners killed in a mine collapse in the Crandall Canyon in Salt Lake City, Utah will soon be getting money in a multi-million dollar settlement.
Judges in the case have also ruled that money will go to the children of a miner who...
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The nation's appliance makers and retailers aren't thrilled with the $300 million sequel to the "Cash for Clunkers" program -- federally funded rebates for home appliances.
The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that makers of refrigerators, washers and dryers are confused about which models will qualify -- and how much money buyers will get. The federal government currently plans to let each...
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The Environmental Protection Agency is eyeing a new process for regulating the injection of carbon underground for sequestration - a process that could result in rules that vary substantially by state.
Last summer, the EPA proposed regulations on carbon sequestration aimed at protecting drinking water, one of which being that injections had to go into formations underneath the...
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Two alternative energy companies are looking to buy a closed Ford Motor plant and turn it into a renewable energy park.
People close to the deal say Xtreme Power of Texas and Clairvoyant Energy of California are interested in the Wixom Assembly Plant in Michigan, and are waiting on approval from state tax incentives and federal...
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The Oregonian reports that so many businesses are getting tax subsidies under Oregon's effort to promote alternative energy that the state now estimates it will spend $167 million on them in 2009-11.
These figures are up from the $68 million it gave out in similar tax breaks in 2007-09, which could mean cutting unplanned millions from everything else in the state's recession-strapped...
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A coalition spearheaded by the Virginia Center for Coal and Energy Research is seeking $290 million in federal stimulus money for a six-year project that will capture and store carbon dioxide from a new Dominion coal-fired power plant being built in Wise County.
Plans call for sequestering up to 1,500 tons of carbon dioxide a day from the plant in unmineable coal seams and underground...
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The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is looking into the market practices of the New England grid. This is following allegations by Connecticut Attorney Richard Blumenthal that power companies manipulated the market and overcharged its customers.
A report from Blumenthal's office details that a group of generators were paid in order to provide power during peak demand periods. Instead, records show that there were multiple instances between 2006 and 2009...
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Energy companies who want a share of $50 billion in federal loan guarantees are not going it alone - the New York Times reports that they are bringing in high-powered lobbying firms to helps them with the application process.
More than 175 companies have applied for loan guarantees, and the Department of Energy will not release their names, making it unclear just how many are working with...
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The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is calling for a "modern-day Scopes Monkey Trial" -- but instead of evolution vs. creation, it would be whether humans or nature are responsible for global warming.
The chamber is threatening to sue the Environmental Protection Agency if EPA doesn't agree to what the chamber calls a "public debate on the science of climate...
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Alaska Sen. Mark Begich says he will lead a climate change tour this weekend in his home state, hosting senators Barbara Boxer, Bernie Sanders, Frank Lautenberg and Debbie Stabenow - all members of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.
All are Democrats except Sanders, an Independent who caucuses with the...
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The Gas Company of Hawaii is looking to increase its renewable energy resources within the next five years, teaming up with Primoris Renewables to increase the renewable components in its gas supply.
President and CEO Jeffrey Kissel said the companies will adapt the synthetic natural gas plant in Kapolei to process agricultural...
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Two senators at the forefront of the climate debate are getting a firsthand look at the effects of global warming over summer recess.
Arizona Republican John McCain and Colorado Democrat Mark Udall spent Monday touring Rocky Mountain National Park and listening to park officials and scientists talk about about how global warming is harming the...
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Oil could soon be flowing from a huge field in western India, now that Cairn Energy of Scotland says it hopes to begin production this week at the Mangala field in the desert state of Rajasthan.
The oil exploration group plans to pump 30,000 barrels a day at first, then hopes to increase...
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Thousands of acres in the Wyoming Range have been declared off-limits to oil and gas drilling by the Bureau of Land Management.
Energy companies had purchased 23 leases on 24,000 acres of the land in the Bridger-Teton National Forest, but after protests from conservation groups, the BLM reviewed the bids and decided not to issue the leases...
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Auto dealers are getting even more time to get paperwork in to be reimbursed under the cash for clunkers program, which ended last night.
The government recently extended the deadline for filing applications for rebates to noon today - now the U.S. Department of Transportation says that because of problems with its website...
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A new analysis of the Waxman-Markey bill predicts it would hurt the U.S. refining industry.
The study was commissioned by the American Petroleum Institute and performed by the consulting firm EnSys Energy. It concludes that if the bill that the House passed narrowly in June becomes law, U.S. refinery output could fall 25 percent by 2030, and investment...
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Alaska's 4.6 billion dollar fishing industry could be in danger, according to local marine scientists who say the state's marine waters are turning acidic from absorbing greenhouse gases.
Chemical oceanographers at the University of Alaska Fairbanks collected water in the Gulf of Alaska last spring and found samples more...
