UN Wants Green New Deal to Save Economy: Ahead of the meeting of the world’s finance leaders at the Financing for Development - Doha Review Conference, the UN’s Environment Program says the solution to the global financial, fuel and food crises is in a clean energy economy - Guardian.

Segway Maker Wants to Provide Power and Water to Poor: Segway inventor Dean Kamen has designed two “black boxes” to help the world’s poor. One converts cow dung into electricity and the other can turn “anything that looks like fluid” into clean water using one kilowatt of electricity - CNet.

GridPoint Adds Second Ex-CIA Director as Adviser: Smart grid startup GridPoint has brought on former Director of Central Intelligence George J. Tenet as an adviser. Tenet joins another former CIA Director, James Woolsey, on the board, making us wonder how many ex-spooks it takes to take over our electrical grid - Press Release.

The End of the Gusty Good Times?: The American Wind Energy Association released big third quarter numbers on wind energy installations, and while this year is still on track to set a new record, the AWEA warns that with the credit crisis, next year won’t be so windy - WSJ’s Environmental Capital.

How Do You Make Offshore Wind Cheaper?: The Carbon Trust has teamed up with five European energy companies to form the Offshore Wind Accelerator which, with £30 million, intends to research how to cut the cost of offshore wind by 10 percent - Cleantech Group.

PG&E Gives Away Solar to 25 Schools: The utility has selected 25 California schools to receive 1.3 kilowatt solar generation systems, valued at $25,000. PG&E also picked 9 schools to receive up to $5,000 in “Bright Ideas” grants for their innovative solar science projects. IndoctrinationInnovation starts young - Press Release.

Daimler Wants to Share Its Smart ForTwo: Daimler is set to launch a Zip Car-like auto sharing program starting with 50 smart fortwos in the city of Ulm, Germany - Green Car Congress.

UK Becomes Offshore Wind Energy Leader: With the completion of a new wind farm off the coast of Lincolnshire, the UK now boasts 590 megawatts of offshore wind power, surpassing Denmark’s 423 megawatts - Guardian.

SFC Smart Fuel Cell Debuts Bigger Fuel Cell: German fuel maker SFC Smart Fuel Cell AG has introduced its new, carry on-sized EFOY Pro Series which the company claims can power remote, off-grid sensors for months at a time - Press Release.

Green Energy Heading for a Slowdown: Even though Congress did finally get around renewing the renewable energy tax credits, it looks like the credit crunch and dropping oil prices could put the squeeze back on cleantech - NYTimes.

GreenVolts Wins Grant for Low-Cost Solar: GreenVolts has won a $250,000 grant from the California Energy Commission’s Public Interest Energy Research Program for its proposal on low-cost concentrating photovoltaics. This is the second grant GreenVolts has won from PIER - Press Release.

Novomer Gets new CEO and HQ: Green plastics startup Novomer has appointed Jim Mahoney as its new chief executive officer and moved from Ithaca, N.Y. to Boston, Mass. - Press Release.

Higher Perpetual Energy & DeWind Form JV for $1.2B Wind Project: Texas-based wind farm developer Higher Perpetual Energy and turbine maker DeWind have agreed to jointly develop 620 megawatts of wind power in the Texas Panhandle - Press Release.

Freescale Debuts Chip for Fuel Efficient Engines: Freescale Semiconductor has introduced a new, powerful microcontroller for engine control which allows car makers to design more fuel efficient engines - Press Release.

Coskata China-Bound: Speaking in Beijing, Coskata announced it plans to sell fuel in China and is looking to establish tech licensing or partnership agreements in the PRC. The startup estimates China can produce enough fuel from from forest and agricultural waste alone to replace all its imported oil - Cleantech Group.

The first ripples of the financial crisis are starting to be felt in the cleantech community. If the roller coaster on Wall Street captured you attention this week, we’ve got the cleantech headlines for you here.

10 Solar Startups to Watch at Solar Power International: The Solar Power International conference was this week and with 20,000 attendees it was touted as the largest solar gathering in U.S. history. Here are the companies you need to know.

