Coal has a reputation as the dirtiest fuel around, but the U.S. Department of Energy hopes to reinvent the stuff as clean energy by building an experimental, coal-fired, emissions-free power plant. The project, known as FutureGen, will be built within 10 years and will cost just 10 percent more than an ordinary coal plant to run, DOE officials predict. Currently, coal-fired power plants are responsible for about 40 percent of total global carbon dioxide emissions. "There is no doubt coal is going to be a principal fuel source in the 21st century," said Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, who added that …

The Bush administration's proposal for addressing climate change was subjected to withering criticism by 17 experts in a report released yesterday. The experts, who were convened by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences at the request of the administration, said that the proposal lacked "a guiding vision, executable goals, [and] clear timetables" and that its goal -- to determine the seriousness of global warming in order to make sound decisions about how to address it -- could never be achieved at the current funding level sought by the White House. The panel also criticized parts of the proposal for seeking …

Remember that episode of 90210 where Brenda and Dylan fell ill from toxic gases leaking out of oil wells and into Beverly Hills High School? Actually, that never happened on the show -- but according to famed environmental legal crusader Erin Brockovich, it happened in real life. Brockovich and her partner, Ed Masry, are preparing to sue Beverly Hills and three oil companies, claiming they ignored carcinogenic gases leaking into the school from active and abandoned wells nearby -- and, in some cases, under the school's playing fields. They say the gases caused cancer in more than 80 former students …

The U.S. and China have officially joined the quest to develop fusion power, which proponents say could be an affordable, eco-friendly alternative to existing energy sources. The International Thermonuclear Energy Reactor is the largest global science project after the International Space Station. China, the U.S., Canada, the E.U., Japan, and Russia will spend $5 billion over 10 years to make fusion energy safe and viable. Fusion reactions -- the kind that take place in the sun -- produce energy by fusing light atoms such as deuterium and tritium to form heavier ones. In the ITER project, the heat created by …

China's controversial Three Gorges dam looks like small potatoes next to the country's latest proposed water project, a gargantuan network of dams and canals designed to divert water from the south to thirsty northern cities such as Beijing. The project would cost $60 billion over 50 years (twice as much as Three Gorges) and would displace at least 320,000 people. The diverted water would come from sources in the heart of China's industrial region, including the highly polluted Yangtze River. Chinese officials claim the plan would actually aid the environment by easing water shortages in the north, which have led …

Canada yesterday set aside $1.3 billion over five years to slash its greenhouse gas emissions and another $660 million for other environmental initiatives, as part of what Environment Minister David Anderson called "the greenest budget this country has ever seen." The government also approved a tax break for cleaner diesel and agreed to prioritize infrastructure projects that will help reduce pollution. Ottawa has not yet decided how to spend most of the $1.3 billion earmarked to help the country meet the terms of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change. Options on the table include pumping money into alternative-energy projects and …

Colorado residents overwhelmingly support the use of renewable resources over fossil fuels, according to a new study by the Wells Fargo Public Opinion Research Program of the University of Colorado at Denver. Three out of every four of the survey's respondents said the state should meet its energy demands through boosting efficiency rather than increasing generation, and 82 percent said energy utilities should focus on developing renewable sources such as wind, solar, and hydropower, rather than coal and natural gas. Even more notably, the survey found that support for renewables was consistent across all age groups, political parties, and regions …