"New large-scale power plants and some existing assets are not economically viable in the current environment, " says Matthias Hartung, chief executive of RWE Generation, which bundles RWE's German, Dutch and UK power plants.

CNN: Shale gas boom sparks EU coal revival

Google Earth for siting large-scale electric power plants in the United States.

FORBES: Plotting The Next-Generation U.S. Power Grid

In the United States, over the past five years, thanks in part to tax credits from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and ratepayer-funded subsidies for renewable energy, more than 150 large-scale wood-burning power plants have been proposed around the country, said Booth and Sheehan.

FORBES: Massachusetts Addresses "Biomass Loophole" and Limits Subsidies

From the Bush White House, they're talking about large-scale technology: oil and gas, nuclear power plants and clean coal research, which will cost billions of dollars and will take years.

FORBES: Byron Kennard