Ohio Governor Ted Strickland announced his support for The New Apollo Program - “a national initiative to spend $500 billion in federal money to create more than 5 million green -collar jobs.”

A new study finds that 40 percent of builders believe that building green eases marketing in a stagnant economy.

Grist dreams about the clean energy projects the nation could undertake with $1.3 trillion - the combined total spent on the Wall Street bailout and the Iraq War to date.

According to an op-ed in the Huffington Post, “it is time to tax the super-rich, and put that tax revenue into programs that serve the common good.”

An op-ed in the New York Times tries to predict “what to expect from clean-tech in the downturn.”

This week Robert Kennedy Jr. told a crowd that “the way we deploy energy in this country is really the key economic and national security issue in this election.”

ABC refused to air the We Campaign’s latest television spot.

Commuter Cars‘ electric mini the Tango is the world’s narrowest car.

Local Green: The Delaware Public Service Commission approved a local utility company’s bid to purchase 170 megawatts of wind power to help the state reach its goal of producing 20 percent of its energy through renewables by 2019.

Plans for a 150 megawatt offshore wind farm are in the works for Oregon.

New York celebrated the state’s first “zero-net” energy building this week.

–Christopher Greenspan

An op-ed in Businessweek argues that interest and investment in clean-tech is passing biotech.

Yale Environment 360 examines how the the financial crisis could be a disaster for a comprehensive national climate protection program.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee released draft legislation aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions yesterday.

Local red tape is prohibiting small-scale clean energy projects in some areas.

The Boston Globe reports on how a parts shortage is slowing the implementation of wind power projects.

The U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Energy unveiled the jointly-authored “National Biofuels Action Plan” - a blueprint for environmentally responsible, “meaningful biofuels production by the year 2022.”

Local Green: Mascoma - a cellulosic ethanol startup - has raised nearly $50 million (with about half coming from the Department of Energy) to open a commercial plant in Michigan.

A Michigan State University Land Policy Institute study finds that vast wind farms in the Great Lakes could produce 321,000 megawatts of energy for the entire Upper Midwest.

New Jersey Governor John Corzine wants wind power generate 13 percent of the state’s energy by 2020.

EastbayRI.com looks at green-collar job growth in New England.

Yesterday marked the first World Day For Decent Work - an act of “global solidarity and a joint action to ensure that every worker has a job that provides basic needs.”

– Christopher Greenspan

The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy released its 2008 energy efficiency scorecard that rates all 50 states. The full report can be downloaded here.

The United States Army is undertaking a series of clean energy and energy efficiency projects that include the construction of solar and geothermal plants, the use of electric cars, and the creation of the Army Senior Energy Council.

The U.S. Department of Energy announced it will provide up to $43.1 million over four years for research and development of next generation geothermal technologies.

Cleantechnia breaks down the $17 billion clean energy tax credits.

Van Jones argues that aid in the midst of the economic crisis should not come in the form of “platinum parachutes” for the wealthy, but a “green lifeline” to the working people who want to rebuild the nation.

A new report from Climate Solutions and Clean Edge Incorporated asserts that renewables could generate 75 percent of electricity in Oregon and Washington by 2025 and create 63,000 green jobs.

“Heat” - a two hour “Frontline” special on climate change and part of PBS’s “Vote 2008″ election coverage - will air on October 21st.

Local Green: 1 Block Off the Grid is a “nationwide community-based purchasing program for residential solar energy” that aims to cut costs for residential-scale energy projects.

A year after the mayor of San Jose, California announced his green vision for the city, The San Jose Mercury News evaluates the city’s progress.

Revolution - Oklahoma’s first wind energy conference - will be held in early December.

–Christopher Greenspan

Living On Earth explored how clean energy and energy efficiency might spur the economic recovery.

Clean energy stocks have been hit harder than the broader market this year.

Some investors says that the souring clean-tech market is a good investment.

Grist looks at the early effects of the financial crisis on clean energy development.

The Los Angeles Times laments the tax credits for coal and oil shale in the $700 billion financial bailout passed last week, while The Wall Street Journal points out that tax incentives for coal amount to only $1.5 billion of the $17 billion energy package.

The bailout also includes a provision that should close a loophole that allows exported biodiesel to qualify for a tax credit.

