Today the word in Washington is energy. The Obama administration is organizing a series of international meetings centered on climate and energy issues. The house unveiled a plan energy and climate change.  And the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee begins evaluating major energy legislation today.

According to the Progressive Studies Program survey, over three quarters of Americans agree that “America’s economic future requires a transformation away from oil, gas, and coal to renewable energy sources such as wind and solar.”

The U.S. and Canada may restrict emissions of sulfur dioxide, soot, and other pollutants from ships within 200 miles of ports.

Until the crash of Wall Street’s big banks, the wind energy industry had relied almost completely on a tax equity model for financing projects. Now the industry hopes to tap the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act to fill the gap.

The Department of Energy produced a map detailing how much federal energy efficiency funding individual cities are eligible to receive.

Awarding carbon credits to countries that reduce deforestation could drastically cut carbon-based fuel prices shifting focus away from renewables, according to a new study.

The Energy Information Administration estimates total electricity usage will shrink by 1.7 percent in 2009.

Local Green: $6.5 million dollars of American Reinvestment and Recovery Act money will fund Renew Boston - an organization aimed at fostering energy efficiency and renewable growth.

In what speaks to a turning political tide in Indiana, two bills addressing energy efficiency and net metering have been approved by the House and have a strong chance of passing through the state Senate.

–Christopher Greenspan

Chief climate-change negotiator for the White House, Todd Stern, said the U.S. would be “powerfully, fervently engaged” at upcoming global climate negotiations.

President Obama demanded that General Motors C.E.O. Rick Wagoner step down before the administration implements any further bailout loans for the auto industry.

The federal government announced modest fuel efficiency standard increases that will affect all 2011 vehicle models.

The Energy Information Administration announced that renewable energy use grew by more than 17 percent in 2008.

The Pentagon is partnering with private industries to clean up its energy supply. The largest consumer of oil in the nation, a federal mandate requires the Department of Defense to receive 25 percent of its energy from renewables by 2025.

The Obamas want to reduce the carbon footprint of the White House.

Hundreds of millions participated in Earth Hour by turning off the lights around the globe, calling attention to the connections between energy use and climate change.

According to Greenpeace, growing the clean energy economy will provide an opportunity to expand the software industry.

Interest in clean energy is “surging” at college campuses.

Local Green: Ethanol investors met with California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in hopes of derailing the state’s efforts to cut transportation-related CO2 emissions.

–Christopher Greenspan

The Department of Energy is disbursing $3.2 billion for energy efficiency projects to states including Florida, Michigan, Maryland, and Wisconsin.

Some experts say that the economic stimulus is beginning to affect the wind and solar industries positively.

The Obama administration wants to repeal oil industry tax breaks worth more than $30 billion over the next ten years. A recent Government Accountability Office (G.A.O.) report found that the United States receives a low percentage of oil industry revenues compared to many other countries.

Another new G.A.O. report found that the federal office charged with enforcing minimum wage, overtime pay, and other labor laws, regularly fails to protect American workers.

E.P.A. head Lisa Jackson believes clean energy development will meaningfully address problems as wide ranging as environmental health, energy independence, and good job creation.

A piece at Grist debunks a green jobs myths article that has been widely circulated.

A new Senate ‘gang’ calling itself the Moderate Dems Working Group is composed of legislators with close ties to aspects of the energy industry, environmentalists favor some while others are closely linked to big oil.

As television and print media prune their science journalism divisions, Climate Progress wonders if blogging has the power to become a significant replacement.

Local Green: Two New York Area utilities want to build a 700 megawatt windfarm off of the Long Island coast.

–Christopher Greenspan

Earth Hour - an unlit hour to raise global awareness about energy conservation and climate change - will take place this Saturday night. Edward Norton and Alanis Morissette discussed Earth Hour on Larry King Live last night.

Americans United For Change produced a 30 second ad in support President Obama’s budget. The group argues that the budget will produce good jobs, create clean energy, and “build real, long term economic prosperity.”

I.B.M. announced it will cut 5,000 U.S. jobs. The company says it may purchase Sun Microsystems - known for its interest in energy efficient data centers.

Recession-fueled layoffs are prompting many of the nation’s unemployed to return to school to obtain clean energy-related skills.

Grist slams The New Yorker lead story, “Economy vs. Environment,” saying the piece is “so filled with long-debunked right-wing talking points, it would barely qualify for the Wall Street Journal editorial page.”

