EDRs on the Way for Prius Investigation: Toyota currently has only one prototype electronic data recovery (EDR) reader “in use within the entire U.S., making assessment of problematic vehicles both time consuming and difficult.” The automaker plans to have 100-150 EDR readers here by the end of next month, and 400 more “as soon as they become available.” — Autoblog Green

Wrong Kind of Carbon Recycling: “The BlueNext carbon exchange on Wednesday had suspended CER [certified emissions reductions] trading after it found that ‘used’ permits had traded on its exchange, and said on Thursday that it would resume such trade on March 22, having made it ‘impossible to trade recycled CERs.’” — Reuters

Beginning of the End of the Incandescent: After 120 years in the incandescent lightbulb business, Toshiba announced this week that, “it has produced its last major run of…the electricity-guzzling light source.” — CNET’s Green Tech

Four Obstacles for Electric Bikes: Obstacles that have kept electric bikes from taking hold in North America (and in particular the Pacific Northwest) like they have in China include immature technology, bike culture (hardcore cyclists say going electric is “cheating”), closed distribution channels and safety. – Grist

Progress for Lake Turkana Wind Project: “Kenya’s Lake Turkana Wind Power project – set to become Africa’s largest wind farm – looks to be back on track after securing financing through a new shareholding structure.” — NYT’s Green Inc.

Electric Amsterdam: With the goal of having 200,000 electric cars on its roads by 2040, the city of Amsterdam has announced a €3 million ($4.1 million) plan “aimed at promoting electric vehicle development. On the schedule: subsidies towards vehicle purchase, financial assistance for companies and incentive measures.” – Sustainable-Mobility.org via Green Car Congress

Gaps in U.S. Climate Coping Policy: “The federal government has ’significant gaps’ in its strategy to cope with the increasing effects of climate change on the country, according to a White House report scheduled to be released Tuesday.” According to a draft, the “report will call for better risk assessments, more thorough scientific research and improved coordination of federal and local governments.” — LA Times

Testing, Testing, Smart Meters: “Oncor is conducting about three dozen side-by-side tests of mechanical and digital meters around North and Central Texas in response to consumer complaints that the new meters cause bills to rise. The first results show that they do measure the same way and that they are accurate, said Oncor spokesman Chris Schein.” — Dallas Morning News.

Risks of Sector-by-Sector Climate Policy: Senators John Kerry and Lindsey Graham’s approach to crafting a compromise climate bill by, “applying different types of carbon limits to different sectors of the industry doesn’t just downplay the urgency of reducing emissions. Some economists say the sector-specific approach would be costlier to society and less efficient than an economy-wide approach.” — Solve Climate via The Hill

More Megawatts for First Solar: Thin-film solar giant First Solar has “struck a deal to sell a 30 megawatt power project to utility owner Southern Co and Ted Turner’s Turner Renewable Energy,” in New Mexico. — Reuters

SemaConnect Jumps Into EV Services Ring: Bootstrapped smart-charging SemaConnect has installed some of its first devices at the Loews Annapolis Hotel. “Users of the SemaConnect service will get a key fob that identifies their vehicle and authorizes access to a power outlet controlled by one of the firm’s devices; a wave of the device in front of a gray box logs a user on and keeps track of power usage. SemaConnect sends the owner a bill.” — Washington Post

Community Solar: “A new solution is springing up in pockets of the country” for renters who want to invest in solar installations. In community solar arrays, “the idea is that utilities build the arrays, and customers…can buy a share.” But some solar companies fear the scheme,”might compete for public subsidies with rooftop solar panel.” — NYT’s Green Inc.

Utilities Not Ready for Coming Customer Engagement from Smart Grid: A report from research firm IDC Energy Insights, and sponsored by telecom firm Telus, finds that utilities “have not thought through the implications of new technology and products on customer relationships or the business process.” In other words utilities are not at all prepared for the increased amount of communication, education and interactivity that will be required from installing new smart grid technology.

How Toyota’s Prius Troubles Will Shape the Green Car Market: Not too long ago, Toyota reigned as the seemingly untouchable hybrid leader. That dominance — in terms of both market share (50 percent of hybrids sold in the U.S.) and mindshare (no alt-fuel vehicle on the market is better known or more widely recognized than the Toyota Prius) — means that as the Prius image takes a beating, other models across the spectrum of green cars will also get bruised.

