GE has announced two deals related to rail this morning, including an agreement with China’s Ministry of Railways to advance partnerships that would allow the company to pursue high-speed rail projects in the U.S. with manufacturing provided by a Chinese partner (GE doesn’t currently manufacture locomotives for these types of projects). And it’s formed a joint venture with CSR Qishuyan to develop, build and service GE’s most fuel-efficient line of diesel locomotive engines, the Evolution Series, in China and eventually other countries as well.

Beyond rail, GE announced it has formed a joint venture with Shenhua Group Corp. to research and develop lower-cost “cleaner coal” technologies. The U.S. Trade Development Agency will finance the “initial steps” toward a coal power plant in China using GE’s “integrated gasification combined cycle,” or IGCC, technology.

GE already has a significant presence in China, running 36 wholly owned or joint venture companies and employing more than 13,000 people. But as the Wall Street Journal’s China Real Time Report notes, GE’s latest deals (including yet another joint venture, this one to produce software systems for airplanes, with the state-owned Aviation Industry Corp.), reflect a larger trend:

“Whether it’s autos or high-speed train locomotives, China’s markets are the only ones in the world still growing strongly. That puts China’s industrial state planners…in the driving seat as they negotiate with companies from the U.S., Germany and Japan who come knocking at the door. The trade is market access for technology.”

GE’s announcements coincide with President Obama’s visit to China this week and a set of agreements between the two countries on energy and transportation. This morning, President Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao announced plans to cooperate on electric vehicle standards and demo projects, cleaner coal technology development, renewable energy planning and other projects.

Carbon Capture for Geothermal Energy: Carbon dioxide generated by power plants may find a second life being cycled underground, helping to bring heat to the surface where it can be used to generate electricity. Backers of this as-yet-unproven concept secured a big endorsement with the recent award of $338 million in stimulus funds for geothermal energy research. — Technology Review

Climate Deal Out of Reach: President Obama was forced to acknowledge this weekend that a comprehensive climate deal was beyond reach this year, placing him “in the awkward position of being, at least for now, as unlikely to spearhead an international effort to combat global warming as his predecessor — if for different reasons.” — New York Times

Got Greenwash?: Joel Makower goes searching for greenwash at the mammoth green building expo Greenbuild and finds, “Green building has matured from the exception to the rule, with the market…producing an increasingly gushing pipeline of products and services that, increasingly, are reducing the environmental toll of the built environment.” — GreenBiz.com

China’s Suntech Heading to Phoenix: China’s largest solar panel manufacturer, Suntech Power, announced plans today to open a plant in Phoenix, Ariz. Set to begin production in the third quarter of 2010, the facility will be the company’s first U.S. plant. — NYT’s Green Inc.

Some of the 10 green picks on the list of 50 inventions, like the YikeBike electric bicycle and the World First Formula 3 race car design that uses materials derived from carrots and cashews, seem unlikely to have much impact long term. But others, such as the solar shingle from Dow Chemical, the energy dashboard from EnergyHub (or similar devices from competitors) and NASA and Cisco’s “Planetary Skin,” show 2009 has been a powerhouse year for a range of green innovations.

The best part of Time’s list? You can interactively rank the inventions yourself on the site on a scale of 1 (not important) to 100 (very important). How would you rank these 10 green innovations?

Philips L Prize LED (#3): Philips Electronics has developed a light-emitting diode (LED) bulb said to produce as much light as a 60W incandescent bulb using less than 10W, and lasting 25 times as long.

EnergyHub Dashboard (#4): Technically, EnergyHub’s high-end energy dashboard wasn’t invented in 2009 (the company was already developing a pilot trial last December). But the device contains enough computing power to provide detailed Google-style spreadsheets for programming your energy usage, and offers features such as comparing your home’s energy usage to that of other EnergyHub users or week-to-week energy consumption.

Princeton’s Personal Carbon Footprinting (#12): Researchers from Princeton University suggest measuring carbon emissions at the individual, rather than national, level. After all, writes Time, “It’s the well-off people of the world — in Indiana or India — who are responsible for most carbon emissions.”

