Members of the Pecan Street consortia include the University of Texas, utility Austin Energy, Austin Technology Incubator, the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce and the Environmental Defense Fund.

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The old blast furnace was decommissioned in July last year before being completely rebuilt, incorporating the latest technology to improve energy efficiency, environmental performance, safety standards and capacity.

BBC: Tata Steel's ?185m Blast Furnace No 4 starts up

The brain trusts at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard and more than a dozen other universities have become pioneers of renewable energy and environmental remediation.

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The Clean Air Task Force -- an environmental organization advancing clean technology in the United States and China -- is pivotal to Duke Energy efforts.

CNN: Coal-burning CEO: U.S., China must fight pollution

Meanwhile, on Wednesday Applied Materials and China Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection Group announced they have agreed to explore projects for accelerating the development and deployment of solar photovoltaic technology.

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Steven Chu is U.S. Secretary of Energy, Todd Park is U.S. Chief Technology Officer, and Nancy Sutley is Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality.

WHITEHOUSE: Energy Datapalooza: Unleashing the Power of Open Data to Advance our Energy Future | The White House