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Utility regulators in New York will likely not decide the fate of Entergy's plan to spin off its wholesale nuclear power generators into a separate company until at least early next year.
Entergy, a New Orleans-based company, announced the plan in late 2007 and will have to wait until next year for a New York Public Service Commission hearing, though the...
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As Congress deals with its climate legislation, one group worries its energy priorities will be overlooked.
Over the weekend, the Southern Governors' Association was presented with studies from former Sen. John Warner of Virginia and Air Force General Rich Engel about global warming and the global competition for...
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The Tennessee Valley Authority now says it may need three years to clean up December's coal ash spill in Tennessee.
The TVA's chief environmental executive says it is "time critical" to get the ash out of the water by spring "to prevent further migration of the ash downstream as the spring rains come" and to...
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What has so far been a mild hurricane season is good news to small and mid-size energy companies without storm insurance.
With insurance premiums are up 60 percent in an already down economy, many companies are deciding to take the chance that a storm will not inflict damage on oil platforms...
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They once thought they had a buffer against the nation's economic woes, but now energy producing states are feeling the pinch.
States like Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and New Mexico were raking in tax revenues last year when oil and natural gas prices were at record highs. But now, with natural gas prices hitting a seven-year low on Friday, the Wall Street...
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An Ohio carbon capture and sequestration project is dead after the lead partner pulled out.
The Midwest Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership had planned to inject CO2 from the Andersons Marathon Ethanol plant in Greenville, Ohio, into a porous rock layer filled with...
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The Department of Energy has announced $37 million in stimulus money for small businesses.
Allocated from the Recovery Act, the funds will go to qualified businesses through the DOE's new Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology...
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Construction will begin soon on new pipeline to bring petroleum from Canada to the U.S.
The State Department has given Enbridge the go-ahead to build the Alberta Clipper pipeline, running from Hardisty, Alberta to...
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Workers have found more more bodies and body parts today in the aftermath of an explosion as Russia's largest hydroelectric dam.
Russian news agencies say the death toll from the accident at the Sayano-Shushenskaya power plant in Siberia has reached...
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Climate watchers are keeping an eye on elections in Japan on August 30.
Environmentalists were upset with Japan when Prime Minister Taro Aso announced a domestic greenhouse gas reduction target of 8 percent by...
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Man-made global warming is getting some of the blame by some experts for record ocean temperatures.
July has been deemed the hottest month the world's oceans have been in almost 130 years of record...
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With a bright idea, congress is hiring a consultant for over $670,000 to determine how to save money on lighting on the Capitol grounds.
The Los Angeles Times reports that the plan has been given a green light by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to make Congress a shining example of environmental...
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Several large Midwestern power companies want to get more wind energy to big cities, and are commissioning a study to help.
The group includes MidAmerican Energy in Des Moines, American Electric Power in Columbus, Ohio, Exelon Corporation in Chicago...
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HelioFocus plans to build a new solar energy device that resembles a large satellite TV dish.
The company says that the HS-100, a six-story high parabolic dish, concentrates the sun's energy onto an optical receiver at its...
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The country's recession has hurt almost every sector of our economy - and that includes nuclear power.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission requires nuclear plant operators to pay into trust funds while plants are running, to ensure there's money to pay for decommissioning when the plant is closed.
The trust funds are invested, but like most investments, the recession has hammered their value. Now, utilities may have to come...
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Suntech Power, a world-renowned manufacturer of photovoltaic modules, has set a world record in producing the most efficient multicrystalline commercially-made silicon solar panel.
The company's newly developed Pluto cells converted 15.6 percent of the sunlight into electricity, beating the previous record of 15.5 percent by Sandia National Laboratories.
"This is a tremendous result for Suntech and clearly demonstrates the power and versatility of the Pluto technology, which can be applied...
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The death toll is up to 17 after an explosion Monday at Russia's largest hydroelectric plant in Siberia.
Fifty-eight people remain missing at the Sayano-Shushenskaya power station and the BBC reports they are feared dead.
The cause of the accident is unclear but officials cited a faulty turbine and a rise of pressure...
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North Carolina's electricity providers say poop-to-power is not quite ready for prime time.
Progress Energy, Duke Energy and other providers have asked state regulators to delay and modify a 2007 state law that requires them to generate a minimum amount of energy...
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Can geothermal drilling trigger earthquakes?
That's what a number of scientists are looking into after several minor quakes happened near a deep well drilling site near Basel, Switzerland.
An article published last month in the New York Times raised questions on whether AltaRock...
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A coalition of labor unions and environmental organizations are launching a "made in America Jobs Tour" today.
