By David Biello. Why do the roiling, black clouds of a thunderstorm produce lightning? Ben Franklin and others helped prove that such lightning was discharged...
Article Context
Scientists dispute claim from Brazilian researchers that lightning could be harnessed
Articles from 8.26.2010
New York MTA Orders Up To 475 Compressed Natural Gas Buses from New Flyer
The Board of the New York Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) has awarded New Flyer of America Inc., a subsidiary of New Flyer Industries Inc. a contract for up to 475...
Report: Interior Dept.'s reforms have made drilling safe enough to restart
The bipartisan think tank's finding could provide a lift to those pushing for the temporary deepwater moratorium to end early.
Take It With a Grain of (Sea) Salt: Gulf Microbe Study Was Funded by BP
by Marian Wang. Earlier this week, major news outlets ran with headlines about how a new microbe has been found eating up BP's oil, and how microbes have degraded the...
Energy analyst on Bill Gates: 'Perhaps he doesn’t know that much about the physics of energy technology.'
An energy and development specialist says mass deployment of non-polluting energy technology beats a focus on research.
Florida Researchers Moving Closer to Using Termite Guts For Better Ethanol
Last time I reported on the topic of using termite guts to make next generation cellulosic ethanol cheaper and easier, it was 2008. Back then a team of researchers from...
Primaries move GOP to the right (on climate)
by Christopher Mims. One hundred percent of New Hampshire GOP senate candidates agree that man-made climate change has yet to be proved. Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska is...
Climate aid reaches $30 billion goal, but is it new?
OSLO (Reuters) - Aid promises from rich nations to help poor countries slow global warming are reaching the $30 billion goal agreed in Copenhagen but analysts say much of...
Cali Considers New Clean Power Feed-In Tariffs
California state regulators have spent the last few years trying to revise a program that was meant to boost small-scale renewable energy generation but wasn’t popular...
California Approves First U.S. Thermal Solar Plant
The NextEra facility is expected to be the first of several large solar power plants approved by state regulators in the next month.
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DOE invests $90.6M in concentrated photovoltaic project
A relatively new type of solar power called concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) technology is getting a $90.6 million boost in the form of a conditional loan guarantee from...
New challenge to giant Bel Monte Dam project in Brazil
For the first time in the long drawn-out struggle between indigenous peoples living in the Xingú river basin and the Brazilian government, the und
Could Japan use robots to repair the damaged reactors? It's not that simple, say roboticists
When it comes to robots, Japan is a superpower, with some of the world's most advanced robotic systems and the highest levels of industrial automation. So it makes...
Lula field coud turn Brazil into an oil superpower
Expected oil wealth from the region could be a "passport to the future," as Brazil's new President Dilma Rousseff said, for what is already one of the...
UK stands by green energy amid big budget cuts
The UK government unveiled major spending cuts today, taking bites out of welfare benefits and other public programs while pledging to provide 2.2 billion pounds (about...
Smart-grid services to hit $4.3 billion by 2015
Utilities around the world may be eager to embrace smart grids, but they don't necessarily want to have to deal with them themselves. Pike Research released a report...
Univ. of Colorado partners with Toyota to conduct "smart grid" study using plug-in Priuses
The University of Colorado at Boulder's Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute (RASEI) will partner with Toyota to conduct extensive testing on plug-in hybrid...
Future cell phones could be charged by conversations
Korean researchers say a new nanomaterial can convert sound waves into electrical energy, and could be applied to cell phones or even loud highways to generate...
Philadelphia Subway Will Return Power To Grid
Regenerative braking is common on hybrids like the Toyota Prius and EVs like the Nissan Leaf, and it long has been a source of energy for lights and other functions on...
Energy Dept. says nationwide ‘smart meter’ army hits 2 million
The Energy Department said Tuesday more than 2 million "smart" electric meters have been installed nationwide, sped along by funding in the big 2009 stimulus...
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