Sources Energy

AP - Mayor Gavin Newsom and the United Nations are eyeing a former naval shipyard contaminated by radiation, heavy metals and other industrial toxins as the future site of a sprawling new green technology complex and climate change think tank.

HOUSTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The mess caused by the Eugene Island pipeline leak last weekend - in the Gulf of Mexico and the U.S. cash crude market - appeared nearly cleaned up Friday.

A lobbying firm has acknowledged forging anti-climate bill letters purporting to be from a local NAACP chapter and a Latino advocacy group to a Virginia lawmaker.

Poisoned by lead-ore extraction that produced bullets for both world wars, Picher, Okla., saw an exodus after the federal government offered buyouts — and now even diehards are leaving.

WASHINGTON/DETROIT (Reuters) - The U.S. Congress moved to triple the funding for the government’s successful “Cash for Clunkers” auto rebate program, which has brought car buyers back into showrooms and raised the outlook for an industry beset by abysmal sales, bankruptcies and job cuts.

To recap, Sony said sales in the June-ended quarter fell 19%, year over year, to $16.7 billion, below the average $19.2 billion estimate, while the net loss of 39 cents per share was better than the 69 cents forecasted, thanks to continued cost-cutting measures.

Sales of video game hardware and software were something of a surprise, with the company selling 1.1 million PlayStation 3 units and 1.3 million PSP handheld gaming machines, down from 1.6 million and 3.7 million a year earlier, the company said. Sales of televisions and other consumer electronics were boosted by tight inventory, which helped lift Sony’s average selling prices, but the company said it did not expect this to continue.

The company was able, however, to eke out an operating income when excluding effects of restructuring charges and contribution of losses recorded from its Sony-Ericsson mobile phone join-venture, which is struggling. On that basis, the company recorded a 25.7 billion Yen operating profit. That’s down 67% from the prior-year period, but would have been higher were it not from a 68-billion Yen hit from the rise in the Yen versus 2008.

Sony reiterated a forecast for this fiscal year ending in 2010 that it gave back in May, given that “there continue to be many uncertainties in the business.”

Harding thinks the company can actually do better than its forecast. “we believe that Sony has more room for operational efficiency improvements that should drive profitability above management’s guidance for fiscal 2009.”

In particular, Harding thinks the company’s forecast for 300 billion Yen worth of savings in its television group may be conservative.

Overall, “aggressive restructuring is starting to bear fruit,” writes Harding.

The U.S. government plans to dole out roughly $3 billion to renewable energy companies willing to forgo a tax credit in exchange for cash payments.

NanoMarkets predicts the market for grid storage will grow from $1.5 billion in 2012 to $8.3 billion by 2016. That will mostly be batteries, though ultracapacitors will have their niche applications.

The money to fund an extended Cash for Clunkers program could come at the expense of renewable energy companies.

The House on Friday overwhelmingly passed a bill to extend the program which gives consumers up to $4,500 for trading in old cars for new, fuel-efficient ones with an additional $…