Eco20/20

WASHINGTON (May 29, 2008) - More than 1,700 of the nation's most prominent scientists and economists today released a joint statement calling on policymakers to require immediate, deep reductions in heat-trapping emissions that cause global warming. Issued just days before the Senate begins debate on the Lieberman-Warner climate bill, the statement marks the first time leading U.S. scientists and economists have joined together to make such an appeal.

Pioneering effort alters 'food vs. fuel' debate, supports American energy independence with revolutionary platform that harnesses microorganisms, sunlight, CO2 Leading investors commit over $50 million to scale effort; production innovator Brian Goodall hired, team leader behind first biofuel 747 flight

An indigenous Panamanian tribe has driven its king into exile over his approval of a £25m hydro-electric project in its jungle realm. The Naso tribe, whose millennia-old royal inheritance system is recognised by the state, banished King Tito Santana for opening the kingdom to developers.

ou can get a reduction on your busfare in Scotland if you hand over your cooking oil to a recycling plant making biofuels. Stagecoach, Scotland's largest transport company, booked so much success with this green scheme in the past six months, it's now embarking on a drive to become completely carbon neutral by the end of this year.

Concentrating solar power, which has been around for decades, is one of the most promising techniques being tried today to make solar electricity more cost effective.

Perhaps it's not surprising that balmy Hawaii is home to a company that's pushing the envelope of solar thermal technology. Start-up Sopogy, based in Honolulu, has taken the basic design of large solar thermal power plants and shrunk it down so it can fit on a building's roof.

Parabolic troughs, one of which is shown here, have been around for 25 years, and the technology will be around for at least another 25. Parabolic troughs reflect sunlight to heat liquid carried through a tube above the troughs. That liquid is converted to steam, which drives a traditional electricity turbine.

How much is the Earth worth to us? At a global conference in Bonn, Germany, representatives of 191 nations are discussing a revolution in conservation. By making a highly profitable business out of saving forests, whales and coral reefs, environmentalists hope to put a stop to a dramatic wave of extinctions.

The first wind farm in SA, which produces electricity from wind power, was switched on by minerals and energy minister Buyelwa Sonjica, in Darling, Western Cape on Friday, the Central Energy Fund (CEF) said. The R75-million national demonstration project is the first "green energy" initiative in the country to produce electricity from wind power on a commercial basis - this coming against the backdrop of the national energy emergency, it said in a statement.

Engineers are putting hybrid drivetrains into everything from SUVs to locomotives these days, and General Electric wants to take the technology to sea in a tugboat that could burn 35 percent less fuel and emit 80 percent less pollution than anything else on the water.

Clean energy. It's real. It's here. It's working!