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Alex recently posted a charming video snippet that he described as "solutions porn" - the video shows a man in a dusty, un-named country installing a photovoltaic panel on his roof and enjoying a lengthy hot shower when the evening sets in. His family are in the next room boiling water and doing homework under a lamp. The 90 second spot took first place in the 2007 Commonwealth Vision Awards.

The Obama-Biden comprehensive New Energy for America plan will: Watch the Video Provide short-term relief to American families facing pain at the pump Help create five million new jobs by strategically investing $150 billion over the next ten years to catalyze private efforts to build a clean energy future. Within 10 years save more oil than we currently import from the Middle East and Venezuela combined. Put 1 million Plug-In Hybrid cars -- cars that can get up to 150 miles per gallon -- on the road by 2015, cars that we will work to make sure are built here in America. Ensure 10 percent of our electricity comes from renewable sources by 2012, and 25 percent by 2025. Implement an economy-wide cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050.

The idea is to create a common set of communication protocols and data formats that utilities and smart-grid start-ups can adhere to.

The benefit of a more intelligent infrastructure is that load can be curtailed as needed and problems spotted more quickly. By flattening out spikes in demand, utilities may not need to build new power plants, which are expensive and opposed in some places for environmental and health reasons.

High gas prices appear to have prompted Americans to cut back on driving. New government numbers show gas consumption at a five-year low. Motorists talk about how they're adapting.

National Geographic visits a PlayPump water system. See how the power of play can bring water to the world. Video courtesy of National Geographic.

Hydrogen fuel cells may be decades away from widespread use in cars, but later this year, consumers will be able to buy a fuel-cell generator that's light and compact enough to grab off a shelf during a blackout--or even take on a backpacking trip. The 22-­centimeter-tall generator weighs about two kilograms with an unactivated fuel cartridge. Add water, plug in a device, and the system pumps sodium borohydride solution over a catalyst, freeing hydrogen to power the cell.

KEMA, in partnership with the civil engineering firm Bureau Lievense and technology illustrators Rudolph and Robert Das, has developed an "Energy Island" concept to store power generated from an offshore wind farm. The concept design is the initial result of an on-going feasibility study being conducted for Dutch energy companies.