Indeed, the Chinese are treating the energy technology competition if it were an arms race. China is spending as much or more on greentech as it does on its military, hundreds of billions of dollars annually on renewable energy and grid infrastructure improvements. Those investments, if not vigorously countered, will effectively erode America's greentech industry leadership and secure China's dominance. China's economic stimulus package, targeted 38% of spending on greentech, as compared to a miserly 12% of the U.S. stimulus program. By 2013, greentech will account for 15 percent of the Chinese GDP. While the United States is projected to roughly triple its wind generation by 2020, China will increase its capacity twelvefold to a wind generating capability more than twice that of America's. And, while the United States is projected to increase its installed solar generation a modest 33% by 2020, China's solar generation is projected to increase 20,000%.

Russia's Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko has declared that Moscow is determined to continue its cooperation with Iran. Shmatko, in a telephone conversation with the Iranian Ambassador to Russia Seyyed Mahmoud-Reza Sajjadi on Thursday, said that "Russia will continue its cooperation with Iran", IRNA reported. He noted that during his upcoming visit to Tehran, the two countries will review initiatives to further boost their bilateral ties. The Russian minister also noted that his remarks on Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant have been distorted by the media. Earlier on Monday, Interfax quoted Shmatko as saying that Russian engineers will not be able to start up the Bushehr nuclear plant this year because of technical problems. "We expect major results by the end of the year, but the launch will not take place," Shmatko said.

"What will the United States be like in 20 years when today’s toddlers are in college or trying to land that first job or maybe thinking about starting a family? The answer will depend to a great extent on decisions we make now about the American infrastructure."

For many people today, it's safe to say that having a cell phone is a necessity. Your cell phone is like a ready-made life raft of sorts, just ready and waiting to keep you afloat. Well, almost always ready. When it doesn't unexpectedly die on you, at least. Imagine, for a second, that you're stuck in the middle of nowhere and your car breaks down. Pulled over to the side of the road, you take your cell phone out of your pocket. You're about to dial a number, when suddenly you peer down at the battery life and realize that your on your last bar... and it's flashing. Uh-oh. Your heart's in your throat as you start to dial. Then suddenly... CLICK. The screen goes dead. "Wait, what? My cell phone's dead? Why is my cell phone dead? And there's no outlet plug in sight! What am I going to do?!" Well, Aaron LeMeiux seems to have found that answer. It comes in the form of the Personal Energy Generator (PEG), developed by LeMeiux's company Tremont Electricity. About the size of your average flashlight, the PEG takes the kinetic energy humans develop through physical activity and uses it to recharge small, electronic devices such as your phone, camera, or iPod.

How about a program modeled on the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression only with a more specific focus: converting our power grid to clean energy to break the backs of oil and power companies that blackmail our economy, and in the case of oil, demand our tax dollars and the lives of our troops to increase their assets?

On the eve of the International Energy Agency’s release of its annual World Energy Outlook (WEO), a whistleblower at the IEA claims the agency “has been deliberately underplaying a looming [oil] shortage for fear of triggering panic buying” in the world markets.

In a November 12, 2009 Facebook note, Sarah Palin falsely claimed clean energy legislation was a "job-killing scheme." In reality, an increased investment in renewable energy would create millions of American jobs across every single state.

Also this week: melting glaciers releasing pollutants from decades ago; IEA: climate treaty necessary to keep energy prices low; floating cities as a response to sea level rise; American Physical Society rejects changes to climate change statement.

New York City may be the dirtiest city in the country (per square foot), but New York City residents have the lowest carbon footprint in the nation on a per capita basis. David Owen, author of Green Metropolis, explains why.

Is New York the greenest city in America? Urban planner Jane Jacobs famously talked about population density as the driver of vibrant communities in cities. In this video, David Owen connects Jacob's views on urban planning and community sound environmental planning and sustainable living.

The U.S. Senate has previously expressed its opposition to joining any agreement that does not include major developing countries such as China; China has insisted that Western countries take responsibility for a problem that they caused and provide assistance for developing countries in the form of finance and technology to move them toward a low-carbon pathway. Yet both countries have an unprecedented opportunity to move beyond this impasse.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) promised to pump millions into projects promoting green jobs and energy efficiency. Though much of the money has yet to be spent (only 12 percent of the money allocated has been used), early projects are demonstrating the returns that green investments will have. Take the City of Portland’s Clean Energy Works program, whose goal is to retrofit Portland homes to be more energy efficient while creating green jobs and raising home values. In the next two years, 500 homes will be retrofitted—part of a pilot program that, pending approval by the state government in Salem, will expand to cover 100,000 homes.---

President Barack Obama on Tuesday will announce $3.4 billion in government grants to help build a “smart” electric grid that will save consumers money on their utility bills, reduce blackouts and carry power supplies generated by solar and wind energy, the White House said.

