SOLAR: A glitch in state law means Illinois is not meeting its solar goals. (Chicago Tribune)

ALSO: Advocates say Xcel Energy’s plan to comply with Minnesota’s solar gardens law comes up short. (Midwest Energy News)

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WIND: A Colorado researcher estimates 600,000 bats were killed by wind turbines in 2012. (Los Angeles Times)

CLIMATE: International climate negotiations begin in Warsaw this week amid increasingly dire warnings from scientists that time is running out to prevent the worst impacts from global warming. (InsideClimate News)

OIL: A derailment and explosion in Alabama on Friday raises new questions about the safety of shipping Bakken crude by rail, and a North Dakota panel considers designating recreational and cultural sites as off-limits to drilling. (Reuters, Bismarck Tribune)

FRAC SAND: The frac sand boom is on hold in southeast Minnesota, at least for the time being; and a date is set for a recall election in a Wisconsin town where local officials are being targeted amid controversy over a proposed sand mine. (Minnesota Public Radio, St. Paul Pioneer Press)

NATURAL GAS: Iowa regulators sign off on Interstate Power and Light’s proposed new 650 MW natural gas plant. (Cedar Rapids Gazette)

COAL: While oil booms in North Dakota, a pair of projects to boost the state’s coal industry have languished for years and are “dead in the water,” according to one environmental group. (Associated Press)

OHIO: Business groups in Ohio are at odds over a bill to weaken the state’s energy efficiency rules. (Columbus Dispatch)

NUCLEAR: A report says the nuclear renaissance is a “fiction” and a “fantasy,” and says apart from a handful of projects, “new-build nuclear in the West is dead.” (Forbes)

GRID: How electric water heaters could provide energy storage to help manage the grid. (Greentech Media)

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EFFICIENCY:  A report finds Michigan could save $13 billion over the next 10 years through efficiency improvements. (NRDC Switchboard)

TECHNOLOGY: A new book chronicles how an electric car built by hand in an Illinois garage nearly won the $10 million X Prize competition. (Springfield State Journal-Register)