Posts tagged smartreads

SmartReads: Week of August 24

SmartReads is your weekly guide to all things green. This week, you’ll find a special Huffington Post book review written by SmartPower president Brian Keane, who has his own book, Green Is Good, arriving in October.

GENERAL GREEN

The Huffington Post: Green Is Good: It’s Not an Illusion — I’ve read several reviews of Ozzie Zehner’s book, Green Illusions: The Dirty Secrets of Clean Energy and the Future of Environmentalism, and I must say, they’ve all been too kind. [August 23, 2012]

Columbia Journalism Review: Candidates clam up on climate — Nary a word has been spoken about climate change on the presidential campaign trail, and it’s a silence that some journalists find deafening. [August 21, 2012]

Cheshire Patch: Cheshire’s Temple Beth David Earns $500 in Energy Efficiency Rewards — With the $500 reward money, Temple Beth David replaced 32 incandescent light bulbs with more efficient compact fluorescents (CFLs) and light emitting diodes (LEDs), leading to an overall wattage reduction of nearly 77 percent. [August 22, 2012]

The Washington Post: Bush Administration 2012 climate emissions goal met — In 2002, the Bush Administration unveiled its climate policy centered around the goal of reducing greenhouse gas intensity 18 percent by 2012. Ten years later (long after most have probably forgotten about it), data indicate the goal has been achieved, at least to an approximate degree. [August 21, 2012]

CLEAN ENERGY

The Boston Globe: Mayor Menino to install solar panels on his house — Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino has been pushing real estate developers and property owners to make their buildings more energy efficient and environmentally friendly. Now he’s going green at home, too: Menino is installing solar panels on the roof of his home to help promote a state program that makes it cheaper for residents to go solar. [August 23, 2012]

Durham Patch: Solarize Durham - Why not? — Why not solar? Views of mountain top mining, fracking disasters and oil spills make this technology look pretty darn good. [August 16, 2012]

EIA: Natural gas, renewables dominate electric capacity additions in first half of 2012 — During the first half of 2012, 165 new electric power generators were added in 33 states, for a total of 8,098 megawatts (MW) of new capacity. Of the ten states with the highest levels of capacity additions, most of the new capacity uses natural gas or renewable energy sources. [August 20, 2012]

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

NPR: Don’t Charge That Electric Car Battery; Just Change It — It looks like a bright new car wash, but it’s a battery swapping station for electric cars in Israel. When a vehicle pulls up, it is slowly pulled through a conveyor. The spent battery is taken out and replaced with one that is fully charged. The entire process takes less than five minutes. [August 21, 2012]

USA Today: Column: Detroit owes us better mileage — When President Obama signs tough new auto mileage and emissions standards in coming days, the United States will take the biggest single step of any nation to combat global warming. It’s a great deal, but automakers must behave responsibly. If they shun their gas-guzzling ways, they can assure its success. [August 21, 2012]

SmartReads: Week of August 17

From Romney running against the wind in Iowa to a solar opponent’s lost election in Florida, clean energy has overcome some heated political battles this week. Send us your favorite stories on Twitter using the hashtag #SmartReads.

NPR: Obama Backs Wind Energy, Romney Favors Coal — President Obama was in Iowa Tuesday, touting the electric potential of wind power. Republican rival Mitt Romney was in Ohio, talking up coal. Each candidate accused the other of standing in the way of the rival energy source. [August 15, 2012]

POLITICO: Cliff Stearns Concedes in GOP Primary — The outcome in Tuesday’s election was an unexpected fall from power for Stearns, who had used his chairmanship of a key House Energy and Commerce subcommittee to put the White House on the hot seat over Solyndra and help trigger this year’s Komen-Planned Parenthood blow-up. [August 15, 2012]

The New York Times: Mine Plan Puts Two Kentucky Fixtures on Collision Course — The signs begin around Girl Scout Road, yellow placards dotting yards and affixed to trees along Route 231 here. “No Coal Trucks” they say, or, more to the point, “Stop Strip Mining.” [August 14, 2012]

