electricity

Will the Chevy Volt -- General Motor's new plug-in hybrid unveiled today -- be a game changer, as CEO Daniel Akerson hopes? We'll soon find out as the car is scheduled to begin shipping to dealers next month.

The nation%u2019s manufacturing recovery accelerated in October as factory output jumped 0.5%, the Federal Reserve said. Overall industrial output was flat in the month, but the typical autumn plunge in utilities output skewed the top-line stat lower.

The automaker plans to roll out its first all-electric passenger car in 20 U.S. cities late next year.

General Electric plans to purchase 25,000 battery-powered vehicles during the next five years for its own use and to lease to commercial customers.

International Business Machines (IBM) is searching for a method that will cut devices' power consumption by 90% and reduce so-called vampire energy - power used by machines when they are turned off. IBM's Zurich lab is developing a transistor to regulate energy usage more efficiently, Bloomberg...

Caterpillar Inc (CAT) agreed to buy German company MWM Holding, a maker of engines that can run on alternative fuels, for 580 million euros ($810 million). MWM engines operate on fuels including diesel, biogas, and industrial waste gas, and can be used to generate electricity, Caterpillar said in...

Tesla Motors has signed a $60 million contract with Toyota Motor to develop an all-electric version of the popular RAV4 compact sports-utility vehicle, Tesla said Wednesday.

Google is taking an investment stake in the construction of a major undersea power network off the mid-Atlantic coast, the company announced Tuesday. The project is designed to deliver enough energy to power 1.9 million households from offshore wind turbines to the Eastern Seaboard.

The Coast Guard estimates that a barge crash that took out power lines and halted shipping traffic across the Houston Ship Channel may end up costing as much as $1 billion in economic loss.

As fall creeps in and a chill takes over my house at night, I've been contemplating turning the gas furnace on for the first time. But oh, how I've been treasuring these $40 summer gas bills! Bet you have, too. Fortunately, there are plenty of ways you can turn the dial back to "middling" when it...