With Europe planning to cap airplane emissions and a group of businesses and environmentalists working together on making it a reality, biofuel-powered jets may become a reality in the not too distant future.

Worldchanging looks at how the economic downturn could lead to “smarter growth.”

A new report from Worldwatch Institute focuses on how green jobs can rebuild the economy and reduce humanity’s carbon footprint.

Environmentalists, bankers and investors are lobbying to be included in the federal green New Deal-type programs that are expected to materialize.

Van Jones lays out a plan for the Green New Deal.

The Center For American Progress created a green-collar jobs slide show.

Alternet rounds up players in the coast-to-coast “solar gold rush.”

Local Green: The Green Energy Academy prepares high school students in New Jersey for clean energy careers.

The Federal Maritime Commission is challenging the newly-instated pollution control programs at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

The Kansas City Star examines how the tax policies of Obama and McCain might effect the nation’s widest income gap since the 1920’s.

–Christopher Greenspan

American International Group’s (A.I.G.) financial troubles are reverberating through the nation’s public transportation systems.

The Yale Forum on Climate Change and the Media looks at the growth of public transit ridership.

Earth2Tech reports that the clean energy downturn has generated enthusiasm among some venture capitalists.

Institute For Local Self-Reliance co-founder David Morris argues that the current clean energy downturn is similar to the one that occurred in 1981, but this time it “is in better shape for a fight.”

Green For All put together a video montage of highlights from September’s Green Jobs Now day of national action.

A piece at The Huffington Post looks at the relationship between conservatism, morality, and inequality.

Local Green: The International Herald Tribune takes a close look at 30 years of successful energy efficiency policy in California.

The San Francisco Bay Guardian looks at the energy related California state ballot propositions 7 and 10 (along with city proposition H).

Colorado utility company Xcel Energy has decided to drastically cut its solar energy subsidy program.

First Solar will invest $25 million in Solar City - a solar panel leasing startup.

The Biokube Venus is a septic system that can make household wastewater safe for watering lawns.

–Christopher Greenspan

National Public Radio asks if the U.S. can “go green even when oil prices drop.”

The Street.com wonders if large utility companies can fill the “green energy finance gap.”

Green Mountain Development Corporation created a subsidiary to commercialize new clean energy technology.

Dan Reicher, an Apollo Alliance Board Member and Google’s energy guru, explains why Google sees ‘green in green’ in today’s New York Times.

HelioVolt opened its first “high-performance thin film solar energy products” factory in Austin, Texas.

Over half of the investors in T. Boone Pickens’ energy fund have called it quits. 60 Minutes hosted an in-depth look at Pickens this past Sunday.

Local Green: Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski announced plans for statewide clean energy legislation that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions, produce more green buildings, invest in clean energy, and grow “sustainable transportation.”

A new hydroelectric plant along the Kentucky River is expected to generate enough energy to supply 2,000 homes.

Goodhue Wind L.L.C., a community wind company, plans to supply midwestern homes and businesses with 78 megawatts of energy.

A U.N. report released last week found that U.S. cities had inequality levels rivaling those in Africa.  Last week, Apollo Digest pointed out a similarly-themed O.E.C.D. report.

–Christopher Greenspan

A new report from Greenpeace and the European Renewable Energy Council claims that the world could completely eliminate fossil fuel use by 2090.

An op-ed at The Huffington Post shrugs off wide-spread panic about the fall of clean energy, arguing that “investing in domestic production of solar power, wind energy, sustainable biofuels, electric vehicles, smart-grid technologies, and dozens of other clean-tech sectors may be the best way out of this fiscal mess.”

The E.P.A.’s Green Power Partner of the Year Award award went to Intel Corporation and Cisco Systems in recognition of “their voluntary efforts to address climate change by purchasing green power and helping advance the development of the nation’s green power market.”

Cascade Energy launched its line of “quieter than a whisper” wind turbines yesterday.