Bloom Energy, Fuel Cells, Not A Good Match For Utilities — Yet: An administrative judge with the California Public Utilities Commission made a preliminary decision to reject requests from utilities Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison to buy $43 million in fuel cells from FuelCell Energy and Bloom Energy for 6 MW of electricity. The CPUC can either accept or reject that judge’s recommendation, but still, it’s not a good sign for the pairing of fuel cells with the power grid anytime soon — fuel cells are just too expensive right now.

7 Startups Building Green Car Tech for a Pre-Electric World: There are a raft of startups working on technology that could help boost the fuel efficiency and reduce the emissions of the world’s vehicle fleet long before electric cars go mainstream. Here’s 7 of them.

4 Lessons For Fuel Cell Makers, Amidst the Bloom Boom: Fuel cell maker Bloom Energy faces a long road that’s already been littered with a variety of lessons from fuel cell pioneers including UTC Power, Ballard Power Systems:, Plug Power, FuelCell Energy, and many, many others. Here are some of the key lessons to be learned from the experience of fuel cell makers, past, present and future.

Meet the Gribble Worm: “Most cellulosic ethanol companies that are using bio-chemical methods require the use of expensive enzymes to breakdown the polysaccharides into simple sugars that can be further fermented into ethanol.” But new research suggests a crustacean called the Gribble worm, “is an idiot savant when it comes to transforming wood into sugars.” — Greentech Media

Shift in the Energy Balance: “The path of demand in [natural] gas’s new age is hard to predict, but abundant new sources could bring about profound change in patterns of energy consumption.” — The Economist

Americans on Climate Change: Meh: “Americans are less concerned about the threat of climate change than they were two years ago and almost half say the seriousness of global warming is overblown, a Gallup Organization Inc. poll shows.” — Bloomberg via BusinessWeek

Aurica Motors Angles for NUMMI: “Who the heck is Aurica Motors? An under-the-radar electric car company with big dreams, that’s who. A company that, if it gets its way, will turn the soon-to-be-closed NUMMI plant in Fremont, CA into a huge production facility for electric vehicles.” — Autoblog Green

Smith Electric Vehicles Offers $55M for UK Partner: Kansas City-based Smith Electric Vehicles has offered to buy its British partner, the Tanfield Group’s Smith Electric Vehicles UK, for 37 million pounds ($55.2 million) in cash and a portion of any future public offering. — Kansas City Business Journal

Solazyme Expands Deal with Unilever: Algae fuel and products startup Solazyme “has signed a research and development agreement with Unilever to develop oil derived from algae for use in soaps and other personal care products. Solazyme says the deal “follows the culmination of a yearlong collaboration between Solazyme and Unilever, in which Solazyme’s renewable algal oils were tested successfully in Unilever product formulations.” — release.

Valeo to Go Big for Hybrid and Electric Powertrains: “Valeo SA, France’s second-largest car-parts maker, said today that two-thirds of the research budget will be spent on hybrid and electric powertrains, as well as on cutting carbon-dioxide emissions from conventional engines.” — Edmunds Green Car Advisor

Climate Change Skepticism in China’s Diplomatic Ranks: “In yet another unnerving sign that China may not be on the same page as other major countries combating climate change, its top climate negotiator said there was still uncertainty about the causes of global warming.” — The Atlantic

Senator Dick Lugar’s Energy Plan: “U.S. Sen. Dick Lugar said today that he is drafting a practical energy plan that would meet many climate improving goals, without cap and trade, by conserving energy and saving people, businesses and government money. — Lugar’s site.

Markey and Hundt on How to Recreate the Telecom Boom for Energy: “Creating the right framework for our communications networks led investors to commit about $850 billion to rebuild those networks. With the right set of policies, it is reasonable expect a similar explosion of private sector investment in the energy sector.” — Talking Points Memo.

Batter Maker PowerGenix Links With U.S. Army: PowerGenix says its Nickel-Zinc rechargeable batteries will be tested by the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) “as a possible replacement for the lead-acid “6T” batteries currently in use.” — release.

KB Home Pre-Wiring for EVs: Home builder KB Home announced today “that it will begin offering an option to pre-wire its new Built to Order homes to accommodate charging stations for homeowners’ electric vehicles.” — release.

