Al Gore admitted earlier this month that the tax credit for ethanol was mistake. Everyone on the right jumped on his statement as further evidence of Mr. Gore’s hypocrisy.
Debra Saunders of the San Francisco Chronicle in an article at Real Clear Politics at Real Clear Politics reminds us that it was Mr. Gore who as Vice President in 1994 broke a 50-50 tie in the Senate by voting in favor of the ethanol tax credit. This credit according to Saunders added $5 billion to the deficit last year.

If you’re not watching the Tour de France, you’re missing an exciting duel between Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck, you’re missing the beautiful French countryside and incredible mountain climbs, and you’re missing this new commercial from Nissan and Lance Armstrong.  Although Armstrong is not in the competition for the yellow jersey this year (his final year), the most famous U.S. cyclist makes an effective spokesman for the new Leaf.

In Mr. Obama’s weekly radio address at the beginning of July (that was Day 75 of the BP oil well disaster), he touted the country’s transition to a “clean energy economy” and announced the Department of Energy’s “award of nearly $2 billion in conditional commitments to two solar companies.”
One government beneficiary is Abengoa Solar, a Spanish engineering company, that has agreed to build a solar power plant in Arizona. The other beneficiary is Abound Solar, a Colorado company, which will use $400 million in loan guarantees to expand solar-panel …

The Solar Impulse took off early this morning for a 24-hour test flight from an airfield in Payerne, Switzerland, approximately 80 miles northeast of Geneva.  Andre Borschberg, the pilot, will fly the plane at 28,000 feet throughout the day.
We reported on early test flights  of this solar plane here and here.
UPDATE - Success!  The Solar Impulse lands after 26 hours.

Daniel Foster writes at NRO that the Soviet Union successfully used nuclear devices to stop gas leaks on land five times between 1966 and 1970.
It looks like Mr. Obama is at least willing to explore the possibility of using a nuclear explosion to seal the leak. The Telegraph reported two weeks ago, that Mr. Obama and Secretary of Energy Steven Chu sent a group of nuclear physicists –including 82-year-old Richard Garwin, designer of the first hydrogen bomb - to the Gulf to help find a solution to capping the …

The oil spill has been a challenge testing environmental nerves.

Tom Keane, a Boston Globe columnist, wrote an opinion piece in the Globe’s Sunday magazine telling Cape Wind’s opponents “enough already.”  Mr Keane admonishes the Cape Wind opponents for fighting against the offshore wind farm for almost a decade based on their so-called concerns birds, fish, Indian tribes and the environment. According Keane, the reason the opponents have been so tenacious is —and always has been — the views from their houses.

We previously wrote about the Plastiki here .  They made it to Christmas Island on April 27. And, after a few days rest, they are off again for Fiji.  Here is an interview with the crew members in the New York Times at http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/07/aboard-the-plucky-plastiki/
Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bohane/177214257/

from the Examiner.com

It’s good to be green - Al Gore buys $9 million seaside home
Al Gore laments media coverage of climate change debate

Here’s a link to photos of what may be Al’s new California home  - http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2010/05/exclusive-estimate-carbon-footprint-of.html

from FoxNews.com

EXCLUSIVE: Citizen’s Group Plans Extensive Audit of UN Climate Report

from the New York Times

“But centuries of rising temperatures and seas lie ahead if the release of emissions from the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation continues unabated, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. …

Two items of interest in the news with regard to wind energy from Reuters: