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In the fall of 2007, workers at the Byron nuclear power plant in Illinois were using a wire brush to clean a badly corroded steel pipe -- one in a series that circulate cooling water to essential emergency equipment -- when something unexpected happened: the brush poked through. The resulting leak caused a 12-day shutdown of the two reactors for repairs. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

MELROSE PARK, Ill. -- In a testing cell tucked deep in the bowels of Navistar's engine plant and technical center here, a hulking prototype of a truck engine sits behind a large glass window like a patient on an operating table. A snarl of sensors and wires is attached to nearly every part of the humming engine, feeding reams of data to a battery of computers and watchful engineers in the adjacent control room. One measurement -- for nitrogen oxide emissions, or NOx -- is of particular concern to Navistar. From 2010 onward, all new truck engines must achieve tough, near-zero limits for NOx, a chief ingredient of smog. Virtually every truck maker besides Navistar chose to use an add-on system to their existing engines that uses a fluid cocktail to help neutralize the pollutant as it makes its way out of the exhaust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whether it is newfound green consciousness ahead of Earth Day -- or just the allure of a big discount on a new washing machine or air-conditioner -- consumers across the country are snapping up government rebates for energy-efficient appliances. In Florida, which began offering the rebates Friday, the $17.6 million allocated for the program lasted a day and half, as more than 72,000 claims were filed. In Illinois, the second half of its $12.4 million, made available on Friday, disappeared in 11 hours. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]