Plans have been drawn up to upgrade the North-East's first wind farm with bigger and more powerful turbines. The Great Eppleton site near Hetton-le-Hole was installed by Amec Wind 10 years ago and is one of the few sites to use two-bladed turbines. These are now considered to be an ageing technology and one of the site's four turbines has been reduced to one blade.

Scientists are eyeing the jet stream, an energy source that rages night and day, 365 days a year, just a few miles above our heads. If they can tap into its fierce winds, the world's entire electrical needs could be met, they say. The trick is figuring out how to harness the energy and get it down to the ground cost-effectively and safely. Dozens of researchers in California and around the world believe huge kite-like wind-power generators could be the solution. As bizarre as that might seem, respected experts say the idea is sound enough to justify further investigation.

An innovative designer is working on plans to add some kind of crazy wind turbine energy generator into the barriers between highways. The breeze from the passing cars would then generate a bunch of electricity, actually turning the congested, miserable stretch of road into something that, if not environmentally friendly, is at least a bit less of a kick in the pants to mother nature.

Solar is sexier. Hydrogen gets the hype, and it's not even a renewable energy. But energy experts know only wind - a power source so old and familiar the Phoenicians had it licked - can satisfy 20 percent of U.S. electricity needs in the foreseeable future. President Bush's 2006 Advanced Energy Initiative cited the 20 percent figure as a goal, saying the country should "dramatically increase the use of wind energy." Without major advances in wind and related technology to boost output, reliability and transmission while cutting costs, experts say such a leap may never happen.

Tom Shelley reports on a forward-looking area of heavy engineering where Britain still leads the world Within the next few months, the world's first megawatt tidal flow turbine is to be installed and commissioned in Northern Ireland.

A climate change expert has urged Australia to step away from the development of clean coal technology for power generation in favour of natural gas and nuclear energy. Jesse Ausubel, director of the Program for the Human Environment at the Rockefeller University in New York, has also bagged renewable fuels like solar and wind power saying while they may be renewable they were not really environmentally friendly. Mr Ausubel said he believed the push to develop clean coal technology would ultimately fail - because of the high cost involved and the problem of dealing with toxic waste products like sulphur and mercury.

Morrisville, N.C.-based Raycap Inc., a manufacturer of transient voltage surge suppression modules and systems, has developed a 40mm version of the Strikesorb module. According to the company, the module can be integrated with original equipment manufacturer and switchgear products.

Ottawa, Canada-based company Magenn has developed a "floating wind turbine" for personal and infrastructure power generation. The helium-filled device floats up to 1,000 feet into the air, using high altitude wind gusts to generate power up to a kilowatt. The power is transfered down via two "tethers" attached to the turbine.

THESE should be heady times for Vestas, a Danish firm that makes more than a quarter of the world's wind turbines. The wind business is booming, and the company said last week that it had swung into profit in 2006, thanks to an 8% rise in revenue. But there is "significant unexploited production capacity", Vestas says, due to shortages of high-quality turbine components. Other companies grumble about a lack of gearboxes and bearings. Wind firms' worries echo those in the solar-power business, which is also booming but where a shortage of polysilicon has hampered growth. Silicon is made from sand, which is abundant, but there are not enough refineries to turn it into solar-grade polysilicon. As a result, prices for silicon contracts have more than doubled, to $70 or $80 per kilogram, in the past three years, says Jesse Pichel, an analyst at Piper Jaffray. In both industries demand has rocketed and supply cannot keep up. The wind business is growing by more than 30% a year worldwide, with America leading the way. (This week Energias de Portugal became the latest European utility to invest in American wind farms, with the $2.2 billion purchase of Horizon Wind Energy.) And when a solar incentive scheme took hold in Germany in 2004-05, demand in Europe roughly doubled, says Ron Kenedi of Sharp, the biggest solar-cell maker.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - A group of utilities in Iowa, Minnesota and the Dakotas plan to spend $200 million on a project in Iowa that would store energy generated by wind turbines. The Iowa Stored Energy Park would essentially act as a "battery" for wind energy, said Bob Haub, executive director of the Iowa Association of Municipal Utilities. Wind farms in Iowa, Minnesota and the Dakotas would ship energy over the power grid to the storage park near Des Moines. Xcel Energy and the federal government are experimenting with ways to "store" wind power in the form of hydrogen, but the Iowa project would employ a far simpler strategy that would include the following steps:

Chanellor Gordon Brown plans to invest up to £600m to develop 'carbon capture' technology to transform coal into a clean fuel by piping harmful extracts into caverns under the North Sea. He wants Britain to take the lead in capturing climate-changing carbon dioxide and believes there is a multi-billion pound market in India and the Far East for UK expertise. The Treasury has asked San Francisco-based engineer PB Power to investigate the project, find suitable potential partners and recommend whether investment is worthwhile. A decision is expected by the end of the year. Financial Mail understands the Government is impressed with a plan by Centrica, owner of British Gas, to build a 'clean' coal-powered station in Teesside. This would be the first new coal-fired power station in the UK since 1974.

Louisville-area family business is considering the Riverport industrial complex for a proposed $75 million ethanol plant that could produce 50 million gallons of the gasoline supplement a year. For the People LLC, of Corydon, Ind., unveiled the proposed design Tuesday night to Riverport tenants and some of its potential residential neighbors near the site at 8300 Cane Run Road. The meeting was part of the requirements for obtaining planning and zoning approval for the project. The plant would use 60-foot wind turbines, solar panels and a geothermal system to limit outside energy demands. The company projects 60 full-time jobs with an annual payroll of $2 million.