Bloomberg: Solar Company to Create More Than 300 Jobs in NC — A designer and manufacturer of solar power mounting systems plans will set up its U.S. headquarters in Shelby, N.C. and create more than 300 jobs at a production and distribution facility.[August 14, 2012]

PhillyBurbs.com: Unemployed Get Chance at Green Energy Industry — Through a $306,265 grant from the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development and the state Energy Sector Partnership, BCC’s corporate college is offering qualified residents a tuition-free green-energy technology training program. [August 13, 2012]

SmartReads: Week of August 10

Good morning, and welcome to this week’s special edition of SmartReads. We have an exciting spotlight on the solar industry this week, as photovoltaics shine in The New York Times Magazine, CNBC, The Hill and more. This week’s edition is also special as our team here celebrated SmartPower President Brian F. Keane’s birthday yesterday. In honor of him and his upcoming book, we have included the latest review of Green Is Good from Yoko Ono Lennon! Read on!

The New York Times Magazine: The Secret to Solar Power — Though the failure of Solyndra has dominated the political and social discourse around solar power, the reality of the industry — as evidenced by the enormous investments that companies like Google and Bank of America are making in residential solar power — is that it has rapidly become a smart, practical and profitable investment. [August 9, 2012]

CNBC: APS Seeks New Solar Energy Project Request for Proposal Issued — Arizona Public Service Co. announces a Request for Proposal (RFP) from solar developers and installers to construct a 32-megawatt (MW) solar photovoltaic facility in Gila Bend, Ariz. This project will be financed by APS through the company’s AZ Sun Program. [August 8, 2012]

The Hill: White House to seek $7B in green energy contracts for military — The White House announced Tuesday it is inviting contract proposals from green energy firms to boost the Army’s use of renewable energy. The administration is making $7 billion available for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to spend on locally-generated biomass, geothermal, solar or wind energy for up to 30 years. [August 7, 2012]

Las Vegas Review Journal: Former President Clinton urges more cooperation in developing clean energy — “We need a bias for action, a bias for cooperation and a bias for thinking big, even if we have to act small,” Clinton said, speaking to the fifth annual Clean Energy Summit at Bellagio. [August 7, 2012]

Reuters: China hikes 2015 solar power target by 40 pct — China has hiked its 2015 target for solar power capacity by 40 percent to 21 gigawatts (GW), a government agency said on Wednesday, with falling costs and new regulations boosting growth in the sector. [August 8, 2012]

NPR: Mitt Romney’s Green-Jobs Criticism Carries Risks — A Gallup poll in March found Americans nearly twice as likely to favor wind and solar energy as coal or oil. The American Wind Energy Association released a poll last month showing that more than half of Iowa’s voters say they would not back a presidential candidate who did not support expanding wind power. A January poll by Colorado College found that a majority of voters in six Western states believe that expanding renewable energy will create more jobs. [August 7, 2012]

CNN: July average tops U.S. temperature record, NOAA says — The July heat wave that wilted crops, shriveled rivers and fueled wildfires officially went into the books Wednesday as the hottest single month on record for the continental United States. [August 9, 2012]

SmartPress: Yoko Ono Lennon Endorses Green Is Good — “The Imagine Peace Tower in Iceland uses geothermal power to send a beam through the universe. That beam represents love of each other and of mother earth. It’s an absolutely pure message! Brian Keane’s message about clean energy is as important, and it must travel as far. Love and Peace, Yoko Ono Lennon”

EarthTechling: Arizona Gains Its First Net Zero School — There’s the Lady Bird Johnson Middle School in Irving, Texas, and the offices of George V. Leyva Middle School in San Jose, Calif. Now Arizona has a net zero middle school building to call its own in the Colonel Smith Middle School in Fort Huachuca, currently the 12th certified net zero energy building in the nation. [August 6, 2012]

SmartReads: Week of August 3

Happy Friday! As usual, SmartPower presents your weekly #SmartReads with all the latest in clean energy, electric vehicle and general green news. Please share the stories we’ve missed with us on Twitter at @SmartPower_org using the hashtag #SmartReads.

