The Census Bureau released data yesterday, that indicated overall poverty levels held steady between 2006 and 2007 (though 500,00 more children lived below the poverty line) and the number of uninsured declined. The report also noted “growing income inequality and the lack of real wage growth.”

Lenin’s Tomb argues that there is a significant gap between official and real figures on poverty, unemployment, and inequality in the U.S.

A United Nations report found that cutting fossil fuel subsidies could stimulate world economic growth while cutting greenhouse gas emissions by up to 6 percent.

As the “Gang of 10″ grows, House Democratic leaders have retooled an energy legislation package. The deal would require “a rollback of tax breaks and royalty-free leases for oil companies as well as a requirement to drill on existing leases” in exchange for lifting the offshore oil drilling moratorium.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi discussed the energy plan at the Democratic National Convention yesterday.

The New York Times looks at the difficulties of getting clean energy onto the nation’s aging power grid.

12 states are suing the E.P.A., claiming the organization’s failure to regulate oil refinery greenhouse gas emissions violates the Clean Air Act.

–Christopher Greenspan

Verdant Power is working on underwater turbines to generate power in New York City’s East River.

The National Science Foundation has awarded the U.S. Air Force Academy’s Aeronautics Department $300,000 for research into harnessing tidal energy.

Ocean Renewable Power Co. is making slow but steady progress on tidal power development in Maine.

Below is a video demonstrating how tidal power works:

Scientists have developed a technology that may be able to produce hydrogen from nitrogen-fixing bacteria.

A 1.2 megawatt solar energy project is in the works for North Carolina.

Wind turbine producer Vestas Wind Systems is launching a $100 million consumer-oriented ad campaign.

According to founder and managing director of venture capital firm Nth Power Nancy Floyd, 14 percent of venture capital in the U.S. is being invested in energy.

Greentech Media rounds up recent clean energy investments.

Energy Outlook proposes a way to pay for the soon-to-expire renewable energy tax credits.

Whatever the outcome of this year’s Republican and Democratic Conventions’ efforts to be the greenest “ever”, GreenBiz argues that the attempts will leave “a legacy for future convention planners of how to do it better and greener.”

It’s Getting Hot In Here reports on Van Jones’ talk at the Democratic National Convention.

According to Plenty, the League of Conservation Voters has given Senator Joe Biden a lifetime voting score of 84 percent .

–Christopher Greenspan

In the wake of mayor Michael Bloomberg’s call for a clean energy New York, Staten Island officials are renewing their push to turn the Fresh Kills landfill into a small windfarm.

Alternet spoke with a wide range of people focused on the future of the green economy.

Earth2Tech looks at Senator Joseph Biden’s energy credentials.

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney called Biden “an eloquent defender of working families and opponent of the Bush administration’s war on workers.”

Duke Energy’s proposed Save-A-Watt energy efficiency program is being challenged by groups that want to see an independent plan put in place.

Ohio State University researchers say they have found a way to convert liquid biofuels into hydrogen.

The Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels released a first draft of its global biofuel standards.

As part of General Motors’ shift away from trucks and SUVS, it will begin producing the compact Chevy Cruze in 2010, which is expected to get 45 miles per gallon. Work on the Cruze is expected to bring 1,400 new jobs to GM’s Lordston,Ohio plant.

Green Vehicles’ new Triac has three-wheels, can reach 80 mph, and has a range of 100 miles per charge.

New Jersey Transit will purchase the first hybrid locomotive in the United States.

–Christopher Greenspan

According to one analyst’s reading of the Census Bureau’s annual report on poverty, income, and health insurance coverage, “most of the American workforce worked harder and smarter, yet ended up earning less.”

Kit Carson Electric Cooperative - a member-owned Electric Distribution Cooperative - is planning the largest solar photovoltaic system in New Mexico.

The Sierra Club produced a scorecard for John McCain and Barack Obama that presents a side-by-side comparison of their energy policies.

Al-Ahram Weekly looks at OPEC’s 2008 Energy Outlook.

Local Green: Xcel Energy is closing two coal-powered energy facilities and “building one of the world’s largest utility-scale solar power plants.”

North Dakota Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tim Mathern wants the state to produce 10,000 megawatts of wind energy by the year 2020.

