Researchers hunt for energy in strange places
WASHINGTON — Scouring the Earth for new sources of clean, renewable energy, scientists and engineers are exploring some unusual nooks and crannies.

In Rural New York, Windmills Can Bring Whiff of Corruption
The wind industry has arrived in force in upstate New York, but some residents say the companies have brought with them an epidemic of corruption and intimidation.

Calif. utility agrees to buy solar power from two proposed plants
Pacific Gas and Electric today announced that it has entered into agreements to purchase 800 megawatts of power from two solar plants to be built on the Carrizo Plain.

Electric bikes selling briskly as gas prices climb 
NEW YORK (AP) – When Honora Wolfe and her husband moved to the outskirts of Boulder, Colo., she wanted an environmentally friendly way to commute to her job as a bookshop owner in the city. Wolfe, 60, found her solution about a month ago: an electric bicycle.

Yellow cabs go green faster in NYC
NEW YORK (Reuters) – New York City’s yellow taxi fleet now will go green at the rate of 300 new hybrid cars a month, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said, citing an agreement with car-makers to supply the fuel-light cabs.

Eco-friendly Sri Lankan Factories
The garment industry is a major contributor to climate change. Many of the clothes Americans and Europeans wear come from Sri Lanka. Three members of Sri Lanka’s Garments Without Guilt campaign, which champions the rights of workers in the Sri Lankan apparel industry, constructed eco-friendly factories: Brandix, MAS Intimates, and the Hirdaramani Group.

NY needs $50 billion of clean water investments: government
New York state will have to spend more than $50 billion over the next 20 years to protect its water supply to fulfill requirements the federal government is imposing without funding, Gov. David Paterson said on Thursday.

Bill would protect huge chunk of California land
WASHINGTON — If California’s Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer gets her way, Congress will vote next month to designate nearly 800,000 acres of California land — an area larger than Rhode Island — as federally protected wilderness.

Storm alert: ‘Pouches’ protect embryonic hurricanes
Researchers say they have begun to unravel one key to how hurricanes are born. The finding could help meteorologists predict exactly where a storm is likely to form and which of the many small disturbances will grow into potentially deadly hurricanes.
Hey, how about figuring out how to stop them from forming?

Rapid Growth Found in Oxygen-Starved Ocean ‘Dead Zones’
Many coastal areas of the world’s oceans are being starved of oxygen at an alarming rate, with vast stretches along the seafloor depleted of it to the point that they can barely sustain marine life, researchers are reporting. The main culprit, scientists say, is nitrogen-rich nutrients from crop fertilizers that spill into coastal waters by way of rivers and streams. A study to be published Friday in the journal Science says the number of these marine “dead zones” around the world has doubled about every 10 years since the 1960s…

Robert W. Howarth, a professor of ecology and environmental biology at Cornell, said methods to reduce nitrogen-rich runoff existed, including the planting of winter rye or winter wheat rather than leaving fields fallow after fall harvest. Such planting would cause much fertilizer to be absorbed by the winter crops rather than being leached into waterways by spring rains.
So why aren’t we providing incentives for farmers to do that?

Confused sea turtles march into Italian restaurant
ROME (Reuters) – About 60 newly hatched sea turtles lost their way during their ritual passage to the sea and marched into an Italian restaurant instead, a conservation worker said on Monday.