CLEAN ENERGY

Forbes: Coal-Fired Carbon Emissions Fall As Transition To Cleaner Energy Accelerates — It’s been a long hot summer of cataclysmic environmental events – drought, derecho, half of India in the dark – but here’s some good news: Thanks to cheap natural gas and a boom in renewable energy, the U.S. is accelerating a shift away from coal-fired power plants, resulting in falling emissions of carbon dioxide and other harmful pollutants, according to a report released Tuesday. [July 31, 2012]

WESTFAIR Online: As Conn. “solarizes,” N.J. reaches milestone — Under a new zero-emissions renewable energy credit (ZREC) program and companion low-emissions (LREC) program, Connecticut plans to parse out more than $1 billion in funding to promote renewable energy systems over two decades. [August 3, 2012]

Bloomberg Business Week: Facebook Says 23 Percent of Data-Center Power is Green — Facebook Inc. (FB) (FB), owner of the world’s largest online social network, derived almost one-fourth of its energy for data centers from clean and renewable sources last year. [August 1, 2012]

Science Daily: Renewable Energy Potential in Every U.S. State, Study Shows — A new study of renewable energy’s technical potential finds that every state in the United States has the space and resource to generate clean energy. [August 1, 2012] 

CBS News: First Solar profit surges on construction activity — First Solar, one of the world’s biggest solar panel manufacturers and developers, reported an 82 percent jump in net income as the construction of major solar projects in the U.S. Southwest ramped up. [August 1, 2012]

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

Philadelphia Inquirer: ECOtality offers free electric-car-charging stations — A California company, infused with millions of federal dollars, is offering to install free charging stations in the homes of some Philadelphia-area owners of electric vehicles. [August 2, 2012]

GENERAL GREEN

San Francisco Chronicle: Green’s Sharp Design Move: Sunshades — Visual evidence of the quest for sustainable design can be seen on our landscape in more and more ways, from solar panels and rooftop vegetation to the lobby displays that tout a building’s “green” features. [July 31, 2012]

SmartPress: George Stephanopoulos Endorses Green Is Good — Good Morning America’s George Stephanopoulos has endorsed SmartPower President Brian F. Keane’s book, Green Is Good, giving it the editorial review, “Green is good—and Keane is Green!” [August 3, 2012]

SmartReads: Week of July 27

We’re in the heat of summer and SmartReads is keeping it cool with the latest clean energy and energy efficiency news. Take a look at this week’s top energy stories and tweet your favorites to @SmartPower_org using the hashtag #SmartReads!

CLEAN ENERGY

Fairfield Daily Voice: Program Offers Solar Power Discount To Fairfield - Fairfield homeowners now have the chance to add more solar-powered electricity to their homes for cheaper prices. Fairfield is one of four towns chosen to test-run Solarize Connecticut, a new green energy program. [July 24, 2012]

Westport News: Westport Chosen for Solar Program - ”This is to bear proof to the markets that aggregating customer demand for residential PV installation will result in real cost savings,” authority spokesman David Goldberg said. [July 26, 2012]

Department of Energy: All Eyes on Eastport: Tidal Energy Project Brings Change, Opportunity to Local Community - In Eastport, Maine, people are gathering to celebrate a project that will harness the power of the massive tides of Cobscook Bay to generate clean electricity. [July 24, 2012]

Knovel: Transparent Solar Cells Could Make Windows Into A Power Source - Over the past few years, the U.S. has already become a growing player in the solar energy industry, with states like New Jersey and California seeing solar panels cropping up on rooftops from houses to warehouses. [July 24, 2012]

