MIT's Test Cell Patrick Gillooly, MIT

Solar cells are intended to mimic the photosynthesis of plants -- converting light into energy in the most efficient manner possible. But what other characteristics of plants could be handy for the renewable energy sector to mimic? How about the self-assembly of chloroplast, the component of plants that do all the vital photosynthesis.

Image: Google Maps

Thankfully, No Deaths This Time
An offshore oil platform exploded and caught fire today in the Gulf of Mexico. It is located about 80 miles off the Louisiana coast, west of the site of BP's massive oil spill. All 13 people who were on the rig were evacuated and only one was injured, reports the U.S.

Photo: New Flyer

What's the Difference Between CNG and Diesel?
The Board of the New York Metropolitan Transit Authority (the "MTA") has awarded New Flyer of America a contract for up to 475 buses. The contract is for 135 40-foot compressed natural gas ("CNG") heavy-duty transit buses with options for up to an additional 340 CNG buses.

photo: Martin Abegglen via flickr

All the regulatory paper shuffling required to get the 240 MW Cape Wind project started is finally coming to an end.

photo: Pete Birkinshaw via flickr

Now that we've got some distance from the 'biofuels are going to save us, oh wait they're going to kill everything else' hysteria of a couple years back and some sane skepticism has emerged, how well are we doing?

Advocates say harnessing the Gulf Stream could create one-third of Florida's energy needs.

Image credit: lydurs/Flickr

The heat in the upper six miles of the earth's crust contains 50,000 times as much energy as found in all the world's oil and gas reserves combined.

photo: Forest Peoples Programme

Take this one as reinforcement of what plenty of environmental NGOs have been saying for some time: The commercial palm oil industry in Indonesia and Malaysia is trampling the rights of indigenous people and destroying rainforests as it rapidly expands.

Image credit: OedipuSphinx (Creative Commons)

A few years ago I got into a heated debate about Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth with a green-minded friend of mine. My hippy friend couldn't stand the movie—not because of anything it said, but because of the 'hypocrisy' of flying around the world to preach about climate change.

Photo: Youtube grab

J. R. Ewing is Back
I'm too young to have seen Dallas during its original run, but I vaguely remember that my parents sometimes watched it and talked about this "J.R." guy.