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology developed a three dimensional solar cell surface that increases efficiency.

Local Green: An editorial by Policy Matters Ohio researcher Amanda Woodrum (author of a recent report on Ohio’s mass transit) argues that 20 percent of the state’s gas tax should fund public transit.  She argues her case so persuasively that the Akron Beacon Journal published and editorial today that agrees with her. Policy Matters Ohio convenes the Ohio Apollo Alliance.

The California Fuel Cell Partnership announced the locations of its 46 planned hydrogen fueling stations.

San Francisco might require downtown commercial building to shut off their lights after hours.

The Kansas legislature approved a bill aimed at attracting wind and solar energy manufacturers to the state.

Maine and New Brunswick want to create an international Northeast Energy Corridor to share renewable power.

–Christopher Greenspan

Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter was the lone Republican supporter of the last piece of pro-union legislation on the Senate floor, but he will not vote for the Employee Free Choice Act.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar rejected California Senator Dianne Feinstein’s request (mentioned in the Digest earlier this week) to halt solar energy projects on 500,000 acres of the Mojave Desert.

The Interior Department is dividing U.S. lands into renewable energy zones. “You are going to see significant conflict over renewable energy and how we site renewable energy facilities,” said Salazar.

Representative Chris Van Hollen (D. - Maryland) introduced the Green Bank Act of 2009 yesterday, which would create a financial institution solely engaged in clean tech development.

President Obama used a discussion with International Space Station crew members to highlight the need to develop clean energy.  The President also mentioned Serious Materials. “Yesterday I met with a man whose company is reopening a factory outside of Pittsburgh that’s rehiring workers to build some of the most energy efficient windows in the world,” President Obama said.

Despite business community fears that adopting greenhouse gas emission regulations could put other nation’s at a competitive advantage, efficient manufacturing is generally cleaner, cheaper, and more competitive.

Local Green: Ohio lawmakers will introduce a bill that would require the installation of solar panels on a quarter of all public school buildings.

A debate is growing between those that want California’s Carrisa Plains to house three solar facilities and those who fear large scale projects will degrade the land.

San Francisco wants to introduce a solar rooftop financing plan similar to Berkeley’s, which helps home and business owners pay installation costs through property taxes.

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) in Minnesota prepare for the clean energy future with training programs in solar and wind power.

–Christopher Greenspan

President Obama continues his week long campaign to promote his budget proposal with a discussion of its clean energy provisions. “We can remain the world’s leader of exporting foreign oil or become the leading exporter of renewable energy… we have known the right choice for a generation,” Obama told clean energy entrepreneurs gathered at the White House yesterday.

The E.P.A. proposes to regulate CO2 as a public health hazard - a move widely viewed as “a key precursor to regulating greenhouse gas emissions as pollutants.”

City life generates far lower levels of per capita CO2 than suburban and rural living.

As mentioned yesterday, the Department of Energy issued its first guaranteed clean energy loan in four years ($500+ in support of solar panel maker Solyndra Inc.), but the next round of loans may not reach the bulk of the battered clean tech industry until 2010.

The recession may be pounding the clean energy industry, but tough times have spiked interest in energy efficiency.

An Atlanta Journal Constitution editorial argues that America’s current wave of populist outrage should be directed at correcting the nation’s growing economic inequality.

Local Green: Oregon State University says a student approved renewable energy fee has helped the institution cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent.

Though no one was seriously discussing renewable energy in Utah four years ago, they are now a “centerpiece in our economic development efforts,” said Governor Jon Huntsman.

Texas plans to use $180 million in federal stimulus money to construct a four-lane toll road that will cut across a prairie 30 miles east of Houston. Intended to boost the economy and create jobs, critics claim the highway will exacerbate suburban sprawl and long commutes.  Visit our website for Apollo’s recommendations for smart use of stimulus funds.

–Christopher Greenspan

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has been dominated by oil and gas interests, but its new chairman, Jon Wellinghoff - a long time proponent of electric vehicles - says climate change will now be a focus for the commission.

Newly confirmed head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, ecologist Jane Lubchenco, takes control of the organization that will play a more significant role in determining the country’s climate policy.

Climate change expert John Holdren will take charge of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

President Obama highlighted the clean energy portion of his proposed budget in his weekly address. “There is no longer a doubt that the jobs and industries of tomorrow will involve harnessing renewable sources of energy. The only question is whether America will lead that future,” the President said.