Northern California utility company Pacific Gas & Electric will buy 90 megawatts of wind energy - enough to power about 38,000 homes annually.

A Nevada Public Utilities Commission has authorized solar energy rentals.

A landfill gas-to-energy power plant will be built in Bay County, Michigan.

General Motors will install a rooftop solar system covering 300,000 square feet at a Baltimore County factory.

Mariah Power offers a small and relatively inexpensive vertical windmill called the WindSpire.

Sustainable Industries reports on the conflict between green builders and building codes.

Hyundai will introduce a hybrid version of its Sonata sedan to the U.S. in 2010.

–Christopher Greenspan

Activists in West Virginia are fighting community and environmental degradation. They propose a large wind energy project as an alternative to coal strip mining.

Local Green: Machinist reports on the greening of Silicon Valley.

Schools in Washington, D.C. are introducing green construction techniques to course offerings.

A solar mirror production facility in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania will create 300 jobs.

Listen to a podcast on Sacramento, California’s smart-growth plan.

New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg discussed the city’s potential for generating alternative energy.

Worldchanging looks at small-scale farming coalitions that boost sustainable agriculture in the Midwest.

Time argues that “meaningless debate over offshore drilling[...]is obscuring a far more relevant question regarding the energy crisis: how can America develop workable alternative fuels — right here and right now?”

The Center For American Progress released a report that finds that the tax breaks and subsides supported by Senator John McCain give oil companies a total of $39 billion over the next five years.

The Green Energy Community Investment Fund helps to bring solar energy systems to commercial, residential, and non-profit clients in “underserved communities.”

Solazyme - the first company to make algae diesel that meets U.S. standards - says it can produce millions of gallons within three years.

According to an I.B.M. report, all new cars could be hybrids by 2020.

–Christopher Greenspan

Senator John McCain continued his push for offshore oil drilling as a solution to high energy prices, giving a speech from a Chevron oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico. Former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack - a Barack Obama supporter - compared McCain’s energy policy to Beverly Hillbilly Jed Clampett’s stumbling upon an oil gusher.

Senior aide to Vice President Dick Cheney, F. Chase Hutto III, may become a top official at the U.S. Department of Energy.

At this week’s National Clean Energy Summit in Las Vegas, Google announced plans to invest $10 million to develop enhanced geothermal systems. Green-collar job creation has been a central focus of the summit.

Also at the summit, former President Bill Clinton presented a 10 point plan to help solve the energy crisis.

Researchers are examining the potential of camelina sativa as a biofuel.

The American Chemical Society announced the discovery of a new class of pollutants.

Local Green: Minnesota’s Democratic candidate for United States Senate, Al Franken, talked about his Apollo project for clean energy.

Though the price of crude oil has dropped since its record high price in July, home heating oil is expected to add to consumers’ energy burden this winter.

Two polls survey workers’ attitudes to green in the workplace.

– Christopher Greenspan

A 16-week training program in Ohio aims to “help continue the evolution of Toledo’s manufacturing and factory work force, which in the past was heavily invested in the automotive industry, into green-collar jobs.” In July, the state’s unemployment rate reached a 15 year high of 7.2 percent. Another 8,000 jobs could be lost if a DHL Express facility in Wilmington closes.

Solar Tech helps develop green-collar skills for the new clean energy economy.

Days after California utility company Pacific Gas & Electric announced a solar power deal that could generate enough energy for 239,00 homes (or 800 megawatts,) Southern California Edison unveiled a wind energy project capable of providing up to about 900 megawatts of power. In June, Southern California Edison announced a smaller but significant solar energy project.

New Energy Finance predicts the price of solar grade silicon could drop by up to 43 percent by next year.

The Los Angeles Times hosts a week long energy security debate between Jerry Taylor, a Cato Institute senior fellow, and  V. John White, the Executive Director of Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies.

In Saturday’s Democratic Radio Address, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called for releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve:

At yesterday’s National Clean Energy Summit, Former President Bill Clinton said that an energy independent state - such as Nevada or Puerto Rico - would “capture the public’s imagination” and demonstrate the economic feasibility of renewables.

A New York Times editorial urges the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration to increase auto fuel efficiency standards beyond the minimum 35 m.p.g. by 2020 required by law.

