As the Coast Guard was trying to assess the potential environmental effect of the oil rig explosion near Louisiana, industry officials said Thursday that they did not expect drilling in the Gulf of Mexico´s deep waters to be curtailed.

"It´s a tragedy, but at the end of the day we are not going to stop doing things that need to be done," said Larry Goldstein, a director of the Energy Policy Research Foundation. Eleven workers remained missing Thursday, and several others were injured seriously.

(CNN) −− Producing electricity using the power of the oceans could start a new wave in renewable energy. But some fear that "wave farms" could damage the livelihoods of fishermen by rendering coastal waters off limits.

Hydropower accounts for 19 percent of the world´s electricity, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, and mainly uses the power of falling water at man−made dams.

Silicon may represent one of Earth´s more common elements, but it transformed Silicon Valley into a high−tech corridor and helped usher the world into the Information Age.

Now rare earth elements with exotic names such as europium and tantalum hold the key to hybrid cars, wind turbines and crystal−clear TV displays − that is, if a looming supply shortage doesn´t stop innovation in its tracks.

SANTA FE, N.M. − Rancher Jack Chatfield sees untapped value in the spaces that lie beneath New Mexico's dusty landscape. But he said the state needs to first decide who owns them.

Scientists are looking at underground fissures and caverns as places where carbon dioxide emissions captured from fossil fuel power plants can be stored. Carbon emissions are among the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming. The underground space also could store compressed air as part of a process to generate clean electricity.

PIRALLAHI ISLAND, Azerbaijan, November 24, 2009 (ENS) − The fishermen perched on the beached boats on the Azerbaijan coast watched Faiq Balayev as he threw out his net, drew it in and trudged back to the shore. They need not have bothered, since he had once again failed to catch any shrimps.

From Pirallahi, which juts into the Caspian Sea from the Apsheron peninsula some 40 kilometers (25 miles) east of Baku, oil platforms are visible a kilometer offshore, and ecologists blame the pollution caused by the oil industry for the collapse in the shrimp population.

ROMNEY, WEST VIRGINIA, November 16, 2009 —/WORLD-WIRE/— A new book from nationally recognized author Thomas A. Lewis offers a fresh and startling perspective on the problems afflicting modern industrial society, and on the increasingly urgent need for sustainable living. In Brace for Impact: Surviving the Crash of the Industrial Age by Sustainable Living, Lewis argues that industry's relentless, decades—long search for economies of scale has caused equally enormous concentrations of risks, which now threaten the continued existence of every industrial—scale enterprise supplying essential human needs.

WASHINGTON -- As energy increasingly dominates the economy, a quiet little agency in Washington holds the responsibility for tracking the particles that conduct, fuse, blow, heat, combust and convert the earth, wind and water into the energy that makes our society run.

It tracks how much energy comes from solar, geothermal and biomass sources. It follows the production and use of coal, natural gas and petroleum. It tracks greenhouse gas emissions.

We seldom post about books at Gizmodo, but if this story of a self-taught Malawian boy using junkyard parts to build windmills and bring life—changing electricity to his village doesn't make you misty—eyed, then you must be one cold—hearted *$%&@*.

Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence, and William Kamkwamba has it in spades. At age fourteen, while many of us were sneaking out of classrooms, William was struggling to sneak into them—his family was unable to afford the $80 annual tuition. As is bound to happen to most students, he was caught. But instead of being sent to detention, he was barred from the school. In a show of the driven man he would become, he didn't allow that to hinder him and instead started spending his days in the local library. While there, he encountered a book called Using Energy:..(more)

Sietch Nevada is a fascinating concept exhibited in Innovative Technologies and Climates at the University of Toronto. Fans of the science fiction novel Dune will immediately recognize this proposal — to build semi-subterranean terraced geometries in the Nevada desert.

"In Frank Herbert’s famous 1965 novel Dune, he describes a planet that has undergone nearly complete desertification. Dune has been called the "first planetary ecology novel" and forecasts a dystopian world without water. The few remaining inhabitants have secluded themselves from their harsh environment in what could be called subterranean oasises. Far from idyllic, these havens, known as sietch, are essentially underground water storage banks. Water is wealth in this alternate reality. It is preciously conserved, rationed with strict authority, and secretly hidden and protected," according to the Sietch Nevada project description....(more)

Several carbon sequestration projects take off in West Virginia.

Story by Walt Williams

SOUTH CHARLESTON — The newest addition to The Dow Chemical Co.´s plant is a small facility that turns out a product most people consider waste.

A snaking sculpture of blue—and—gold piping, the new carbon capture facility is the result of collaboration between Dow and Alstom, a company that manufactures power generation equipment. Company officials unveiled the new facility Sept. 10 during a small ceremony for both reporters and local and state officials, including Gov. Joe Manchin.

The new pilot project will capture approximately 1,800 metric tons of carbon dioxide a year, only about 1 percent produced at the plant and only a tiny fraction released annually from a typical coal—fired power plant. No CO2 will be stored and the gas eventually will be released into the atmosphere. ..(more)

You may have heard about them: Off—the—gridders living in radical opposition to modern amenities by growing their own food and cutting themselves off from the rest of society. Not so. Sure, more people are choosing to cut their dependence on the power grid, the grocery story and fuel pump. But these new homesteaders are hardly radicals—they are simply DIYers who, for a variety of reasons, revel in self—reliance. This is their story.

by Kevin Whitelaw
September 8, 2009

The resignation of Van Jones, President Obama's "green jobs czar," comes just as the pace of stimulus bill funding for the green—energy projects he championed is set to pick up.

Jones stepped down suddenly over the weekend amid controversy surrounding statements he had made prior to joining the administration — including comments derogatory of Republicans. The best-selling author of a book on the "green collar" economy, Jones was a prominent and vocal advocate of mixing job creation with environmental policy, a vision that made its way into the stimulus bill that Obama signed in February...(more)