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"Zelenogorsk, a remote centre of nuclear technology, is a closed city with big ambitions. A French multinational has arrived with new technology and an eye toward renewable energy A Soviet-era nuclear plant in a closed city in Siberia is making a bid to become a player in the future of sustainable energy. Related Articles * Phenomenon of closed cities * Picture gallery: Russia's closed cities Since 1995, Zelenogorsk, a former closed city, has processed fuel for the nuclear reactors that supply many Americans with their electricity. Now it hopes that embracing a French company with new technology could lead to a more significant role. "

oncerned locals are taking a stand against mountaintop removal at an upcoming protest march called Related content Leveling AppalachiaOn the MARCC86 the CO2 ASAPArrested EconomyShedding Light on a Deal Related to:walksmytheenergydukecoalprotestremovalsays Walk Past Coal for a Sustainable Future. Sponsored by Footprints for Peace, the walk will protest Duke Energy's expansion of its coalburning Cliffside Power Plant in the Carolinas. The action corresponds with a simultaneous protest at Duke's Charlotte headquarters. The five-mile walk will begin on the campus of Xavier University, pass by the Duke Energy offices downtown and end at Fountain Square. A 15-minute video from Kentuckians for the Commonwealth of Mountaintop Removal will be featured at the end of the march, along with several speakers in opposition to the plant expansion.

China produces 95% of the worlds supply of the rare earth metal, dysprosium, a key metal in magnets used in the drive motors for hybrid electric vehicles - up to 100 grams of dysprosium per hybrid car produced, according to a Wikipedia reference. Dysprosium's magnetic properties also make it an important metal for wind turbines and electric vehicles. Could be vital for MagLev trains, too. Scarcity of the metal is a sustainability and a political issue, according to a recent article in the TimesOnline, Crunch looms for green technology as China tightens grip on rare-earth metals. This does not look good.

In his keynote speech to the GridWeek 2009 Conference this morning, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu detailed his vision for implementing the smart grid and modernizing America's electrical system: a stronger, smarter, more efficient electricity infrastructure that will encourage growth in renewable energy sources, empower consumers to reduce their energy use, and lay the foundation for sustained, long-term economic expansion. Secretary Chu's presentation can be found here. During his remarks, Secretary Chu also announced more than $144 million in funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for the electric power sector, including $44 million in awards to state public utility commissions and $100 million in available funding for smart grid workforce training programs. "America cannot build a 21st Century energy economy with a mid-20th Century electricity system. This is why the Obama Administration is investing in projects that will lay the foundation for a modernized, resilient electrical grid," said Secretary Chu. "By working with industry leaders and the private sector, we can drive the evolution to a clean, smart, national electricity system that will create jobs, reduce energy use, expand renewable energy production, and cut carbon pollution."

Projects Seek to Make Efficiency Accessible to Every Business and Homeowner WASHINGTON, DC - U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu today announced a new $450 million program designed to catalyze a nationwide energy upgrade that experts estimate could save $100 million annually in utility bills for households and businesses. The Recovery Act's "Retrofit Ramp-Up" program will pioneer innovative models for rolling out energy efficiency to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses in a variety of communities. Much like past roll-outs for cable TV or the Internet, DOE intends to create models that, when undertaken nationally, will save consumers billions of dollars on their utility bills and make the huge savings of energy efficiency available to everyone. "Energy efficiency isn't just low-hanging fruit; it's fruit lying on the ground. We have the tools to reduce energy use at home and at work and to provide huge savings to families and businesses on their energy bills. But use of these technologies has been far too limited because we lack the simple and effective ways for people to access them," said Energy Secretary Steven Chu. "The 'Retrofit Ramp-Up' program will support large-scale models that can open new energy efficiency opportunities to whole neighborhoods, towns, and, eventually, entire states," continued Secretary Chu. "The Recovery Act will allow innovative communities to demonstrate a variety of sustainable business models that can be replicated across the country."

