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Reuters - Chinese children suffering lead poisoning from polluting smelters and factories have been denied testing, effective treatment and even basic information by officials who downplayed health threats, a human rights advocacy group said on Wednesday.

Reuters - Tokyo's local government launched a large-scale radiation survey on Wednesday, sending officials out to parks, school playgrounds and other locations to reassure parents over the aftermath of leaks at the tsunami-crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant.

AP - China's nuclear regulators have given the country's reactors a clean bill of health following inspections ordered after the disaster at Japan's tsunami-struck Fukushima Dai-ichi facility.

Since not every company’s roof sports a solar power system, it is clear that not every company is going solar.  So that got us thinking - just what kind of companies are choosing to incorporate solar into their business plans?  A quick scan of recent headlines reveals that some of the best known companies in this country are making big plays to add solar.  Consider these headlines: IKEA to Install Solar Panels on Six Stores - ...

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AP - Four rare wild horses were flown to Mongolia as part of the Prague Zoo's efforts to reintroduce the endangered species to its native habitat.

AP - The Senate refused to kill a $5 billion annual subsidy for ethanol on Tuesday, backing continued government aid for a Farm Belt-based industry over deficit reduction in an era of record red ink.

On the first day of EnergyOcean International 2011, it seems the prevailing theme was that while ocean energy holds many promising possibilities, cost is still a main concern among industry experts. Dr. Christopher G. Hart, Offshore Wind Manager at the Department of Energy, delivered a hopeful keynote to conference attendees. “We are excited at the DOE to find cost optimum systems and possibilities that deepwater offshore presents,” he said. In order to achieve success, Hart believes that small developments in the industry will transition to larger international utilities, which will then attract long-term investors. The key to this process is educating financiers to make them realize that technology is more developed than they currently believe. He explained that the industry is working tirelessly to reduce financial risk, and that companies need to, “get their technology out there.” Offshore wind is a big topic at this years conference, and the University of Maine's DeepCwind project was highlighted immediately after Hart's address. Maine set a goal to have 5 GW of floating offshore wind by 2030. Researchers on the project have compiled over nine years of data, and determined that far offshore wind (42-56 miles) creates 33% more energy than nearshore (6-13 miles) or hilltop wind and therefore, the cost of energy is 33% less. The UMaine team has been testing different base designs in their testing labs (a new wind lab is set to open October 2011) and plans to test their deepwater prototype from July-October 2012.  Though research and testing takes years, each presenter at the conference agreed with Hart: “We're not trying to put the first, we're trying to put the best system in the water globally.”

Reuters - A University of Illinois professor whose research has found applications from cardiology to solar power to sportswear on Tuesday won the prestigious Lemelson-MIT Prize for outstanding inventor.

Reuters - Google Inc will finance $280 million of residential solar power systems through a deal with startup SolarCity that is the Internet search giant's largest single clean energy investment to date.

Shreya Indukuri and Daniela Lapidous, ACE Youth Advisory Board members and juniors at the Harker School in San Jose, CA, paid a visit to the White House yesterday, but they didn't just go for a tour. Through working with ACE, this energy-smart duo is scaling up their efforts to spur efficient energy use in America’s high schools – and sharing their ideas with America’s leaders.

Yesterday, in front of an invite-only audience of CEOs, White House advisors, and utility industry leaders, Shreya and Daniela shared the story of how they reduced their school’s energy use by 13 percent and founded their own non-profit, SmartPowerEd.

They shared a stage with U.S. Secretary of Energy, Steven Chu; Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack; Director of the Office of Science and Technology, John Holdren; and Chairperson of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, Nancy Sutley.

In their talk, they let our leaders know that young people care about the future and energy use, and that they are ready to get involved with solutions. They closed with two questions for Secretary Chu and others: how are you going to harness the potential of young people? How are you going to prioritize energy education and inspire young people to act?

You can see a video of their talk with White House officials here. More to come from ACE's Emily Adler, who accompanied Shreya and Daniela to the event. What a day!

Globally, the buzzword today is green power! And there is no doubt that by using renewable energy to the maximum extent, we will be able to stave off depletion of the non-renewable energy sources. However, one of the biggest drawbacks of using renewable energy to generate power is that the power generation is highly dependent on the availability of the natural sources – wind, sun or rain, thereby contributing to a great deal of...

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When Google throws its considerable influence into a new arena, people tend to notice. When that influence comes with $280 million, well, people may start to act.

AFP - Europe's forests have expanded over the past 20 years and are thus absorbing more carbon dioxide, a report published in Oslo Tuesday showed, offering some good news in the battle to limit climate change.

SolarCity is a big provider of solar home energy leases in ten states across the country. Google is, well, Google. The news today is that the two companies are about to get a bit closer. The Internet search giant made clear its intention to invest $280 million to create a fund that will enable SolarCity to finance more residential solar energy projects. “We’re excited to be making our first investment in distributed residential solar,”...

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Konarka Technologies Inc has announced the largest Organic Photovoltaic ( OPV ) installation at its headquarters building in New Bedford, Massachussetts. Konarka has installed OPV panels on seven east and south facing windows of 56? x 67 “. This would lead to the adoption of the trend of Building Integrated Photovoltaics ( BIPV ) in place of the practice of thinking of photovolataics for say, a roof-top installation after the building...

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SMA Solar Technology AG (SMA/FWB: S92) signed a purchase agreement to acquire dtw Sp.z o.o., one of Poland's largest manufacturers of electromagnetic components, in Krakow today. The transaction is expected to be closed in July 2011 under the usual reserves. In acquiring one of its longtime suppliers, SMA is securing its position as a technology leader in the area of solar inverters. dtw specializes in making technologically innovative core components for manufacturing inverters, such as inductors, coils and toroidal transformers.

President Obama visited the manufacturing facilities of LED-maker Cree (Nasdaq: CREE) on Monday to talk about green job growth. By the White House's estimates, $80 billion in the economic stimulus package created or preserved 225,000 clean energy jobs through Q310. But despite moderate gains, the administration is so far unable to point to tangible evidence that the nation is on track to the 5 million green collar workers hoped for within...

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Back in 2005 it was clear to a number of observers that China’s trailing rate of coal consumption was so strong, that its demand was on course to double by the end of the decade. As of 2010, this is precisely what’s happened. From a jump between 2002-2003, around 850 Mtoe (million tonnes oil equivalent), China is now consuming 1713.5 Mtoe as of last year, according to the BP Statistical Review. | see: China Coal Consumption in Mtoe...

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Portugal's renewables power industry got a scare last month when the IMF advised the government to lower its support for the sector to shore up its finances after bailing out the ailing European economy.