Dow Powerhouse Solar Shingle (#13): Dow Chemical introduced a new roof shingle this year that incorporates thin-film solar cells. It can be installed alongside regular asphalt shingles, and double as a solar panel — at at a price 10-15 percent cheaper than existing solar panels.

YikeBike Electric Bicycle (#15): It folds, runs on a lithium phosphate battery, weighs about 20 pounds and can zip you around town at up to 12 MPH. Yes, it’s the YikeBike, priced at €3,500-€3,900. I’ll stick with my lighter-weight and much cheaper regular bike, thanks.

Valcent Hydroponic Vertical Farming (#16): Texas-based Valcent has developed a high-density hydroponic farming system for growing food plants using a stack of rotating trays. The company claims it will use 5 percent 95 percent less water than conventional agriculture, increase crop yields 20-fold for the same amount of land, and eliminate pesticide and herbicide use.

NASA and Cisco’s Planetary Skin (#17): NASA and Cisco plan to release a prototype next year of a cool data gathering tool that Time describes as “a global ‘nervous system’ that will integrate land-, sea-, air- and space-based sensors, helping the public and private sectors make decisions to prevent and adapt to climate change.”

Nissan LEAF Electric Sedan (#25): After a series of delays, name changes, deals and design tweaks over the last two years, three automakers (Tesla Motors, Coda Automotive and Nissan) have unveiled their visions for a first generation of all-electric family vehicles in recent months. Time picks the 2010 Nissan LEAF, calling it “the first fully electric vehicle built for mass production for the global market.”

Schneider’s Packing Algorithm (#37): Want to pack more goods in fewer containers? If your goods are discs of different sizes, then Johannes Schneider is your man. His research team at the University of Mainz has developed an algorithm that’s “better at detecting false starts and backtracking when it hits on an inelegant configuration,” and could help shipping companies pack more efficiently.

World First F3 (#40): A Formula 3 race car developed at the University of Warwick runs on a mix of chocolate and vegetable oil, has a coating on its radiator that converts ozone emissions into oxygen, and components made with carrot fibers, potato starch and cashew shells.

Graphics courtesy of the companies and universities; footprint photo courtesy of Flickr user JoJo Johnson

Winners and Losers in the Upcoming Energy Shift: The International Energy Agency’s “vision of the next two decades would make T. Boone Pickens crow: Wind power and natural gas are the two big winners under the IEA’s climate-change scenario.” The forecast doesn’t look so bright for clean coal and nuclear power. — WSJ’s Environmental Capital

Cell Tower Power Blowing in the Wind?: “Helix Wind announced Wednesday that it’s beginning a trial run in Southern California to see if its wind turbines might be useful for powering cell phone towers.” — CNET’s Green Tech

Big Blackout in Brazil Sparks Grid Scrutiny: The failure of three transmission lines at the world’s largest operating hydroelectric plant created a domino effect blacked out large swaths of Brazil and Paraguay for more than two hours late Tuesday — a sign, experts say, of the “dangers of interconnection.” — New York Times

Metabolix Prices Stock Offering: Massachusetts-based bioplastics developer Metabolix has priced a public offering of 3 million common shares at $9 each. Funds will be used for “working capital and other general corporate purposes.” — Mass High Tech

According to a new report out this week from technology and consultancy giant Accenture, one or more — but almost certainly not all — of a dozen low-carbon transportation fuels now under development could transform that market (which accounts for about half of global primary oil consumption and up to 30 percent of global carbon emissions) within a decade.

What will make a fuel technology disruptive? According to Accenture, it will have to: reduce hydrocarbon fuel demand by more than 20 percent (in other words, scale up) by 2030 and result in at least 30 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions compared to the conventional fossil fuel it’s replacing. It will also have to be within reach from a business standpoint, meaning it will be commercially available within five years and be competitive with oil priced at $45-90 per barrel.

These 12 technologies are “in play,” although government policies will have a significant effect on which ones emerge as winners in coming years.

