National News

UTICA, New York - More than three in four voters - 78% - believe investing in clean energy is important to revitalizing America's economy. Of those, 50% said they strongly agree clean energy investment is vital to the nation's economic future, a new Zogby Interactive post-election poll shows.

By SEAN MURPHY , 11.13.08, 08:21 AM EST

With a huge wind corridor in western Oklahoma and local researchers working on creating biofuels from perennial native grasses, experts say Oklahoma is poised to become a leader in the renewable energy industry.

Speaking Wednesday at the Oklahoma Biofuels Conference in Oklahoma City, renewable energy experts said the emphasis on biofuels and wind energy likely will continue under President-elect Obama's administration.
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By Kim McLaughlin

COPENHAGEN, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Denmark's Vestas, the world's No. 1 wind turbine maker, on Thursday kept its 2008 outlook and said it saw higher 2009 margins and sales, lifting its shares despite lower-than-expected third-quarter earnings.

Vestas is riding a surge in demand for renewable energy sources due to greenhouse gas emissions concerns but its shares have lost 57 percent since the end of August on fears the financial crisis and lower oil prices will crimp growth.

Yesterday, voters elected Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States - ushering in what promises to be a radical shift in U.S. environmental policy in the coming years. In his acceptance speech, however, Obama acknowledged the hard work that will be required to achieve change.

"For even as we celebrate tonight," Obama said, "we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime - two wars, a planet in crisis, the worst financial crisis in a century."

Nothing could sway the Dominion 11 from their mission--not the cops and certainly not the prospect of free food. Early on the morning of Sept. 15, activists from a range of environmental groups formed a human barrier to block access to a coal plant being built by Dominion in rural Wise County, Virginia. As acts of civil disobedience go, this wasn't exactly Bloody Sunday. The police took a hands-off approach and even offered to buy the protesters breakfast if they unchained themselves. (They declined.) But the consequences were far from trivial.

Major differences on nuclear power and oil exploration.

Discounting election-year hyperbole, Barack Obama and John McCain are broadly like-minded in their approach to energy and the environment. Though important policy differences exist, both support "energy independence" and a large-scale reorganization of the U.S. economy in the name of climate change. The candidates, in other words, come in different shades of green.

Conference Concludes with Focus on Sector Growth, Applications to Aviation, and Sustainability and Commercialization of Algae as a Renewable Energy Source

From Texas to Delaware, Hopeful Signs
by Dan Shapley

A "new energy economy" is emerging in the United States. Now.

That's the way Lester R. Brown, founder of the Earth Policy Institute and one of the most influential voices on buidling a sustainable economy, sees it. Here's a look at the bones of his latest argument, which I've organized into seven ways to feel hopeful on a Monday:

1.     Texas

By Neil Case