Memoori

BP will work with Verenium to produce grass-based ethanol in the US by 2010, and will team up with Dupont to produce biobutanol in Britain by 2012. - Memoori

Concerns about the future of the US clean energy sector were heightened last week when John Rudolf ran a New York Times article describing plans for a 600-megawatt $1.5 billion wind farm in West Texas. With construction set to begin in March 2010, the wind farm will use 240 2.5MW turbines manufactured by A-Power Energy Generation Systems in Shenyang, China, and the capital cost is mostly financed by Chinese banks. - Memoori

First Solar should have a bright future doing business in the European Union. Based in Tempe, Arizona, the company is among the top solar manufacturers in the world. Most of the company’s annual sales of $1.2 billion already are in Europe, where nations have committed to generating a fifth of their power from renewable sources by 2020. - Memoori

“Emissions intensity” – the amount of atmospheric carbon generated from fossil fuel use per unit of gross domestic product – fell globally in all but two years between 1994 and 2006, according to a World Bank study released earlier this week. But emissions reductions in individual countries presented a mixed picture, according to Masami Kojima, the lead energy specialist with the World Bank, and one of the authors of the study, which highlights to challenge of de-coupling emissions from economic growth. - Memoori

On the day that the US unemployment rate hit its highest level in 26 years, it was encouraging to receive word of a hopeful retrofit program recently pitched to President Obama. - Memoori