Kicking off in Cleveland, the message of the tour is that a clean energy economy will put the country back to work. Backers also want to refute charges that climate change legislation...
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The coal industry is putting together a publicity campaign in West Virginia.
The industry-backed Faces for American Coal, Energy and Security, or FACES of Coal, was unveiled Wednesday in Charleston.
The group says it grew out of a deep concern that opponents of coal mining are trying to kill the...
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The Tennessee Valley Authority could ask its customers to pay more to clean up last December's massive coal ash spill.
TVA directors are set to vote today on a $10 billion budget that officials say could include a rate increase.
The utility posted a $339 million loss over the past nine months, largely because of the $1...
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Speculators, brokers, drillers and oil companies paid more than $1 million for drilling rights on more than 34,000 acres in Utah at the Bureau of Land Management's quarterly auction in Salt Lake City.
Douglas Chasel of Salt Lake City paid the most for a lease, $296,000 for a 320-acre parcel...
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With battle looming over a Senate climate bill, the natural gas industry is looking to get into the fray.
The Wall Street Journal reports the industry is counting on new Democratic allies and a stepped-up lobbying campaign to push measures through the Senate that will favor gas...
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Australia's Parliament passed a law today requiring 20 percent of the country's electricity to come from renewable sources by 2020.
Currently, only 8 percent of Australia's electricity comes from renewable sources - their new target matches one set in 2007 by the European...
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Crude oil surged nearly 5 percent after the Department of Energy's latest inventory report showed U.S. stockpiles declining the most in more than a year, as imports tumbled and refineries increased operating rates.
Stockpiles dropped 8.4 million barrels last week, the most since the week ending May 23, 2008.
Imports slipped 15 percent to 8.53 million barrels a day, the biggest drop and lowest...
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Denver International Airport wants to build a $7 million solar electric-generating plant to power its fuel storage and distribution system.
Airport officials said today they will ask the Denver City Council for approval to sign a contract with two companies to develop the 1.6-megawatt project on about 9 acres north of the airfield.
It would provide almost all the electricity needed to power the airport's fuel farm, and would be made possible through an agreement...
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Germany launched a campaign today to put 1 million electric cars on the country's road by 2020.
The program draws on $705 million that was set aside in an economic stimulus package earlier this year.
The government says it plans to spend $240 million on research for batteries that power...
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A positive outlook from Vestas could be a sign that wind is picking up again.
Wall Street Journal reports that Vestas of Denmark, the world's biggest maker of wind turbines, says orders are picking up and it expects revenue to rise nearly 20 percent for 2009.
It reports that analysts expected Vestas to lower its revenue target for the year...
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The death toll is up to 14 following Monday's explosion at Russia's largest hydroelectric plant in Siberia.
Another 60 people remain missing at the Sayano-Shushenskaya power station, and the plant's owner says they are feared dead. An oil slick created by the accident is still not contained, and stretches more than 60 miles down...
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Car dealers are growing impatient with how slowly the government's reimbursing them in the "Cash for Clunkers" program.
The Maryland Automobile Dealers Association tells The Washington Post for a story published Wednesday that in Maryland alone, dealers put in $36 million in claims under the clunkers...
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Progress Energy Carolinas says it is permanently shutting down three coal-fired power plant units near Goldsboro, North Carolina.
In place of the three Lee Plant Coal units, the utility is seeking regulatory approval to build a natural gas-fueled facility.
The new plant would have about 550 megawatts more capacity than the three coal units...
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A congressional investigation has discovered five more fraudulent letters opposing the ACES bill were sent to lawmakers from a lobbying group working with pro-coal organization.
The House Select Committee on Energy and Independence and Global Warming made the announcement on its...
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Australia's main political parties have agreed to a new law requiring that 20 percent of the country's electricity come from renewable sources by 2020.
This new standard would more than double the country's current renewables percentage and eventually power the households of Australia's 21 million residents.
The law would quadruple the renewable energy target set by the previous government...
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Thousands of people urging the Senate to defeat climate legislation turned out in the first of a series of rallies sponsored by the petroleum industry.
"Energy Citizens," a group backed by the American Petroleum Institute, is planning about 20 rallies in southern and oil-producing states to organize opposition to the plan to cut...
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Ford has unveiled an "intelligent" system, testing one of the world's first vehicle-to-electric grids that will communicate with plugin hybrids for optimal battery reacharging.
The company says the new technology allows the vehicle operator to program when to recharge the vehicle - for how long - and at what utility...
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Two new forecasts out today say massive natural gas inventories will keep pressure on prices in the coming months, a result stemming from economic recession and increased onshore drilling.
Analyst and trader Stephen Schork issued a report saying natural gas futures are trading at 7 year lows and "appear to be en route...
