Google Foundation is making another big solar move. It joins a hand full of others in a $115 million Series C funding round for BrightSource. Read more here.

You can probably tell that I'm feeling a bit grumpy this week about the world of politics and the complete vacuum of leadership when it comes to energy policy. My ire today is directed towards Congress and the Senate's 97-1 support of redirecting 70,000 barrels of oil a day to refineries rather than to reserves. This particular tidbit explains it:

Currently, about 70,000 barrels a day are…

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McCain and Obama are in Oregon, so it's time to talk energy policy. One made his appeal at a solar facility, the other at a wind facility. Coincidence? I think not!! I'm not even sure what that means, but here are the speeches in case you want to know what they said. Unfortunately I couldn't find a video of McCain's speech. McCain's speech, given at the Vestas training facility, is here. Ob… Continue

For businesses out there with significant computing needs, improved memory energy efficiency can go a long way. Micron claims that their new memory can save a significant amount of energy. Heather Clancy from ZDNet's GreenTech Pastures writes:

It latest additions to the energy-efficient Aspen Memory line are a 1-gigabyte DDR3 module that operates at 1.35 volts and a 2-gigabyte DDR2 module that runs at 1.5 volts. The Boise, Idaho, com…

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Interesting things happening at the University of Austin these days. Scientists there just created a microbe, cyanobacteria, that produces cellulose capable of being turned into ethanol. Amongst other things, scientists have also found that:

- The new cyanobacteria use sunlight as an energy source to produce and excrete sugars and cellulose. - Glucose, cellulose and sucrose can be continually harvested without harming or destroying the cyanobacteria (harvesting cellulose and sugars f…

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Next week, HP kicks off construction of a new solar project in San Diego, which they believe will save them "$750,000 in energy costs over the 15-year period of the agreement" with SunPower according a press release last May. However, what caught my eye and led to this story being my pick of the day, is the same thing that caught ZDNet… Continue

Landfill gas capture systems is one of those things that leads me to scratch my head and wonder why it hasn't actually caught on in the US. In my news pick of the day, Waste Management is teaming up with Germany's Linde to "to build a California plant that the companies said would be the world's largest facility converting landfill gas to liquefied natural gas." You can read the full story here.

As Obama and Clinton duke it out for the nomination, the Democratic National Convention is getting itself all gussied up and dressing itself in green in time for the convention August 25-28th in Denver, Colorado.… Continue

Just wanted to let you know that RenewablePost.com got a face lift. We have new colors and new logo and a new outlook. Also, in case you missed it, we've added a great new Events feature. Please feel free to use this to let colleagues and other members know about important upcoming events. We've also added a "Groups and Businesses" section. Use this section to describe your company, field questi… Continue

There's an interesting article today in today's LA Times about the publicly popular Solar and Clean Energy Act of 2008. The new ballot initiative is backed heavily by the University of Phoenix founder and his son. However, (and it's a big however) the act is noticeably less popular with some groups that might surprise you. The impressive list of opponents include NRDC, California Solar Energy Industries Assn.… Continue