Renault’s Biggest EV Fear: “Far from a looming bubble and bear market for electric cars and their batteries, Renault fears the opposite: a global competitive rush to develop them.” Renault chief operating officer Patrick Pelata told reporter in Geneva that, “The biggest strategic fear is that the Chinese or Indian auto industry will take a shortcut.” — Financial Times

Yingli Green Energy Earnings: “Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. on Monday said its fourth-quarter results slid to a loss driven by one-time charges, but the solar cell maker predicted 2010 module shipments to nearly double from 2009 levels.” — Associated Press via Los Angeles Times

On the Ground at MIT: “The MIT Energy Conference on Saturday covered a little bit of everything–’China speed,’ climate change, financing gaps, government policy, nuclear and natural gas, and, of course, science experiments–as entrepreneurs, business people, and academics tried to get their arms around big-picture energy challenges.” — CNET’s Green Tech

Energy Storage: Product or Service?: “To overcome some of the economic realities of the energy market and to better highlight some of the advantages of storage systems, makers of large-scale batteries, flywheels and other types of equipment may start to position themselves as power providers or service providers instead of manufacturers.” — Greentech Media

I am very excited about this year’s speaker line up. Here’s some speakers you have to look forward to:

• Steve Jurvetson, Managing Director, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, was a web pioneer backing companies like Hotmail and has emerged as a leading greentech investor backing companies like Tesla and Synthetic Genomics. What’s his vision for a greentech future with his IT past?
• I’ll be interviewing the executives in charge of Google and Microsoft’s Internet-based energy initiatives — Microsoft’s Product Unit Manager of Hohm Troy Batterberry and Google’s Program Manager in Advanced Projects and PowerMeter Ed Lu.
• On our smart grid panel we’ll discuss the future of the digital power grid with Silver Spring Networks EVP Eric Dresselhuys, and Cisco’s SVP and GM, Smart Grid, Laura Ipsen.
• We’ll hear how a Texas utility plans to get ready for the coming onslaught of electric vehicles, from Jason Few, President of Reliant Energy.
• Google’s got one of the most innovative energy efficient data center and server strategies around. Learn about Google Green Energy Czar Bil Weihl’s strategies.
• Bill Gross, the founder and Chairman of incubator Idealab, will teach us how smart algorithms and computing power will deliver low cost solar.

And much, much more, including carbon software, how the web leads to dematerialization (exchanging atoms for bits), investing in the intersection of greentech and IT, and how policy will make all of this happen.

Top 10 Nuclear Power Countries: Discovery created this cool photo spread of the top 10 countries building nuclear power — Discovery.

Konarka Links with Konica Minolta: “Konica Minolta, an office equipment and high-tech components maker, has spent $20 million to take a 7.5 percent stake in Konarka, whose co-founders include Alan Heeger, a 2000 Nobel prize laureate in chemistry.” — Reuters.

Battery Problem for EVs is Perception and Technology: “Researchers from the Institute of Transportation Studies at UC Davis are suggesting that part of the “battery problem” is a mismatch between established performance goals and what consumers may initially seek from electric-drive vehicles.” — GreenCarCongress.

German Solar Subsidy Cuts: “Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet as expected has agreed to a proposed cuts to state-mandated solar power incentives in July, a government source told Reuters on Wednesday.” — Reuters.

Coda Automotive Seeks $40M More: Fresh on the heels of landing $25 million from Aegis Capital in January, the Santa Monica, Calif.-based EV maker is seeking an additional $40 million to prepare for launching its electric sedan later this year. — Cleantech Group.

SolarCity Grabs $90M More In Projects: SolarCity “announced a new fund to finance an additional $90 million in commercial and residential solar projects in 2010 with U.S. Bancorp Community Development Corporation, a division of U.S. Bancorp — release.

On-Ramp Wireless Moves Into Asia: Wireless smart grid firm On-Ramp Wireless announced distribution agreements with Korean distributor Uniquest Corporation and Taiwanese distributor MetaTech Inc — release.

GE’s Immelt: U.S. lagging in clean energy: “The demand for energy products is gravitating toward the developing world and the bulk of new clean-energy business risks going along with it, said General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt.” — CNET.

Report: Silver Spring Seeks Mid-2010 IPO, Valuation of $3B? Dow Jones Clean Technology Insight reported Friday that Silver Spring has picked a banker for an IPO scheduled for mid-2010, and is aiming at a market valuation of $3 billion.

Balance Energy Quietly Building a Web of Microgrids: Balance Energy — a San Diego-based offshoot of British military contractor BAE Systems — sees the bigger promise of microgrids in the private sector, not as islands of power unto themselves, but as trading partners, making and sharing electricity with each other and the grid at large.