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

POLITICO: Things Are Looking Up for EVs — “Plug-in electric vehicle sales continue to increase, with sales growth outpacing that of gasoline hybrid electric vehicles when they were first introduced. We expect to see this trend continue, as several new vehicle models were introduced earlier this year, providing additional choices for consumers considering electric drive vehicles.” [July 26, 2012]

GENERAL GREEN

The New York Times: Money Helps Miss. Colleges Cut Energy Usage - Three Mississippi universities will share in a $725,000 Department of Energy grant to develop programs to reduce energy consumption 20 percent by 2020. [July 26, 2012]

The Wall Street Journal: EU Solar Firms Seek Tariffs on China - European solar-panel makers on Tuesday filed a confidential complaint with European authorities seeking import tariffs on Chinese-made panels, opening a new front in the battle between the West and China over trade in renewable-energy products. [July 24, 2012]

The New York Times: Save Energy, Win a Prize - With temperatures hovering near a sweaty 100 degrees in recent weeks, the nation’s electric utilities have been taking to Facebook and Twitter, urging customers to conserve energy in the hopes of avoiding blackouts and other strains on the system. [July 23, 2012]

SmartReads: Week of July 20

There is so much exciting news to share this week, from the first review of Brian F. Keane’s book, Green Is Good, to the presentation of Goodyear’s official “Arizona Solar Community” sign — the first of its kind. Send us your favorite energy articles on Twitter using the hashtag #SmartReads!

Renewable Energy World: Would Gordon Gekko Go Green? — Energy books tend to be either jargon-filled tomes or hand-wringing, end-of-the-world, please-just-shoot-me-now reprimands. So it was a relief to see that Brian Keane avoids both of these worn-out roads in his new book. [July 19, 2012]

Arizona Solar Challenge: Goodyear Celebrates 10 Percent Solar  — Dozens of Goodyear residents, including Mayor Georgia Lord, turned out to City Hall on Wednesday, July 18, to celebrate the installment of Goodyear’s official “Arizona Solar Community” sign — the first in the state. [July 19, 2012]

Digital Journal: Unique Solar Incentive Program in Connecticut Captures Attention of Soluxe Solar — The sun is shining brightly in Connecticut these days and thanks to a unique new pilot program it will soon be even easier for Connecticut homeowners to turn those rays into energy savings.[July 19, 2012]

Fast Company: New Solar Panels Get Their Power From Light We Can’t See — There is a lot of the light spectrum that doesn’t register to the human eye (or to conventional solar panels). A new device which could go right on top of existing panels, helps get more of the energy from the sun. [July 16, 2012]

Grist: D.C. unveils plans for awesome new green neighborhood — After two years of internal debate among 17 different federal agencies and the Washington, D.C., government, the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) released its long-awaited plans for a new Southwest Eco-District this week. [July 15, 2012]

Treehugger: World’s First Solar-Geothermal Hybrid Plan Opens in the Nevada Desert — Nevada is home to some enormous solar power facilities and is a focal point of the expansion of geothermal energy production, so it makes sense that someone would pick the state to combine the two in one beast of a clean energy production center. That someone is Enel Green Power (EGP), which in May opened the world’s first solar-geothermal hybrid energy power plant in northwestern Nevada. [July 17, 2012]

Renewable Energy World: Hybrid Solar Heat and Power Systems On the Rise- According to “Residential Combined Heat and Power,” a new study by Pike Research, the market for residential combined heat and power (resCHP) systems – defined as small, distributed energy generation systems that produce electricity for residences while also capturing heat that would otherwise be treated as waste – is still very small, but growing rapidly. [July 18, 2012] 

SmartReads: Week of July 13

Sorry we missed you last week, but today we have all of the top clean energy and energy efficiency news from the last two weeks for you! Send us your favorite energy news on Twitter using the hashtag #SmartReads!

