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Despite the recession, reports from U.S. renewable industry groups show that the nation’s solar energy industry enjoyed a 36% increase in revenue and overall 5% increase in installations in 2009, while geothermal projects under development grew more than 26%.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released the 15th annual U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory report, which shows a drop in overall emissions of 2.9% from 2007 to 2008. The downward trend is attributed to a decrease in carbon dioxide emissions associated with fuel and electricity consumption.

The U.S. Department of Energy announced on April 15 a series of partnerships and other initiatives to address clean energy and energy security in the Western Hemisphere as part of the Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas (ECPA). Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announced new projects focused on clean energy cooperation, technical assistance and financing, renewable energy, and electricity infrastructure and earthquake preparedness.

OSRAM SYLVANIA is marking the 25th birthday of the modern compact fluorescent (CFL) light bulb. Born on April 17, 1985 in Hannover, Germany, the CFL arrived a full eight inches tall, consuming 20 watts of energy. The stick-shaped CFL was the first screw-in, energy-saving replacement for a standard incandescent light bulb that featured an integrated electronic ballast.

Three nations participating in the Nuclear Security Summit hosted by the Obama Administration in Washington, D.C. this week have agreed to turn over highly enriched uranium (HEU), likely to the U.S. As a result, Ukraine and Mexico will be switching from power plants fueled by HEU to ones fueled by low-enriched uranium (LEU). These commitments follow a secret and at times challenging effort to convey HEU from Chile to the U.S. that was complicated by the earthquake there in February.

The Electrification Coalition (EC) released on Thursday a long-term macroeconomic analysis of the policy proposals put forward in its November 2009 Electrification Roadmap. The paper finds that the U.S. economy would benefit substantially over the long term from implementation of the EC policy package.

On Thursday, U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announced that the Department of Energy was awarding a total of nearly $100 million for 54 smart grid workforce training programs.

Nearly 90 business, labor, environmental, and government organizations urged Congress on Monday to adopt new tax policies to enhance industrial energy efficiency in order to simultaneously increase manufacturing competitiveness, create jobs, and reduce pollution.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) announced last Wednesday that it has asked the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to perform a state-of-the-art study on cancer risk for populations surrounding nuclear power facilities. The NRC and the NAS will finalize administrative details through the spring so that the study can begin this summer.

Power4Georgians LLC announced on Thursday that the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) has issued final permits for the operation of Plant Washington, an 850-MW coal-fired energy facility in Washington County, Georgia, in the eastern part of the state about halfway between Macon and Augusta, and approximately 125 miles southeast of Atlanta.