The American Wind Association reports that eight new wind turbine factories opened last year, while nine others increased capacity.

Local Green: Florida Power and Light Co. (F.P.L.) will cut part of its wind power program as part of an overall 25 percent cut of capital expenditures next year.

The California Public Utilities Commission rejected plans for the state’s first commercial wave energy project last week.

A former landfill will become the site of Western North Carolina’s first large-scale solar energy project.

Hundreds of students and parents in a Chicago suburb took to the streets to demand walkable school routes for children.

Green Inc. gets into Halloween mode with a piece on organic pumpkins.

–Christopher Greenspan

The Maryland State Police listed the Chesapeake Climate Action Network - a group dedicated to the “peaceful promotion of windmills and solar panels to solve global warming” - as a terrorist organization for 13 months.

The AFL-CIO’s chief economist advocated for an economic recovery plan for working families before the House Education and Labor Committee.

Energy Outlook speculates on how the financial downturn and cheaper gas will effect the auto industry.

Evergreen Solar Inc. is suing Lehman Brothers for the return of over $30 million worth of borrowed Evergreen shares that Evergreen says was transferred illegally during the financial giant’s recent bankruptcy negotiations.

New measurement techniques revealed that atmospheric levels of the greenhouse gas nitrogen trifluoride are four times higher than previously estimated.

M.I.T. scientists developed a solar energy storage process loosely based on photosynthesis that could lead to “unlimited solar power.”

Due to booming business, solar cell manufacturer Solar Power Industries Inc. expects to generate 1,500 new jobs by 2011.

Duke Energy’s $100 million plan to provide rooftop solar panels in North Carolina has been cut in half.

Xconomy looks at algae biomass prospects.

Local Green: New Jersey is considering landfill-generated methane gas to help supply 30 percent of its electricity with renewables by 2020.

Upstate New York grapples with balancing historic land use patterns with meeting clean energy goals .

–Christopher Greenspan

Data released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration shows a correlation between low per capita greenhouse gas emissions and “aggressive renewable energy and/or efficiency programs.”

The Department of the Interior will open 190 million acres of federal land to develop geothermal energy.

Thomas Friedman argues that “we can’t afford a financial bailout that also isn’t a green buildup - a buildup of a new clean-energy industry that strengthens America and helps the planet.”

Van Jones discusses the green-collar economy on Time’s Greencast.

Newsweek interviewed Julie Sze, director of the Environmental Justice Project at the University of California, Davis, about the disproportionately large effect of pollution on poor communities.

Small-scale private solar projects and large utility companies could benefit from each other while greening the power grid.

Scientists are working to make “artificial photosynthesis” a means of clean energy production.

The Future of Things reports on the clean energy potential of nitrogen-fixing bacteria.

Local Green: A new solar-thermal energy facility began operations in Bakersfield, California yesterday.

Oregon approved regulations requiring businesses to report their greenhouse gas emissions.

–Christopher Greenspan

The United Nations calls for a “Green New Deal” focused on clean energy investment to boost the global economy.

Grist looks at green economic stimulus package ideas.

Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) discussed the possibility of federally sponsored initiatives for a national clean energy grid.

The 26-year federal ban on offshore oil drilling expired last month, leaving states to decide on much of the issue.

The E.P.A. released its 2009 automobile Fuel Economy Guide this week.

Despite reports that the economic crisis led General Electric to abandon new clean energy investments, the company said yesterday that it expects revenue from its “Ecomagination” line to grow by 21 percent this year.

Google introduced a cool online energy saving calculator.

Local Green: Just weeks after the state awarded money to build a 350 megawatt offshore wind farm near Atlantic City, New Jersey Governor Jon S. Corzine unveiled the state’s Energy Master Plan.  Yesterday he said the plan would create 20,000 new jobs, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and save $30 billion annually in energy costs.