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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has published preliminary data on the release of toxic chemicals occurring in the United States between Jan.1, 2008 and December 31 of the same year.
The agency says it is releasing the raw data prior to the agency completing its analysis "in its continued commitment to openness...
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A developer is dropping plans for a small nuclear power plant near Ester, Alaska.
John Reeves was preparing four acres south of Fairbanks for the plant but scrapped the plans after learning his prospective supplier, Hyperion Power Generation, was years away from...
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A cow manure digester will turn poop into power in idaho.
Cargill Inc., a Minneapolis agricultural conglomerate, will produce electricity at the 10,000 cow Bettencourt Dairy in southern Idaho. It's scheduled to start up September 1, selling electricity to Idaho Power.
Cargill spent about $8.5 million to build the 2.25 megawatt digester and generator...
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Divers are searching around Russia's largest hydroelectric plant for 64 people still missing after an explosion that destroyed an engine room.
At least 12 people have been confirmed dead in the blast at the massive Sayano-Shushenskaya power plant in southern Siberia.
The plant's owner says it's doubtful that any of the missing workers will be...
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Brazil says it is looking to be more self-sufficient when it comes extracting oil from under coastal waters, after relying for decades on foreign oil companies for help.
But the government now says that it wants the national oil company, Petrobras, to control all future development of the deep-sea fields discovered in 2007 - which international...
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Green technology companies in the United States are seeing a rise in funding and investments.
This comes after the tumble in oil prices late last year and recession that dried up investor dollars for green technology.
The New York Times Venture Capital blog reported Tuesday that the green tech sector is...
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Lawmakers in China will consider climate change legislation next week. The move is expected to be one of the most important factors for a favorable outcome of the December United Nations Climate Conference in Copenhagen.
The Xinhua news agency did not give details, but said the Standing Committee of the National...
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More cash is headed to renewable energy companies.
The government is now accepting applications for more than $3 billion in renewable energy project funding.
Biomass, solar, wind and other renewable energy production companies may now submit their...
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As the federal government prepares rules for how greenhouse gas emissions will be measured at thousands of sites nationwide, oil companies are working to make sure their concerns are heard by the White House, the OMB and EPA.
Greenwire reports in a story published in Monday's New York Times that industry...
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President Barack Obama's special envoy - Richard Holbrooke - says the United States is considering funding projects to upgrade Pakistan's power sector, but played down just how fast that upgrade might happen.
Power shortages have devastated Pakistan's economy and the country's finance minister said the government would rent electricity-generating plants over...
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The Bonneville Power Administration is marking a wind-energy production milestone.
On August 6 its grid carried more than 2,000 megawatts of wind-generated power for more than 60 minutes - enough to power Seattle and Portland.
In all, 22 wind farms in eastern Washington and Oregon contributed...
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Executives at oil and gas companies are gearing up for business to pick up, as the economy perks up.
A survey by Ernst & Young and the Economist finds 45 percent of energy executives say the economic downturn impacted their business more than they...
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Tropical Storm Claudette has come ashore the Florida panhandle, passing to the east of the Gulf's main oil production areas.
ExxonMobil - which has extensive operations at Mobile Bay, Ala. near where Claudette came ashore - says none of its facilities...
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Eight people are dead and 10 are injured after an accident at Russia's largest hydroelectric power plant.
Emergency officials say 54 are still missing after a transformer exploded during repair work at the Sayano-Shushinskaya power station in southern Siberia.
Though the dam itself was not damaged - thus not posing...
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Momentum is fading for solid results to come out of climate talks in Copenhagen in December.
That's the feeling, at least from climate ministers, after the last set of talks ended Friday in Bonn, according to a story published in today's New York Times.
The main goal of those talks was to shrink the number of options...
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The Chinese government has fired the head of its nuclear power program following an investigation into alleged corruption.
The Xinhua News Agency says Kang Rixin, the general manager of China National Nuclear Corporation, was under investigation for "grave violations of discipline," a standard Communist Party term referring to graft and abuse...
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The winds of change are blowing a wind turbine maker into Denver.
REpower USA - the U.S. sales and project management arm of Germany's REpower - is moving its U.S. headquarters from Portland, Ore. to the Colorado capital.
The group had been in Portland since 2007, but company officials say they want to be...
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Two natural gas wells drilled through the Barnett Shale may have caused minor earthquakes in North Texas.
Chesapeake Energy wells in Cleburne and at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport have been shut down as a precaution as University of Texas seismologists continue tests.
The vice president of Chesapeake's southern operations, Steven Turk, says both wells...
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The Bureau of Land Management and Bureau of Indian Affairs have given the go-ahead for an additional 770 natural gas wells to be drilled on the Southern Ute Indian reservation in southwest Colorado.
A federal review says the wells will not have significant effects on wildlife and the environment, including air quality.