• Next-generation internal combustion engine
• Next-generation agriculture
• Waste-to-fuel
• Marine scrubbers
• Synthetic biology (sugar-cane-to-diesel)
• Butanol
• Bio-crude
• Algae
• Airline drop-ins
• PHEV/EV/electrification engines
• Charging
• Vehicle-to-grid (V2G)

The shift that Accenture expects to arrive as a result of these technologies is not just from one fuel to another, but also from a market that relies primarily on fuels derived from hydrocarbons to one with more variation from country to country. The firm explains:

“Although most technologies will be widely available, local conditions will determine different weightings, with Brazil focusing on sugar cane-based fuels, South Korea and Japan on electrification, and China and the United States on all fuel options.”

For companies developing new transportation fuels, Accenture has four recommendations. Scientists and engineers should hold leadership positions, the firm advises — and not just for the sake of tech development. They can also help influence regulations and government policy.

Companies also need to have strong connections and improved cooperation, says Accenture, across multiple sectors — as auto companies, battery developers and utilities are starting to do for plug-in vehicle technology and infrastructure.

And of course the firm, which provides project management, supply chain optimization and risk management services, advises fuel developers to focus on these three management areas to get an edge.

Gas pump photo courtesy of Flickr user Mingo.nl; charts courtesy of Accenture

Smart, Sure — But Does it Fly?: Being smart can only get you so far. Al Gore talked on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart about the “super grid.” Not a bad idea, but Stewart says he needs “a grid that can fly and shoot lasers out of its eyes.” — VentureBeat

Should Chinese-Backed Wind Farm Get Stimulus Cash?: Sen. Charles Schumer is calling on the Obama administration to block stimulus funds for a $1.5 billion Texas wind farm that would use turbines made mostly in China. American and Chinese backers were planning to request $450 million in stimulus funds. — NYT’s Green Inc.

Solar Software Set for an Upswing: Solar companies spend a lot of time talking about making solar installations simple, but they tend to focus on the hardware. The growing solar market presents some good opportunities for software startups like Vela Solaris. — Greentech Media

On the Hunt for Smart Grid Industry Leaders, Innovators: EnerNex and the National Institute of Standards and Technology are looking for more industry leaders and innovators to participate in a panel meant to support NIST’s efforts to coordinate and accelerate development of smart grid interoperability standards. — Smart Grid News

How to Cultivate a Green Company Culture: Incrementalism, or prettying up existing processes, has its critics, but it also has a role to play in making environmental sustainability a core value of a company. — GreenBiz.com

What’s In a Name?: Before settling on names for new models an automaker consults lawyers in as many as 200 countries or territories. For the Nissan LEAF, the company’s brand management chief says “It was a minor miracle that the name was cleared.” — Bloomberg

Chinese Wind Farm in Texas: “Another day, another big Chinese energy-related investment. This time it’s a $1.5 billion wind farm in Texas, paid for by Chinese banks and to be supplied with Chinese-made wind turbines.” — WSJ’s Environmental Capital

Clean Energy in the Pipeline: More than half of all planned energy projects in the electric grid reliability cooperative that links northeastern states and parts of Canada are renewable energy projects, according to a recent report by SNL Financial. — NYT’s Green Inc.

GM vs. Fisker: President Obama’s auto industry task force rained skepticism earlier this year on the commercial viability of General Motors’ upcoming Chevy Volt. If the Chevy Volt isn’t commercially viable, what makes a competing model in the works from Department of Energy-backed startup Fisker Automotive any different? — Washington Post

Has Reva’s Moment Arrived?: India’s Reva Electric Car Company now has more all-electric vehicles on the road than any other automaker, but it still has a long haul before it can make the vehicles marketable for the masses. — New York Times

New Effort to Open Door to China’s Clean Energy Market: At the annual Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade meeting, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke plans to press for more access for U.S. companies in China’s clean energy sector, an area where Washington feels it can make inroads on its enormous trade imbalance with China. — Reuters

Getting Down to Details: Guess what — there’s actually a 181-page draft text of the Copenhagen climate-change treaty. “If you haven’t heard about it, that’s because none of our otherwise talkative political leaders have bothered to tell us what the drafters have already cobbled together for leaders to consider. And neither have the media.” — Wall Street Journal

In a time when the merger and acquisition market for cleantech startups is about as dry as the Mojave, today’s deal is a head turner. And with Siemens angling to expand its role in solar thermal, the raft of startups now leading this space — companies like BrightSource, eSolar, Ausra and SkyFuel — could find themselves with a tough, deep-pocketed new competitor.

