Life is full of competing priorities. If it isn't one thing, it's another. This New York Times article summarizes nicely what's going with wind energy in Texas. My home state is probably the best positioned in the U.S. to exploit wind. However, the Texas panhandle and West Texas have insufficient power transmission lines to transport the energy generated. They need a $5 billion infusion for that construction. Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy complains that Texas coastal wind turbines can interfere with their radar. Environmentalists don't like the wind turbines because they kill lots of birds. As fate would have it, birds use strong wind paths as migratory routes. And finally, wind turbine builders worry about the corrosive salt fogs of the coast and the frequent hurricanes.

In the past, Texas has been referred to as the Saudi Arabia of wind power in terms of potential ...

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Researchers at UC Irvine have published a study finding many toxic materials in LED's, one of the primary candidates to replace incandescent light bulbs.  LED's (Light-Emitting Diodes) are commonly used as Christmas lights, as well as inside the control displays of many electronic produces, such as TV's, DVD players, calculators, phones and so forth. In particular, they've found lead, arsenic among many other cancer-causing substances.

"Ogunseitan said that breaking a single light and breathing fumes would not automatically cause cancer, but could be a tipping point on top of chronic exposure to another carcinogen. And – noting that lead tastes sweet – he warned that small children could be harmed if they mistake the bright lights for candy."

I'm simply presenting the article "as is" since I have nothing to add. Readers might consider staying on top of the subject of light bulb alternatives, since all incandescent ...

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In an attempt to stem horrendous levels of animal abuse, China has outlawed all live animal performances thoughout the country. The laundry list of animal malpractices in the Telegraph article make for a bit of grim reading. I would imagine though that black market animal deathmatches will continue under the radar, just as they do here in the U.S.

The University of Sheffield has created an evening gown dubbed "Herself" capable of cleaning the air around the wearer.  While the dress is actually presented more as a work of art rather than an actual wearable line of clothing, it has sparked new feasibility speculation on the possibilities of technology embedded in clothing to accomplish various environmental tasks. 

However, one can only imagine the number of ladies willing to wear an evening gown made of "sprayed concrete" (Lady Gaga comes to mind) or figure out what the cleaning instructions might be.  

(h/t Slashdot.org)

And they're very efficient at heating, too! A clever German businessman Siegfried Rotthauser has skirted the EU ban on incandescent bulbs by selling them as "Heat Balls" marketing them as "small heating devices."

The legalese aside, incandescent bulbs are actually fairly good heaters.  I'm not a big fan of the eco-bulbs.  If one of them breaks inside your home, you must evacuate the room immediately and perform the following cleanup.