A review was ordered after environmental...
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China is finally setting a time frame for emissions cuts... In about 40 years.
As the world seeks progress toward a new climate treaty to replace Kyoto, the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide has been reluctant to set hard targets.
But now its top climate official, Su Wei, tells the Financial Times he doesn't see his...
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A big indicator of the health of the oil and gas industry is showing improvement, with the number of rigs actively exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. rising by two this week to 968.
A year ago the number was 1,990 and in 1981 it was more than 4,500 when the price...
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New Jersey regulators have approved more than $515 million in projects that will more than double the amount of solar power generated in the garden state, placing it second behind California in solar capacity.
The state Board of Public Utilities today gave the green light to proposals from four utilities that together will yield 145 megawatts of solar...
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Portland's skyline has a dramatic addition since four 45-foot-tall wind turbines started spinning above the city's new Twelve West Building today - one of a handful of urban high-rises nationally that capture wind for electricity.
The turbines will provide a fraction of the building's power needs but are seen by developer Gerding Edlen Development as a learning...
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India is proposing that any global warming treaty forbid trade barriers against nations that do not limit their carbon emissions.
The move is directed against the U.S. and other countries that are considering carbon-based tariffs on imports from countries that don't commit to specific actions on climate change.
India's chief climate delegate Shyam Saran says such measures look like protectionism under a green label, and are further complicating treaty negotiations.
Saran spoke in Bonn, Germany, where some 180 nations are working on drafting a new climate...
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Russian President Dmitry Medvedev says a deal to buy Opel will help modernize his country's economy.
Medvedev and German Chancellor Angela Merkel met today, a day after Canada's Magna and Russian Sberbank announced they had agreed to buy General Motors' German unit.
The exact details of the deal have not been disclosed. It was reported earlier that Sberbank...
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Federal officials are telling clean energy manufacturers how they can cash in on $2.3 billion in tax credits.
Guidelines were announced Thursday by the U.S. Treasury and the Department of Energy.
The credit is part of the stimulus program passed earlier this year. Eligible companies can reduce their taxes by 30 percent of the amount they invest in establishing, expanding or...
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Four Senate Democrats want to give up on cap-and-trade plans and focus instead on a clean energy bill.
Bloomberg reported Friday that Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas believes it would be "too big of a lift" to pass energy and climate legislation together.
She says a straight energy bill is more doable. The Senate Energy Committee has...
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BEIJING, CHINA--A man clutched the mic and the chatters in the crowded bar died down.
There’s no band or stereo but a projector screen featuring a Power Point presentation. The person commanding the crowd’s attention was no rock singer with spiky hair but a middle-aged man sporting a pair of glasses and khaki. His name was Jeff Huang, Vice President of the Chicago Climate Exchange.
“We are trying to build a climate exchange in Tianjin,” a city eighty miles Southeast of Beijing, Huang said. “People talk about cap and trade as if it’s something in the future. In fact, we’ve been practicing cap and trade in Chicago with good result for six years.”
The audience was a collection of a few dozen strikingly youthful looking members. They perched on bar stools or the pool table, sipping their drinks occasionally and scribbling on their notebooks. They are members of the Beijing Energy Network, an informal group of young people interested in China’s energy and environment future.
“It started with four guys having discussions over Korean barbeques every...
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Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is ruling out withdrawing energy leases issued in Colorado under the last administration.
The leases, on the Roan Plateau, are being challenged in court by environmentalists.
Salazar started exploring a possible settlement after taking over as secretary.
Now, he tells the Daily Sentinel in Grand...
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ExxonMobil is killing birds, according to a court finding.
Exxon pleaded guilty to causing the deaths of about 85 migratory birds in five states, and will pay about $7,000 per bird killed.
Most of the birds died after exposure to natural gas well reserve pits and waste water storage...
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The Department of Energy has awarded the South Coast Air Quality Management District a $45.4 million grant to accelerate the development of plug-in hybrid commercial vehicles.
The federal stimulus money will be used to develop a fully integrated, production PHEV system for medium-duty utility and delivery trucks and shuttle buses. It's part of the $2.4 billion in funding for plug-in projects that...
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The Hong Kong-based company that operates the cargo ship that caused a 2007 oil spill in San Francisco Bay has pleaded guilty to criminal charges today.
Fleet Management Ltd. pleaded guilty to charges of obstruction, making false statements and negligent discharge of oil, agreeing to pay...
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Hundreds of key players in the wind industry are gathering in Wyoming this week, discussing among other topics, the state's protection of the sage grouse.
Horizon Wind of Houston, TX has put a 198-turbine farm on hold indefinitely because the issue.
The project would be right in the middle...
