Photo: Youtube grab J. R. Ewing is Back I'm too young to have seen Dallas during its original run, but I vaguely remember that my parents sometimes watched it and talked about this "J.R." guy. Still, the show was so popular that even though I haven't had first-hand exposure, I know enough about it from references and parodies in other shows to know that Larry Hagman's character, J.R. Ewing, was a memorable oil-loving amoral businessman. That's why it's great to see h...Read the full story on TreeHugger

photo: BLM There've been multiple gigawatts of solar thermal power plants planned for various places in the California desert for some time, but finally some more of them are getting the approvals need so that construction can start: The US Bureau of Land Management has issued a final environmental impact statement for the 1,000 MW Blythe Solar Power Project; and the 250 MW Read the full story on TreeHugger

Photo: PG&E Currently the Largest-Scale Form of Grid Storage Available Last week, California's PG&E filed a request with regulators to study the feasibility of building a new "pumped hydro storage" facility in the Mokelumne River watershed in Amador County. It would store energy by pumping water from a low reservoir to another one that is at a higher elevation. This is done when there's a surplus of energy, such as when the wind is blowing hard at night, for example. Then when you need the energy, you open up the valves and let the water run through turbines like any other hydro station....Read the full story on TreeHugger

Image of toothbrush via ingridtaylor; image of solar powered brush via Canada.com It's one thing to have an electric toothbrush that charges with solar power. It's another thing altogether to have an electric toothbrush that charges with solar power and eliminates the need for you to ever buy toothpaste again. Sound too good to be true? It might be. Though Shiken company of Japan believes otherwise now that they've created a tooth...Read the full story on TreeHugger

Photo: Flickr, CC Part of the State's 25% Renewables by 2025 Plan Illinois Governor Pat Quinn has signed two bills into law yesterday (House Bill 6202 and 5429)) that will mandate the state's utility companies to buy more solar power and protect the right of homeowners to set up solar panels on their homes, provided "certain guidelines" are followed. Read on for more details....Read the full story on TreeHugger