Microsoft Hohm to Connect with Devices this Summer, One Day Offer Its Own? Microsoft has just released the software developer kit for Hohm to third party device makers and is expecting Hohm to connect with devices –- likely smart meters first — this summer. Microsoft “might” even one day develop its own Microsoft-branded energy hardware, but for now is focused on connecting with third party gadget makers.

The Future of Smart Grid Transmission: Superconducting High-Voltage Power Lines: To deliver the promised benefits of the smart grid –- stability, seamless interconnectivity, real-time information for customers and grid operators –- the country’s aging, isolated AC grids will have to be replaced by a robust new transmission network. And that future dream looks like it will be tightly connected to a technology called superconducting high-voltage direct current (HVDC) power lines, which are super-chilled to boost capacity and can carry gigawatts of electricity.

Apple Spends a Third of Its Shareholder Meeting on Green: According to GreenBiz Apple spent “about a third of its annual meeting discussing sustainability, melting glaciers and the finer points of reporting about greenhouse gas emissions?” — GreenBiz.

Making sense of Wal-Mart’s big green announcement: Why Wal-Mart’s carbon neutral pledge is important. — Grist.org.

Cleantech Entrepreneurs Not Stoked on Stimulus: The entrepreneurs at the “Meet the DOE” event at the Cleantech Forum on Tuesday “didn’t seem to agree that things were going so well,” in terms of the stimulus funds “and used the Q&A session to vent their frustration about the lack of funding for energy startups,” — MIT Tech Review.

Will Energy Efficiency Work?: Efficiency and Resilience: After Jevons Paradox, the Piggy Principle — Oil Drum.

Landfill Gas Into Energy: USA Today takes a look at the growing number of landfill projects that are capturing methane and turning it into energy. “[T]he number of landfill gas projects, which convert methane gas emitted from decomposing garbage into power, jumped from 399 in 2005 to 519 last year, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.” — USA Today.

Nuclear power’s time has come: Why Stewart Brand, the founder and editor of the Whole Earth Catalog, now thinks nuclear is “vital to efforts to combat climate change.” — CNN.

The Beywatch Project: European researchers have created Beywatch, which stands for Building Energy Watcher, as a microgrid test project for a neighborhood. — Physorg.com.

Glenn Beck Possibly Cares About Planet, Anything?: Mother Jones looks at whether conservative pundit Glenn Beck is a closet environmentalist. — Mother Jones.

MIT Tech Review’s 50 Most Innovative Companies: Lots of greentech firms on it, including A123Systems, Coskata, Amyris, Joule Biotechnologies, Suntech, eSolar, First Solar, Nissan, GE, Serious Materials, Solyndra, Synthetic Genomics, and Tesla — release.

David Gelbaum Resigns from Boards to Focus on Entech: Gelbaum issued a release today saying that he’s resigned from all boards of public companies to focus on being the CEO of Entech Solar. See our exclusive interview with Gelbaum here. — release.

Cash for Lighting: Wireless lighting control company Adura says it’s raised $12 million, while LED maker Luminus Devices says it’s raised $19 million — release, and XConomy.

Q&A With Bill Gross: The dotcom pioneer that founded Idealab, is now helping lead eSolar, the solar thermal company that uses algorithms and mass manufacturing to reduce the cost of solar. Love this one quote, Gross says eSolar’s software is so good “The guys can be drunk when they place the rows; it really doesn’t matter. Our tolerance is plus or minus a foot.” — MIT Tech Review.

Pull The Plug!: A new blog called This Week In Batteries, run by Venkat Srinivasan, a researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab’s Batteries for Advanced Transportation Technologies (BATT) recently launched and is providing fascinating reading. — ThisWeekInBatteries.

GE Smart Appliances at the Olympics: Why? Seems to be no other reason than there’ll be a whole lotta people at the Olympics and GE wants to show off it smart appliances — release.

Singularity to Solar: Ray Kurzwiel, aka that Singularity guy, takes a look on his personal blog at 4 cutting-edge clean technologies that use super computing — TriplePundit.

Developing World Set to Live Under E-Waste: “Waste from discarded electronics will rise dramatically in the developing world within a decade, with computer waste in India alone to grow by 500 percent from 2007 levels by 2020, a U.N. study released Monday said.” — CNET.