Led by U.S., five nations craft new climate-change pact Australia, China, India, South Korea, and the U.S. have secretly negotiated a global-warming pact that could steal the spotlight from the Kyoto Protocol -- or so the U.S. hopes. According to advance word from a meeting of Asia-Pacific nations in Laos, this fledgling "Asia-Pacific Partnership for Clean Development and Climate" emphasizes the development and sharing of as-yet-unspecified new technologies to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, rather than Kyoto-style emissions caps. South Korea, China, and Australia are all major coal exporters with much to gain from continued global reliance on fossil fuels, while both …

Clean-energy measures dropped as Congress reaches energy-bill compromise Working into the wee hours Tuesday morning, House and Senate negotiators finished crafting a compromise federal energy bill, in the process killing two provisions intended to curb America's fossil-fuel addiction. A Senate measure that would have required the president to find ways to reduce oil use by 1 million barrels a day by 2015 was dropped, along with another that would have required utilities to generate 10 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020. Negotiators also rebuffed efforts by lawmakers from some coastal states to remove a proposed offshore oil …

Sheila Watt-Cloutier. Photo: ICC. When Sheila Watt-Cloutier was growing up in Kuujjuaq, an Inuit village in far northern Quebec, summer days never got hot enough for shorts and T-shirts. Only the very brave ventured into the frigid local river for a swim. But now, she says, there are many warm days, and "the whole community goes down and spends days beaching it and trying to cool themselves off." Needless to say, a day at the beach is not a normal Arctic activity. The climate shifts responsible for that change are also melting ice sheets, eroding the region's coastlines, and shrinking …

British royals to bolster green rep with efficient mini-hydro plant On Friday, a local U.K. council approved Queen Elizabeth's plan to build a mini hydroelectric power plant dedicated to Windsor Castle. The energy-efficient four-turbine plant on the River Thames is expected to supply enough electricity to keep about a third of the castle juiced. It'll be the largest of its kind in the South of England, but designed to minimize ecological and visual impacts to the river. Enviros lauded Her Royal Highness for setting a good green example: "We're delighted that the queen is taking a lead in the use …

Lawsuit shield for MTBE makers dropped from energy bill One of the last remaining roadblocks to the passage of the energy bill has reportedly been removed: According to Senate Energy Committee Chair Pete Domenici (R-N.M.), a provision to shield manufacturers of groundwater-polluting fuel additive MTBE from lawsuits has been dropped from the bill. A similar measure torpedoed a federal energy bill in 2003, when House advocates of the liability shield -- led by Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas) -- proved intransigent. (The fact that the shield is being jettisoned this year is seen by some as a sign that DeLay's legendary …

Californians believe global warming is real and want state to act Most Californians believe their state should take action now to regulate human activities that are heating up the planet. According to a survey conducted by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California, 86 percent think global warming will affect them or their descendants, and more than half of those think changes are already under way. Even among Golden State Republicans, only 20 percent say global warming will never happen, and only 9 percent of Californians overall are greenhouse deniers. The survey revealed that Californians don't trust the federal government …

Hip, new wind-turbine designs shed those fusty rotating blades As anti-wind-power crusaders make ever-louder indictments of unsightly turbines, wind advocates are fighting back with a new tool -- aesthetics. A handful of wind-power companies are teaming up with designers to develop new contraptions that can harness wind energy without the traditional spinning blades, as well as new plans for placing turbines away from scenic landscapes. Take the Aerogenerator, a new wind turbine intended to be situated far out at sea; the Guardian describes the vaguely V-shaped design as looking "like a cross between a glider and a giant harp, or …

Dear Umbra, Are there any worthwhile resources or models that would enable me to generate my own electricity in a cost-effective way, using wind power? This is on a one-household basis. Matt PinesToronto, Canada Dearest Matt, In jargon-land, you are interested in micro-wind. Little did you know! Because you are a blessed Canadian, you have an excellent resource, the Canadian Wind Energy Association's small-wind calculator. Just enter your postal code and average electric bill to see what a turbine might cost, what your payback time might be, and how glad you are to live in Canada. CWEA can also point …

Illinois commission votes to expand state's clean energy sources The Illinois Commerce Commission has approved a sustainable-energy initiative designed to increase the state's reliance on renewables, especially wind power. The plan is voluntary, but if it is fully embraced by all of the state's utilities Illinois could see 8 percent of its electricity produced via clean energy sources by 2013, up from the current one-half of 1 percent. More than a dozen wind-energy projects are planned for the state, including the world's largest wind farm; they're expected to generate jobs and boost incomes in rural areas and cut air pollution. …

It's a simple but powerful question: Does the U.S. EPA have the power -- and the obligation -- to regulate carbon dioxide as an air pollutant under the Clean Air Act? Strangely, it still remains partially unanswered, even though it was a central issue in a landmark court case decided on Friday. Spew away, appeals court says. In a major legal victory for the Bush administration, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled against 12 states, three cities, and more than a dozen environmental groups that had argued the EPA was …