Being big has advantages in the solar thermal market, as Fred Morse, a senior U.S. adviser for the solar arm of Spanish renewable energy giant Abengoa, told us in an interview last year. Decades of project financing experience and an R&D budget on the scale of of tens of millions of dollars can give companies like Abengoa — and Siemens — an edge in the race to build massive solar systems that can require investment of hundreds of millions to billions of dollars.

Headquartered in Beit Shemesh, Israel, with a subsidiary on the U.S. West Coast, Solel has built a work force of more than 500 people over the last 14 years and snagged a deal back in 2007 to sell power generated at its Mojave project to California utility PG&E. The company has been on the hunt for a buyer for the last six months as part of an effort to gain a higher profile internationally and raise funds for more big-budget projects.

According to Siemens’ release this morning, Solel posted a revenue of nearly $90 million for the first half of this year, thanks to a solar receiver supply business (a key component for parabolic trough projects like the one pictured above) and its work engineering, planning and building solar fields. “In the future,” Siemens Renewable Energy Division CEO Rene Umlauft said in the release, “we’ll be able to offer the key components for the construction of parabolic trough power plants from a single source,” (Siemens already supplies steam turbines for solar thermal plants), and also boost solar thermal plant efficiency.

Siemens expects the market for solar thermal power plants to see “annual double-digit growth rates and attain a volume of over €20 billion ($29.9 billion)” by 2020. As early as June, Siemens was reported to have entered talks with Solel for an acquisition deal, and Germany’s Handelsblatt newspaper (h/t Dow Jones) reports this morning that Siemens beat out French bidders Alstom and Areva by upping its initial offer of $250 million — interest that bodes well for solar thermal startups.

For more background on Solel, check out our Q&A with CEO Avi Brenmiller.

The next decade represents a “key ‘make or break’ period” for carbon capture and storage technology, according to a 52-page CCS “Technology Roadmap” out today from the International Energy Agency, and it could open significant opportunities for startups. While large established power companies will likely dominate industrial storage projects, startups with novel chemical conversion technologies like GreatPoint Energy, and startups that recycle the carbon, like algae fuel firms like Solazyme, will likely benefit from the intergovernmental agency’s call to arms.

Analyst Mark Bunger, who heads up Lux Research’s Biosciences division, says algae fuel developers in particular could gain new interest from investors and potential buyers who see the international CCS buildout as proof that there’s a market for recycling the carbon emissions from power plants. Many algae fuel developers have built part of their business case around the fact that they are carbon neutral or negative, said Bunger, and some of them may see direct government support as part of the carbon capture push. He added if startups offer a key technology for the CCS process itself, ” there are going to be buyers for that.”

Tanaka’s call today comes on the heels of Energy Secretary Steven Chu calling on forum attendees yesterday to adopt an “aggressive timeline” for rolling out carbon capture and storage technology, which is meant to capture greenhouse gas emissions from facilities such as coal and natural gas power plants, and then bury or “sequester,” the carbon, often underground. Chu urged the London gathering to “make it our goal to advance carbon capture and storage technology to the point where widespread, affordable deployment can begin in 8 to 10 years.”

However, many uncertainties remain for carbon capture, especially when it comes to safely storing the gas long term. As the IEA notes in its report: “The practices in respect to CO2 injection are well-known; however, more experience is needed to improve predictions of CO2 behavior at commercial scale,” and research is needed to locate and characterize suitable storage sites.