–Christopher Greenspan

Governor Bill Ritter says Colorado’s wind energy capacity quadrupled in the past 18 months.

Vestas Wind Systems, a Danish manufacturer of wind energy equipment, will open two factories in Colorado and create 1,350 “high-paying manufacturing jobs.”

Senator Barack Obama met with T. Boone Pickens to discuss how to decrease dependence on foreign oil and boost renewable energy use.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that Congress would vote next month on an energy plan that includes a partial lifting of an offshore oil drilling ban.

The National Clean Energy Summit sponsored by the Center for American Progress Action Fund, U.S. Senator Harry Reid, and University of Nevada, Las Vegas begins today.

The Huffington Post highlights “Two Models for Financing the Energy Revolution.”

National Public Radio’s “Science Friday” explored geothermal energy last week.

The Economic Policy Institute’s report “The State of Working America” finds that while economic productivity has grown rapidly since 1995, “wages, income, and wealth are being drawn to the very top earners.”

The Consumer Price Index rose 5.6 percent over the past year - the largest annual increase since January 1991.

Local Green: A new report finds that California’s economy stands to gain $60 billion and 200,000 manufacturing jobs if the state produces a third of its energy through renewables by 2020.

Market Watch interviewed SunPower C.E.O. Tom Werner about the huge solar power project slated for California.

A New Hampshire couple installed “the first residential 15 kilowatt (wind turbine) in the world outside the U.K.”

–Christopher Greenspan

Pacific Gas & Electric announced a plan to purchase 800 megawatts of photovoltaic solar power from two San Francisco Bay Area companies - enough to power 239,000 homes. California mandates that utility companies in the state produce at least 20 percent of their energy through renewables by 2010.

Scientists at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts developed a way to collect energy from solar-heated asphalt.

Duke Energy Carolinas plans to install solar panels on hundreds of homes and businesses. Duke will own the equipment and energy produced and will pay for equipment and maintenance.

Campaign Watch: A new Rasmussen Reports poll finds that voters favor Republicans’ energy plans.

A radio spot paid for by the Republican Party of New Mexico attacks Barack Obama’s support of tire inflation as a gas conservation method.

G.M. is marketing its plug-in hybrid Chevy Volt in a major way.  The auto company was hit hard by its dependence on S.U.V. sales.

Eddy Rubi, Director of the United States Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, believes genomics will help develop new biofuels and move us away from corn-ethanol dependency.

TPMtv spoke with Van Jones about environmental and social justice at last month’s Netroots Nation convention in Austin:

The San Francisco Chronicle covers what it would mean if the right to unionize were a civil right.

Green Jobs Now is a national day of action that will take place on September 27, 2008, highlighting the need for a green economy that will lift people out of poverty.  Apollo is a partner!

–Christopher Greenspan

Inflation-adjusted income dropped in middle-class households between 2000 and 2007, according to a Harvard Law School professor.

A recent Bill Moyers program addressed the issue of income and wealth inequality in the United States.  It has reverted to levels not seen since the 1920’s.

A windfall oil profits tax in Alaska will help residents cope with high fuel prices.

According to the Federal Highway Administration, the decline in American driving since November tops the 1970’s total decline.

Auto parts industry executives worry that the current auto slump will cause American automakers to fall behind in the race to develop cleaner technologies.

A new M.I.T. report says that the United States could halve fuel consumption by 2035 with hybrid and plug-in autos.

The Huffington Post argues that the “all of the above” energy option put forth by conservatives falls short on clean energy.  And to toot our horn a bit, the article mentions Apollo.

Grist sums up this summer’s Congressional debate on energy and accuses the media of missing the most important points.

Thomas L. Friedman argues that the presidential candidates should focus on extending renewable energy tax credits instead of producing “bogus rhetoric” about clean energy.

A National Clean Energy Summit - hosted by the Center For American Progress Action Fund, Senator Harry Reid, and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas - will take place on August 19th.

The Department of Energy will invest $24 million in grid integration projects to bring solar energy online.

LOCAL GREEN: New Yorkers consider the possibility of vertical farms.

Central New York Works is an organization that connects prospective employees, employers, and training services in an effort to build the region’s green economy.

-Christopher Greenspan