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Energy Secretary Steven Chu and three other Cabinet members have been touring rural Alaska.
One stop Wednesday was in Hooper Bay, in western Alaska, about 500 miles from Anchorage.
The secretaries of Energy, Education, Agriculture and Housing & Urban Development toured three new wind turbines in Hooper Bay that...
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One of the mountaintop removal permits that was put under close scrutiny earlier this year has been approved by the EPA.
The Charleston Gazette reported in Monday's editions that EPA made no public announcement last week when it gave the Army Corps of Engineers the green light to issue a Clean Water Act permit for CONSOL Energy's Peg...
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The oil industry is helping to organize anti-climate bill rallies around the U.S.
The Wall Street Journal reported in Wednesday's "Washington Wire" Blog that the American Petroleum Institute, the National Association of Manufacturers, the Farm Bureau and others, are funding rallies across 20 states over...
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A new battery factory is officially coming to southeastern Michigan.
General Motors confirmed it will build its battery packs for the new Chevy Volt and other extended-range EVs just outside Detroit.
“Developing and producing advanced batteries is a key step in GM’s journey to become the leader in electric vehicles,” Fritz Henderson, GM president and CEO, said...
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A federal judge has rebuffed the Obama administration's attempt to reverse a last-minute Bush-era rule that allows surface mine waste to be deposited near streams.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar wanted the rule vacated, saying in April that it failed to pass the smell test.
He had proposed keeping coal companies 100 feet away from streams...
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The latest Energy Information Association forecast expects electricity demand in the U.S. will fall 2.7 percent this year - electricity prices are already reflecting the drop in demand.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the U.S. is now seeing some of the sharpest reductions...
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Although Cash for Clunkers was so popular that the program almost ran out of money - emergency funding arrived on Saturday - now there are concerns that car dealers are running out of cars.
The Obama Administration is now reviewing a congressional request to allow consumers...
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Dominion Virginia Power is vowing to complete a coal-fired power plant in southwest Virginia on schedule, despite a court ruling that struck down one of the plant's emissions permits.
A judge in Richmond ruled that the mercury emissions permit would have improperly allowed the utility to adjust the limit after the plant is already operating, saying the State Air Pollution Control Board gave Dominion too much...
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The Nevada Board of Examiners has approved a $10 million, two-year contract to hire outside lawyers to assist in the state's fight against the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste disposal site.
Gov. Jim Gibbons, chairman of the three-member panel, questioned why the money was necessary given predictions from Senator Harry Reid...
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Chu visited Washington state this week to make an announcement that the Department of Energy is energizing an interstate power line project in the Pacific Northwest, with $343 million worth of stimulus money.
The Bonneville Power Administration's "McNary - John Day" transmission project will crisscross...
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Ukraine and Russia are at it again.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has sent a letter to Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko accusing him of endangering European gas supplies. In the letter, Medvedev said "the gathering impression that Kiev is consistently seeking a rupture in forming economic ties with Russia, especially in the energy sector."
Medvedev didn't elaborate. Instead he went...
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With Congress out of town for the month, the Obama Administration is fanning out across the country to discuss energy issues.
While Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack spoke about carbon offsets in Colorado and Energy Secretary Steven Chu have been touring facilities in the Northwest, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson made a very...
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A new poll shows there is significant public support for the Waxman-Markey ACES Act.
The Wall Street Journal and Grist magazine reported Tuesday that the Zogby poll, commissioned by the National Wildlife Federation, says 71% of respondents supported the energy and climate bill.
Of 1,000 likely voters polled, 45 percent "strongly" favor it, and 26 percent favor it...
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By: Ashley Baird
The sun was beaming down on our "Earth Limo" bus as we drove off into the desert for day two of the National Clean Energy Summit 2.0 in Las Vegas, Nevada. While Monday’s summit focus was on creating a clean energy economy, on Tuesday journalists got a first-hand look at what Nevada is doing to lead the way to creating “green” jobs. Clean Skies News was there for a tour led by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Center for American Progress President John Podesta, FERC Chairman Jon Wellinghoff, White House Special Advisor Van Jones, and Cathy Zoi, an Assistant Secretary with the DOE.
Our first stop was Rob’s Ridge Solar Project, where we got an up-close look at solar panels on a helicopter launch pad. The panels are flown to the top of Rob's peak on the west side of the valley. We didn't get to see the chopper in action, but learned that it takes 21 of those panels to power three Nevada homes. Senator Reid and others walked around the remote desert area, catching glimpses of the panels, chopper and mountains where the solar panels will eventually be placed.
Our next stop stop took us to the heart of Las Vegas: the MGM Grand City Center. Decked in hard hats, vests and protective glasses, we toured the massive construction site, which is scheduled to be completed in December 2009. The MGM City Center is the largest privately funded construction project in the U.S., costing $8.5 billion. It boasts to be one of the world’s largest green developments and has also trained 9,000 construction workers in sustainability.
