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There hasn’t been a sighting of a White-throated Needletail in the United Kingdom for 22 years, so nearly 80 birdwatchers flocked to Scotland this week to get a look, the Telegraph reported. But instead of enjoying the world’s fastest flying bird soaring, they watched it fly into the small blade of a wind turbine and die.

There had been only eight recorded sightings of the white-throated needletail in the UK since 1846. So when one popped up again on British shores this week, twitchers were understandably excited. A group of 40 enthusiasts dashed to the Hebrides to catch a glimpse of the brown, black and blue bird, which breeds in Asia and winters in Australasia. But instead of being treated to a wildlife spectacle they were left with a horror show when it flew into a wind turbine and was killed.

On June 7, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit delivered a unanimous ruling that may be a death blow to Michigan's renewable energy mandate. Writing for the majority, Judge Richard Posner wrote: "Michigan cannot, without violating the commerce clause of Article I of the Constitution, discriminate against out-of-state renewable energy." That single sentence may throw into jeopardy Michigan's entire renewable energy mandate, Public Act 295, which requires Michigan utilities to generate 10 percent of their electricity from in-state renewable sources by 2015. The problem? Among its competitor states in the region, Michigan is a high-priced wind energy...

Perhaps more than in any other state, aggressive environmentalism is accepted as the norm in California. To outsiders, it may seem stunning that the late Peter Douglas, the self-described “radical” who guided the California Coastal Commission for 25 years, wanted to amend the U.S. Constitution to limit property rights. To those who live outside the Golden State, hearing that the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board’s new regulations require watersheds to be as pristine as they were before civilization arrived in California sounds like a story straight out of The Onion. But skeptical state residents shrug off such...

It is a simple question without a simple answer: Should Minneapolis be its own power company? Delegates at last weekend's Minneapolis DFL convention passed a resolution supporting an initiative to study whether Minnesota's largest city has anything to gain by going into the utility business. The passage provided momentum to the proposal, borne of a coalition of green-energy groups. Their goal: compel Xcel Energy to step up efforts to provide clean, affordable electricity -- and CenterPoint Energy to provide more affordable natural gas -- or get the city to provide it. "Our campaign is not saying we should kick Xcel...

A World Bank-commissioned study revealed that eight out of 10 Filipinos “personally experienced” the impacts of climate change in the last three years. The study conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) disclosed that 85 percent of respondents claimed to have suffered from climate change. Of this figure, more than half or 54 percent described their experience as “severe” to “moderate.” Also notable is how about two-thirds or 63 percent of survey respondents admitted that they did not participate in efforts to reduce the ill effects of climate change.

Today, The Sunday Telegraph reveals how many ''green jobs’’ the wind-power industry really generates in exchange for its generous subsidies. The figures show that for 12 months until February 2013, a little over £1.2  billion was paid out to wind farms through a consumer subsidy financed by a supplement on electricity bills. During that period, the industry employed just 12,000 people, which means that each wind-farm job cost consumers £100,000 – an astonishing figure. Regarding costs, the £1.2 billion figure is merely a starting point. According to the Renewable Energy Foundation, the subsidy is likely to rise to £6  billion by...

On June 4, 2013, Governor Brian Sandoval signed into law AB227—“Nevada Land Management Implementation Committee”—making Nevada the fifth western state to actively explore the transfer of public lands to western states. AB227 creates the Nevada Land Management Task Force, which will conduct a study addressing the transfer of public lands in the state. This movement advocating for the transfer of western public lands began in Utah in 2012.

It turns out that Paul Scott will not be meeting President Obama after all. The passionate electric car advocate (and co-founder of Plug In America) puts his money where his mouth is by selling Nissan Leafs in Los Angeles. He had sent in $32,400 — a good chunk of his relatively modest savings — for a chance to briefly meet President Obama at a forthcoming fundraiser and talk about climate change and his personal story — 10 years driving an electric car fueled by solar power. But on Monday in an email, Scott was disinvited by the Democratic National Committee...

Considering how important and ubiquitous energy is for virtually all of life’s activities, it should come as no surprise that energy policy often dominates the agendas in legislative chambers in each of the fifty states and on Capitol Hill. Historically, most of the energy debate in many of these legislative bodies has centered almost exclusively on ensuring that citizens have ready access to affordable and reliable energy. Unfortunately, over the past several years, the energy debate has shifted. Instead of worrying about the cost and dependability of energy, many legislators are now focusing on ways in which certain politically preferred...

