Associated Press: Alcatraz, City Hall, the Golden Gate Bridge and other parts of the city will go almost completely dark for an hour next month as part of a campaign to conserve energy and fight global warming. Organizers of Lights Out San Francisco are asking city residents and businesses to install energy-efficient bulbs and turn off all unnecessary lights from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 20. The goal is to save 15 percent of the electricity consumed on an average Saturday night. …

This is London: A crippling tropical disease spread by mosquitoes has taken a foothold in Europe and could be heading for Britain, climate change scientists have warned. In the last few weeks, more than 200 people in northern Italy have been infected with chikungunya - a disease that causes crippling muscle pain and fever. One died. Health officials say it is the first time an outbreak of the disease has been confirmed outside the tropics. There are fears that a succession of warm …

Reuters: A powerful typhoon targeted China’s booming eastern province of Zhejiang and the nation’s financial capital, Shanghai, on Tuesday, prompting evacuation of over 1.6 million people as ships were recalled to port. Typhoon Wipha was about 300 km southeast of Wenling city at 0800 GMT. With gusts of up to 198 km per hour (123 mph), it was moving northwest at 25 to 30 km per hour and should make landfall in the early hours of Wednesday, Xinhua news agency said. "East China, …

Xinhua: Renewable energy could contribute to 30 percent of China’s total energy supply by 2050, an energy expert estimated on Tuesday. Chinese wind power stations may have the ability to generate 300 to 500 million kw of electricity in 2050 and another 200 million to 300 million kw will be generated by solar energy, Shi Dinghuan, president of the Chinese Renewable Energy Society, said at the Solar World Congress 2007 in Beijing. Small hydropower stations could generate 100 million …

Reuters: US and European wheat prices rallied on Tuesday as Australia slashed the size of its drought-hit crop by a staggering 31 percent, but gains were pared as some investors cashed out profits. Futures had jumped to all-time highs this month, both in the United States and Europe, amid the smallest surplus of wheat stocks worldwide in about 30 years. Importing nations have bought relentlessly despite the high prices. Wheat futures at the Chicago Board of Trade got off to a flying …

Reuters: U.S. Commerce Department officials will lead a trade mission to China and India in January to explore opportunities for U.S. companies selling clean energy technology, the department said on Wednesday. "China and India are the world’s fastest-growing major markets, and both countries are investing heavily in clean energy to fuel their economies," Assistant Commerce Secretary David Bohigian said in a statement. "American technology and innovation have played a …

Inter Press Service: A controversial hydroelectricity expansion project in Quebec has drawn sharp criticism from aboriginal and environmental organisations on both sides of the Canadian-U.S. border. Hydro Quebec’s main purpose for diverting the Rupert River in Northern Quebec is for hydro production in order to sell power to the northeastern United States. U.S. environmental groups such as the Natural Resources Defence Council, International Rivers Network, Friends of the Earth USA, the Sierra Club …

International Herald Tribune: Backed by the White House, corn-state governors and solid blocks on both sides of Congress’ partisan divide, the politics of biofuels could hardly look sunnier. The economics of the American drive to increase ethanol in the energy supply are more discouraging. American corn-based ethanol is expensive. And while it can help cut oil imports and provide modest reductions in greenhouse gases compared with conventional gasoline, corn ethanol also carries considerable risks. Even now as …

Business Week: After years of playing second fiddle to mainstream power sources, Europe’s renewable energy sector is now going from strength to strength. Lucrative government subsidies, an EU-wide goal to reduce CO2 emissions 20% by 2020, and growing public support for the fight against climate change have turned this new industry into a force to be reckoned with. Wind power is leading the push into renewables, helping to place Europe ahead of other regions (BusinessWeek, 8/3/07) in the race to …

Christian Science Monitor: Can Californians cope with a court-ordered drought on top of a natural one? They’ll soon find out as they’re forced to reduce their water use for the sake of a three-inch silvery fish, the delta smelt. A federal judge ruled last month that the state must reduce its water draw on the West’s largest delta by up to 37 percent. This is to save the delta’s smelt, which was declared endangered in 1993. It can’t outswim the pumps that export trillions of gallons of water from the Sacramento …