Precision agriculture is saving farmers across the country millions of dollars annually and dramatically reducing the impact of large-scale agriculture on the environment by avoiding unnecessary application of fertilizers and pesticides to crops.

FORBES: American Agriculture's 'Sputnik Moment'

But the agency's fuel-emissions research only benefits the environment if somebody deploys the resulting technology on a large scale, he said.

CNN: EPA, UPS join to launch eco-friendly hybrid trucks

"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