Russia Says ‘No’ to Nuclear Fusion Plant in Japan

MOSCOW – Russia on Thursday declined Japanese pleas to back Tokyo’s bid to host a disputed nuclear fusion reactor as the global contest for the multi-billion project threatened to hurt relations among the participants.

Japan and France are vying for the right to build the world’s first such reactor, but the six members of the joint venture have so far failed to agree on the site. The plant would generate energy the same way the sun does.

Managing America’s Natural Gas “Crisis”

Sharp increases in short-term natural gas prices have prompted some to call for more drilling on public lands and fewer environmental safeguards on gas exploration and use. This January 2004 NRDC analysis confirms emphatically what U.S. Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham has already acknowledged: the fastest, cheapest and cleanest forms of relief from these increases come from more efficient use of natural gas.

Toward A Global Energy Transition

The plan involves three interacting strategies. One is a subsidy switch, in which industrial countries would eliminate government subsidies for fossil fuels and establish equivalent subsidies for renewable, non-carbon energy technologies. Another is a clean energy transfer fund, which entails creating a pool of money on the order of $300 billion a year to provide renewable energy technologies to developing countries. The last one is a progressively more stringent fossil fuel efficiency standard that rises by 5% per year; its adoption, perhaps within the Kyoto framework, could be complemented with the emissions trading mechanism to help nations meet it.

Coal May Shine Again

US – When natural gas prices spike, coal begins to sparkle. Back in 1990, amendments to the Clean Air Act passed, and many environmentalists breathed easier. Toxic emissions would be drastically cut, and as a consequence, electric utilities began to increasingly rely on natural gas because of its low cost and emissions. Coal’s foes began numbering coal’s days