MultiMedia Center 4/29 - The Environmental Protection Agency’s Blaine Collison unveils the "Top 50" companies that buy the most renewable energy. All told, the “Green 50” bought more than 11 billion kilowatt hours last year - enough to power 1.1 million homes. Topping the list for the second year in a row: semiconductor giant Intel Corp. The EPA’s Green Power Partnership works with more than 1,000 partner organizations to voluntarily purchase green power to reduce the environmental impacts of conventional electricity use. See the whole list at epa.gov. Click here to listen. 4/27 - Things got a bit heated during a House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee hearing on Friday, as Rep. Marsha Blackburn, a Tennessee Republican, grilled former Vice President Al Gore on whether his frequent evangelizing on the dangers of climate change — and his support of proposed legislation that would place limits on carbon emissions — was aimed at turning a profit. Gore, offended, reminded her that he has reinvested “every penny” he has made from his renewable energy holdings, his book and movie, into the non-profit he chairs, the Alliance for Climate Protection. Check out the clip below… 4/15 - Podcast: Wind CEO on Industry’s Growth, and Challenges - In a Green Energy Brief exclusive, Denise Bode, CEO of the American Wind Energy Association, says the industry - after grinding to a halt last Fall - is starting to pick up steam. The economic stimulus bill is a big help of course, and the “Waxman” bill in Congress would be even better. She talks about all this and more. Click here to listen... 4/6 - PODCAST: Biofuels and Transportation - Recent test flights by several major airlines using a blend of conventional jet fuel and plant-based oils are “fueling” hopes that everything from cars to commercial and military jets could be powered by home grown biofuels. A senior Boeing executive recently told Congress that they think biofuels will work…and the implications for national security, the economy and climate change could be enormous. Our guest: Brent Erickson, Executive VP of Bio, a Washington trade group representing the biofuels industry. Click here to listen… 3/30 - This time a year ago, the market for refined silicon was booming; margins were fat and demand was surging. Today, the price is off nearly 80%, margins have been crushed and a glut is threatening the low-cost niche of giants like First Solar and Energy Conversion Devices – as evidenced by their collapsing stock prices in the chart. What will they do now and what is the impact on the industry as a whole? Barron’s senior writer William Alpert reports, and check out his video... 3/30 - Solar Energy Industries Association CEO Rhone Resch doesn’t deny that the slumping economy has taken a toll on his industry. But he tells Fox Business things are looking up… 3/27 - MultiMedia: Opportunities in Biofuels – Low oil prices and the credit crunch have hammered the biofuels industry over the past eight months. But Richard Gilmore, president and CEO of GIC Group, tells CNBC why he thinks the sector is due for a rebound… 3/25 - Who says American capitalism is dead? Some daring entrepreneurs have turned a rusty auto parts factory in Michigan into Mas-Tech Wind, a turbine plant, using some of the very same workers. Their product – a wind turbine system for homeowners – is affordable, cost competitive with anything made abroad, and the company is profitable. No bailouts here. What’s not to like? Click here for more. 3/20 - The president visited the Edison electric vehicle technical center in Pomona, Calif., one of two test sites approved by the Department of Energy to investigate electric car performance. Managed by the utility Southern California Edison, the facility researches battery-powered and hybrid engines, and studies the potential impacts of having massive numbers of electric vehicles taking power from conventional utility networks. Catch the president’s comments on electric cars here... 3/10 - Podcast: Electric Car Goes Farther Than the Volt, is Cheaper Than Tesla – You’ve probably heard of the Saturn Sky; but the car you’re thinking of has a combustion engine. Cincinnati’s Advanced Mechanical Products (AMP) has successfully transformed the Sky into a 100% electric car: no gas, no oil, no transmission fluid, the list goes on. Click here to listen to our chat with AMP’s founder and CEO Steve Burns – and to see a demonstration of his “wonder car." 3/9 - Few Americans are interested enough in wind power to have an energy-generating turbine on their roof or in their backyard. The American Wind Energy Assn. is trying to change that. It points out the $787 billion