Miniature nuclear reactors 鈥� some small enough to fit in a two-car garage 鈥� are an appealing alternative to massive, multibillion-dollar power facilities.

Southern Co. will build the reactors at its Vogtle site in Georgia. An industry-backed group hopes it's the first wave of new reactors, but a coalition of groups plans to sue to stop the project. Among its arguments: Engineers are still figuring out what went wrong at the Fukushima meltdown in Japan last year.

Hydraulic fracturing gets the spotlight, but without another technology 鈥� horizontal drilling 鈥� natural gas drilling booms across the country would not be happening now.

Of all the individuals in President Obama's first-term Cabinet, Energy Secretary Steven Chu was arguably the least likely to be found in official Washington. And now that the Nobel Prize-winning physicist is leaving government, there are a few reasons that understanding his legacy might take some time.