Johnson Controls Inc.

Those looking to finance energy efficiency improvements, but uncertain which programs offer the best opportunity, could do no better than reading Joel Freehling’s white paper published by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), a nonprofit dedicated to advancing energy efficiency as a means of promoting economic prosperity, energy security and environmental protection.

The results from the fifth global Johnson Controls Inc. (NYSE.JCI) Energy Efficiency Indicator (EEI) are in, and the clear winner is improved lighting, which most of those surveyed viewed as the fastest and most financially effective path toward improving building energy efficiency.

Here are the Top 10 Renewable Energy News Stories You May Have Missed this Week:

Energy efficiency solutions provider Johnson Controls Inc. (NYSE: JCI) (market cap $27.5 billion) said Thursday it had signed an agreement to acquire the shares of EnergyConnect Group, Inc. (OTC: ECNG.OB), a small  demand response software company based in Campbell, California, for $32.3 million. Shares of EnergyConnect rose 63% Thursday to close at $0.21 (market cap $28 million).

Shares of LDK Solar Co., Ltd. (NYSE: LDK), a leading vertically integrated manufacturer of photovoltaic (PV) products and the world's largest producer of multicrystalline solar wafers, rose 18 percent Monday after the company increased its guidance for its fourth quarter 2010 and fiscal year 2011.

(Other news: Johnson Controls, Inc.; Cree, Inc.)

Your grandfather told you that a penny saved was a penny earned. Today we are featuring a handful of very large companies that have earned hundreds of millions of dollars by saving their customers equally huge amounts on energy costs: Honeywell International Inc.

I am asked on a regular basis what a "green job" actually is. Fair question, given the fact that the term is bandied about as one of the US administration's big solutions to the country's economic hardships.