Some call it a carbon-free alternative to fossil fuels, but others point to significant environmental costs. In Kansas, where winds blow strong, the push for clean energy includes not only new wind turbines but also new nuclear-power plants as part of a "carbon-free" solution to climate change. It's an idea that may be catching on. At least 11 new nuclear plants are in the design stage in nine states, including Virginia, Texas, and Florida, according to the Nuclear Energy Institute website. But that carbon-free pitch has researchers asking anew: How carbon-free is nuclear power? And how cost-effective is it in the fight to slow global warming? "Saying nuclear is carbon-free is not true," says Uwe Fritsche, a researcher at the Öko Institut in Darmstadt, Germany, who has conducted a life-cycle analysis of the plants. "It's less carbon-intensive than fossil fuel. But if you are honest, scientifically speaking, the truth is: There is no carbon-free energy. There's no free lunch."

Wind gusts throughout the county Monday and Tuesday caused some damage, however there were no major problems, according to Schuylkill County Emergency Management Agency. “A couple of trees. No power outages,” emergency management Coordinator Arthur D. Kaplan said Tuesday............Joe Green, project director for the Locust Ridge Wind Farm in Mahanoy and East Union Townships said gusts blowing through the region Monday and Tuesday would not be problematic for the 13 wind turbines that now generate power at the facility. “Extremely high winds might be a problem,” Green said, but added that when buffeted by gusts higher than 55 mph, the immense 407 foot high turbines simply stop operating. “Blowing over isn’t an issue,” Green said. He said at wind gusts above 24 mph the turbines have already reached maximum output capacity and cannot use the additional energy created anyway. Instead, Green said gusts too high can damage the gears and other internal mechanisms used to move the giant 135-foot long blades that chop the air, generating the energy the wind farm produces.

With more people showing interest in energy efficiency -- particularly renewable energy -- wind turbines are popping up to supply electricity to homes, businesses and even communities. But unlike the options of purchasing a hybrid car or installing solar panels, wind energy is not viable for everyone.

PUTTING a wind turbine on the roof of your house - like Tory leader David Cameron - is a waste of time, according to experts. The turbines, which cost at least £1,500, are next to useless in cities because there's not enough wind to make them work. Dr Luke Myers, of the Sustainable Energy Group, said: "Putting them in places where there's no wind is a fool's errand really. "No one wants to spend £1,500 on a turbine which doesn't work." Wind speeds at house roof level in a city like London, where Cameron lives, are only around 4.6 metres a second. But turbines sold by stores such as B&Q are designed to work at 12.5 metres a second. Brain Mark, on the Department of Trade and Industry Renewables Advisory Board, said the benefits had been "oversold" by green campaigners. He added: "It would be wonderful - if it worked." Home solar roof panels used to heat water are often a better bet and recoup costs in 10 years.

• Tom Susko of the Bald Mountain Wind Farm said freezing temperatures caused the turbines to create in February less than half of the energy budgeted for that month.

When Rudolph Diesel unveiled his new engine at the 1900 World's Fair, he made a point of demonstrating that it could be run on peanut oil. "Such oils may become, in the course of time, as important as petroleum and the coal tar products of the present time," he said. And so it has come to pass that US President George Bush has decreed that America must wean itself off oil with the help of biofuels made from corn, sugar cane and other suitable crops. At its simplest, the argument for biofuels is this: By growing crops to produce organic compounds that can be burnt in an engine, you are not adding to the overall levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The amount of CO2 that the fuel produces when burnt should balance the amount absorbed during the growth of the plants. However, many biofuel crops, such as corn, are grown with the help of fossil fuels in the form of fertilisers, pesticides and the petrol for farm equipment. One estimate is that corn needs 30 per cent more energy than the finished fuel it produces. Another problem is the land required to produce it. One estimate is that the grain needed to fill the petrol tank of a 4X4 with ethanol is sufficient to feed a person for a year.

Underwater currents could be harnessed to help light our homes, under a dream the Snohomish County PUD hopes will become reality. DECEPTION PASS - The unbridled might of the Pacific Ocean flows unchecked for 100 miles through the Strait of Juan de Fuca before it slams into the west side of Whidbey Island. Much of that power funnels into Deception Pass, a narrow gap between Whidbey and Fidalgo islands. Four times each day white-tipped swells rush in and out of this canyon's sheer rock walls, each time roaring like the river early explorers thought this pass was. For eons tidal currents have ripped through passages such as this all over Puget Sound. Now Deception Pass and a handful of other passes are the focus in a race to develop a new kind of renewable energy: tidal power. As long as there are oceans, a moon and gravity, there will be tidal energy there for the taking.

Capital cost of wind development has significantly increased over the past five years, said a panel of independent wind developers. The cost of transporting a large-scale turbine is about 20 percent of the cost of the equipment and land costs, and royalties to land owners are increasing as well, said Jan Paulin, president and chief executive officer of Padoma Wind Power, LLC at the 2007 Wind Power Finance and Investment Summit in San Diego. Land cost has increased about 60 to 70 percent in the last two years. The two major reasons behind the cost increase are fuel costs, especially high petroleum prices, and the perceived supply shortage of turbines also drives cost of the turbine and its transportation up. Another growing capital cost is in risk management because of the lack of strong warrantees. For a $3 million turbine, the average warrantee is for $20,000. Wind per kilowatt hours is cost competitive to fossil fuels, but the high capital cost, along with substandard warranties, make it difficult, for independent developers especially, to fund a project from start to finish. The capital cost has caused many consolidations of smaller developers into larger companies.