Graphics courtesy of IEA

Panasonic Eyes Laptop Cells for EVs: Panasonic says it has developed a new method for connecting laptop battery cells that will bring down the cost of plug-in vehicle batteries by half compared with larger format cells being developed for automotive applications. — Reuters via Autoblog

Big Biz Goes to Bat for Swift Climate Bill Passage: “Executives from the Dow Chemical Co., Entergy Corp., Nike Inc. and more than 140 other companies and venture capital firms will convene in Washington this week to lobby Senate lawmakers to pass a comprehensive climate and energy bill quickly.” — Greenwire via NYT

EU to Ramp Up Funding for Energy Research: The European Commission plans to launch a campaign this week to triple funding for energy research to 8 billion euros ($11.7 billion) per year year. Over the next decade, 16 billion euros is slated for solar power and 11 billion euros is in the pipeline for development of “smart cities.” — Reuters

Government Watchdog Weighs in on Ethanol Tax Credit: “The Government Accountability Office said Friday that turning corn into fuel is costing U.S. taxpayers an unnecessary amount of money.” — WSJ’s Environmental Capital

Maple Power: Researchers from the University of Washington in Seattle have found there’s enough electricity flowing in big leaf maples to run an electronic circuit. — Scientific American

DOE Doles Out $354M for Efficiency Upgrades: The U.S. Department of Energy today announced more than $354 million in stimulus grants for 22 states to implement energy efficiency programs. — DOE Press Release

Problem With Ambitious EV Timelines: If ambitious introduction schedules for the upcoming generation of electric vehicles “give way to delays, automakers could end up feeding consumer cynicism.” — New York Times

Underwhelming Cash for Clunkers Results: Researchers at the University of Michigan say the $3 billion cash-for-clunkers program improved the average fuel economy of all vehicles purchased in the U.S. by 0.6 miles per gallon in July and 0.7 mpg in August of this year. — Edmunds Green Car Advisor

That provision for imports is part of what sets the executive order, which Schwarzenegger is expected to sign this week, apart from a bill approved this weekend in the California legislature. The Governor plans to veto that bill largely because of limits on how much energy can come from out of state to meet the renewable requirement.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Schwarzenegger is also considering directing state regulators to redefine “renewable” to include energy from hydroelectric dams and nuclear power plants — a move that would take some of the bite out of the order as a way to boost solar, wind, geothermal and other green energy projects and newer technologies.

Schwarzenegger, along with some business and trade groups, have opposed the idea of limiting how much energy utilities can import in order to meet a renewables requirement, arguing that it would drive up energy prices, make an already-ambitious portfolio target even harder to reach, and “kill the solar industry in California.“

Some unions and consumer groups, on the other hand, want the energy produced in-state in order to help create green jobs in California. Generating clean energy via local, distributed installations has its benefits (projects get up and running quickly and don’t require a big transmission buildout), but they tend to be expensive and don’t scale up as fast as say, a utility-scale solar thermal plant in the desert (we’ve weighed the pros and cons here).

So what do utilities, many of which are struggling to meet current renewable targets, think of all this? At least a few of the ones taking the lead in cleaning up their portfolios, including PG&E and Sempra Energy, came out in support of the legislature’s version of the standard, including the limits on renewable energy imports that Schwarzenegger opposes. As the Sacramento Bee reports, however, smaller energy producers and municipal utility districts, have been urging for the veto in part because of the in-state issue, but also because the legislation would give state regulators more control over public utilities (investor-owned utilities like PG&E are already subject to regulation by the state utility commission, while public utilities have their own elected boards).

If California gets this one right, some in the industry think it could help spur a sort of policy-led Moore’s Law (which dictates that the number of transistors on a chip doubles every 24 months) for clean energy. According to the CEO of chip and solar equipment maker Applied Material, Mike Splinter, requiring improvements via regular policy steps (he advocated for raising the bar every two years in a national renewable portfolio standard at a recent conference) could drive innovation, adoption and cost reductions.

We’ll see this week, when Schwarzenegger makes his decision, and in coming months as it goes into effect, if the state can step it up.

Image credit 3TIER

According to the text of the bill, “In recent years much of the federal wind program has focused on testing and evaluation of commercial turbines rather than advanced research, leading to gaps in our national wind R&D portfolio.” In response, legislators have approved funds for a far-reaching program that would open a new spigot of capital for companies and researchers working on technologies ranging from computational modeling tools and advanced control systems to blade sensors, turbine materials and large-scale components.

