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Westinghouse Strikes Deal to Build US Nuclear Power Plants
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April 8, 2008 - Google News
| | Washington -- Two Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear power plants will be built at a site near Augusta, Georgia. The two plants will have an electric generating capacity of 1,100 megawatts and are expected to be built by 2017. No nuclear power plants have been built in the United States since 1978.
| | | © 2008 Agence France Presse © 2008 Google
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New Street Light Technology Could Save Energy, Money
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April 6, 2008 - The Detroit News
| | Washington -- According to a new study, the 10 largest U.S. metropolitan areas could reduce annual carbon dioxide emissions by 1.2 million metric tons and save $90 million a year, just by switching to more efficient street lighting. The report focuses on two energy saving strategies: changing the lamps to LEDs and creating centrally controlled street-light networks so that managers can adjust lamp brightness based on environmental conditions.
| | | By Sarah Karush © 2008 Associated Press © 2008 The Detroit News
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Paris Airport to Go Green with Geothermal Energy
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April 3, 2008 - WBCSD
| | Orly Airport, one of the two big airports serving Paris, will drill two, one-mile deep shafts on the airport's perimeter to access a water table warmed by heat emanating from the Earth's hot core. Drawn upwards by natural pressure, the water will emerge at the surface at 165 degrees Fahrenheit and then be injected into the airport's heating system. It will then be pumped back into the ground at a temperature of 113 F.
| | | © 2008 Agence France Presse © 2008 World Business Council for Sustainable Development
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Wind Power Breaks Records in Spain
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March 25, 2008 - WBCSD
| | Madrid -- For a brief period of time last weekend, over 40 percent of Spain’s electricity was supplied by wind power. Heavy winds lashed Spain on Saturday evening which generated 9,862 megawatts of power. Spain, which along with Germany and Denmark, is among the three biggest producers of wind power in the 27-nation European Union, is aiming to triple the amount of energy it derives from renewable sources by 2020.
| | | © 2008 Agence France Presse © 2008 World Business Council for Sustainable Development
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Study Finds Profit in Cutting Emissions
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February 14, 2008 - Financial Times
| | Half the cuts in greenhouse gas emissions needed to make the world safe can be achieved at a net profit to the global economy, a study has found. Investing about $170 billion a year worldwide into energy efficiency would yield a profit of about 17 percent, or $29 billion. The energy savings would be equivalent to 64 million barrels of oil a day, while the cost would amount to about 0.4 per cent of GDP. The study also found that the most inefficient sector in the world is heavy industry in China, with the second being residential housing in the US, where homes are large, poorly insulated and equipped with a range of appliances that are often themselves inefficient or poorly used, such as air-conditioning systems left on unnecessarily.
| | | By Fiona Harvey © 2008 The Financial Times Ltd
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US Energy Dept Sets New Power Transformer Efficiency Rules
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October 12, 2007 - SmartMoney
| | New York -- Under a new rule, new electricity transformers will need to be 38% more efficient than current models. However, this measure still falls short of the standards requested by both utilities and environmentalists. Transformers only lose about 1%-2% of electricity through heat, but because there are millions of them in the United States tremendous amounts of energy could be saved through improved efficiency. The implementation of this requirement is expected to save 320 billion kilowatt hours of electricity over the next 29 years, according to the DOE.
| | | By Matthew Dalton © 1995 - 2007 SmartMoney © 2007 Dow Jones Newswires
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After Oil and Gas, Sahara Sunshine?
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August 11, 2007 - The Boston Globe
| | Algiers, Algeria -- Work has begun on a 150 megawatt hybrid power plant that will use a combination of solar energy and natural gas. This is part of a larger plan to tap the vast amount of land in North Africa and the high amount of solar radiation that hits the area everyday. The potential for energy production is huge since the country receives enough sunshine to meet Western Europe's needs 60 times over.
| | | By Aidan Lewis © 2007 The Associated Press © 2007 The New York Times Company
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House Shifts $16 Billion Toward Renewable Energy
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August 5, 2007 - Planet Ark
| | Washington -- The U.S. House of Representatives passed a Democratic rewrite of U.S. energy policy that strips $16 billion in tax incentives away from Big Oil and puts it toward renewable energy sources like wind and solar power. Included in the bill is an amendment that would require U.S. utilities to generate 15 percent of their electricity from renewable sources like wind and solar by 2020. Republicans criticize the lack of drilling incentives and “green pork.” The White House threatened to veto the bill on concerns that it could boost energy prices.
| | | By Chris Baltimore © 2007 Reuters © 2007 Planet Ark
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U of D Researcher Says Seeds from Salt-Tolerant Plant a Promising Source of Biodiesel
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July 10, 2007 - ENN
| | Lewes, Del. -- The seashore mallow could be a source of biodiesel in the future. The oil composition is similar to that of soybeans and cottonseed, however annual plantings are not required and because the plant is salt-tolerant it can grow in areas where other crops cannot, so additional land does not need to be diverted away from other crops. The stems of the plant can be used for cellulosic ethanol, the roots can be used to make industrial gum, and the meal left over can be used for animal feed.
