Bloomberg

There was a clever headline in the satirical newspaper The Onion last week that wouldn’t be so humorous if it wasn’t true.  “300 Million Without Electricity In India After Restoration Of Power Grid,” the headline read.

Investment in renewable energy surged again in 2011, according to two new reports issued by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century (REN21).

Earlier this week U.S. energy giant NRG Energy Inc. said it is putting its entire offshore wind development "on hold" and closing the offices of its subsidiary Bluewater Wind.

The Solar Foundation, the charitable research and education division of the solar trade group Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), has released a new solar market census that shows the solar workforce growing.

With the solar photovoltaic (PV) industry in a downturn on the heels of the worst recession in U.S. history, and the price of PV module parts plummeting, it’s good to read some positive news for a change.

Drinking 7Up in Canada is about to get more refreshing. Parent company, PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP) just announced new packaging plans for the beverage that will hit the shelves this August.

The newest report from the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), in cooperation with Bloomberg New Energy Finance, a clean tech analytics firm, shows that the combined impetus of stimulus funding, feed-in tariffs (FiTs) and renewable portfolio standards (RPS) generated a record $211 billion globally in 2010 in renewable energy investment.

A June 2011 report, the joint effort of Bloomberg New Energy Finance and Danish firm Vestas Wind Systems (VWDRY.PK) is aimed at identifying which corporations have voluntarily purchased significant amounts of renewable energy technologies, and which may be “greenwashing” their image.

BMO financial group (NYSE: BMO) was named one of the top 20 companies in the world in terms of its renewable energy usage, by the global Corporate Renewable Energy Index (CREX).

The world’s major stock markets and clean energy indices were mostly down this week as Americans headed into the Memorial Day long weekend. The only exception was the EnergyBoom Biofuel Subindex (E•B Biofuel) which increased 1% for the week.