Illinois

The House has blocked diverting any new water from the Great Lakes and forces bordering states to adhere to new conservation standards. In a 390-25 vote, the House approved a measure on Tuesday that will increase protection of the Great Lakes region.

General Electric is putting up new wind farms in Texas and Illinois that will power 70,000 homes and replace 526,000 metric tons of greenhouse gases with clean, renewable energy.

While the eyes of renewable energy policy wonks have been looking to California, Michigan and Minnesota for a successful German-style renewable energy feed-in tariff, this Illinois bill has taken people by surprise. Feed-in tariffs are the fastest and cheapest way to develop renewable energy.

Green dorms are being built at the University of Illinois in Champaign that use geothermal energy to provide heat and hot water to residence.

Representatives of the FutureGen Alliance announce that Mattoon, IL, has been chosen as the final site to host the FutureGen power plant. FutureGen is a public-private partnership to design, build, and operate the world's first coal-fueled, near-zero emissions power plant, at an estimated net project cost of US $1.5 billion.

Illinois will be the home to the FutureGen coal gasification plan, which aims to convert coal into hydrogen and electricity while capturing and storing the carbon dioxide 3000 ft. underground. That might mean 275 megawatts of electricity without dirty emissions.

FutureGen is a $1 billion federal project to design, build and operate the world's most advanced, emissions-free, coal-fueled power plant. The development of the FutureGen facility is a joint venture between the U.S. Department of Energy and the FutureGen Alliance, a consortium of the world's largest coal and energy producers.Illinois is competing against two sites in Texas for selection asthe FutureGen site.

While the Midwest may not be leading the pack on solar power, when it comes to turning drugs and trash into energy, it's at the forefront.