Wind energy is cited among the green alternatives to fossil fuel, but environmental and community groups are irritated about the handling of a massive project to transmit energy to Oahu from windmills on Lanai and Molokai. They should be provided more access to preliminary work on the plan by state agencies and Hawaiian Electric Co., and hold project members to promises of full access and participation at future venues.

A company that burns coal for power at Campbell Industrial Park is now experimenting with an additive. On Sunday, AES Hawaii Inc. began mixing chips from eucalyptus trees with its coal.

Hawaiian Electric Co. said today it is seeking bids from companies to supply up to 42 million gallons a year of biofuel to generate electricity at the company's Kahe Power Plant.

 The wall of water raced through narrow Himalayan gorges in northeast India, gathering speed as it raked the banks of towering trees and boulders. When the torrent struck their island in the Brahmaputra river, the villagers remember, it took only moments to obliterate their houses, possessions and livestock. No one knows exactly how the disaster happened, but everyone knows whom to blame: neighboring China.

Chevron Corp. has built the state's largest "solar canopy," a 414-kilowatt photovoltaic system positioned over 177 parking spaces at Oceanic Time Warner's headquarters in Mililani.

From its modest headquarters in an industrial area near Honolulu Airport, homegrown high-tech company Sopogy Inc. is taking on some of the world's biggest names in renewable energy. Launched in 2002 by local entrepreneur Darren Kimura, Sopogy has leveraged its expertise in the field of concentrated solar power to win contracts on the mainland and across the globe. Among its competitors are Siemens AG, a German conglomerate with a market capitalization of $116 billion, and Spain's Abengoa SA, another multibillion-dollar firm.

Hawaiian Electric Co. engineers knew they were venturing into the unknown when company executives tasked them with finding out whether one of the utility's 40-year-old petroleum-fired steam generating units could run on crude palm oil.

What could make bike riding even more efficient? How about a bike path embedded with solar panels to produce clean energy while encouraging people to get on their bikes? The town of Krommenie in the Netherlands, just north of Amsterdam, will be receiving the SolaRoad bike path, scheduled to open in 2012.

Just watched the "Making Things Cleaner" episode of Pogue's (NYT technology journalist) 4-part series on NOVA, and it did a nice job of explaining how some of the newer, sustainable energy sources work -- for the non-scientific minded. May or may not have SGLI application... http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/tech/making-stuff-cleaner.html

General Electric (GE, NYSE: GE) announced today that it acquired technology from Wind Tower Systems, that can enable the company to build and ship wind energy equipment that's more efficient, taller and longer than what it offers now.

HR BioPetroleum Inc. said today it will buy out its partner in an algae-to-energy venture in Kona. HR BioPetroleum and Royal Dutch Shell PLC formed the joint venture called Cellana in 2007 to build and operate a demonstration facility to grow marine algae and produce vegetable oil for conversion into biofuel. When the deal closes at the end of the month HR BioPetroleum will become the sole owner of Cellana, including its six-acre facility in Kona.

An office park in Alhambra is about to start drawing a quarter of its electricity from the devices. It joins commercial properties in more than 40 cities statewide.

They are also the only three Chinese-made wind turbines operating in the United States. That could soon change, though, as Goldwind and other Chinese-owned companies plan a big push into the American wind power market in coming months.

Lockheed Martin Corp., which plans to build a Hawaii electrical plant that produces energy by exploiting ocean temperature differences, said it has received another $4.4 million in federal grants to help advance the commercialization of the technology.

The Marine Corps said it will host a ribbon cutting tomorrow for the first "E85" fueling station in Hawaii that utilizes a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline.