Last night, General Electric Chair and CEO Jeffrey Immelt canoodled with Congress members and industry top brass at a swish cocktail party on Pennsylvania Ave. in Washington, D.C., celebrating the launch of "ecomagination," an initiative he announced earlier in the day to ramp up development of clean technologies and lighten the company's Goliath-like environmental footprint. GE's wind technology in action. Photo: General Electric. Guests nibbled organic canapés and sipped wine produced by a solar-powered California vineyard (equipped with GE's own photovoltaic panels) as they perused exhibitions of the company's new technologies -- here a life-sized model of a hybrid-engine train …

While President Bush extols the virtues of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in speeches, energy companies have been at work, planning some 50 new LNG import terminals across North America, most slated for U.S. ports. Meanwhile, citizens and officials in Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, and Rhode Island, where new terminals are proposed, are fighting to stop their construction, citing security and environmental concerns. Successful campaigns have already halted projects in Alabama, California, and Maine. In Mexico, Greenpeace and others are challenging a proposed terminal on Isla Coronado, where more than half of the endangered Xantus' murrelets nest. Just four …

Oil company hopes to drill near nuclear-blast cavity in Colorado Some 36 years ago, the Atomic Energy Commission and a Texas oil company put a nuclear bomb in an 8,000-foot shaft on Colorado's energy-rich Western Slope and detonated it, hoping to reach a reserve of natural gas lying beneath the subterranean rock. They succeeded in releasing the gas, but it was too radioactive to be used -- duh -- and a 40-acre perimeter around the blast site was put off-limits, with another half-mile added to the no-drill zone last year. But that may not stop one Texan oil company from …

Claims that nuclear energy can reduce oil use are largely hokum President Bush hearts nuclear -- or in the argot of the day, nucular -- claiming that a boost in nuclear energy could reduce oil imports and help America reach the Shangri-la of "energy independence." But people who, um, know stuff about nuclear energy are highly skeptical. There are some ways that nuclear could make a small dent in oil use -- "indirectly, but very indirectly," says Lawrence Goldstein of the Petroleum Industry Research Foundation. Thing is, nuclear is primarily used to generate electricity, and that's not what we're using …

World's largest solar power plant planned for Portugal The world's largest solar power station, which would cover over 600 acres and could produce up to 116 megawatts of electricity, is planned for an economically depressed yet sun-drenched corner of Portugal. The almost $550 million project, if approved by the Portuguese government, would effectively reclaim an abandoned fool's-gold (aka pyrite) mine in the country's southern Alentejo region, and include a solar panel factory on site. But the mostly German investors financing the project are no fools: The bright, barren region gets some 175 kilowatt-hours of sunlight per square foot each year. …

Diverse groups, unlikely allies join fight for energy independence Military officials, environmental activists, and others from across the political spectrum are speaking up about the need for radical change in American energy policy. Over the last year, a number of labor groups and think tanks have joined the chorus, releasing detailed plans for reducing oil imports. Last month, the Energy Future Coalition -- a group of national-security "energy hawks," military leaders, and industry officials -- released a plan to use tax credits to promote hybrid and ethanol-production technology. The bipartisan National Commission on Energy Policy and the Institute for the …

When the energy bill sailed through the House of Representatives late last month, the media reported that it was the same old grotesquely corpulent package that the GOP leadership had previously tried -- and failed -- to pass through Congress four times in the last four years. This is true. But what flew under the radar were a few new provisions snuck in at the 11th hour by Rep. Richard Pombo (R-Calif.), chair of the House Resources Committee, which have made the bill even more environmentally threatening than previous versions, many Democrats and environmentalists say. There's more energy exploration on …

Greens shun cheap air travel, point to impacts of industry A small but growing number of eco-conscious Brits are turning away from cheap airfares and looking to other means of transport or forgoing planned vacations altogether in hopes of reducing their personal environmental footprints. Overall, aircraft-related carbon-dioxide emissions make up some 5 percent of Britain's total, according to Kevin Anderson of the Tyndall Center for Climate Change Research, and airline-industry emissions could double in the next 15 to 17 years as the industry grows. Says transport specialist Meyer Hillman, "We are going to have to face the fact that we …

U.K.-based weekly Economist exhaustively analyzes global oil situation Market-lovin' U.K. weekly The Economist has a cover package on oil this week. The major topic, of course, is the recent spike in oil prices. The grumpy Economist editors are bothered by what they consider some pervasive myths. First, "energy independence" is a chimera as long as we're burning oil; oil is fungible and price hikes hit all consumers equally. Second, while China is growing quickly, it still represents a small sliver of global oil demand and likely will for the foreseeable future. Third, the major private oil companies, despite their current …

Helen Caldicott. Photo: Greg Barrett. In 1971, Helen Caldicott had an epiphany: all life on earth could end at any moment, simply because a few pig-headed people imagined they could "win" a nuclear war. A decade later, she had given up her promising medical career to devote her life to nothing short of saving the world. Her urgent Australian twang became a sane voice in a world gone mad. In 1985, the Caldicott-inspired International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War won the Nobel Peace Prize. The organization beat out Caldicott herself, who had been nominated by Linus Pauling, the …