Shai Agassi: Note to Next President, Better Place for U.S. Would Cost $100B: For $100 billion, Better Place could create an electric vehicle infrastructure that would place charging spots and battery swapping stations across the nation during the next president’s first term, Agassi said this week.

OptiSolar to Turn on Solar Power Soon: While OptiSolar, the solar photovoltaic startup that scored that massive deal with California utility PG&E, is remaining mum on the details of its technology, the company did confirm with us that it expects its solar power plant in Sarnia, Ontario, to start producing power before the end of the year.

What Tesla’s Restructuring Means for Cleantech: Tesla chairman and investor Elon Musk has taken over as CEO of the electric vehicle startup and will soon be conducting layoffs. While the moves are hardly unusual, they have particular significance for the cleantech industry in Silicon Valley.

Bloom Energy Licenses Modine’s Fuel-Cell Tech: Bloom Energy, the Kleiner Perkins-backed fuel-cell startup reported to “almost certainly have a commercial product ready within a year or two,” has licensed thermal management technology for $12 million from Modine Manufacturing.

UK Commits to Cutting Emissions 80% by 2050: The UK’s new energy and climate change secretary Ed Miliband has committed the country to cutting its emissions 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050, the same goal Obama has proposed for the U.S. - Guardian.

First Look at the New Prius: Behold, the 2010 Toyota Prius - Jalopnik.

Ener1 Acquires Korean Li-Ion Battery Maker: Ener1, parent of US-based lithium-ion battery manufacturer EnerDel, is acquiring an 83% interest in South Korean Enertech International and with it Think Global’s $34 million purchase order - Green Car Congress.

“What About Joe Solar Guy?”: Although the candidates didn’t say much new about energy or climate change, Joe the plumber got a lot of talk time. But what about his green collar brother? - NYT’s Green Inc.

Carbon-Sucking Algae’s Genome Sequenced: French and American researchers have sequenced the genome of Phaeodactylum tricornutum, a kind of microscopic algae that thrives in oceans on atmospheric carbon. This type of plant accounts for about 20 percent of our oxygen - Cordis News.

Real Goods Solar Merges with Regrid Power: Residential solar energy integrator Real Goods Solar has merged with Regrid Power, a solar installer located in Northern California. The shake out of the solar market continues - Press release.

Presidential Debate “What If?” Prep: The good folks at Environmental Capital posit the energy questions they’d ask the candidates at tonight’s debate. Schieffer, we hope you’re taking notes - WSJ’s Environmental Capital.

Bats vs. Wind Turbines: Spanish energy conglomerate Iberdrola has teamed up with Bat Conservation International to study exactly how bats are impacted by wind turbines. Make sure to check out their bat-tastic URL - Bats and Wind Energy Cooperative.

Brazil’s Votorantim Novos Negócios Invests in Amyris: Brazil’s Votorantim Novos Negócios (New Business) has taken a stake in Amyris, a synthetic biology startup working on renewable diesel fuel produced from sugarcane. The undisclosed investment pushes Amyris’s funding over $100 million - Green Car Congress.

Hyundai Heavy Industries Winding Up for Wind: Hyundai Heavy Industries, one of the world’s largest shipbuilders, has licensed wind turbine technology from American Superconductors and has plans to tap into America’s growing wind energy industry - Cleantech Group.

Silver Spring Networks Appoints CFO: Smart grid startup Silver Spring Networks today announced the appointment of Warren Jenson as Chief Financial Officer - Press Release.

Wave Energy Device Successfully Tested: Researchers from OSU, Columbia Power Technologies and the U.S. Navy’s facilities engineering command are one step closer to commercialization of a new “direct drive” wave energy device following a successful test - Portland Business Journal.

Johnson Controls-Saft to Supply Batteries for BMW Hybrid: BMW’s upcoming 7 Series ActiveHybrid will sport a 120 volt lithium ion battery pack from Johnson Controls-Saft - Autoblog Green.