With worker productivity up and wages down, former Labor Secretary Robert Reich argues that the current scale of American financial inequality “is bad for many reasons, but it is also bad for the economy.”

Nobel economist Joseph E. Stiglitz argues that “conservation and research into new [energy] technologies,” along with a tax system that does not favor the wealthy are crucial to U.S. economic recovery.

CQPolitics examines the conflict between cheap gas and clean energy.

Local Green: The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities approved a $4 million award to develop an offshore wind farm near Atlantic City.

Tallahasse.com urges the nation to reinforce its clean energy goals before “more than 5,400 acres of Miami-Dade County real estate worth $1.4 billion” are lost to rising sea levels.

Flint, Michigan looks to the Swedish model of biogas production to revitalize the local economy.

–Christopher Greenspan

The economy lost 159,00 jobs in September. 

The New York Times argues that even though “falling house prices are driving the collapse of the financial system” the bailout proposal “does little to avert the defaults and foreclosures that are pushing house values ever downward.”

CQPolitics.com examines how renewable energy tax credits may effect today’s House vote on the $700 billion financial bailout package.

Standard Renewable Energy C.E.O. John Berger asserts that passing the tax credits would “complete the mainstreaming of solar energy in the U.S.”

Forbes.com interviewed Clean Edge founder Ron Pernick about clean- tech.

Ben & Jerry’s and Greenpeace want to introduce green ice cream freezers to the United States.

A new study looks at mercury pollution from light bulbs.

Local Green: Oregon’s Rattlesnake Road Wind Farm began operations yesterday. When fully functional, it will generate 103 MW of energy or enough to power 30,000 homes.

According to a new report, Michigan could produce 320,000 MW of wind energy, or 10 times the total amount of electricity that currently is generated from all sources in the state.

Renewable Energy World.com published the first part of its in-depth look at clean energy in Colorado.

The University of Minnesota’s Morris campus hopes to be “energy self-sufficient” by 2010.

An anti-smog plan at the ports of Los Angeles and Long beach went into effect yesterday.

–Christopher Greenspan

The United States Conference of Mayors will release a study tomorrow that finds the nation could produce 4.2 million green-collar and clean-tech jobs by 2038.

Forbes.com reports on the growing green labor movement.  (To toot our horn, we’re mentioned in the first paragraph.)

The Senate passed (74-25) a $700 billion bailout package for Wall Street that includes an extension of renewable energy tax credits.

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders explains why he does not support the Wall Street bailout.

Counterpunch argues that “There are plenty of ways that government intervention could alleviate the financial crisis and provide urgently needed relief to working people [rather than Wall Street]. But that would involve programs, policies and priorities that the bankers despise.”

The Columbia Journalism Review connects “Energy and the Economic Bailout.”

Green Inc. looks at the credit crunch, tax credits, and the future of clean-tech finance.

The 26 year-old federal ban on offshore oil drilling expired on Monday.

Google.org unveiled a $4.4 trillion plan to get America off of fossil fuels by 2030.

French utility Veolia Environnement purchased American company Ridgeline Energy for 48.6 million euros to tap the growing U.S. wind market.

Local Green: Xcel Energy - a large, Midwestern utility - plans to convert a coal-fired burner into a biomass unit at a Wisconsin power plant.

Deepwater Wind will develop an offshore wind project in Rhode Island that could generate 15 percent of the state’s electricity.

–Christopher Greenspan

The E.P.A. created an interactive, Google Earth map of potential clean energy sites in the United States.

A new report finds that clean-tech start ups once again saw record capital investments in the third quarter, with 66 percent going to American companies.

While the immediate future of renewable energy tax credits looks grim, The Wall Street Journal speculates that a Congressional failure to extend them may not be as harmful as expected.

The United Steelworkers released a statement asserting that allowing the tax credits to expire would be detrimental to America’s job growth.

WorldChanging wonders where the green-collar jobs are.

Alternet ran a story on the Green Jobs Now national day of action on September 27th. The video below was filmed at the Oakland, California rally.

The Sierra Club became a Peer Group Partner in CleanSkies.tv.

Berkeley, California-based PVT Solar is working on a system that will utilize solar cell waste heat.