The bill also calls for the DOE to support work on “technical processes to enable scalability of transmission” from remote, high-wind areas to urban demand centers — a key choke point for renewable energy developers. As Michael Liebreich, CEO of London-based research firm New Energy Finance, explains in a recent GigaOM Pro article (subscription required), transmission technology advances are needed to accommodate a big influx of renewable energy on the grid. “It’s the system problems that can be real deal killers.”

The funding could be a boon for a group of innovators that often fly under the radar when it comes to discussions of wind technology: nanotech developers. As the San Francisco Chronicle writes, Rep. Paul Tonko (D-NY), who sponsored the bill (and previously served as president and CEO of New York State’s energy R&D authority), expects the program to “leverage nanoscience research by businesses and research institutions that are working at the molecular level to create lighter and more durable materials.”

Offshore wind technology — which is more expensive, kilowatt-for-kilowatt, than land-based projects — gets special mention in the bill as an area of focus for the DOE program. But several big offshore projects are already on the horizon (Deepwater Wind is working on two projects in the northeast slated to have a total capacity of some 750 MW by 2012, although the development process for this kind of installation can easily span a decade), and utilities committing to a growing number of power purchasing agreements with renewable developers — so companies can’t exactly wait for the results of five years’ worth of government-funded R&D before they enter the race in earnest and start building their business.

Photo credit Flickr user johnnyalive

The idea of these grants, provided under the stimulus package, is to award cash up front in lieu of tax credits, helping to spur private investment and keep clean energy developers from getting stuck in the chicken-and-egg funding dilemma of having to bring a project online before tax credits kick in.

In its announcement about the grant winners today, the Obama administration highlights that it has made this first round of awards in just 30 days — half of the required turnaround time. This echoes the administration’s message in July, when the government released guidelines for the grants: The Treasury Department’s Michael Mundaca, Acting Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy, said in a call with reporters, “We’re trying to get as much information out as quickly as possible.”

But for many energy developers, the program, meant to monetize the existing production and investment tax credit programs, has been unfolding too slowly. Solar Energy Industries Association President and CEO Rhone Resch called on Congress this summer to issue a one-year extension of the “sunset-date” for the program in order to make up for the Treasury’s delays in releasing rules that would let companies — and potential investors — figure out if their projects are likely to be eligible for the grants, and how much financing they need to secure from other sources.

As it stands now, projects have to be up and running in 2009 or 2010 to qualify for the grants. Other hurdles remain for developers even if they meet the deadline and snag stimulus funds. Grant winners still have to cover the remainder of project costs, and (as the Wall Street Journal’s Environmental Capital blog points out), deal with the basic task of lining up customers for electricity that’s often still pricier than power from conventional fossil fuels.

The American Wind Energy Association, however, sees reason for optimism. In a statement about today’s awards, the group’s Senior Vice President for Public Policy, Rob Gramlish, said, “For these grantees and many other projects that are preparing their applications, we are seeing business activity picking up and turbine parts orders being sent all the way up the value chain…it is very encouraging to see this turnaround underway.” For now, the clock is ticking for other projects hoping to get a boost from these grants.

Hyundai, LG Chem Link Up for Hybrid Batteries: South Korea’s Hyundai and battery giant LG Chem plan to set up a joint venture to develop and produce lithium-ion battery packs for hybrid cars. — Reuters

Clean Energy, Coal on the Line in Transmission Buildout: “Beefing up the nation’s electricity-transmission system to make renewable energy a reality could backfire and make coal an even more widespread source of electricity—unless carbon emissions are reined in at the same time.” — WSJ’s Environmental Capital

Tesla Hiring Blitz: Electric car startup Tesla Motors has just announced the first of “several high profile hires” it expects to make in coming weeks. Ricardo Reyes, former director of communications for YouTube, is joining Tesla as VP of Communications, bringing experience in litigation and crisis management. — Press Release

WoodPellets.com Raises $11M: New Hampshire-based WoodPellets.com has raised $11 million to expand its home wood pellet delivery network. The three-year-old startup has developed logistics software to track availability of pellets for home heating and plans to develop a system where pellets are delivered in bulk from a truck and stored in a hopper in a basement or garage. — CNET’s Green Tech