Clean energy asset financing in China soared in the second quarter of 2010, outpacing investments in the U.S. and Europe combined.

President Obama and key Democrats are gearing up to get clean energy legislation on the Senate floor before the August recess.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., introduced legislation that would change the bidding process for wind and solar companies that wish to use Bureau of Land Management properties.

A recent Ceres report argues that U.S. utilities will need to focus on cleaner and more efficient electricity in order to stay competitive in the 21st century.

An organization calling itself “CO2 is Green” - composed of some of “the world’s largest polluters and those who stand to profit from our continued dependence on fossil fuels” - has launched a new ad campaign attacking clean energy and climate legislation.

A piece at Grist weighs the dangers to the economy posed by the federal oil drilling moratorium against the dangers to the economy posed by a fossil-fuel industry with a history of cutting corners on safety.

General Motors announced the Chevy Volt’s lithium-ion battery will include an 8-year, 100,000-mile warranty.

Local Green: California is suing federal mortgage groups Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for their attempts to halt Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) programs. Berkeley - one of the state’s progressive strongholds - was the first city in the country to adopt a PACE program. California contends that PACE programs will create jobs and boost local economies.

Despite the uncertain future Fannie and Freddie have created for PACE, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon signed PACE legislation into law on Monday. Members of the Missouri Apollo Alliance played a key role in getting the legislation approved.

Warming waters could have a detrimental effect on New England’s once great fisheries, reports Scientific American.

–Christopher Greenspan

Photo courtesy of filmmaker in japan

Clean energy jobs and traditional energy jobs were a hot topic of debate during yesterday’s Senate hearings on climate and clean energy legislation.

Senatorial testimony opposing clean energy jobs legislation ironically reinforced arguments in favor of it, illustrating how the “do nothing” federal policies of the last eight years have decimated blue collar industries.

The Sierra Club’s Carl Pope explains why reducing CO2 emissions 20 percent by 2020 is not nearly as ambitious as critics of the Senate’s Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act claim.

$2.2 billion in U.S. Treasury bonds will help hundreds of public power companies strengthen their renewable energy portfolios.

A new study published in Science suggests the greenhouse effect of methane gas has been underestimated.

A joint U.S.-China wind power project - the largest between the two nations so far - will bring more than 600 megawatts of clean energy to Texas. The project is expected to create 300 construction jobs.

Renewable Funding - a company that helps home and business owners with clean energy and energy efficiency project costs - announced it had received more than $12 million in new venture capital funding this week. The company helped Berkeley, Calif., develop its flagship municipal clean energy financing program.

Local Green: Grist’s continuing series investigating how Senators are likely to vote on the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act profiled Senators Mark Udall (D-Colo) and Michael Bennet (D-Colo).

–Christopher Greenspan

Photo courtesy of Amanito / CC BY 2.0

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’s proposed budget would increase E.P.A. funding by 34 percent. The prospect of regulating CO2 through the agency is under serious consideration.

The Department of Energy’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan program was established in 2007 and has received 75 applications from the big three and start-ups. So far the program has not disbursed any money.

The International Herald Tribune examines how the Obama presidency is improving the prospect of an international climate agreement, and why this December’s climate summit in Copenhagen could produce a treaty that vastly improves on the Kyoto Protocol.

Thousands of young people visit their legislators today in a massive effort to highlight the need for action on climate change.  Apollo president Jerome Ringo rallied the troops in his keynote speech Saturday night.

The recession-fueled construction bust is recruiting unemployed workers into the green-collar job market.

The skiing industry is trying to cut costs and create a green image through clean energy.

Local Green: In Colorado, the Boulder County Green Jobs Pipeline and the ClimateSmart Loan Program are growing the clean energy economy and producing good jobs. The county’s green jobs summit takes place this Friday.

Communities across Massachusetts want to grab a piece of the state’s economic stimulus loot by pitching clean energy projects.

The Digest reported last week that California utility Pacific Gas & Electric is helping small solar suppliers avoid bankruptcy. The New York Times looks at how tax incentives, the prospect of city tax revenue, and disbursed energy production create a favorable climate for similar investments.

Berkeley’s Solar First program, which allows homeowners to finance solar energy projects through an assessment of property taxes, delivered its first checks last week.  “There’s no way I could have afforded solar otherwise,” said one recipient.

–Christopher Greenspan

Google and General Electric announced a partnership to develop an energy “smart grid” that would improve “power generation, transmission and distribution.”

Bill Gates is investing millions in Sapphire Energy - a start up that hopes to introduce a “commercial-scale facility to produce oil from algae.”

Stockhouse argues that despite market turmoil, “investing in clean energy companies seems like a safe bet.”

The Senate is expected to make major changes to the energy bill passed on Tuesday by the House.

House Representative Louise Slaughter (D-NY) published a piece in The Huffington Post on the energy bill.  The title of her piece is “The New Energy Future For America,” which is very close to the title of an Apollo Alliance report of 2004.

Senator John McCain will be the keynote speaker on energy at this year’s annual Clinton Global Initiative meeting.

Local Green: The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy released an ad attacking the Florida Public Service Commission’s draft report on clean energy.  The ad says the proposal’s renewable energy mandate is much weaker than what environmental groups and Governor Charlie Crist have proposed.

A study released by the California Air Resources Board found that if the state meets its mandated goal of rolling back greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, then that would create “100,000 new jobs, boost the state economy by $27 billion and increase personal income by $14 billion.”

Berkeley, California adopted a city-backed loan program for property owners that eliminates upfront costs on solar panel installations.

Talking Union argues that growing economic inequality plays a major role in the current financial crisis.

–Christopher Greenspan