Wal-Mart plans to cut 20 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions from its supply chain by 2015.

Senators Mark Warner, D-Va., and Jeff Bingaman D-N.M., will introduce a bill that would establish HOME STAR - a program that offers consumer rebates for energy efficiency retrofits. If passed, the bill is expected to create nearly 170,000 construction and manufacturing jobs.

Calling the current rise of climate change denial the “O.J. moment of the 21st century,” climate scientist Bill McKibben reflects on how climate change deniers have effectively manipulated a few tiny doubts in an overwhelming mountain of evidence.

A piece at the Huffington Post laments the South Dakota House of Representatives’ passage of a bill calling for “the balanced teaching of global warming in the public schools.”

MIT’s Ignite Clean Energy Competition is partnering with the California-based CleanTech Open.

PlanetSolar - the world’s largest solar powered boat - can capture over 100 KW of solar energy.

Local Green: Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm calls Dow Chemical’s $1 billion clean energy expansion in wind, solar and advanced battery technology projects “a triple play for our nation’s clean energy future.”

Senator Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, is renewing efforts to pass a bill that would establish a clean energy manufacturing fund. The IMPACT Act - based largely on the Apollo Alliance’s Green Manufacturing Action Plan - would create a $30 billion revolving manufacturing loan fund to help domestic manufacturers retool  facilities to make clean energy systems and components.

Two Virginia-based companies are proposing wind energy projects about 12 miles off the Virginia Beach coast.

–Christopher Greenspan

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., wants to see a revised clean energy and climate bill hit the Senate floor as soon as possible, reports the Washington Post. Senator John Kerry, D-Mass., who is currently at work on a bill with Senators Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., thinks legislation could be ready within two weeks.

A Washington Post editorial argues that a carbon tax, aside from curbing global warming, is in the nation’s economic interest.

U.S. utilities increased energy efficiency spending by 43 percent in 2009, says the Consortium for Energy Efficiency.

Projects turning methane gas from landfills into energy have increased by more than 25 percent since 2005, according to the E.P.A.

The League of Conservation Voters released its 2009 National Environmental Scorecard, ranking the green voting records of Members of Congress.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act topped the U.S. Green Building Council’s list of green building legislation.

Former White House Special Adviser for Green Jobs Van Jones will lead the Center For American Progress’s Green Opportunity Initiative. Jones will receive the NAACP’s 2010 President’s Award at the organization’s annual Image Awards tomorrow.

Lotus Cars unveiled its new Evora 414E hybrid.

Plummeting Hummer sales and a botched deal with a Chinese manufacturer have led General Motors to scrap the ultimate gas guzzler.

–Christopher Greenspan

Photo courtesy of Center For American Progress Action Fund / CC BY-ND 2.0

The United Nations announced that international climate negotiations will resume in Bonn, Germany, this April. The meetings, set to occur several months before a larger conference in Mexico, are meant to speed up efforts to finalize a global climate deal.

Senator John Kerry, D-Mass., insisted that the Senate will pass comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation. Kerry echoed the assertion by Senator Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., that an energy-only bill would be “half-assed,” and said curbing carbon emissions would help create jobs and revive the economy. Kerry and Graham, along with Senator Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., are currently crafting a new energy bill.

E.P.A. director Lisa Jackson announced a timeline for the gradual adoption of CO2 regulations yesterday. Smaller sources will not face regulation until at least 2016.

The Center for American Progress lays out eight reasons America needs a jobs bill now.

Former White House Special Adviser for Green Jobs Van Jones will receive the NAACP’s President’s Award this Friday.

Pop/Hip-Hop act Black Eyed Peas is joining a coalition that includes Green For All and the League of Conservation Voters in an effort to promote comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation.

1980s rapper Biz Markie performed on Monday as part of a Hip Hop Caucus Clean Energy Now Tour event.

Local Green: New York state senators unanimously approved a net metering bill, making businesses that generate their own renewable energy eligible for energy credits.

Chicago’s Mercy Hospital and Medical Center will be getting 10 percent of its electricity through wind power, beginning in March.

–Christopher Greenspan

Photo courtesy of United Nations / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

A $1.4 billion federal loan guarantee - the largest ever for a renewable energy project - will help BrightSource Energy build three solar thermal energy plants that could generate electricity for 140,000 California homes.

A new National Renewable Energy Laboratory analysis finds that U.S. wind energy capacity may be three times higher than previously believed.

The federal government and 11 Atlantic Coast states are planning a consortium to help speed the planning and permitting of offshore wind projects in the region.

