Energy

Even when they're switched to "off," most of the appliances and electronics in your home will continue drawing a little bit of power as long as they remain plugged into the wall. That's because they're drawing so-called standby power to keep your electric hedge clippers charged, your TV remote at the ready and that tiny digital clock telling time on your coffee maker. Individually, these "vampire" appliances suck tiny amounts of power.

The influential lobby group Consumer Electronics Assn. is fighting what appears to be a losing battle to dissuade California regulators from passing the nation's first ban on energy-hungry big-screen televisions. On Tuesday, executives and consultants for the Arlington, Va., trade group asked members of the California Energy Commission to instead let consumers use their wallets to decide whether they want to buy the most energy-saving new models of liquid-crystal display and plasma high-definition TVs. "Voluntary efforts are succeeding without regulations," said Doug Johnson, the association's senior director for technology policy.

That 52-inch, flat-screen television on the family room wall may have a terrific picture, but there's a big drawback: It's an energy hog. State regulators are getting ready to curb the growing power gluttony of TV sets by drafting the nation's first rules requiring retailers to sell only the most energy-efficient models, starting in 2011.

On bright days, the rooftop of the Anaheim Hilton is so blindingly white that it looks like a mirror positioned directly at the sun. That dazzling glare might just be the greenest thing to happen to the top of a building since solar panels. The white coating deflects nearly 85% of the heat that hits it, reducing the surface temperature by as much as 50 degrees. That means less energy is needed to cool the hotel's interior, cutting air-conditioning costs and carbon emissions.

Inside a futuristic-looking dome that rises from the sandy wasteland of the high Mojave Desert, soldiers in plywood cubicles work at computers powered by solar panels and a towering wind turbine. Plug-in cars shuttle the troops across the vast expanses here at Ft. Irwin in San Bernardino County. At night, tents lined with insulating foam provide a cool retreat at the end of a 100-degree day.

Academy Award winners Joel and Ethan Coen, known for their grimly comic portrayals of human nature, are poking fun at a new target: the coal industry. The filmmaking brothers have directed a TV spot for an environmental coalition that's trying to demolish the notion that there's anything clean about so-called clean coal.

Leftovers from San Francisco Bay Area restaurants may soon help power the region. The East Bay Municipal Utility District has created a program, believed to be the first of its kind in the nation, to generate electricity from the methane gas produced by food decomposition. Engineers have been testing and refining the process since the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency gave the utility $50,000 in 2006 to study it, and they plan to sell energy to the grid beginning next year.

General Electric Co. reported that fourth-quarter income rose 4% to $6.7 billion, or 66 cents a share, compared with $6.44 billion, or 62 cents, in the year-earlier period. The rise reflects strong global demand for its power system products such as jet engines and turbines. Earnings at GE's NBC Universal entertainment division, showing no slowdown because of the Hollywood writers strike, jumped 10% to $923 million for the quarter ended Dec. 31. Revenue climbed 8% to $4.55 billion from $4.

Across Africa, people know what to do when the lights go out: Life chugs along thanks to generators, candles, wood fires, paraffin lamps and windup radios. But South Africa prides itself on being a kind of "older brother" in sub-Saharan Africa, more modern, more industrialized and richer than the rest.

As the Senate begins debate on who should benefit from a more-than-$150-billion economic stimulus package, Democrats have put two groups at the top of their list: senior citizens living on Social Security and Americans struggling to pay their energy bills. Missing from the list are workers who lost their jobs in the downturn. What accounts for this tally of winners and losers in the scramble for a piece of the stimulus pie?