The University of Nevada Las Vegas Science and Engineering Building was our final stop along the tour, where a new undergraduate sustainable energy program is underway, being offered in Fall 2009. Reid and his guests toured the facility, meeting with professors and a student involved in the solar and renewable energy minor program. The group also learned about sustainable home construction that Pulte Homes deployed at its Villa Trieste community in Nevada thanks partly to grants obtained through UNLV.
A short press conference was held inside UNLV's Science and Engineering building after the tour, where Reid and his guests offered their views of the tour. John Podesta called Nevada’s vision of clean energy “solid”, while Chairman Wellinghoff was extremely impressed with what MGM had developed. Having been on the outside council for the facility, he called that seeing the creation of sustainable jobs a “fantastic thing to have happen.” Senator Reid couldn't pick his favorite stop along the tour, calling each project "remarkably educational" for himself. And at the end of the day, it was educational for me as well. There's no doubt that Nevada is leading the example to a bright future in clean energy.
As good as some plants may be for biofuel, they might not benefit the environment, if left unchecked.
Today, the Interior Department's "Invasive Species Advisory Committee" considered the prospect of algae or weeds, both potential...
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A Richmond judge has invalidated a permit for a coal-burning power plant under construction in southwest Virginia.
Circuit Judge Margaret Spencer ruled Tuesday that Dominion Virginia Power should have obtained a mercury emissions permit before beginning construction on the Wise County plant, which...
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The governors of eleven eastern states have been working for months on a regional plan to cut carbon emissions from motor vehicles.
Now, Greenwire reports in a story published in today's New York Times, that the plan could include home furnaces, and take effect before January. The states are still working out reduction targets, but officials have said their initial...
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Alaska state lawmakers are sending a parting shot to their former governor.
Members of the Alaska State Legislature voted to override Sarah Palin's veto of millions in federal stimulus funding for energy efficiency projects.
Alaska can use the $28.6 million for almost anything...
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Exxon Mobil has shipped its first cargo of liquefied natural gas from Qatar to its Adriatic re-gasification terminal.
The company says the Adriatic terminal will provide 10 percent of Italy's current natural gas requirements, once the facility reaches full capacity later this year.
Exxon Mobil is close to completing a $30 billion project to develop...
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Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is out West, trying to sell farmers and ranchers on a climate bill.
Vilsack gave the keynote address at the first major biochar gathering in the U.S., in Boulder Colorado.
Biochar is nutrient-rich soil that's created...
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Justice Department officials say U.S. refineries are buying stolen oil siphoned from Mexican government pipelines and smuggled across the border - in some cases by drug cartels.
U.S. and Mexican law enforcement officials are working...
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President Obama is now heading back to Washington after an out-of-town trip of his own to discuss clean energy, among other topics.
He took part in the two-day North American Leaders' Summit in Mexico, meeting with his counterparts from Mexico, Felipe Calderon, and Canada, Stephen Harper.
The issue of climate change was on the agenda...
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The Competitive Enterprise Institute today presented what they call a counter film to Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth". The documentary, entitled "Policy Peril", premiered at The Heritage Foundation and presents an argument over whether Climate Change policy is worse for the planet than Global Warming.
The movie claims there is good data and good science out there, it is just not being used when it doesn't support the global warming agenda. One example is data used to determine global...
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In advance of December's international climate talks in Copenhagen, New Zealand is already announcing its sort-term emission reduction target.
Climate Change Minister Nick Smith says the country will cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 10 to 20 percent below 1990 levels by...
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In Washington state, crews worked through the weekend to clean up and repair damage caused by a fire that started Wednesday at the Columbia Generating Station in Richland.
The fire at the nuclear power plant 150 miles southeast of Seattle, is believed to have started in...
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This could be another record summer for Arctic ice melt.
Scientists studying this year's developments are calling the melt this year relentless.
Satellite photos show that it's close to the pace of 2007, when the ice cap shrank to a record low minimum of 1.7 million square miles in September. The latest measurements from the National Snow and Ice Data Center show...
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The U.S. "Cash for Clunkers" program has been wildly popular through its first two weeks, but its fore-bearer in Germany is still dealing with problems from its own version of the plan.
The New York Times reported in Friday's editions that the Germans neglected safeguards like the ones adopted in the U.S., which require dealers...
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The Tennessee Valley Authority has reduced its plans for a potentially four-unit nuclear plant in northeast Alabama down to one reactor.
The utility says it is preparing a supplemental environmental impact statement to consider a single nuclear unit for its Bellefonte site near Scottsboro, AL, where it first broke ground in 1974.