The President called out solar panel manufacturer Solyndra Inc. The Department of Energy offered the company $535 million in guaranteed loans to support the construction of a commercial-scale plant, the first loan guarantee under the recovery act.

The unprecedented growth of energy and climate change lobbyists could mean a very complicated battle of interests is about to take place on Capitol Hill.

Utilities and other clean energy providers are growing increasingly aware of the need to develop large-scale energy storage systems.

Local Green: California Senator Diane Feinstein opposes several potential large-scale solar projects in the Mojave Desert. The proposals would variously affect a swath of 500,000 acres that were donated to the public by conservationists.

The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative - a mandatory cap-and-trade program in which 10 Northeastern states participate - raised $117 million at its third quarterly auction last week.

Critics of Chicago’s carbon offset program say it may not be reducing carbon emissions or helping to develop new clean energy sources.

With a statewide clean energy mandate believed to be a certainty in the near future, Florida seek to secure more renewable power sources.

–Christopher Greenspan

President Obama toured Southern California Edison’s electric vehicle garage to promote his plug-in hybrid development plan.  S.C.E.’s facility is one of two that have been selected by the Department of Energy to conduct research into electric car performance.  President Obama talked about clean vehicles on the Tonight Show last night.

The Yale Project on Climate Change and the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication released a report that finds overwhelming support for rapid climate change action.

The United Nations says that if just one percent of the world’s wealth were channeled into five key areas of energy development then that would spur a “Global Green New Deal.”

U.S. News & World Report interviewed Energy Secretary Steven Chu about transforming the country’s energy supply.

AFL-CIO Now Blog breaks down the Apollo Alliance’s Green Manufacturing Action Plan.

Solar energy capacity grew by 17 percent last year, but the first quarter of 2009 has been “brutal.”

Valero Energy will buy seven ethanol plants, giving the flagging ethanol industry a confidence boost.

A Western Resource Advocates report finds that oil companies have bought water rights along Western rivers in an effort to access oil shale deposits.

Local Green: Silver Spring Networks - a California-based smart grid company - believes it has raised enough cash to go public.

Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe wants to turn landfill waste into energy.

–Christopher Greenspan

The solar industry’s recession-fueled consolidation continues; Recurrent Energy purchased UPC Solar.

The political rhetoric tied to climate and energy policy is increasingly linked to potential job growth.

The House of Representatives passed the GIVE Act, legislation that if made into law has important provisions for the Clean Energy Corps.

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu says America will consider a carbon tax on imports.

Representative John Larson (D - Connecticut) introduced a carbon tax in the House last week, though many Democratic leaders prefer a federal cap-and-trade system.

Even if utilities were given a certain percentage of free carbon credits under a cap-and-trade system, companies would still pass on the cost burden to consumers.

Local Green: A combination of energy efficiency measures and renewables could inexpensively meet the Northwest’s growing energy needs while reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent within the next 40 years.

Michigan utility DTE Energy says it will build 280 wind turbines over the next two decades to comply with the state’s renewable energy portfolio standards.

Three companies plan to build new wind farms in rural Hawaii that would feed into urban Honolulu’s grid.

New Jersey News reports on the conflict building around offshore wind energy in the state.

–Christopher Greenspan

The number of new oil and gas rigs has dropped by 50 percent over last year, and experts say the trend will continue.

Oil giant Shell says it will not invest in solar and wind energy in the future and will limit its clean energy ventures to biofuels.

People’s Weekly World argues that economic recovery is tied to American labor unions’ embrace of the emerging green economy.

GreenVolts and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory are working to commercialize one the of world’s most efficient solar cell technologies.

Ethanol producer Aventine may file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

From Florida to Hawaii, states and municipalities are implementing or considering plans that pay homeowners and other small clean energy producers higher rates for the electricity they produce.

$8 billion in federal economic stimulus money may help the United States develop a high speed rail system.

Local Green: Pasadena, California’s city council approved a plan calling for  a 40 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020.

Old planning codes and regulations could impede new solar developments in New Jersey.

The New England Institute of Technology is planning 123kW of wind and solar projects it says will reduce its carbon footprint while helping to train green-collar workers.

Rockford Construction is teaming up with Spanish company Berge Logistica Energetica to supply Michigan with clean energy projects.

–Christopher Greenspan