Energy Roundup: FutureGen Has a Future, Silver Springs Snags Cisco Exec, Tesla Co-Founder Sues, and More

U.S. restarts FutureGen clean coal project – The Department of Energy breathed new life into FutureGen, a coal-fired plant project that aims to capture 60 percent of its carbon dioxide emissions and store them underground. The DOE will provide $1 billion in economic stimulus funds towards the controversial project derailed by the Bush administration in late 2007. BNET blogger Chris Morrison examines the project and whether it could be delayed again. [Source: BNET]

Top Cisco Ethernet exec heading over to Silver Springs — Silver Springs Networks has successfully courted Judy Lin, senior vice president of Cisco’s Ethernet switching technology group. The move adds a bit of drama to what’s shaping up to be a fierce competition over the energy management and smart grid markets. [Source: Greentech Media]

Tesla Motors co-founder sues, wants reputation back — Martin Eberhard, co-founder of Tesla Motors, has filed a lawsuit against the company and its CEO Elon Musk over his reputation. Apparently, he wants it back. The lawsuit goes on to outline a number of complaints including receiving the second Tesla Roadster ever made and not the first. [Source: Business Insider]

Nerds, climate change highlights in another Chu speech to grads — Steven Chu’s address to the graduates of California Institute of Technology delves deeper into his nerd status and climate change. Chu first talked about his nerdiness and climate change in a speech to Harvard graduates. The Department of Energy has released the entire speech, in which also talks about optimism, non-linear tipping points of climate change and Star Trek.  [Source: DOE]

Chesapeake shareholder fails to pass term limit measure — Term limits for Chesapeake Energy’s board of directors, who have come under fire over CEO Aubrey McClendon’s compensation, will stay the same after an effort among shareholders fell short of acquiring the necessary votes. Shareholders critical of the board had recommended cutting director terms to one year. [Source: Bloomberg]