China has emerged in the past two years as the world’s leading builder of so-called clean coal power plants, mastering the technology and driving down the cost.

In the debate over his top environmental goals, President Obama is backing away from "cap and trade." Not the policy. It's the phrase itself, deemed confusing by Democratic pollsters, that has all but disappeared from the president's vocabulary of late.

For some, President Obama's $3.6 trillion blueprint would provide a flush of new cash to spur the development of energy-efficient buildings and carbon-free wind and solar farms. But others saw the plan as hampering the progress of the very fuels that switch on most of the nation's lights.

The EPA is beefing up its enforcement division and taking a closer look at the nation’s aging coal-fired power plants.

The number of planned coal plants across America has plummeted from 150 to 60 in the past five years.

Tackling global warming means that humanity will be able to burn less than a quarter of the proven reserves of fossil fuels by 2050, a new study published in Nature finds. To achieve a less than 2ºC rise in temperature means that only 1,000 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) can be emitted between 2000 and 2050. By comparison, the world has emitted a third of that amount in just nine years.

The United States can dramatically cut global warming emissions and reduce consumer and business energy bills at the same time, according to the findings of a soon-to-be-released, two-year study by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS).

The House of Representatives approved comprehensive energy legislation today that would significantly reduce U.S. oil consumption, expand the use of renewable energy, and improve U.S. energy efficiency. Approved by a vote of 235 to 181, the Energy Independence and Security Act sets the nation on the path to a clean energy future and marks a significant first step to curb the nation’s emissions of global warming gases.

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee moved global warming legislation to the full Senate today, marking a significant development in the effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions. The Lieberman-Warner bill, S. 2191 as amended by the chair, was reported out of the committee with few amendments and likely will be considered by the full Senate in 2008.

On August 4, the House of Representatives passed a wide-ranging energy bill that marks a significant step forward toward reducing global warming and improving U.S. energy security. Passed by a vote of 241 to 172, the New Direction for Energy Independence, National Security, and Consumer Protection Act sets new efficiency standards for appliances, lighting and buildings and offers incentives for the production of cellulosic ethanol and for the installation of E-85 ethanol gas pumps. The bill also provides tax breaks for the production and purchase of plug-in hybrid vehicles.

PSR is pleased the president acknowledges the energy crisis looming in this country and the challenges we face in addressing global warming. However, once again the president’s proposals are far short of the leadership we need in these areas.