Although the move may conflict with Wal-Mart's messaging on clean energy, it fits with the company's parsimonious image, says Joseph Feldman, an analyst at research firm Telsey Advisory Group. Most of the company's green initiatives so far have led to cost savings, Feldman says. "Wal-Mart's proposition to their customers is to help save them money," he says. "Anything that gets in the way is a hindrance to that."

Rep. Greg Walden said Saturday that an energy bill hailed by the Obama administration as a "jobs bill" is "an Oregon job killer." Speaking to TV cameras in front of White City's Biomass One site for recycling wood waste, The 2nd District Republican denounced the bill's definition of renewable energy.

A school district in Waldo County is looking to become the first district in the state to use wind power. SAD 3 is teaming up with Unity College and Coastal Enterprises Institute exploring whether there is enough wind to put an industrial scale wind turbine near Mount View High School.

You know a cultural movement is real when the money men get on board. In just the past year a broad swath of financiers -- venture capitalists, hedge funds, investment banks, public pension funds, and even stodgy insurers -- have begun sinking billions of dollars into producers of ethanol, fuel cell superbatteries, microscopic bugs that turn glucose into plastic, environmentally friendly pesticides, anything that might tap into the green craze. Saving the planet, protecting America, doing God's work, cynically exploiting a feel-good trend -- call it what you will. Wall Street sees money to be made.

When the Pilgrims arrived in America, it was the Wampanoag who greeted them peacefully so the newcomers could escape religious persecution. Now the tribe is having to fight for their own religious freedoms. The Wampanoag, also known as "The People of the First Light", have delayed the construction of America's first offshore wind farm, reports Associated Press. The Mashpee and Aquinnah Wampanoag practice sacred religious rituals which they say require an unblocked view of the horizon, in particular, the sunrise.

"The Tribe depends on Nantucket Sound for food, jobs, spiritual ceremonies, and cultural continuity, and the Sound is essential to the Tribe's religious ceremonies and traditional religious practices," the Wampanoag say in their federal complaint.

Shaky employment prospects and an even shakier long-term outlook for the industry even took a toll on wind's premier event. The American Wind Energy Association annual conference in Atlanta in June attracted only 11,000. ...about half as many people as its record-setting event in Chicago in 2009.

Last month, the nation's first offshore wind farm nailed down its first buyer when the Massachusetts Department of Public Utility approved a deal that sees Cape Wind selling half its power to National Grid, the state's largest electric utility. But the other half of the Cape Wind project's electricity remains available with no obvious takers.

A study paid for by a group that represents oil refiners found that the global warming bill, co-authored by Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and John Warner (R-Va.), would raise pump prices by around 48 cents (in 2007 currency) by 2030. It also found that the bill would increase gas prices by as much as 13 cents over the next four years. The debate highlights the difficulty lawmakers will face in trying to tackle global warming as they simultaneously try to provide economic relief to the nation's drivers. ...Opponents will use more than costs to lobby against the Warner-Lieberman bill. The NPRA study also questions whether the emissions curbs called for in Warner-Lieberman are achievable.

WASHINGTON, Pa. (AP) _ A municipality has approved ordinances that help clear the way for a wind farm to be built by a Spain-based turbine company.

Last month the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service removed the bald and golden eagles from the federal Endangered Species List. While eagle populations have grown in every state, we also learned last month that five species of common birds in Pennsylvania are declining at an alarming rate. According to Audubon Pennsylvania, the golden-winged warbler population has declined an astounding 98 percent since 1967, followed by the Eastern meadowlark (86 percent), wood thrush (62 percent), American bittern (59 percent) and ruffed grouse (22 percent). Three of the species depend on forest habitats, one lives in wetlands and the fifth resides in agricultural areas. Five different birds, three different habitats and they are all suffering. That's not good.

Ongoing research in Norway adds weight to the idea that turbines and large birds don't mix.

Construction could begin on the $270 million Kibby Wind Power project in August, assuming the economics fall into place, the developer said. Half of the 44-turbine plan could be completed by the fall of 2009. The other half of the Franklin County project should be done in the summer of 2010, said Nick Di Domenico, of TransCanada, director of the Kibby project. But while the development appears likely to move ahead, both TransCanada and state officials say wind power faces plenty of short-term challenges even as the longer term future remains bright. ...The high cost of construction and the volatility of energy costs is what makes the long-term viability of a project a difficult thing to predict.

Some local leaders think Wayne County’s wind-swept drumlins could be used to manage high energy costs.

..BP's report shows the world is reacting to soaring oil and gas prices by stemming its energy use. In 2005 world energy demand grew by 2.7 per cent, down sharply from 4.4 per cent the previous year....In the US, the world's largest energy consumer, demand actually fell - even though the economy grew by 3.5 per cent. So, for the first time in more than two decades, the US combined above-trend growth with an absolute decline in fuel consumption.

A scientific panel has concluded that new wind farms could generate up to 7 percent of U.S. electricity in 15 years. That's the positive side. The negative side is not good news for our fine feathered friends.

What Romney considers "breaks" and "green" are up for debate. Despite his assertion that he supports "green energy," Romney has made it clear that he is in favor of letting the PTC expire ... Instead, Romney said the money invested in renewable energy and cleantech companies could have been better used for other purposes.

Carpinteria CEO envisions a future powered by turbines. With oil and gas prices relentlessly rising -- and the cost of producing power from sustainable energy sources continuing to fall -- it appears the time is fast approaching when alternative energy begins to make good economic as well as environmental sense.

The Pentagon could go "carbon neutral." Federal tax dollars could be used to buy carbon "offsets" if legislation introduced by Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., becomes law - creating a potential windfall for the blossoming offset industry. Legislative branch offices and all federal agencies - including massive institutions such as the State, Defense and Transportation departments - would be authorized to use portions of their budgets to buy greenhouse-gas offsets and renewable-energy credits, should the Carbon Neutrality Act of 2007 become law. Greenhouse gas offsets are commonly known as carbon offsets. Renewable energy credits, or RECs, are tradeable commodities that are generated when energy is produced by renewable sources such as wind, solar, biomass or municipal solid waste. The credits purchased by the government would be retired and thus removed from the market, Welch spokesman Andrew Savage said. Money generated through the sale of carbon offsets is used to finance renewable energy projects. Offset funds also are spent on forestry projects and the capture of methane from landfills and dairy farms that would otherwise be released into the air. There are no estimates of the cost to purchase offsets for all federal agencies and legislative offices, Welch said.