A Securities and Exchange Commission ruling will require companies to disclose climate change-related financial risks to investors.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner announced $5 million in tax credits for manufacturers producing energy efficient products.

Senator Lindsey Graham (R. - South Carolina) reiterated his support for a cap-and-trade bill yesterday, making the connection between putting a price on carbon and energy independence.

The Obama administration closed a $1.4 billion loan deal with Nissan to help the company retool an auto factory in Tennessee. The loan is expected to help create 1,300 jobs.

American Petroleum Institute President Jack Gerard’s accusations that the Obama administration is slowing oil and gas development are inaccurate, according to the Interior Department. “Oil and gas production on federal lands and waters is up — not down — from 2008,” said Department spokeswoman Kendra Barkoff.

The new NRDC Action Fund PSA project, This Is Our Moment, features a handful of big Hollywood names calling for clean energy and climate legislation.

New start up Energy Climate Solutions helps colleges and universities develop clean energy and energy efficiency strategies.

Apple’s new iPad comes with the same green credentials the company’s gadgets are known for, but ultimately adds to the “huge environmental impact” consumer electronics are responsible for, argues a piece in Grist.

Local Green: Hawaii officials say the state is on track to achieve its ambitious goal of generating 40 percent of its energy through renewables by 2030.

–Christopher Greenspan

Photo courtesy of Reinvented / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

The House of Representatives passed a bill adding $4 billion to President Obama’s high speed rail initiative.

A coalition of schools, student groups and nonprofits is asking the Senate to fund President Obama’s Re-Energyse youth energy education program.  Apollo Alliance is member of the coalition.

“With home-grown energy sources, we can stop sending billions of dollars overseas and help stabilize our economy at home, ” writes E.P.A. chief, Lisa Jackson.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is urging the U.S. and China to make climate change cooperation a top priority when the two nations engage in high level meetings next week.

Grist issued climate clarity ratings for 99 Senators’ websites, grading each on how well their positions on climate change were articulated.

Roadside clean energy generation has been implemented in a few states. Now researchers, the Federal Highway Administration and other groups are considering how to further turn pavement into power.

Designboom.com reviews some taxi cab designs that ease congestion and promote efficiency.

Local Green: Nissan is refurbishing a Tennessee auto plant in order to manufacture battery-powered vehicles.

–Christopher Greenspan

Photo courtesy of yhiramatu.

House energy bill co-author, Representative Henry Waxman (D - California), cut a deal with Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson, making a yes vote in the House this Friday very likely.

President Obama bolstered support for the Waxman-Markey energy bill yesterday, encouraging the House to support the legislation, because it would “spark a clean energy transformation.”

Environmental groups are divided over the energy bill, some calling its passage a must, while others fear it gives polluters too much for modest emissions reductions.

The United States and Chile signed an agreement yesterday that strengthens scientific cooperation between the two nations, particularly in the area of clean energy.

Blackouts along America’s aging power grid cost the economy $150 billion each year.

The common refrigeration agent hydrofluorocarbon will make a larger contribution to climate change over the next few decades than previously thought.

Zeta Communities aims to design relatively inexpensive, prefabricated, ‘zero energy’ homes.

Local Green: Rhode Island issued nearly $700,000 in grant money to 17 renewable energy projects.

Climate Week NYC will be held in September to boost support for an international climate treaty by year’s end.

–Christopher Greenspan