The Natural Resources Defense Council says the E.P.A.’s new automobile fuel efficiency standards will save consumers $65 billion over the next decade, while slashing oil consumption by 1.3 billion barrels a day. The new regulations will target “upstream” emissions created when electric vehicles are charged.

Check out Grist’s “everything you need to know guide” for the new fuel economy regulations.

People in 30 North American cities held demonstrations against the fossil fuel industry as part of “Fossil Fools Day” yesterday.

Three Volkswagen vehicles were awarded the 2010 World Green Car of the Year award for their use of BlueMotion energy efficiency technology.

A piece at Salon argues that the Obama administration’s plan to lift an offshore oil drilling ban along parts of the U.S. coastline solidifies his middle-of-the-road stance on energy, while making blanket Republican opposition to all of his policy proposals harder to maintain.

Despite being widely viewed as a failure, international climate negotiations in Copenhagen last December produced some monumental steps forward, according to new analyses from the Center For American Progress, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and Deutsche Bank.

A new lab at the Energy Department’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory is intended speed up the commercialization of advanced biofuels.

Synchrophasors measure the conditions found along electricity transmission lines in a way that could help integrate more clean energy into the nation’s power grids.

Local Green: A group of western Michigan residents are using web 2.0 platforms like facebook to help bring clean energy jobs to the region.

More Clean Energy News Sources:

• Google News daily alerts on “clean energy” and “green jobs.”
• The Climate Progress newsletter, administered by Center for American Progress.
• Alliance to Save Energy’s daily “News You Can Use” email.
• Green Energy News: free to subscribe; weekly emails sent in text-only format; RSS feed available.
• Renewable Energy World: RSS feed and e-newsletters available.
• Science Daily: RSS feed available.
• Clean Edge: RSS feed available.
• Alternative Energy News: RSS feed available.

–Christopher Greenspan

Photo courtesy of David Orban / CC BY 2.0

Dear Daily Digest reader,

Effective tomorrow, the Apollo Alliance will no longer distribute The Daily Digest. However, we would like to refer you to myriad online clean energy news sources that exist today, many of which are free and offer daily or weekly emails, RSS feeds and more. Please see the bottom of this email for a few staff recommendations.

Thank you for your continued support of the Apollo Alliance and your commitment to clean energy and good jobs!

– Apollo Staff

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar defended the federal government’s plan to lift a ban on offshore oil and gas drilling, calling it a “new direction for our country.” Salazar said the shift was a necessary part of a comprehensive energy plan that would help the U.S. decrease dependence on oil imports. A New York Times piece claims the plan has elicited “muted support” from Republicans and the oil industry, while environmental groups have denounced it.

ClimateProgress pointed to a U.S. Energy Information Administration report which found that lifting the ban on offshore oil drilling  would have a negligible impact on gas prices by 2030.

The UN’s top climate official, Yvo de Boer, doesn’t expect an international climate deal to be reached until the end of 2011.

The federal government will double its stock of electric hybrids by adding 5,000 vehicles to its fleet this year.

The electric-vehicle energy storage market could double by 2015, reports Lux research.

Electric car battery component maker Polypore International Inc. will see its shares increase by more than 46 percent in the fourth quarter “as investors bet on a global shift to low-polluting automobiles.”

Local Green: Cape Wind inked a deal to purchase 130 wind turbines for its controversial and as yet, unapproved offshore wind project on Nantucket Sound.

With the help of a plastic bag tax (5 cents per bag), Washington D.C. has reduced its bag usage from 22 million to 3 million a month.

More Clean Energy News Sources:

• Google News daily alerts on “clean energy” and “green jobs.”
• The Climate Progress newsletter, administered by Center for American Progress.
• Alliance to Save Energy’s daily “News You Can Use” email.
• Green Energy News: free to subscribe; weekly emails sent in text-only format; RSS feed available.
• Renewable Energy World: RSS feed and e-newsletters available.
• Science Daily: RSS feed available.
• Clean Edge: RSS feed available.
• Alternative Energy News: RSS feed available.

–Christopher Greenspan