*i.e. “clueless,” for non-Brits

BusinessGreen posted an interesting blog piece yesterday about the energy strategy currently on the Department of Energy and Climate Change floor. The plan, which will be officially revealed tomorrow, is already expected to raise annual energy bills by about £200, a fact with which UK residents are less than pleased. Read the full story

It’s the middle of summer! It’s time to kick back, relax, and take a vacation. Go out and enjoy the blue sky, green grass, golden sand, pink bug bites… Oh, and the big, black debt hovering over your head and burning your skin like an angry, wicked sun. Yes, if you’re like many people in the news this week, you’re learning that your actions have consequences. That, or you’re still blissfully unaware of your huge mistakes—and with weather like this, it’s probably better that way. Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to this week’s heavily sarcastic edition of Weekly Sustainability Facts! Read the full story

In this corner, weighing in at 328 (stores) with a nearly $8 billion revenue in 2008, with a right hook as strong as his fancy cheeses, Trader Joe!

And in this corner, weighing in at 2.9 million worldwide members, the Not-So-Jolly Green Giant, the hippie collective with a modern perspective, Greenpeace!

Let’s get ready to rumble! Read the full story

If you’ve been looking for a go-to list of blogs about small business, look no further: BlogRank is here. The site, which compiles top 100 lists of the most-read blogs in (as of July 2009) 112 different categories, was launched last week after being in development for eight months. Data is pulled from nearly 20,000 different sites about baking, hip hop, and venture capital, to name a few types of blogs polled. Of particular interest to our readers is the list of small business blogs, which also includes direct links to each site’s RSS feed and usage statistics. Right now there is no “Green” or “Environmentalism” category, but BlogRank has a lot of room to grow. Time will tell if it becomes a useful tool. Read the full story

Last week, the U.S. cap and trade bill we keep talking about (barely) passed through the House of Representatives. Since then the news has been a jumbled mess of celebrations, warnings, facts, opinions, predictions, diatribes, rants and the lyrics to “Thriller.” Have you been keeping up with all of it? Find out in this week’s edition of Weekly Sustainability Facts—a new prize- and competition-free online game show and news roundup here at Padosa.com. Read the full story

Over at Clean Technica, San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom has posted about the city’s recent composting bill, which he signed into law on Monday. The law is the United States’ first mandatory composting initiative and continues San Francisco’s long tradition of environmental legislation. Though it is expected to help the city reach its “zero waste” goal by 2020, the new law has caused its share of controversy. Read the full story

Time examines why wind power remains unpopular despite clear economic and environmental benefits in an article posted online today. According to the story, the United States’ hesitance to warm up to a large-scale wind energy program has no basis in science, but rather economics. Though wind is an abundant and powerful resource, it still costs more than electricity generated from fossil fuels. Washington is doing little to change its policies and wind energy advocates lack an organized, significant political presence. Currently, the U.S. falls behind countries like Germany, Spain, and Japan, who have developed robust wind energy generators in spite of their small size.

Click here for the full article.

Reuters offers another viewpoint on the carbon-cutting bill mentioned in the BICEP story a couple of days ago, reporting that the piece of legislation may help big businesses but provides little protection for consumers. Opponents of the bill speculate that instead of using the energy savings to lower rates, utility companies will keep the extra profit for themselves. Complicating the controversy is a provision that allows local power companies to buy “pollution permits.” The bill is expected to come to a vote before the House sometime in July.

Read the full story here.

Triplepundit reports an ad signed by twelve major corporations urging President Obama and members of Congress to take greater steps toward carbon-cutting legislation. The full-page ad, which appears in a recent Wall Street Journal, is signed by such businesses as Nike, eBay, Starbucks, Hewlett-Packard, and PSE&G together in a coalition called BICEP (Business for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy). The group’s goal is create jobs and see the U.S. compete with countries like Germany, Japan, and China, all of which have extensive solar and wind power programs.

To read the article, click here.

US Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announced $93 million for the development of wind energy from the Stimulus Plan. Of the total, $45 million will be directed toward wind turbine drivetrain R&D and testing, $14 million for advanced technology development, $24 million for wind power R&D, and $10 million for National Wind Technology Center.

For more information, please click here.