TVA officials say that single unit might be one of the two advanced reactors...
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Now that he has signed the Cash for Clunkers extension and $2.4 billion of funding for 48 new advanced battery and electric drive projects, President Obama is getting ready for some weekend plans.
He will meet with Mexican President Felipe Calderón and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to discuss climate change and clean energy.
President Obama heads to Guadalajara, Mexico on Sunday for a dinner with...
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General Motors has announced it will have the world's first commercially available plug-in Hybrid SUV some time in 2011. The new vehicle will be a 5-passenger crossover, and will be produced by Buick.
All that GM will release for now is a few close up photos, allowing the public a "sneak peak" of the vehicle.
GM says the plug-in SUV will have a V-6 engine, be about the same size as a Chevy Equinox, and will get...
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Opponents of four nuclear reactors proposed by the Tennessee Valley Authority for northeast Alabama are claiming victory in a possible licensing delay.
The Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League today released letters from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to the TVA.
The letters say the Commission will not publish a draft environmental impact statement on two new reactors at the Bellefonte...
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The first U.S. solar "power towers" have produced electricity for commercial use. The plant will offer the lowest cost solar project in history, according to CEO of eSolar Bill Gross.
The feat occurred yesterday in the Antelope Valley, north of Los Angeles on the edge of the Mojave Desert.
Sunlight reflected off 24,000 silver mirrors that track the sun's rays and then...
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Maryland regulators are set to approve what would be the state's largest working deep coal mine.
Maryland Energy Resources LLC expects to extract an estimated 360,000 tons of coal annually for 20 years - the deposits lie beneath about 3,000 acres.
Bureau of Mines's Alan Hooker says he expects the agency to offer a permit...
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The North Carolina Senate have approved banning wind turbines from Appalachian ridges.
The Senate voted 42-1 on Thursday to establish regulations for where wind turbines can be built.
The proposed law would require a state permit to build wind farms. They could be blocked if they harm navigation, wildlife, or the views from any state or national park. Single windmills...
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Another utility is seeking Department of Energy grants to upgrade to the smart grid.
PECO Energy, in the Philadelphia area, has has applied for a $200 million grant to help pay for more than 1.6 million residential and commercial smart meters.
The $650 million smart grid plan will be filed this month with DOE and the Pennsylvania...
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The White House says President Obama has signed into law an extension of the "cash-for-clunkers" program.
The Senate voted last night to put another $2 Billion into the program, following the House's lead of a week ago. The administration estimates the additional $2 billion will mean the program will last until Labor Day, although it remains to be seen while it can sustain...
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This weekend the Senate joins the House on summer recess, so the public will not see Barbara Boxer's long-expected climate bill until sometime next month.
That doesn't mean the Cap and Trade proposal is on the back burner for lawmakers, though.
Today 10 Senators, all of them Democrats, sent a letter to President Obama about the pending climate bill, asserting the need to maintain "a level...
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New York Governor David Paterson signed an Executive Order today setting a goal of reducing the state's greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent from 1990 levels by 2050. The move will work in a similar but more local form as the House of Representatives' American Clean Energy and Security Act.
The program will be voluntary, despite New York's many climate change threats. Excessive heat, polluted drinking water and lower crop...
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Developers are proposing a new wind project on a cattle ranch in the Flagstaff-area.
Foresight Wind Energy wants to install 130 to 330 wind turbines on the Flying M Ranch east of Mormon Lake.
The company would then tie the power generated by the turbines into federally owned power...
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Dominion Virginia Power is asking the federal government for help to bring the smart grid to the state.
The utility is asking for a $200 million stimulus grant to install 2.4 million smart meters for its customers.
Dominion says the initiative will save customers...
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The Federal Trade Commission is cracking down on attempts to manipulate energy prices.
The commission issued a new rule today that targets anyone dealing with crude oil, gasoline and petroleum distillates.
Starting in November, the FTC will seek information that influences commodity prices...
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A global deal to combat climate change could be reached this year, according to China's chief climate change representative.
In a Wednesday briefing for reporters at China's Foreign Ministry, Yu Qingtai pointed to China's current efforts to reduce carbon emissions and extensive use of renewable energy sources as an example of what can be...
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Utah's effort to cut energy use by shortening the work week is paying off.
State officials say the executive branch has cut its energy use 13 percent by going to a four-day work week.
The analysis covers the first nine months of the program. Final cost saving estimates won't be released until October.
Former Gov. Jon Huntsman anticipated saving $3 million with the four-day work week in its first year, but state officials have said that target...
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Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was in Turkey on Thursday, courting support for a natural gas pipeline project.
Putin and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, planned to sign an agreement on constructing part of the South Stream pipeline through Turkish waters in the...
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