Small-scale, local power generation could reshape our energy system.

"Water supplies for 33 million people could be endangered if millions of acres of beetle-ravaged forests in the Rocky Mountains catch fire, a U.S. Forest Service official said Tuesday."

"The Mekong has long flowed freely, supporting one of the world’s great inland fisheries. But China is now building a series of dams on the 2,800-mile river that will restrict its natural flow and threaten the sustenance of tens of millions of Southeast Asians."

"By the middle of next year, the nine campuses that make up the nation's largest community college system plan to be completely energy self-sufficient. It's a huge step, and it will begin saving money immediately."

"The European Commission and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency agreed today to implement new higher energy-efficiency specifications for computers, copiers and printers under the EU-US Energy Star Programme."

West Virginia's "Environmental Protection Secretary Randy Huffman said Wednesday his agency is continuing to allow coal slurry to be injected underground at 13 locations in West Virginia, despite being unable to tell lawmakers if the process is safe."

"Four power companies are expected to split $18.5 billion in federal financing to build the next generation of nuclear reactors."

"Plans to resume the hunting of humpback whales, protected by a moratorium introduced more than 40 years ago, came under fire from environmentalists Tuesday."

"The United Nations on Tuesday raised the prospect of 'megadisasters' affecting millions of people in some of the world's biggest cities unless more is done to heed the threat of climate change."

"A Senate energy bill was voted out of committee yesterday, but not before losing the support of two Democrats and a dozen leading environmental organizations."