PROGRAM NEWS

SmartPress: Solarize Connecticut: Solar Program Announces Selection of Four Pilot Towns - “We are extremely excited to be chosen as one of the pilot communities,” said First Selectwoman Susan Bransfield of Portland. “This is exactly the kind of program that will help us expand solar in our community and offer an excellent investment opportunity for our residents.” [July 12, 2012]

Also, see specific Westport, Durham and Portland news features on the Solarize Connecticut program launch.

GENERAL GREEN

New York Times: Small Farmers Creating a New Business Model as Agriculture Goes Local - The movement toward local food is creating a vibrant new economic laboratory for American agriculture. [July 1, 2012]

MarketWatch: Green Initiatives by Hotel Chains Benefit Local Service Companies - As global travel increases, more and more hotels are becoming sensitive to their guest’s expectations for sustainable tourism and environmentally friendly travel. [July 3, 2012]

GOOD: Glowing Pollution Sensor Equipped Kites Replace Beijing’s Stars - Urban air quality in China has been miserable for years, but the issue really came to the foreground in June when China’s vice minister for environmental protection put foreign embassies on blast for publishing national air pollution data online. [July 6, 2012]

CLEAN ENERGY

Cortlandt Daily Voice:’ Energizing’ Cortlandt Homes Could Save Big Bucks - An Energize Cortlandt website launched Thursday to encourage homeowners to use direct New York State subsidies to make their homes more energy efficient, and in the process, more comfortable [July 2, 2012]  

Sustainable Cities Collective: Affordable Green Homes Selling Like Hotcakes in Utah - There was a time when green homes were largely aspirational, the province of the lucky few who could afford them. Slowly but surely, though, that’s changing. [July 2, 2012]

Gigaom: Get ready for solar sharing communities - Are people who don’t own homes being left out of the solar energy revolution? A bill that’s making its way through the Legislature in California will expand the public’s access to solar energy by making it easier for renters and others to buy electricity from clean power. [July 3, 2012]

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

Huffington Post: Mitsubishi i-MiEV Is The Most Affordable All-Electric Car - At just under $30,000 base retail price, the 2012 Mitsubishi i-MiEV is the most affordable all-electric car in the U.S. market. [July 11, 2012]

The New York Times: In Kansas, Stronger Mix of Ethanol - Ethanol makers are trying to persuade gas stations and motorists to buy fuel that is 15 percent ethanol, or E15. And in Kansas, the first service station in the nation has just begun offering the new blend for regular cars. [July 11, 2012]

Forbes: Why Tesla is Beating GM, Ford and Toyota - Electric Cars - The barely known, small and far from mainstream Tesla motors gave one of its new Model S cars to Wall Street Journal reviewer Dan Neil last week, and he gave it a glowing testimonial.  He went so far as to compare this 4-door all-electric sedan’s performance with the Lamborghini and Ford GT supercars; and its design with the Jaguar.  And he spent several paragraphs on the Tesla Model S’s comfort, quiet, seating and storage – much more aligned with a Mercedes S series. [July 11, 2012]

SmartReads: Week of June 29

Catch the latest in this week’s clean energy and energy efficiency news, and share your favorite energy articles with us on Twitter using the hashtag #SmartReads.

GENERAL GREEN

POLITICO: Greens, automakers hail greenhouse gas ruling - In a surprisingly sweeping win for the Obama administration’s climate policies, a federal appeals court said Tuesday that the Environmental Protection Agency is “unambiguously correct” in the legal reasoning behind its regulation of greenhouse gases. [June 26, 2012]

The New York Times: Cities Get So Close To Recycling Ideal, They Can Smell It - Portland will be experiencing its first summer of biweekly garbage pickup. The change to every other week, introduced in cool weather last fall along with a weekly collection for food scraps, has reduced the amount of garbage that this progressive city is shipping to landfills by 44 percent. [June 27, 2012] 

The Wall Street Journal: An Index Worth Laughing About - In what league does Iraq beat Britain, Haiti beat the United States and Afghanistan beat Denmark? Political corruption? Violent crime? Temperature? No, welcome to the weird and wonderful world of the Happy Planet Index. It is a little window into the way many environmentalists think. [June 26, 2012]