California Youth Energy Services promotes green jobs in California by hiring young people in various urban neighborhoods to assist the underprivileged with energy efficiency practices.

The agency, known as IRENA, will serve as a global cheerleader for clean energy. It plans to offer technical, financial, and policy advice for governments worldwide, according to a joint announcement from Germany, Spain, and Denmark - the project's leaders.Scheer, a Social Democratic member of the German Parliament, led his government to commit to IRENA's creation in 2006 - arguing that it was a necessary balance to the International Atomic Energy Agency created in the 1950s. "While conventional energies enjoy political privilege, including large amounts of public money for research and development, military protection of the supply chain, and $300 billion in global annual subsidies, renewable energies are discriminated against," said Bianca Jagger, chair of the World Future Council, at a meeting of IRENA organizers in April.

In a unanimous vote, on Monday of last week the Hopi Tribal Council approved a resolution stating that environmentalists have worked to deprive their tribe of markets for its coal resources and the revenue that industry brings to provide jobs, sustain governmental solutions and secure the survival of the Hopi tradition and culture. The resolution states that environmentalists "have manufactured and spread misinformation concerning the water and energy resources of the Hopi Tribe in an effort to instill unfounded fears into the hearts and minds of the Hopi public." The resolution also declared a number of environmental groups, including the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the National Parks Conservation Association, the Grand Canyon Trust, and any organizations affiliated with them, as unwelcome on Hopi land, pitting two groups against each other that normally work in harmony.

Home of Benjamin Franklin, Betsy Ross, Independence Hall, and the Constitution Center, Pennsylvania's got something new to boast about when it comes to patriotism: a major stake in America's booming gas drilling industry. With at least 4,000 oil and gas wells drilled here in the last year, the state is becoming a forerunner in our nation's search for natural gas. With that title comes a new problem that many were not prepared to confront as gas drilling expands nationwide, however. And it happens to weigh 9 million gallons a day. According to industry estimates used by Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), that's how much wastewater oil and gas wells disgorge in Pennsylvania each day, and by 2011 that figure is expected to rise to at least 19 million gallons. Much of this wastewater is a byproduct of what is becoming a familiar culprit: hydraulic fracturing. Pennsylvania's situation is just one of the many key statistics and figures released within the past couple of weeks that has shed light on the dangers of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. Today fracking has become a key issue in the nation's environmental debate, and many are now calling for a change.

A paper published yesterday in the journal Environment and Urbanization shows that the places where population has been growing fastest are those in which carbon dioxide has been growing most slowly, and vice versa. Between 1980 and 2005, for instance, sub-Saharan Africa produced 18.5% of the world's population growth and just 2.4% of the growth in CO2. North America turned out only 4% of the extra people, but 14% of the extra emissions. Sixty-three percent of the world's population growth happened in places with very low emissions.

For some people, solar power is a thing of the future. Using the sun as a renewable energy source to melt steel, heat water or even fuel cars, homes and businesses? Impossible, they say. Solar power is something you would see on a rerun of The Jetsons, not something that could be actually used for energy. Others know what solar power is and have seen it in action, but just can't see how it could be successfully implemented today. Where would we find the space to put all those huge solar panels? Don't they cost a lot of money? How would you maintain them to ensure optimum performance? And what happens when the sun goes down? Rep. Gabrielle Gifford (D-AZ), however, doesn't see things that way. Living in one of the sunniest states in America and married to Captain Mark Kelly, a Navy pilot and NASA astronaut, she's learned to have a brighter outlook on solar energy. Her campaign for solar energy reached new heights more than a week ago when she introduced The Solar Technology Roadmap Act of 2009 in the House. The bill attempts to focus the future of the national solar agenda, authorizing $2.25 billion for solar research over the next five years and creating an 11-member Solar Roadmap Committee that would set the path for solar technology research.

the proposal does not ensure that the fund will achieve the greatest global warming emissions reductions per dollar invested. With access to potentially unlimited loan guarantees and no requirement to cost-effectively reduce global warming emissions, increased electricity demand could be met with a high percentage of non-renewable energy sources, further eroding the ability of renewable energy resources to compete with coal, nuclear and other conventional resources.