Energy Research Project for Alternative Energy, Renewable Energy, and Green Energy Technologies

THE search for sustainable energy has never been stronger as climate change concerns drive government, scientists, business and environmentalists around the world in a headlong charge for affordable new technologies.

In 1991, Norway became one of the first countries in the world to impose a stiff tax on harmful greenhouse gas emissions. Since then, the country's emissions should have dropped. Instead, they have risen by 15%. Although the tax forced Norway's oil and gas sector to become among the greenest in the world, soaring energy prices led to a boom in offshore production, which in turn boosted overall emissions. So did drivers. Norwegians, who already pay nearly $10 a gallon, took the tax in stride, buying more cars and driving them more. And numerous industries won exemptions from the tax, carrying on unchanged.

What's billed as the world's first coal-fired power station to capture and store environmentally harmful carbon dioxide emissions opens in eastern Germany.

Shell and BP have been warned by investors that their involvement in unconventional energy production such as Canada's oil sands could turn out to be the industry's equivalent of the sub-prime lending that poisoned the banking sector and triggered the current financial crisis.

Sales of electric bikes have spun into high gear this year — some merchants like Amazon are reporting a 6000% increase this summer from last year. This is good news, because, for short trips, the efficiency and convenience of electric bikes is hard to beat.

Biofuel advocate David Blume talks about common misconceptions about the use of ethanol for fuel, and about his vision for decentralized, community supported ethanol production in the United States.