CLEAN ENERGY

The Olympian: Feds announce 1^st major solar plant on tribal land - Federal officials have approved a solar plant on an Indian reservation outside Las Vegas, marking the nation’s first commercial-grade solar energy project on tribal land and new territory for the Obama administration’s renewable energy agenda. [June 25, 2012]

Bloomberg: Tariffs On Solar-Gear Imports From China Raised By U.S. - The U.S. Commerce Department determined that Chinese solar-product imports should be subject to additional tariffs to offset government subsidies, according to an agency document. [June 26, 2012]

Earth Techling: Solar Energy’s Future To Be Found In Nano Technologies? - Researchers from North Carolina State University claim they’ve found a way of creating much slimmer thin-film solar cells, without compromising the cells’ performance. [June 28, 2012]

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

Reuters: Tesla CEO sees EVs being as popular as gas-powered cars - Tesla Motors Inc Chief Executive Elon Musk, an entrepreneur known for his outsized ambition, last Friday made a stunning forecast: battery-powered cars will likely match the internal combustion engine in popularity by the middle of the next decade. [June 23, 2012]

Fast Company: Inside the Tesla Model S - It’s here. The new Tesla—much more affordable than the electric vehicle startup’s first offering—made its debut Monday. Here’s a report from the test drive. [June 25, 2012]

Smart Reads: Week of June 22nd

We know you can’t catch every article during your busy work schedule so we’ve consolidated the week’s top articles for you in one easy list. Share your favorite energy, environmental and efficiency news with us on Twitter using the hashtag #SmartReads.

GENERAL GREEN

Grist: Some like it hot (or cold): How weather affects carbon emissions — We need more nuanced ways of figuring out which countries are doing well on carbon. A new paper offers emissions rankings that take local climate into account. [June 21, 2012]

Bloomberg: Chinese Silicon Makers Said To Seek Duties On U.S. Rivals — Chinese polysilicon makers are pressing their government to impose duties on U.S. imports, a move to drive up prices for competing supplies of the material used in solar panels, four people familiar with the issue said. [June 21, 2012]

CLEAN ENERGY

The Wall Street Journal: Power To More People — Africa may be about to get a whole lot more power. Some of the world’s biggest energy companies are thinking on a much grander scale. They’re conducting projects to test the viability—and marketability—of solar-powered systems to provide electricity for lighting and other purposes in villages all over Africa. [June 18, 2012]

The Wall Street Journal: First the iPhone. Now renewables. — A Japanese telecommunications magnate has ambitious plans to remake the country’s energy production. [June 18, 2012]

The Wall Street Journal: The Enlightened Classroom — Solar power has long been touted for its environmental impact. But now it has a new role: saving teachers’ jobs. [June 18, 2012]

NREL: PV for All: Low-Income Housing Residents Going Solar — Low-income housing developments have historically avoided going solar due to the obvious difficulties of incorporating high-cost, discretionary photovoltaic (PV) systems into affordable housing. However, a unique mix of local, utility, and federal support combined with a little financial creativity allowed a community in Colorado to demonstrate the application of PV into a low-income housing program. [June 18, 2012]

The New York Times: EBay Plans Data Center That Will Run on Alternative Energy Fuel Cells — EBay plans to build a data center to handle its billions of dollars in retail transactions that will draw its power from alternative energy fuel cells rather than the national power grid, which is heavily dependent on coal plants. [June 20, 2012]

Solar Daily: Sunrise Global Solar Energy reached 19.65 percent cell efficiency — Sunrise Global Solar Energy (Sunrise) has recently achieved a breakthrough for industrial grade p-type Cz solar cells. A peak efficiency of 19.65% was achieved in pilot production by combining Sunrise’s advanced fabrication techniques and a special plating method. [June 21, 2012]

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

Forbes: An All-Electric Ford Mustang Shelby GT500? — Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford and other top executives flew into California Monday for the official launch of the automaker’s new Silicon Valley technology research lab. At an event at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View near the Googleplex, Ford rolled out more than a dozen electric, plug-in hybrid and hybrid cars that are hitting the market this year. [June 20, 2012]

SmartReads: Week of June 15

It’s been a big week for clean energy, as the stories below indicate! Share your favorite clean energy and efficiency articles with us on Twitter using the hashtag #SmartReads.

