The San Antonio Water System (SAWS) Board of Trustees last night approved what they call a “truly innovative contract” with Ameresco, an “independent energy solutions company” based in Framingham, Massachusetts. Under the 20-year lease and operating agreement, Ameresco will build the pipelines and other facilities needed to collect and distribute methane gas produced from the city’s sewage. In return, SAWS gets a 12 percent royalty on the open market methane sales.

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According to the Princeton Review’s new Green Ratings for institutions of higher learning, 11 colleges stood out from the national field of 534. All 11 earned a rating of 99, the highest score possible in the Princeton Review’s new tally.

So which schools are tops in all things green?

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Governor Deval Patrick signed the state biofuels bill that will require a B2 biodiesel blend commencing in 2012. The bill exempts cellulosic ethanol from $0.23 per gallon state excise tax, as well, based on the percentage of ethanol used.

One of the most promising parts of the legislation is the increase to a B5 blend in just two years.

Qualifying fuels must achieve at least a 50 percent reduction of lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) over petroleum. All fuels will also be required to undergo a full lifecycle analysis, analyzing the “significant indirect emissions” and land use changes.

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Users can search for businesses by name, or they can search neighborhoods for businesses that are on IzzitGreen’s green list. One of the web site’s most helpful aspects is its “Guides” page. From pizza places to used bookstores, IzzitGreen posts information about the percentage of green businesses there are in each category, where you can find the ones that are green, and they go for the dirty details…or clean in this case.

For example, if you own a business in Boston, chances are that IzzitGreen has found out what kind of lightbulbs you use, whether or not you recycle any of the materials your business or your employers use and will have a comment on what working conditions are like. And that’s just the beginning of the list.

A lively discussion forum will soon be debuting on the site. For now, all registered users are listed under the People section with varying levels of contact information.

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A committee is preparing to submit an application with the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, requesting an assessment of six to seven city-owned sites the panel has identified as possible turbine locations

“I think it’s very exciting,” said Tricia Lederer, the committee’s chairwoman. “It’s important for the town of Norwell to look into this for the cost savings, but also because we need to be looking at more renewable energy in this country.”

Norwell joins a growing list of cities and towns that are taking an interest in locating wind turbines and generating wind power on municipal land.

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That’s the message from “Stop Trashing the Climate,” a report prepared by The Institute for Local Self-Reliance, the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) and Eco-Cycle, a non-profit recycler. The study finds that waste prevention and increased recycling and composting could reduce as many greenhouse gas emissions as are produced by 21 percent of the U.S.’s 417 coal-fired power plants.

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Whatever the cause (and there’s good reason to blame all three to some degree), most so-called experts these days aren’t expecting oil prices to drop anytime soon. In fact, Newsweek this week features a sobering article titled, “The Coming Energy Wars,” that predicts we’ll soon see oil prices top $200 a barrel. When that happens, the authors warn, we can expect everything about our daily lives to change.

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If you think the energy/food potential for hemp is underutilized, wait’ll you get a gander at algae. This little microorganism really packs a punch.

According to The Book of General Ignorance: Everything You Think You Know is Wrong (2006, Harmony Books) (I highly recommend it, by the way — it’s packed with fascinating information and weird insights), algae breathes out more oxygen than all the world’s land-based plants and trees combined. Certain types of algae also deliver a whopping amount of protein and nutrients per farmed acre (20 times more than soy beans, in the case of spirulina).

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The place is called Greenward. It’s popular. So popular that it made the Boston Magazine 2008 Best of Boston Home! list. Not bad for a new business in a major metropolitan area. The shop didn’t just make the cut to fill the token green business spot, either. It walks the walk.

It can be hard to find products with a conscience, and Greenward knows that. That’s part of the reason that they carry nearly anything you can conceive of that has gone green. If you need books, jewelry, bike accessories, stationery, homewares or magazines, Greenward’s got it. If you want clothes, notebooks, tables, candles or speakers…Greenward’s got it.

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“These documents paint a picture of an Environmental Protection Agency in crisis. They show the dedicated professional staff of the EPA working hard to do what they are paid to do by the American people - protect our health and our environment. At the same time, we see more and more evidence of Administrator Johnson ignoring the science and the facts, and discarding the advice of his professional staff.”

“I believe this decision will be reversed by the next President or by the courts, but the Administrator can save the taxpayers time and money, and can get us started cleaning up our air if he would simply follow the law, the facts, and the advice of his agency professionals.”

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Does someone really need to point out that, if we continue down the road we are on, their views will be spoilt regardless?

A report by the Minerals Management Service in the US gave preliminary environmental approval to a proposed wind-farm off Cape Cod. Plans by developer Cape Wind Associates describe a wind-farm encompassing 25 miles of federal waters in Nantucket Sound, with 130 windmills generating power for thousands of households.

The findings showed that the plans would pose no significant threat to the environment, despite claims to the contrary by locals and politicians.

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Even if you haven’t closely followed the protracted political saga swirling around the proposed offshore wind farm in the shallow waters off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, you probably know that it has been going on for a long, long time. Unfortunately, the case has been filled with enough juicy political fodder over the last seven years to keep people from dwelling upon the fact that the regulatory review has already brought seven years of scrutiny by seventeen state and federal agencies.

However, an end may be in sight as a final decision from the U.S. Minerals Management Service (MMS) is imminent. That is why the timing of Vinick’s announcement strikes me as odd, and quite possibly a harbinger of things to come.

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The Massachusetts Clean Energy Census was published by the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, a quasi-public agency that runs a renewable energy trust fund of green power projects. The study found that clean energy industry had a 26 percent increase in jobs and now accounts for more than 14,000 jobs in the state. Those jobs are expected to grow three times faster than any other major industry, adding about 3,000 jobs in 2007. The next biggest increase was in the scientific, technical, and management services sector with an increase of 5.4 percent.

Three hundred and two companies, government agencies, and university research centers responded to the survey. Those in the renewable energy category said they will increase staff by an average of 30 percent in the next 12 months, while the energy efficiency sector will add an average of 25 percent more employees.

High fossil fuels costs and venture capital funding are contributing to the strong clean energy performance, as well as politicians and a public wanting action on global warming emissions.

However, the report also points out that the industry is still very young: of the 255 companies surveyed, 103 had annual revenues of less than $1 million. Most companies focus on selling their products to other companies within New England to speed up sales cycles. But this may result in limited growth if companies are passing up opportunities in faster growing and larger markets.

Governor Deval Patrick, Senate President Therese Murray, and House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi agreed last month that by 2010, Massachusetts should offset all of its growth in electricity demand with increased efficiency.

The survey defined “renewable energy” as including solar power, biofuels, wind power, wave systems, solar-assisted fuel cells, and all fuel cell companies, although the study recognizes that fuel cell production may be powered by fossil fuels.

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