Thursday, November 12, 2009

Energy and Environment

A worker loads steel on a truck at a steel wholesale market in Shenyang, China.

Secretary of Energy Steven Chu.

8 Top Washington Players

Meet the most influential energy and environmental policymakers in the Obama era.

Fuel Efficiency

Electric hybrid cars are plugged in to charge during a demonstration of the vehicles in Seattle.

Obama Proposes Strict Emissions Limits

The president's proposal would require vehicles to get 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016.

Photo Gallery

Volunteers from YouthBuild, a community service organization that often partners with AmeriCorps, converged on the National Mall to build a "green" home demonstrating affordable and energy-efficient construction.

Building a "Green" Home

Volunteers from YouthBuild demonstrate affordable and energy-efficient construction.

Global Warming

In the Antarctic, climate change endangers the future of Adelie penguins and other breeds of penguins.

The Plight of Penguins and Polar Bears

Rising temperatures could have dire consequences for the animals.

Stimulus

Bright Source Energy Executives CFO Jack Jenkins-Stark (left) and CEO John Woolard at a park near their head Oakland office. The company is developing solar energy technology.

Stimulus Keeps Solar Dream Alive

Solar energy company BrightSource Energy is weathering the recession and hopes to come out on top.

A wind farm in California.

Wind Power Hit by Economic Storm

Backers say it is a promising energy source that needs stimulus incentives to meet growth goals.

Oil

Cuban workers extract petroleum in the north coast of Havana.

Why Cuba's Oil Dreams Might Come True

Recent estimates suggest that the island could move into the petroleum big leagues.

A new housing development at the north end of Rifle, Colo.

In an Energy Boomtown, Growth and Anxiety

The town of Rifle is buoyed by a surge in natural gas drilling, but it can't forget the last oil bust.

NUCLEAR POWER

The cooling towers of the nuclear power plant at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania.

A Virginia Town Ponders a Third Nuclear Plant

The facility could be the first new U.S. plant approved for construction in three decades.

Policy

Coal smoke and steam vapor pour out of the Bruce Mansfield Power Plant overlooking a residential neighborhood in Shippingport, Pennsylvania.

Obama's Win Buoys Climate Talks

Obama was not at the talks, but many hope he will reverse Bush's record on carbon limits.

Renewable Energy

T. Boone Pickens testifies before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee about alternative energy plans on Capitol Hill.

T. Boone Pickens Is Wind Power's Best Hope

The Texas oilman's "green conversion" is all about business.

Ethanol

Corn is emptied from a truck into a chute at the Little Sioux Corn Processing Plant in Marcus. Ethanol will be produced. As ethanol becomes a larger part of the energy mix, it is not clear that the federal government is prepared for the result. Ethanol already consumes so much corn that signs of strain on the food supply are having an effect on the marketfplace.This plant is one of IA's 26 ethanol plants.

The Behind-the-Scenes Struggle Over Ethanol

Competing interests are fighting over the course of ethanol policy.

GAS PRICES

The Katahdin Paper Company's Millinocket (Maine) Mill.

Death Watch in a Mill Town

High oil prices may be the final blow for a legendary paper plant.

Wireless Phones Alter Levels of Brain Chem

Study found elevated amounts of protein involved in blood-brain barrier

    Record Highs Far Outpace Lows Across U.S.

    Daily record high temperatures occurred twice as often as record lows over past decade.

      Denmark Invites 191 Leaders to Climate Talks

      Both President Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have expressed interest in attending.

        Study Links Climate Change to CA Droughts

        Geologic study of caves provides evidence of centuries-long droughts coinciding with climate change.

          Washington Whispers: Most See Global Warming

          A new poll reports 77 percent believe in global warming.

            Test Your Knowledge

            People visit graves in Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery May 25, 2009 in Arlington, Virginia. Section 60 is one of the main places where those who died while serving in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are buried.

            Arlington National Cemetery

            Soldiers from which wars are interred in the Tomb of the Unknowns? How many presidents are buried there?

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            Interactive: Friendly fuels





            Explore creative alternative fuels in the works.

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