A Seattle Times op-ed argues that the region’s existing industrial infrastructure should be used to create a green-collar economy.

A pilot program for making switchgrass-based ethanol began operations in Tennessee.

–Christopher Greenspan

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development studied 30 nations and found that the United States trailed only Turkey and Mexico in income inequality.

A piece in The Wall Street Journal asserts that the upfront costs of clean energy investments make the industry exceptionally vulnerable to the credit crunch.

Despite the wide-ranging pessimism about the future of clean energy, one pundit asserts that “it is WAY too early to say how this economic crisis is going to affect the prospects for serious climate change action in the U.S.”

Bloomberg reports on why presidential candidate Barack Obama is a favorite among clean-tech venture capitalists and entrepreneurs.

Despite skepticism in the scientific community, Blacklight Power raised $60 million to research the “hydrino” - a physically altered atomic state said to be able to produce cheap, clean energy.

The New York Times reviewed the Frontline documentary, “Heat,” which reviews the recent history of government and business responses to global climate change and clean energy programs.

Local Green: Hawaii’s largest utility plans to generate 70 percent of the state’s energy through renewables by 2030. The Hawaiian Clean Energy Initiative includes converting fossil fuel generators to biofuels, bringing 1,100 megawatts of clean energy to the power grid, and building no new coal plants.

The Fourth Conference On Clean Energy will focus on New England’s clean energy economy when it is held in Boston on November 18-19.

The California State University system is partnering with SunEdison to bring solar power to 15 college campuses.

–Christopher Greenspan

General Electric announced that future clean energy projects are on hold due to an investment capital shortage.

H.P. unveiled plans to more than double its purchase of clean energy to total 8 percent by 2012.

The production costs of hybrid vehicles may be reduced by two-thirds over the next decade.

Scientific American looks at the future of offshore wind power.

Local Green: Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell announced a plan to invest $12 million in clean energy and energy conservation efforts that will create 1,200 jobs and bring the state $118 million in private investment.

Oakland, California launched its Green-Collar Jobs Corps program on Monday.

A new study by Next 10 - an organization that promotes environmental innovation in California - finds that the state’s clean energy mandates will create 400,000 jobs and generate $76 billion by 2020. The state’s energy efficiency efforts already have created 1.5 million jobs over the last 30 years, the study said.

The Boston Globe explains how following California’s clean energy lead could bolster the national economy.

Van Jones discussed his new book, “The Green-Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems,” with Grist and The Huffington Post.

The AFL-CIO Now blog argues that a worker lockout in Illinois “offers yet another example of why passage of the Employee Free Choice Act is needed to provide fairness in the workplace.”

–Christopher Greenspan

SunPower C.E.O. Tom Werner believes that the economic downturn will initiate a “flight to quality” investments, which would be good news for solar energy.

Despite generally optimistic reports from this year’s annual Solar Power International Conference in San Diego, some have concerns over the industry’s immediate future.

Gunther Portfolio wonders how the extension of renewable energy tax credits to large utilities will effect independent producers.

The Street asks whether solar companies and large utilities will be “friends or foes.”

Though the federal extension of renewable energy tax credits  help the renewable energy industries, the credit crunch is putting projects on hold.

Yale’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies Dean James Gustave Speth argues for a populist environmentalism that curbs wasteful economic growth.

Greenbiz.com attended the Green Manufacturing Summit held in San Francisco last week.

Local Green: The New York Times looks at California state ballot proposition 7, a controversial measure that supporters say “would set among the toughest standards in the country for increasing wind, solar and geothermal sources of electrical power.”  However, it is opposed by “virtually every constituency pushing to wean the state off fossil fuels.”

Minnesota wants to expand and improve its power grid to transport its growing clean energy supply.

Think Progress (via Alternet) argues that recent conservative attacks on ACORN, the “nation’s largest grassroots community organization,” stem from a fear “of millions of new low-income voters” that the group registered.

–Christopher Greenspan