Future Focus: Energy
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Clean energy falls short so far
Clean energy companies have made money for some investors, but that doesn't mean they're successful businesses. Clean energy – or clean tech – will create winners eventually, but maybe not in the United States.
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Post oil: Microloans and cooking oil green-up 'jeepneys'
An engineer says microloans and cooking oil can make over a fleet of old jeepney buses, and a city in the Philippines is ready to jump on board.
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Difference Maker Tri Mumpuni Iskandar builds small hydro plants to bring electricity to Indonesian villages
A petite entrepreneur wants to bring hydropower to the 90 million Indonesians without electricity.
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Post oil: Electrofuels are an oil-substitute minus the eons
Scientists compress the oil-forming process with a deep water bacteria to create electrofuel, a possible post oil era alternative.
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Post oil: Pentagon "Green Hawks" see energy security in biofuel (VIDEO)
"Green Hawks" at Pentagon see energy security in biofuel alternatives for a post-oil world.
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Post oil: Boom in electric car sales fuel gas-free dreams (VIDEO)
More than a dozen new plug-in electric car models will hit the market by 2012, offering drivers a true post oil experience.
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Post oil: Glimpses of life after fossil fuel
Contentious debates about "peak oil" aside, imagining how the world looks post oil is increasingly easy as alternatives to fossil fuel develop rapidly.
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Post oil: Solar roads, air-powered cars, human-powered iPhones
Concepts already developed give a glue to a world, post oil – from roads made of solar panels, to air-powered cars, and iPhones powered by a wave of the arm.
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Interior secretary: 'Fracking' can be safe and responsible (VIDEO)
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar says the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing – or fracking – to collect natural gas can be done 'in a safe way.' New federal fracking rules are in the works.
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Taxes and energy policy
Our tax system is in desperate need of reform, and the most promising path to reform is to reexamine the many tax preferences in our code.
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How Neo got his juice: Do you know your sci-fi energy?
Imagining worlds without oil sounds like the easy work of daydreams. But the future is a complicated place, even when we're making it up. Even the most outrageous fantasies – from inter-galactic, cross-species space flights to time travel – must also be plausible. This is something every movie maker knows, or learns the hard way -- from fans. Popular series have always inspired "fan fiction," in which story buffs spin new tales about their favorite characters. Today, there are Internet forums and unofficial web shrines where fans discuss the finer points of sci fi. The worlds fans love may not exist, but they are experts in them anyway. They know what powers a lightsaber, where the USS Enterprise gets its fuel, or how The Matrix “really” works. Even fantasy worlds have rules, and the best fans know them. Do you?
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The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World
Pulitzer Prize-winner Daniel Yergin demonstrates how the global quest for energy will reshape our world.
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Germany hits new green-power milestone
Green energy sources now account for 20 percent of Germany's electricity production – a new high. Germany aims to be 35 percent green by 2020, and to have phased out nuclear power by 2022.
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Daryl Hannah arrested for protesting proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline
Daryl Hannah: The star of "Splash" and the "Kill Bill" movies was arrested outside the White House in an oil pipeline protest. Daryl Hannah is a longtime environmentalist who has previously been arrested for green causes.
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Detroit goes green? Carmakers must average 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025
Automakers must improve their mileage every year, up to a fleet-wide average of 54.5 mpg in 14 years. Green groups praise the new regulations, while opponents call them job-killers.
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Germany to phase out nuclear power. Could the US do the same?
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has endorsed a plan to end all nuclear power in Germany by 2022. Increasingly, studies suggest this is not a far-fetched idea, even for the US.
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Energy and tech jobs: where job hiring is (finally) happening
Postings for tech jobs were up 30 percent last month compared with a year ago, according to Craigslist. Job hiring already resulted in upbeat employment numbers last week.
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Japan nuclear crisis: Will it give nations pause?
Chernobyl and Three Mile Island did not stop nuclear power growth. Will the Japan nuclear crisis at Fukushima delay or end the 'nuclear renaissance'?
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Jerry Brown's tough choice: green energy in hard economic times
With Jerry Brown now governor, California lawmakers are resurrecting an idea vetoed by Arnold Schwarzenegger: Make utilities buy at least 33 percent of electricity from renewable sources.
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Green energy first: New York firm seeks tidal power plant in East River
Verdant Power seeks license to build a plant with 30 underwater turbines in New York's East River. It would be the first of its kind in the US, expanding the nation's green energy resources.
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Energy's checkered past and elusive future
Every energy source is a Faustian bargain. We trade comfort and convenience for deforestation, soot, radioactive waste, oil spills. But perhaps the most unsettling resource we tapped to light our homes was the one that the petroleum age displaced: the slaughter of whales for their oil.
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New energy: climate change and sustainability shape a new era
A new energy revolution – similar to shifts from wood to coal to oil – is inevitable as climate change and oil scarcity drive a global search for sustainability in power production. But even the promise of renewable energy holds drawbacks.
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10 "must-read" energy books
The Monitor asked two energy experts to share their lists of the best books on the future of energy.
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Power Trip: The Story of America's Love Affair with Energy
Author Amanda Little talks about America's energy addiction and how it can be cured.
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Did Americans reject clean energy by voting Republican?
US environmentalists concede disappointment at the GOP's surge, but say the defeat of California Prop. 23 shows voters were motivated by the economy and not a rejection of clean energy.
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