As with most presidential campaign promises, Barack Obama's pledge of government openness isn't lasting long. A top gauleiter at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency appears to be indulging in the same type of cover-ups that Democrats on the 2008 campaign trail so ardently accused the Bush Administration of conducting. Al McGartland, director of the EPA's National Center for Environmental Economics, has chastised the authors of an EPA study that knocked gaping holes of logic in the agency's decision to label life-sustaining carbon dioxide as a pollutant.

Energy plans, like health-care plans, tend to be complex. These days they are particularly complicated because any modern energy plan needs to dovetail with real solutions to climate change, perhaps the single most urgent socio-environmental issue mankind has ever confronted. With regard to timing, energy plans must differentiate between what we can realistically do in the next five to 10 years and what we can hope to achieve by 2030 to 2050. Simply put, most Americans want access to reliable, affordable and increasingly sustainable power. Yes, we're all worried about national security. We're also concerned that the burden and benefit of a new energy plan be shared equitably among the various regions of our country. But consumers are tired of promises for the distant future. We don't want to try to plumb more than a thousand pages of strategy to discern what the goal might be for tomorrow. We want a comprehensible plan for the here and now.

WorldChnaging has a post on a site for managing local currencies (or locabucks, as I call them) - Create Your Own Currency. "Money," wrote Jamais Cascio, "is the tangible manifestation of an agreement between you and other people that the oddly-colored piece of paper in your hands has value." But what's truly valuable is not those units of currency, so much as the units of time they represent to those who earn and spend them. Two women from Ashland, Ore., who follow this philosophy have created a way to turn units of time into currency that can be directly traded and tracked through their online system OurNexChange. This "community currency" allows local residents to buy goods and services without exchanging any money. Sharon Miranda and Libby VanWyhe recently told the Ashland Daily Tidings about the system:

The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the first multinational agency focused solely on spreading clean energy across the globe, officially launched this week. The expectations are that the agency will help governments and private industry to expand renewable energy installments throughout the industrialized world, where investments are already on the rise, while also assist the developing world acquire the expertise to establish its own clean energy industries.

It should be a truly fascinating - albeit possibly enormously grim - thing to watch, one of the more dramatic and revolutionary market-driven shifts in modern history, upheaving everything we've become so accustomed to and changing behaviors and attitudes and alliances and political agendas and ass-girths and no I'm not talking about the "Lost" finale or the new 3G iPhone or how Brangelina's twins are a sure sign of the Second Coming.

Last week, Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, hosted the last of 4 public forums around the country to gather input on offshore drilling and offshore renewable energy development. Choosing to end in San Francisco means he is going back to Washington with a resounding "No" in his ears. "No" to offshore drilling and "Yes" to investing in renewable energy, and any other new green technology San Francisco start-ups can figure out. All the California elected officials on the dais (Boxer, Lee, Speire, Napolitano, Woolsey, Lt Governor Garamendi) and Oregon governor Kulongoski made very clear, and sometimes even passionate, statements to the effect that CA needs and values its coastline the way it is, and the potential output of oil (estimated 1% of US daily consumption by 2030) comes no where near to justifying the risk posed to its economy and ecosystem.

Are the relocalization eco-freaks finally getting a clue??

A new social media site for "experiments in local living" has been launched called "Live Local" which should be of interest to those of you interested in relocalisation and related ideas like the Transition Towns movement. The site aims to be "a place to share stories and ideas about improving your community", with the user generated ideas and stories being dubbed "experiments". live local is a project which we've developed as a joint social venture with Piers Dawson-Damer. The website is a place to share stories about improving our communities. It makes it easy for local residents to document their experiences and adventures meeting neighbours, discovering neighbourhoods, supporting local economies, saving energy, water and much more. At its heart the project encourages people to take more time to connect and engage with their community. I think its clear the alternative; working crazy hours to earn more money to more buy 'stuff' while leaving us little time to get to know our neighbours and spend time with family and friends, has spectacularly failed. Many of us crave a smarter way of living; one that makes us happier. As part of the launch of the site, they have issued the "live local challenge", which encourages people to "live local" for a week.