NRDC Action Fund’s Heather Taylor explains “Why Climate Change Deniers Should Still Support Green Energy.”

Over the past decade, clean energy job growth has been twice as strong as overall job growth, says former Apollo Alliance President Jerome Ringo, and comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation will unleash “a torrent of economic innovation.”

Carbon capture and storage projects are gaining support in the United States. But will they be affordable and safe? A piece at Yale360 explores the issue.

Local Green: The “Cleveland Model” of worker-owned cooperatives springing up in the shrinking rustbelt city is creating good, green jobs in a region of the country devastated by the transnational, corporate economic model that has dominated the global economy for the past 30 years, reports the Nation (via Grist).

A new study predicts clean energy and energy efficiency investments will bring 7,000 long-term jobs to Utah.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s freezing of more than $150 million of the state’s clean energy fund could stunt one of the state’s economic bright spots.

–Christopher Greenspan

Photo courtesy of Jeremy Levine Design / CC BY 2.0

President Obama recently dismissed claims that regional snowstorms in any way challenge the science of global climate change.

A recent segment on the Colbert Report mocked the “snowstorms disprove climate change” logic to more humorous effect.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu continued his push for U.S. clean tech investment, warning that America is in danger of falling behind other nations as a leader in green technology.

A new round of Senate climate bill negotiations could be set in motion this week, reports Reuters.

Federal regulators approved Google Energy’s bid to buy and sell energy in bulk. The ruling will help Google in its efforts to regulate energy consumption through its data centers.

Facebook’s plan to locate a new data center in a region served by Pacific Power - a utility largely dependent on coal - has generated a lot of opposition, especially from Greenpeace. But a piece at Grist says the outrage may be misplaced.

Bloom Energy’s wireless Bloom Box can generate electricity with a variety of fuels. A 60 Minutes segment on the fuel cell suggested it could do for energy storage what laptops did for computing.

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IBM Research unveiled a new copper, tin, zinc, selenium and sulfur (CTZSS) solar cell that could push the complexly designed hardware into the mainstream of photovoltaic production.

German company Ferrostaal will use technology developed by California’s eSolar in power plants built in Europe, South Africa, and the Middle East.

–Christopher Greenspan

The European Union is on target to meet its goal of generating 20 percent of its energy through renewables by 2020, according to the European Wind Energy Association.

The Asian Development Bank says it plans to raise another $100 million in clean energy venture capital.

Representative Ed Markey, D-Mass., says the Recovery Act has successfully boosted America’s role in the global green-tech market, created jobs, and saved Americans energy and money.

So far, only about a third of the $90 billion earmarked for clean energy in the federal stimulus has been spent, reports the Christian Science Monitor.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Energy Secretary Steven Chu discussed the post-Copenhagen landscape, nuclear power, and possible Republican supporters of a climate and clean energy bill.

Sixteen lawsuits have been filed against the E.P.A.’s “endangerment” ruling, which recognizes large-scale CO2 emissions as a public health threat.

Five neighborhoods across the country have been selected as pilot sites for the E.P.A.’s new Office of Sustainable Communities, which works to strengthen transportation, create jobs and educational opportunities, and build safe, affordable homes. The E.P.A. is a member of the interdepartmental Partnership for Sustainable Communities, along with Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Transportation.

Local Green: The College of Southern Nevada wants to cut its energy costs in half with a distributed solar array.

The California State Assembly approved a net metering bill that expands a credit program for Californians who generate their own solar energy. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is expected to sign the bill next week.

–Christopher Greenspan

Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/simeon_barkas/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

As more than 90 utilities across the country set up pilot projects, USA Today reports on how America is embracing the coming of smart grids.

The U.S. electrical grid network “resembles the roads and highways of the mid-twentieth century,” says a piece at Grist, but what we need is a grid that resembles the modern interstate highway system.

President Obama’s recent nod to nuclear energy and the slow pace of federal climate and clean energy legislation have killed the excitement many environmentalists felt last year when Obama took office, reports a piece in the New York Times.

The Hip Hop Caucus Clean Energy Now! Bus Tour begins today in New Orleans. The tour brings together youth, people of color, faith communities, and business leaders in a united call for a fast and just transition to a clean energy economy.

A piece at the Huffington Post argues that reducing our oil imports is crucial to strengthening American security.

The United Nation’s new climate financing task force is charged with helping poorer nations cut greenhouse gas emissions and cope with the effects of climate change.

