A burning issueElectricity generation is at the heart of the climate change debate. Wayne Leonard, CEO of Entergy Corporation, tells Martin Ashcroft about the urgent action he believes is required. "For every generation there is a defining issueÔÇöan issue it must resolve if society is to continue and thrive; an issue it cannot ignore.

Diversify and save┬áCleco Power LLC is investing $1 billion in a new 660-megawatt generator that can burn a variety of solid fuels. Keith Regan learns how that fuel flexibility could enable the Louisiana utilityÔÇÖs customers to save billions over the life of the project.  Seventy percent of the generating capacity at Cleco Power LLC comes from natural-gas-fired generators.

Hot stuff┬áGeothermal power is a growing renewable energy source, which is good news for ThermaSource, Inc., a leading geothermal drilling, engineering and consulting firm, executive vice president Jim Hanson tells Ruari McCallion. No one who has watched a volcano erupt, experienced an earthquake or watched a geyser blow off steam can fail to be impressed with the power of the planet. The challenge is, as always, how to control and tap it.

Cracking on┬áA year after our first article on Technip Claremont, Martin Ashcroft finds Jeroen Snijder, vice president of operations, very happy about the companyÔÇÖs growth, its ventures into new technologies and the consolidation of its reputation for safety. Since I first spoke to Jeroen Snijder, vice president of operations for Technip Claremont, the company has enjoyed a period of solid growth. ÔÇ£WeÔÇÖve almost reached 500 employees now,ÔÇØ says Snijder.

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Martin Ashcroft investigates the concept of sustainable development, or the triple bottom line, as it applies to business in North America. The triple bottom line, also known as TBL, 3BL or ÔÇÿpeople, planet, profitÔÇÖ, has broken the mold of how organizations measure themselves. The addition of people and planet to the bottom line shows that organizations are now measuring their achievements in terms of social and environmental criteria as well as economic.

Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center The director of the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center tells Keith Regan that itÔÇÖs only a matter of time before the key is found to creating transportation biofuels out of grasses and trees. The current crop of biofuels generates more than its share of heated debate. Created from the sugars in corn and soy, the existing version of ethanol puts transportation needs in competition with food supplies.

Oak Ridge National LaboratoryKeith Regan learns that the interdisciplinary approach may hold the key to unlocking biofuels that do not compete with food crops. In the search for alternatives to fossil fuels in the transportation realm, biofuels are considered the most viable short-term alternative. However, traditional biofuels made from food stocks such as corn and soy pose their own inherent problem: they create competition for prime farmland and force growers to choose between producing crops for fuel or food.

Campus planningVanderbilt University is undertaking a massive building program to house more of its students on campus. Keith Regan learns from university architect Edward Belbusti how this is being achieved.Located on the edge of the downtown business district in Nashville, Tennessee, Vanderbilt University is an institution rich in tradition, but one that has embraced emerging trends in education.

Fantastic plasticsPhil Lepage learns how a South Dakota company is using soybean-derived products to decrease the nationÔÇÖs dependence on petroleum. Perhaps if The Graduate were being filmed today, the one word of advice given to Benjamin Braddock might not have been ÔÇ£PlasticsÔÇØ but rather the two words, ÔÇ£Bio-renewable polyols.ÔÇØPolyols are the raw material used to make polyurethane, and Urethane Soy Systems Company of Volga, South Dakota, specializes in researching and marketing the use of soy-based polyols.