The U.S. Department of Energy has announced that it is setting aside $20 million for deepwater, offshore wind energy development, U.S. Sen. Susan Collins said Friday.

“The reason I’m so excited about this is that I believe it has the potential to transform Maine’s economy and create as many as 15,000 good jobs and make Maine a leader in clean energy technology,” she said.

(READ the story in the Sun Journal)

The United States Supreme Court announced its decision Monday in Monsanto v. Geerston Farms, the first genetically modified crop case ever brought before the high court. As a result, the ban on planting Roundup Ready Alfalfa still stands, until and unless future deregulation by federal agencies occurs. The Center for Food Safety calls it a “major victory” for conventional farmers and consumers.

In a 7 to 1 vote, the court ruled on 3 issues and held that any further attempt to commercialize Roundup Ready Alfalfa (RRA), which has been engineered to survive weed killer, may require an Environmental Impact Study that would be subject to legal challenge. The Court further recognized that the threat of transgenic contamination is harmful and onerous to organic and conventional farmers and that the injury allows them to challenge future biotech crop commercializations in court.

(Photo by KConnors, via Morguefile.com)

Top diplomats from Pakistan and India met in Islamabad on Thursday, emerging from talks to signal a joint resolve against militant extremism and hinting that more comprehensive discussions may be renewed.

Both sides said the talks were marked by ‘a great deal of cordiality, sincerity, and earnestness’, that will pave the way for a more comprehensive dialogue, signalling a possible — and unexpected — thaw.

(READ more of the story from Reuters)

If just one percent of the Sahara Desert were covered in solar panels, enough energy would be generated to power the entire world.

The European Union, with its close proximity to the Northern Africa, announced Sunday that Europe will start importing solar energy from the Sahara within the next five years.

(READ more from Reuters via Inhabitat)

80 students enrolled in sustainable technology classes at the University of Hawaii installed a new 15 kilowatt photovoltaic system Monday that provides power to part of the Maui campus using the rays of the sun.

The PV array is already saving money and helping to reduce the college’s demand on the Maui Electric grid, with an average daily production of 71.5 kilowatt hours—reducing UHMC’s CO2 footprint by about 177 pounds of carbon dioxide per day.

“Our students receive the benefits of hands-on training in construction technology as well as a technical education experience in electrical systems that will prepare them for job opportunities created by renewable energy developments in the community,” said program coordinator Stuart Zinner.

In rural Winston County, Mississippi, Taylor Machine Works — best known for its Big Red forklifts — is the primary employer. After the recession hit in late 2008, the company shed nearly 200 of its 500 jobs and would not be rehiring anyone now if it weren’t for a subsidized employment program Mississippi launched with the help of federal stimulus money.

Nationwide, 32 states are tapping into a $5 billion emergency fund under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) welfare-to-work program — to help small businesses, nonprofits and public hospitals hire and train unemployed workers at a time when few organizations are ready to take on the added cost.

The current TANF program has subsidized only 185,000 jobs so far. But in its own limited way, it is stimulating local economies, boosting small businesses and providing opportunities for low-income workers to leave welfare and unemployment to support their families with a paycheck.