Charleston Gazette-Mail: Coal Not coming Back, Appalachian Power President Says

Coal consumption is not likely to increase, regardless of whether new federal regulations on power plants go into effect, and, from coal’s perspective, the national debate on coal and climate change has largely been lost, the president of West Virginia’s largest electric utility told a roomful of energy executives Tuesday.

The Clean Power Plan, the Obama administration’s proposal to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, would cut coal consumption -- but even if the regulations are blocked, coal consumption will not increase, Appalachian Power President Charles Patton said at the state Energy Summit at the Stonewall Resort.

“You just can’t go with new coal [plants] at this point in time,” Patton said. “It is just not economically feasible to do so.”

The Hill: Moderate GOP Senators Form Green Coalition

Four centrist Senate Republicans are banding together to call for policies to protect the environment.

Sen. Kelly Ayotte (N.H.), Lamar Alexander (Tenn.), Mark Kirk (Ill.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) describe the group as a loose coalition that will meet regularly to come up with Republican pro-environment policies and enlist more GOP senators to support them.

The group includes two senators in Ayotte and Kirk who face tough re-election races next year in states won by President Obama in 2012. Their races will help determine which party has the Senate majority in 2017.

Christian Science Monitor: Egypt Finds Way to Make Salt Water Drinkable With Half the Energy

Scientists at Alexandria University in Egypt are developing an innovative water-purifying technique that uses half the energy as previous methods.

They have created a membrane that can both clean and desalinate water, which could offer Egypt and other developing countries an inexpensive new water source. The method uses materials from North Africa and could make water desalination a more affordable process, according to Digital Trends. Researchers ultimately plan to mass-produce the membrane and print sheets for individual use.

The breakthrough by Alexandria researchers lies in the new kind of membrane with just five "ingredients" that could be made in other labs without great difficulty. It binds with the salt in the water -- it even works with the very salty water found in the Red Sea.

PV Magazine: Kyocera Aiming to Double U.S. Footprint

Japan’s Kyocera is preparing to ramp up its activity in the U.S. residential solar market as the company seeks profitable avenues outside of its domestic market of Japan.

Despite having posted a $66 million first-half profit in the company’s ceramics division -- which includes solar -- sales actually fell 8.9% during that period, prompting Kyocera president Goro Yamaguchi to announce the company’s intention to seek greater sales in the U.S. residential sector. In October 2014 the company teamed with energy optimization company Stem to roll out an integrated energy storage solution to the commercial sector.

Inside Climate News: Hillary Clinton Joins Call for Justice Dept. to Investigate Exxon

Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton voiced support Thursday for a Department of Justice investigation into whether ExxonMobil purposefully misled the American public on climate change.

When asked after a town hall event in Berlin, N.H. whether she would call for a federal probe into Exxon, Clinton replied, "Yes, yes, they should. There's a lot of evidence that they misled people."