economic stimulus package provides a 30% investment tax credit to any homeowner who buys a turbine. The AWEA’s Ron Stimmel predicts that even with the recession, the tax credit will "blow the top off the market." See how a home turbine system works… 3/5 - Green Cars Won’t Save Automakers – AutoNation CEO Mike Jackson says Americans “care about green” but this doesn’t necessarily translate into sales for automakers. On CNBC, he said 5% of consumers make decisions based on the environment, but for the other 95%, “unless the numbers work, they’re not going to pay for green technology.” He pointed out that with $2 gas, big fuel guzzlers are beginning to sell again. Jackson probably doesn’t think much of the next story. 3/5 - Cap & Trade: View from the Oil Patch – Oil will remain the lifeblood of the U.S. economy for years if not decades to come. But low prices discourage domestic investment and exploration – increasing our reliance on imports. Bruce Vincent, the Vice Chairman of the Independent Petroleum Association of America, discusses this – and the oil patch’s views on cap and trade. Click here. 3/4 - Podcast: Money’s Only the First Step - Supporters of renewable energy are happy, of course, that the economic stimulus bill signed last month has billions in financial incentives for wind, solar and other forms of green power. But the government has thrown money at green energy before. What is really needed, insists George Sterzinger of the Renewable Energy Policy Project in Washington, is something else. Listen here. 3/2 - Podcast: “America has been asleep” - Renewable energy is one of President Obama’s top three priorities; he says the U.S. must double its production of solar, wind and other forms of green energy over the next three years. But the United States lacks, for now, the manufacturing base to support wind and solar power on a large scale basis – forcing us to import most of the solar panels and wind turbines in use today. But George Sterzinger, executive director of the Renewable Energy Policy Project in Washington, says it’s not too late to turn things around. Also: can U.S. manufacturers meet “the China price?” Listen here. 2/27 - Rising unemployment is drawing attention to one part of the economy where the future remains fairly bright: renewable energy. The stimulus package signed earlier this month provides $500 million for job training, and at an event in Philadelphia today, Vice-President Biden said green energy jobs typically pay up to 20% more than similar jobs in other fields. 2/25 - In his appearance before a joint session of Congress, the president repeated his pledge to double renewable energy production in the United States by 2012. He said it is unacceptable that the U.S. has fallen behind China in developing renewables; he’s also unhappy that electric cars made in the America will rely on batteries made in South Korea. He said America can - and must – build its own green energy infrastructure. The president also called for a “cap and trade” system designed to limit carbon emissions. Listen here… 2/20 - Today's Podcast - There's lots of talk these days about the need to overhaul the nation’s electric grid – and make it “smarter.” Some companies, in fact, have been taking steps on their own to improve the transmission and distribution of electricity. One of them is Allegheny Energy, a utility serving Pennsylvania, Maryland and West Virginia. We spoke with the company’s Allan Staggers. Click here... 2/20 - Today's Podcast - General Motors and Chrysler, two auto titans on the edge of bankruptcy, are betting big on electric cars. How good are they, what about the infrastructure needed to support them - and will Americans buy them? Our guest: John O’Dell, senior editor of Green Car Advisor for Edmunds.com. Click here to listen… 2/19 - Today's Podcast - General Motors and Chrysler, two auto titans on the edge of bankruptcy, are betting big on electric cars. How good are they, what about the infrastructure needed to support them - and will Americans buy them? Our guest: John O’Dell, senior editor of Green Car Advisor for Edmunds.com. Click here to listen. 2/18 - Today's Podcast: Denise Bode, CEO of the American Wind Energy Association, talks about the stimulus bill and the outlook for the US wind industry. Click here to listen. 2/17 - Today's Podcast: Westar Energy has a unique way of letting its customers help develop wind energy. 2/9 - CNN: The president explains his economic strategy in Indiana and in prime time. CNN's Kim McIntyre reports..... 1/26 - CNN: President Obama's executive order requires the EPA to reconsider letting California set its own standards..... Back to the Front Page.....