Local Green: The Apollo Alliance helped craft one of several California clean energy bills signed into law by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

In Georgia, a sales tax holiday on energy efficient products will begin on Thursday and run through the weekend.

–Christopher Greenspan

The Senate and House disagree over the specifics of renewable energy tax credit legislation, but an unexpected return to Congress later this week may provide one more chance to pass a bill before the credits expire at the end of the year.

The Alliance to Save Energy - a coalition of prominent business, government, environmental, and consumer leaders - issued a statement urging Congress to take action on renewable energy tax credits.

The International Energy Agency called for “unprecedented political commitment” to promote policies that will advance clean tech implementation and limit greenhouse gas emissions.

The U.S. Department of Energy set a new record for solar energy efficiency with a solar cell that converts over 40 percent of the light it absorbs into energy.

Local Green: Last week New York Governor David A. Paterson co-hosted the Northeast Mid-Atlantic Governors Clean Energy Forum - a two day conference that focused on potential clean energy collaborations between 11 eastern states.

The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative - a cap-and-trade program involving 10 northeastern states - raised $40 million for clean energy and energy efficiency technologies at its first auction.

The New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology will fund two new programs to aid the state’s renewable energy sector and promote small businesses.

The Huffington Post speculates on what the financial crisis may mean for the future of clean energy.

Since the root of the Wall Street crisis can found among “the millions of Americans that are losing their homes,” argues Nobel economist Joseph E. Stiglitz, a bailout package should be aimed at this “source of bleeding.”

The Real News Network reports on the mortgage crisis and the Wall Street bailout.

–Christopher Greenspan

The House approved an extension of renewable energy tax credits (approved by the Senate last week), but made some controversial changes that some believe will kill the legislation when it returns to the Senate.

The New York Times argues that this tax credit legislation is the last chance Congress has “to end the sniping and posturing and give an increasingly restive electorate an energy policy that includes something besides drilling.”

Seeking Alpha details some key provisions of the tax credits and how to profit from them.

Discover Magazine asked Senators Barack Obama and John McCain about the environment.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, 10 percent of energy produced in America is renewable.

Climate Progress crunches numbers that suggest a burgeoning geothermal industry.

The Christian Science Monitor reports on the conflict between energy and open space.

Local Green: From Iowa to South Carolina, 100,000 people rallied in communities across America for clean energy and good jobs over the weekend.

The West Texas wind power boom is generating millions in tax revenue and building new schools.

Green Tech attended West Coast Green 2008.

Good Clean Tech visited Chicago’s greenest home.

The Campaign For America’s Future issued “A Call For Common Sense” that demands that any Wall Street bailout include public oversight and “provisions should ensure use of the full array of financial and legal tools available to the government to stop foreclosures and restructure home mortgage loans for ordinary Americans.”

In the video below, Damon Silvers - a “labor official” and “financial industry expert” - spoke about the causes of the Wall Street crisis and how to “give the public a stake in the good assets.”

Thomas Friedman argues that if the financial bailout is to be more than mere respite, it must be linked to an “energy technology revolution.”

–Christopher Greenspan

Activists and unions members rallied across the country yesterday - including on Wall Street - to protest the proposed $700 billion federal bailout of the financial industry.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Robert Byrd introduced a $56 billion economic stimulus package that includes provisions for energy efficiency and environmental cleanup.

The Boston Globe published the prepared remarks of Senators John McCain and Barack Obama that were made to the Clinton Global Initiative.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the Global Carbon Project’s latest report finds “atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide are growing faster than even pessimistic scientific models assumed.”

The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative - an effort by northeastern states to limit greenhouse gas emissions by auctioning pollution credits - held its first auction yesterday.

Congress voted to uphold restrictions on high-carbon fuel imports.

The E.P.A. reports that fuel economy standards rose for the fourth straight year.

Chrysler plans to produce a plug-in hybrid or electric car by 2010.

A new United Nations report finds clean-tech is the third largest venture capital investment, and “renewable energy generates more jobs than employment in fossil fuels.”

A survey of the venture capital community finds that clean-tech investment is expected to grow in 2009, and that investors do not see renewables as a “potential investment bubble.”

–Christopher Greenspan