CLIMATE: A new poll finds a majority of Americans, including nearly half of Republicans, support government action to curb climate change. (New York Times)
ALSO: Minnesota Public Radio launches a weeklong series on the impacts of climate change in the state.
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SOLAR:
• Bills in the Missouri legislature seek to prevent battles with homeowners associations over solar installations. (Midwest Energy News)
• A Minnesota project to cut “soft costs” receives federal funding. (Brainerd Dispatch)
• Ann Arbor’s solar array would receive $40,000-$80,000 per year from a planned solar array (MLive)
• Neighbors of an Ohio college’s biological reserve object to plans for a solar project there. (Columbus Dispatch)
INVESTING: A survey finds Chicago investors are more favorable to clean energy than their counterparts in other cities. (Midwest Energy News)
NUCLEAR: Exelon says “something like cap-and-trade would certainly help us” as the company seeks legislative help for its nuclear plants. (Bloomington Pantagraph)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: A Minnesota utility plans to offer off-peak rates for electric vehicle charging, and the University of Minnesota installs a high-speed EV charger. (Minneapolis Star Tribune)
EFFICIENCY: A Michigan utility seeks to cut incentives for LED streetlights, upsetting local government leaders. (MLive)
ETHANOL: Midwest refineries are now using a corn hybrid engineered specifically for biofuel production. (Minneapolis Star Tribune)
OIL: Low prices trigger a tax break for North Dakota producers, and workers strike at nine U.S. refineries and chemical plants. (Associated Press, Reuters)
POLICY: As West Virginia repeals its renewable energy standard, conservative groups seek to do the same in other states. (Associated Press)
TECHNOLOGY: MIT researchers say they’ve found a cheaper way to remove CO2 from smokestack exhaust. (Boston Globe)
COMMENTARY: Why the nuclear “renaissance” may be “more about salvaging economically dicey nuclear reactors than building new ones.” (Ensia)