The Huffington Post: Renewable Energy Investment Set Record In 2011 – Global investment in renewable energy reached a record of $257 billion last year, with solar attracting more than half the total spending, according to a U.N. report released Monday. [June 11, 2012]

Reuters: Renewable energy grows despite financial crisis – Renewable energy sources supplied 16.7 percent of global energy consumption in 2011, but the $257 billion of investment in the sector was still 15 percent lower than into fossil power generation, two influential bodies reported on Monday. [June 11, 2012]

Reuters: U.S. solar installations jump in first quarter – Solar installations in the United States jumped 85 percent in the first quarter of 2012 from the previous year, according to an industry report that prompted a research firm and a lobbying group to raise their capacity forecasts for the year. [June 13, 2012]

The Washington Post: American homes are getting bigger, but energy use is shrinking – American houses are getting more massive. They’re becoming more plentiful. We’re cramming their outlets with an ever-expanding array of power-hungry electronics — from large flatscreen TVs to multiple smartphones to the occasional iPad. [June 8, 2012]

E & E Publishing: For energy efficiency, Chu’s law is on the way – Stand aside, Moore’s law. Here comes Chu’s law. [June 14, 2012]

The New York Times: Banks Look to Burnish Their Images by Backing Green Technology Firms – Call it the greening of Wall Street. In the wake of a $30 billion commitment to new environmental investments by Wells Fargo in April and a $40 billion promise from Goldman Sachs this month, Bank of America will announce a 10-year, $50 billion initiative of its own on Monday. [June 10, 2012]

NRDC: How to Save a Trillion Dollars – According to the latest forecast from Weather Channel meteorologists, most of the country is in for a hot summer this year. This is more than a matter of personal discomfort. It also means skyrocketing energy bills, lost work days due to air pollution, and possibly heat-related deaths. [June 11, 2012]

The Huffington Post: Team Energy Star Focuses on a New Audience to Save Energy: Kids – Using energy efficiently starts at home with simple actions like turning off the lights or computer when they’re not being used. The challenge is getting people — especially kids — to flip that switch to “off.” [June 11, 2012]

Aol Energy: Seeking a Bridge to the Renewable Energy Finance Future—T here simply couldn’t be a better time to talk about how renewable energy is financed, and how changes in financing are affecting the entirety of a market that has matured at a rapid pace. [June 11, 2012]

The Wall Street Journal: Navy Sails to Greener Future – Next month, in naval exercises off the coast of Hawaii, five U.S. warships will make history: They will be the first to use biofuels to power their huge turbines, as well as the jet planes screaming off a carrier’s deck and helicopters hovering overhead. [June 14, 2012]

Washington City Paper – Kennedy Center Looking To Build Biggest Solar Array in D.C. – The Kennedy Center has a big flat roof. Perfect for solar panels, in fact—and it may soon be put to use. [June 8, 2012]

Boston.com: Capped landfills add new shine – Several communities south of Boston have joined a growing trend to turn capped landfills from generators of environmental guilt to generators of green power by installing solar panels. A single landfill can generate millions of watts of power each year and save cities and towns hundreds of thousands on their power bills. [June 14, 2012]

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

Scientific American: A Tale of 2 Transit Systems: Battery-Powered Buses Enter the Mainstream - Better lithium ion batteries have led to an explosion in availability of plug-in passenger cars. And now, thanks to relatively cheap electricity and the simplicity of the electric drivetrain, electric vehicles have even more potential for use in the extremely cost-sensitive public transportation arena—a concept that is only just taking root. [June 11, 2012]