“Enacting policies to incentivize and invest in renewable energy and energy efficiency[...]can revitalize domestic industries like manufacturing and construction, and increase the production of home-grown American energy technologies to power our nation to a more secure and sustainable future,” argue Reps. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., and Steve Israel, D-NY.

Colorado Governor Bill Ritter (who is in Washington, D.C., this week for the Good Jobs, Green Jobs conference) spoke with Newsweek about how the Deepwater Horizon oil spill could affect the clean energy debate.

A new Economics and Statistics Administration report (pdf) says America’s green job growth has been slow but consistent over the past three years.

A piece at Grist argues that while vehicle efficiency is an important component of green cities,  it is only one part of a system that should include high quality mass transit and dense development patterns.

The Washington Post’s Ezra Klein argues that President Obama’s failure to use the Deepwater Horizon oil spill to build support for clean energy may be more a matter of timing than indifference to the opportunity.

Local Green: Clean energy advocates in Georgia hope the Deepwater Horizon disaster will serve as a wake up call and help push plans for offshore wind projects off the state’s coast forward.

An initiative to postpone the implementation of California’s global warming bill (AB 32) has made it onto the state’s November ballot, largely due to the efforts of Texas oil companies and anti-tax groups. Former Secretary of State George Shultz sees California’s climate bill as an important part of the nation’s national security strategy and has vowed to fight its opponents.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger celebrated the completion of the first phase of the Tehachapi Renewable Transmission Project - a plan that could bring renewable energy to 3 million homes.

Minneapolis, which was voted America’s best city for cycling by Bicycling Magazine, will launch the nation’s largest bike share program next month.

–Christopher Greenspan

Photo courtesy of TheBlackHour.com / CC BY-NC 2.0

The International Energy Agency warned that failing to produce a climate treaty could lead to a doubling of energy prices for the world’s largest fossil fuel consumers. $500 billion will be added to global energy costs for each year that passes without an agreement.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon urged U.S. Senators to speed up efforts to produce a clean energy and climate bill before next month’s international climate summit in Copenhagen.

President Obama said he would attend the Copenhagen summit if “we are on the brink of a meaningful agreement and my presence in Copenhagen will make a difference in tipping us over edge.”

Energy Secretary Steven Chu is heading to China and India this week to promote clean energy partnerships with the two nations.

News that much of our economic stimulus funding allotted for clean energy projects is going to China and other nations has sparked controversy and outrage recently. But the U.S. has always been dependent on foreign clean energy manufacturers, argues a piece at the Energy Collective, which should serve to remind Americans that we need to invest in domestic clean energy manufacturing.

The Applied Research Center’s Green Equity Toolkit provides resources for ensuring “women and people of color have access to high-quality jobs and careers.”

The Daily Climate ran the first installment of a three part special report on the Consequences of Copenhagen.

Local Green: Delaware, Maryland and Virginia are combining efforts to advance offshore wind power projects in the tri-state region.

New York City’s Transportation Department announced a 26 percent increase in bicycling for 2009.

–Christopher Greenspan

Photo courtesy of Senor Codo / CC BY-SA 2.0

Clean Energy Round Up: Clean Energy Fuels Corp. and GM are set to open a hydrogen fueling station in Los Angeles.

PG&E announced that it plans to begin using some new solar and biofuel energy sources. The contracted energy, acquired from San Joaquin Solar LLC, would power 78,000 homes. Plus: Triplepundit looks at how California’s San Joaquin Valley is becoming a solar belt.

Over at Yale Environment 360, Denis Hayes writes that a cap-and-trade system is not the answer to our current carbon problems and that an entirely new energy strategy must be adopted.

As noted here last week, Representative Edward J. Markey (D-MA) introduced his iCAP legislation just before the Senate began its failed debate on the Lieberman-Warner climate bill. Below is a Center For American Progress video of Markey discussing his proposal.

Clint Wilder discusses the emerging clean energy age and the opportunity it presents for us to create a new “Greatest Generation.”

In response to a recent San Francisco Controller’s report that asserts green building would hurt the local economy, an op-ed from the U.S. Green Building Council argues (citing Davis Langdon’s 2007 study) that in the long run, green building actually reduces costs, and that cities and developers should look at green building as an investment. Plus: Treehugger looks at a very good dumb green building.

Grist takes a look at the Presidential Climate Action Project.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson urged G8 nations to back a plan that would allocate up to $10 billion to help developing countries fight global warming.

Business of Green looks at the carbon footprint of the computer age.

PG&E says it will invest billions to create an infrastructure to support plug-in hybrid vehicles and Energy Smart takes a look at the Google/Brookings Institute conference Plug-In Electric Vehicles 2008: What role for Washington?

Cities that have been promoting cycling see a pay-off as gas prices soar.

–Christopher Greenspan