Rio+20

UN’s Ban Sees Industry Advancing Climate Treaty in Rio - The United Nations will pursue partnerships with global industry leaders to help drive clean energy in Rio de Janeiro next month as governments struggle to find common ground on climate change, Secretary General Ban Ki- moon said. (Christopher Martin, Bloomberg)

How You Can Power the World - Richenda Van Leeuwen, Executive Director of the Energy & Climate Team at the United Nations Foundation, has made sustainability her life’s work. We sat down earlier this week to talk about what that really means and how it applies to critical global conversations happening in Rio this coming June at the Rio+20 Summit. (Million Moms Challenge)

An Ailing Planet’s Path to Rio+20 - Our planet’s health is ailing. That’s the message in short from the 2012 Living Planet Report. (Robynne Boyd, Scientific American)

Uganda: Government Struggles to Balance Development, Environment - Uganda is considering establishing a National Sustainable Development Council (NSDC) in a move to position itself to fast-track the resolutions of the upcoming Rio+20 conferences. (Simon Musasizi, AllAfrica)

From Webcam to World Leaders: A New Voice at Rio for the Facebook Generation - We can’t make the future with what we did in the past. I mean that is ridiculous, isn’t it? The past actions are what caused the problems in the first place. We need innovation and imagination. (Michael Davidson, NRDC Switchboard)

Energy access

Access to low-cost energy vital in fight against poverty – General Assembly President - The President of the General Assembly, Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, today underlined the urgent need to provide sufficient and low-cost energy to people across the world who lack access, stressing that making energy readily available can boost efforts to eradicate extreme poverty.(UN News Centre)

How Small-Scale Solar is Helping One Rural Indian Community Thrive - A serene village with green paddy fields and unpaved lanes dotted with huts and shops, Laxmikantapur provides a glimpse of the stereotypical rural India. (Gautham Krishnadas, Earth Island Journal)

Energy efficiency

Lighting up lives - Husk power plants in Bihar will now guzzle less water and churn out cheaper electricity. (Sujay Mehdudia, The Hindu)

Duke Energy Teams Up With China's ENN For 'Eco-City' Projects - When Duke Energy’s chief technology officer David Mohler visits China next week, he’ll stop by the city of Langfang to check out a project that aims to show what a city of the future might look like if it incorporates coal-based and renewable energy generation, biofuel production and water recycling. (Ucilia Wang, Forbes)

Cover story: Save energy, lower costs with home audit - When Jason Schlosberg and Donna Lombardo bought their house in Arlington in 2009, they were pleased with many aspects of their new residence. The house was spacious, the location was convenient to Metro, and an ample deck was perfect for entertaining. (Kim A. O'Connell, The Washington Times)

Sustainable energy policy

Subsidizing the wrong energy - Despite the logic behind encouraging businesses to switch to renewable energy, governments still provide much larger subsidies for fossil fuels. (Roger Cowe, The Guardian)

Obama urges Congress to extend clean-energy tax credits - The president says continuing the production tax credit and an investment tax credit would save 37,000 jobs that otherwise would be at risk. (Christi Parsons and Kathleen Hennessey, Los Angeles Times)

Trade War Looming as China Rebukes U.S. Support for Solar  - China’s allegation that renewable- energy subsidies in five U.S. states violate free-trade rules ratchets up a potentially costly trade war between the world’s two largest economies. (Ehren Goossens, Justin Doom, and William McQuillen, Bloomberg Businessweek)

Renewable energy

Goldman Sachs Investing $40 Billion More in Clean Energy - Not even a couple weeks ago, Mridul wrote that Goldman Sachs–backed firm ReNew Power Limited was investing Rs 6,000 crore (over $1.1 billion) to build 1 GW (1,000 MW) of wind power projects across India. Apparently, Goldman Sachs has much bigger plans than that, though. (Zachary Shahan, CleanTechnica)

Undersecretary Promotes “All of the Above” Renewable Energy Strategy - Rural America has great potential in helping the U.S. meet the future energy demand by deploying alternative energy and energy efficiency sources and practices, so says U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Under Secretary for Rural Development, Dallas Tonsager, who visited the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland Wash., with other members of a technical advisory committee exploring ways to further the use and development of advanced bio-fuels. (Phil Eggman, USDA blog)

South Africa Approves $8.8 Billion Clean Energy Plan - South Africa approved 19 wind, solar and hydropower proposals in a second bidding round, increasing the cost of renewable-energy projects given the go-ahead to 73 billion rand ($8.8 billion) as the nation boosts cleaner energy. (Carli Cooke, Bloomberg Businessweek)