Viewpoints

Although much more developed in Europe, Carbon markets are developing in the United States. Whereas these markets are mandatory in Europe and there is a homogeneous set of carbon accounting and trading protocols, the U.S. markets are fragmented, regional c...

For approximately a century, the United States has had the world's largest economy. One of its strengths has been its infrastructure, from the rails and telegraph lines installed in the 19th century to the airports and fiber-optic networks of today. Howeve...

Integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) is a gas-fired power generation technology that converts coal (or other feedstock) into gas and uses the gas, rather than the coal, for thermal combustion. The combined cycle feature captures the heat loss from...

Green building is the practice of increasing the efficiency with which buildings use resources (energy, water, and materials) while reducing building impacts on human health and the environment during the building's lifecycle, through better siting, design...

Companies considered leaders in green supply chain initiatives report, on average, a decrease of 6% in energy costs, a 2% decrease in supply costs, a 2% decrease in facilities and operations costs, and a 2% decrease in logistics & transport costs. &nb...

Solar energy is becoming a booming business. In 2000, the total annual manufacturing output of all solar companies was about 300 MW; by 2005, the solar industry manufacturing output rose almost fivefold to more than 1,500 MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) modu...

Biofuels are derived from biomass which includes trees, crops, algae, and other plants, as well as agricultural and forest residues. Biofuel has been produced for over a century; early transportation pioneers such as Henry Ford and Rudolf Diesel envisioned...

Fuel cells represent a radically different approach to energy conversion, one that could replace conventional power generation technologies like engines and turbines in applications such as automobiles and power plants. Like batteries, fuel cells produce e...