Chesapeake Energy Nixes Shale.TV: With natural gas prices falling fast, Chesapeake Energy said it will scrap plans for a video site called Shale.TV that was designed to explain how clean and profitable drilling for natural gas can be. I guess now we’ll never know - Green Inc.

EU to Invest €1B in Hydrogen and Fuel Cells: The European Union and European Industry today announced plans to invest nearly €1 billion over six years in fuel cells and hydrogen research, technological development and demonstration. But what does it mean for biomass research? - Biopact.

Pickens’ Army Now 1 Million Strong: T. Boone Pickens has marshaled a million Americans in support of the wind and natural gas-powered Pickens Plan in just three months. It’s amazing what a $58 million media campaign can buy you - Press Release.

Meltdown Melting European Climate Policies?: The financial crisis that Europe first assumed wouldn’t effect it is causing European countries, once vaunted leaders on climate change policy, to get cold feet about spending more to fight climate change - WSJ’s Environmental Capital.

DHL Has In-House Cleantech Incubation Unit: Karl Feilder, chief executive of DHL’s division charged with reducing the company’s carbon footprint called DHL Neutral Services, says the company has been investing in a number of early-stage startups that could help DHL reduce its energy usage and improve its bottom line - Business Green.

“Growth Economics on a Finite Planet”: Peak oil is one thing, but what about peak population? Exactly how many people consuming how much stuff can our one planet sustain? - NYT’s Dot Earth.

A week of historic days on Wall Street might have kept you preoccupied this week. If you didn’t catch the big news in green energy while stocks tumbled into the red we’ve gathered the important headlines for you here.

Presidential Debate: Candidates Agree, Cleantech Can Fix Economy and Planet: Energy emerged as a major topic of discussion in the second presidential debate, and while Obama and McCain disagreed on the details, both candidates agreed that clean technology is necessary to both help fix the economy and fight climate change.

9 Sexiest Electric Cars from the Paris Auto Show: This year’s Paris Auto Show is turning out to be the most electrifying one yet, with car makers from all over the world debuting their electric vehicles. The offerings range from far-flung concept cars to very real production models.

4 Clean Energy Lessons Bob Metcalfe Learned From the Internet: Bob Metcalfe, the father of Ethernet and founder of 3Com, has been mining the “rich vein” of Internet history to inform the next generation of energy technology — or “enertech” (energy technology), as he likes to call it. Metcalfe offers these four lessons for keeping energy innovation on track.

Bloom Energy: “Close” to Unveiling Its Fuel Cell: The Kleiner Perkins crew graced the cover of the New York Times Sunday Magazine last weekend and the story had a few juicy bits on Kleiner’s first cleantech investment, a still somewhat stealthy fuel-cell maker, Bloom Energy including word that Bloom is close to unveiling a product.

Solyndra Amasses $600M for Totally Tubular Thin-Film Solar: Secretive thin-film solar startup Solyndra unveiled for the first time this week its solar module design for commercial rooftops and funding totaling more than $600 million. The company says its design can cut the cost of installing solar rooftops in half and reduce installation time by a third.

There is so much bad news spinning out of the financial markets these days that it might be hard to spare a few moments for carbon trading markets. But the dramatic freezing up of credit around the world may threaten to spill over into the nascent market for trading carbon emissions, with potential further consequences for the global climate. Or that is at least an idea that is beginning to emerge this week.

A commentator for Reuters argued that any initial expectations that money looking for a safe haven from the stock market in the carbon markets ought to be abandoned for now. The market’s lack of history and its complex framework are making investors balk, according to some of those interviewed.

“The market is uncorrelated with equities. That may make it a safe haven, but people are not rushing into it because the technical barrier is too high,” said Frederic Brodach, portfolio management director of Dexia Carbon Fund Managers. “The carbon market is just as risky as the turmoil going on in equities. It’s new, people don’t fully understand it, and there’s a lot of political risk,” said Trevor Sikorski, carbon analyst at Barclays Capital.

The overall emissions-trading market, valued at $13 billion, allows large companies to invest in clean energy projects in exchange for offset credits they could either put toward emission targets or trade on the market.

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