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman gets behind the “global weirding” concept.

Ocean-going cargo ships that reduce their speed can generate huge fuel savings while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Local Green: Construction of what could be the nation’s first wave energy farm has begun off the coast of Oregon.

Governors from the mid-Atlantic states will meet in Washington this week to discuss the future of the region’s offshore wind energy.

The changing climate has caused a 33 percent decrease in Northern California’s coastal fog, threatening the health of the region’s redwood groves.

–Christopher Greenspan

Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/dukeenergy/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellite data shows January’s land and ocean surface temperatures to be the fourth highest on record.

A National Climatic Data Center study finds that U.S. weather stations may be slightly underestimating temperature increases.

The global clean energy market could be worth $2 trillion in 10 years, and the nations with the smartest clean energy policies will be cashing in, says a piece at the Huffington Post.

Nike, Starbucks and other Northwestern businesses are calling on Congress to pass legislation that will help American companies take advantage of the coming clean energy boom.

A piece at Grist argues that the best way to green the Olympics is to stop moving them around.

New York Fashion Week’s Green Shows are evidence of a growing interest in sustainable design.

Local Green: Businesses, politicians and environmental groups are urging Maryland lawmakers to approve solar energy incentives they say will help the state reduce its greenhouse gas emissions while creating new jobs.

San Francisco and Houston are preparing their energy infrastructure for the first wave of mass-marketed electric cars, which are expected to hit the streets later this year.

Students at the Univesity of Wisconsin are calling on state legislators to include clean energy education and training provisions in the state’s Clean Energy Jobs Act.

–Christopher Greenspan

Photo courtesy of Joe Shlabotnik/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

The Global Wind Energy Council estimates that wind energy capacity grew by nearly 31 percent last year.

The Interior Department released its final offer on potential offshore oil drilling areas in the Gulf of Mexico, totaling 37 million acres.

Grist reports that Senator Maria Cantwell’s (D-Washington) CLEAR Act - a cap and dividend approach to CO2 regulations - is gaining momentum on Capitol Hill.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce announced it will legally challenge the E.P.A.’s right to regulate large-scale CO2 emissions. The Chamber has lost many high profile members in recent months due to its opposition to comprehensive climate legislation.

The New York Times looks at some clean energy and energy efficiency tax credits that have been made possible by federal stimulus money.

Bill Gates discussed terrapower reactors, which run on depleted uranium, at this year’s TED conference.

Joule Biotechnologies announced it will open a pilot facility to develop its solar-powered ethanol production system.

Local Green: Spanish wind turbine company Ingeteam Inc. says its new Milwaukee area factory will generate about 275 new jobs.

A St. Louis home weatherization program has created 39 new green jobs and is poised to generate even more, according to the Apollo Alliance and the St. Louis Urban League.

Developers of the Cape Wind project say the proposed offshore wind farm could save New England roughly $4.6 billion over the next 25 tears.

A San Francisco Bay Area start-up hopes to equip local ferries with sails and other wind harnessing devices to cut down on fuel usage.

–Christopher Greenspan

Photo courtesy of vax-o-matic / CC BY 2.0

President Obama’s proposed 2011 budget would redirect Fish and Wildlife Service activities toward climate change issues, like preparing for shifts in animal populations resulting from global warming.

A piece at Grist explains why a comprehensive clean energy and climate bill would reduce the federal deficit while an “energy-only” bill would likely increase it by $13 billion annually.

Friends of the Earth and CREDO Action want people to vote on the content of an ad firing back at attempts by Senators Lisa Murkowsi (R-Alaska) and Blanche Lincoln (D-Arkansas) to block the E.P.A.’s ability to regulate large-scale CO2 emissions.

Local Green: State and local level efforts to cut energy waste continue to grow, despite the glacial pace of federal CO2 reduction efforts, reports the New York Times.

New York’s Great Appliance Swap Out will offer $17 million in rebates to consumers who trade in old appliances for new Energy Star products.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is considering a plan that would turn California’s Lake Owens into one of the world’s largest solar farms.

Nevada utility NV Energy signed a 20-year agreement to purchase 32 megawatts of geothermal energy from the yet-to-be built Clayton Valley Geothermal Project.

A Salt Lake Tribune editorial says Utah’s regional energy-training academies will create good-paying green jobs while boosting the state’s economy.

Environmental groups say New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s plan to close a budget deficit guts the state’s Clean Energy Fund.

–Christopher Greenspan Duke Energy/ CC BY-NC-ND 2.0