| | | By Randall Chase © 2007 The Associated Press © 2007 ENN
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Nearly Half of Electricity From Renewable Resources By 2030: Berlin
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July 5, 2007 - Yahoo! News
| | Berlin -- Germany plans to generate 45 percent of it's electricity from renewable sources by 2030. The country has already surpassed it's previous goal of 12.5 percent by 2010.
| | | © 2007 Agence France Presse © 2007 Yahoo! Inc.
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Fructose Biofuel Spells Sweet News
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June 21, 2007 - The Australian
| | Biofuel engineers at the University of Wisconsin at Madison have developed a process that converts plant carbohydrates into 2,5-demethylfuran, or DMF, which carries 40 percent more energy than ethanol. Researchers are trying to develop more efficient biofuels since ethanol has several drawbacks including an energy intensive production process.
| | | © 2007 Agence France Presse © 2007 The Australian
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Schwarzenegger Rejects Liquefied Natural Gas Plan
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May 18, 2007 - LA Daily News
| | Sacramento -- California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has rejected a proposal to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) port off the Southern California coast because of environmental concerns. The terminal would have been located about 14 miles off Malibu and 20 miles off Oxnard. Currently, there are no LNG ports on the U.S. West Coast.
| | | © 2007 The Associated Press © 2007 Los Angeles Newspaper Group
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Oakland is No. 1 User of Renewable Energy
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April 16, 2007 - San Francisco Business Times
| | Oakland topped a list of U.S. cities using renewable energy because it gets 17 percent of its power from solar, wind and geothermal sources.
| | | © 2007 American City Business Journals, Inc.
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Canary Island To Be Powered Solely By Renewables
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March 20, 2007 - Yahoo! News
| | Madrid -- El Hierro will be the first island in the world to receive all of it's electricity from renewable energy sources. When the plan is completed in 2009, the island will rely primarily on hydroelectricity and wind power.
| | | © 2007 Agence France Presse © 2007 Yahoo! Inc.
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Bright Idea? Australia Pulls Plug on Light Bulbs
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February 20, 2007 - PhysOrg.com
| | Sydney -- Australia announced a plan that will phase out and eventually ban incandescent light bulbs by 2010. Replacing traditional bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs is expected to lower Autralia's greenhouse gas emissions by four million tons a year by 2015.
| | | © 2007 Agence France-Presse © 2003-2007 PhysOrg.com
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Wild Grass Could Hold Key to Clean Fuels of the Future
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February 18, 2007 - PhysOrg.com
| | San Francisco -- Miscanthus, a grass native to certain regions of Africa and southern Asia, may be a more viable source of ethanol than corn. Miscanthus generates a higher yield of ethanol, so less farmland and irrigation are required and costs can also be reduced.
| | | © 2007 Agence France-Presse © 2003-2007 PhysOrg.com
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City Tries to Cut Energy Bills with LEDs
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February 12, 2007 - CNET News.com
| | The City of Raleigh, North Carolina has partnered with LED manufacturer Cree to create an 'LED City'. Municipal parking garages, walkways, and streetlights are the first targets of the initiative. LED lamps are more expensive than incandescent bulbs but ultimately save money by using far less energy and requiring less maintenance.
| | | By Michael Kanellos ©2007 CNET Networks, Inc.
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California May Ban Conventional Lightbulbs by 2012
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January 30, 2007 - Planet Ark
| | Los Angeles -- A California lawmaker has proposed the "How Many Legislators Does it Take to Change a Lightbulb Act" which seeks to ban incandescent lightbulbs by 2012. Incandescent bulbs convert only about 5 percent of the energy they receive into light.
| | | By Bernie Woodall © 2007 Reuters Limited © Planet Ark
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German High-Tech Sky Sail May Cut Costs, Emissions
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December 4, 2006 - Planet Ark
| | Bremen -- The 191 square-yard "SkySail" hopes to be able to cut cargo ship fuel costs by 15 to 20 percent. The inventor of the device hopes that it provides both economic and ecological benefits.
| | | By Erik Kirschbaum © 2006 Reuters Limited © Planet Ark
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China Boasts Plan for World's Largest Solar Plant
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November 22, 2006 - Planet Ark
| | Beijing -- China is seeking alternative sources of energy to supply it's growing economy and to combat pollution. The country plans to build a 100 megawatt solar power station in the province of Gansu, which would have about ten times the capacity of today's largest solar power station. Coal currently provides 70 percent of the nation's energy.
| | | © 2006 Reuters Limited © Planet Ark
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