Xstrata Plc, the world’s biggest exporter of coal used in power plants, said it agreed with most of its Japanese customers on a price for thermal coal sold under contract in 2006-07 that is near last year’s record level.
Xstrata, based in Zug, Switzerland, agreed with Japanese power utilities on a price of $52.50 per metric [...]

The Environmental Protection Agency is researching a new coal technology that will partially burn coal to generate gas.
Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) can lower air emissions and water use, as well as produce less solid waste. An EPA report also found that this technology could provide a more cost effective approach to capture carbon dioxide, [...]

In a global first, American fuel-cell development company Intel-ligent Energy has announced the development of a new hydrogen-generation system, which is the product of a collaborative effort between itself and local fuel giant Sasol.
The ‘Hestia’ system converts Sasol’s Fischer-Tropsch (FT) fuels into hydrogen. The high-purity hydrogen is then transformed into electricity and heat for practical [...]

Hydrogen, the ultimate clean fuel, may not be very suitable as a conduit of renewable energy because it is wasteful and there are better alternatives, scientists said last week.
One reason hydrogen is embraced by politicians like US President George W Bush is that it promises a source of power for cars and buildings that emits [...]

The government is expected this week to open the way to new nuclear power stations when it spells out how it will keep the lights burning at the same time as trying to meet its international obligations to tackle global warming.
But while backing big power in the shape of nuclear and so-called clean coal, the [...]

High fuel prices and renewed emphasis on energy independence could have consumers pumping gasoline made from coal in the not-too-distant future.
It’s not a pie-in-the-sky dream, researchers say, but proven technology pioneered in Germany and utilized in South Africa for more than 20 years.
Coal-to-liquid plants are now being proposed across the U.S., and West Virginia is [...]

Microsoft is pouring concrete in a bean field on the west end of town. Yahoo is digging up a field of alfalfa out on the east end. Google, which declines to comment, is said to be sniffing around for its own field of dreams here in the semi-desert outback of eastern Washington.
This small farm town, [...]

FuelCell Energy, Inc. (NasdaqNM:FCEL), a leading manufacturer of ultra-clean electric power generation plants for commercial, industrial, and government customers, today announced development of a cost-efficient system to separate pure hydrogen from a gas mixture that then can be sold as fuel for hydrogen vehicles or industrial uses. The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has awarded [...]

It’s the more (customers) the merrier for Merrimac Energy, which distributes petroleum products, provides fleet fueling services, and is a wholesale marketer of electricity and natural gas. The company also provides environmental services. Its products include aviation fuels, diesel, food grade oil, generator fuel, gasoline, industrial oil, marine fuels, bulk propane, and transportation lubricants. The [...]

China, which plans to judge its officials on improvements in energy efficiency, has published a list ranking its provinces by how much coal and electricity they use to generate each dollar of national income.
Some of the country’s developed areas used only one-fifth as much coal per unit of output last year as poor, remote Ningxia, [...]