"
This innovative 'green' home, featuring solar
panels and numerous other energy-saving products, is truly a home
of the future," Buffett wrote his shareholders. "Estimated costs for
electricity and heating total only about $1 per day when the home is sited in an
area like Omaha."

Today, the National Hydrogen Association released a new report called the
"Energy Evolution: An Analysis of Alternative Vehicles and Fuels to 2100." The
Energy Evolution shows that a scenario which initially includes a mix of
alternative vehicles, and is later dominated by hydrogen fuel cell electric
vehicles sales is the only way to simultaneously cut U.S. greenhouse gas
pollution by 80% below 1990 levels; reach petroleum quasi-independence by
mid-century; and eliminate nearly all controllable air pollution by the end of
the century. The report also shows that an expansion of hydrogen stations is
more affordable than most people think.

Codelco, the world's largest copper company, on Tuesday took a cautious view
on the outlook for the red metal. It warned that it was unclear if US demand had
bottomed out yet, said Europe was stagnant, and that the only bright spot was
China.

NAIROBI (Reuters) - The global economic crisis is jeopardizing efforts to
help the world's growing number of slum dwellers, U.N. Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon said Monday.

The U.N. housing agency UN-Habitat, which is hosting a major meeting this
week in the Kenyan capital, says the number of slum dwellers in the world could
triple to 3 billion by 2050 if left unchecked.

Leadership in both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate are calling on
the Department of Energy (DOE) to allocate US $250 million of the $2.5 billion
in stimulus funding for renewable energy research and development to the
emerging marine renewable energy industry. The funding would help develop wave,
current and tidal energy technologies

Until November it was virtually impossible for a private developer of
renewable energy power plants to become an independent power producer (IPP) in
Mexico. Article 27 of the Mexican Constitution precluded private investment
stating that electricity generation for public use is an activity to
be
undertaken exclusively by the Government.

Mexico's enactment of a new law for the use of Renewable Energy and the
Financing of the Energy Transition (
Ley para el Aprovechamiento de Energías Renovables y el
Financiamiento de la Transición Energética
) substantially improves the legal
framework for private investment in renewable energy projects. The law regulates
renewable energy electricity generation for purposes other than providing public
electricity services. The law states
that the use of renewable energy for
electricity generation is possible for private use and any excess energy can be
sold, but only based on regulations and approvals by Mexico's energy regulatory
body,
CRE
.

DOE Offers $2.4 Billion to Support Next-Generation Electric Vehicles

President Barack Obama announced on March 19 that DOE is offering up to $2.4
billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds to support
next-generation plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and their advanced battery
components. Of the $2.4 billion, $1.5 billion in grants will go to U.S.
manufacturers to produce high-efficiency batteries and their components; $500
million in grants will go to U.S. manufacturers to produce other components
needed for electric vehicles, such as electric motors; and $400 million will go
towards projects that demonstrate and evaluate plug-in hybrids and other
electric infrastructure concepts. When these plug-in hybrid vehicles are offered
for sale, U.S. residents who purchase them will be able to claim a tax credit of
up to $7,500. Building a plug-in hybrid vehicle industry in the United States
will create tens of thousands of jobs and will reduce our nation's dependence on
foreign oil.

Super strong nanometals - a Chinese-Danish success




Research shows that it is possible to produce copper about 4 times
stronger than commercial material - and doing so while also having a ductile
material. As the thermal and electrical conductivity are also good, the
manufacturing of, for example, electrical conductors with improved mechanical
properties looks promising

President Obama yesterday outlined plans to spend about $59 billion in
economic stimulus funds and $150 billion from the federal budget to promote what
he calls America's "clean-energy future."


"We will attack the problems that have held us back for too long," including
dependence on foreign oil, Obama told a gathering of clean-energy entrepreneurs
and leading researchers at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building