Lisa Jackson, meet Apple. The biggest piece of new information that Apple CEO Tim Cook dropped last night at the D11 conference: That he's hired Jackson, former head of the Environmental Protection Agency, to lead Apple's green efforts. The move strikes me as both bold and risky. It's bold because in Jackson, Cook gains a high-profile and well-connected chemical engineer who is well-versed in policy. Apple's environmental footprint is immense; the company literally produces and packages more than 100 million devices every year, most of them iPhones and iPads. Apple has the largest non-utility solar power farm in the country,...

Imagine the outcry if the nation woke up this morning to New York Times and Washington Post headlines reporting that in order to settle a lawsuit against Charles and David Koch, officials with the Environmental Protection Agency had met behind closed doors with them to iron out a deal that effectively allowed the brothers to rewrite regulations as they pleased. Imagine, also, that the EPA and the Kochs then got a federal court to issue a decree ratifying the deal and giving it the force of law? The sun would not likely set on a peaceful America until the EPA/Koch...

When Webster Groves High School purchased solar panels to put on the roof of the school, no one told them they could catch on fire! The fire department was called on Saturday to put out the flames ... Plumes of black smoke could be seen coming from the roof at Webster Groves High School Saturday. Firefighters say solar panels caught fire around 2:00pm. Nearby residents noticed the smoke and called the fire department. The panels are above the new science wing.

Stop the presses! Another one of President Obama’s brilliant clean-energy ventures has collapsed after taking tens of millions of dollars from American taxpayers, in this case to develop a special wheelchair-accessible “green” van. The news comes just weeks after a separate company that got nearly $200 million from the government to develop hybrid vehicles folded. That fly-by-night company, Fisker Automotive, had been heavily touted by the administration as an innovator that would develop two lines of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles that could run up to 300 miles on a rechargeable Lithium-ion battery. Before doling out the cash, Obama’s Energy Secretary...

Another one of the Energy Department’s taxpayer-financed “investments” just went belly-up. This one died very quietly, without making a formal announcement, but USA Today noticed: A Michigan maker of vans for the disabled that received a $50-million Energy Department loan has quietly ceased operation and laid off its staff. Vehicle Production Group, or VPG, stopped operations after finances dipped below the minimum threshold required by the government as a condition of the loan, says its former CEO, John Walsh. Though about 100 staff were laid off and its offices shuttered, it has not filed for bankruptcy reorganization. For a change,...

During the dot-com boom, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, the venture capital investment firm, all but minted money, making prescient early investments in Netscape Communications, Amazon.com and Google and delivering astonishing returns to investors. Along the way, it became a symbol of Silicon Valley. But the firm has hit a rough patch over the last decade, frustrated by unsuccessful forays into clean technology and by a catch-up effort to take later-stage stakes in social media companies. Kleiner has held a series of status-report meetings with its outside investors this year, acknowledging that recent fund performance “wasn’t great,” one attendee said....

HUNTSVILLE, Ala., May 6 (UPI) -- The U.S. Army has given the first development contracts for renewable energy technologies under a $7 billion initiative. Five companies were awarded indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity awards in geothermal technologies. The U.S. companies are: Constellation NewEnergy Inc., ECC Renewables LLC, Enel Green Power North America Inc., LTC Federal LLC and Siemens Government Technologies Inc. The multiple award task orders were issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville, Ala., working with the Army Energy Initiatives Task Force. "Announcement of awards for the remaining technologies -- solar, wind and biomass -- are anticipated...

Back in 2011, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) declared war on energy-efficient light bulbs, calling "sustainability" the gateway into a dystopic, Big Brother-patrolled liberal hellscape. When the lights went off during Beyoncé’s halftime set at the last Superbowl, conservative commentators from the Drudge Report to Michelle Malkin pointed blame (erroneously) at new power-saving measures at New Orleans’ Superdome. And one recent study found that giving Republican households feedback on their power use actually encourages them to use more energy. Why do conservatives, who should have a natural inclination toward conservation, have a beef with energy efficiency? It could be tied to...

Colorado Senate Bill 252 and the multibillion-dollar economic burden it would impose on .. Colorado. ... SB 252 is being fast tracked to limit public debate. The bill squeaked through the Senate by just one vote and now will be heard in the House. Coloradans: It's time to contact your representative to say how critical it is to stop this costly bill. ... It will just take a minute or two to make your voice heard and your representative needs to hear from you today.

Spain's unemployment rate soared to a new record of 27.2% of the workforce in the first quarter of 2013, according to official figures. The total number of unemployed people in Spain has now passed the six million figure, although the rate of the increase has slowed. The figures underline Spain's struggle to emerge from an economic crisis which began five years ago. On Friday, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy will unveil fiscal and policy measures aimed at halting recession in the eurozone's fourth-largest economy. "These figures are worse than expected and highlight the serious situation of the Spanish economy as well...