This post is by Miriam Horn, a writer at Environmental Defense Fund and co-author of the New York Times bestseller, Earth: The Sequel. It's part of a video series on new energy technologies, Unleash the Future.

1. Introduction (YouTube)
2. Solar
3. Biofuels
4. Geothermal
5. Wave

Harnessing solar energy can be pricey, but that soon may change. One company aims to cut the price by a factor of 10 by printing cheap solar ink onto flexible film that could serve as your roofing material.

Take a look at my short video on new solar technologies to learn more.

If you have any questions or comments on solar power, please post them here. I'll do my best to answer.

This post is by Sheryl Canter, an online writer and editorial manager at Environmental Defense Fund.

Our resident geographer, Peter Black, has a new blog called Climate Atlas where he posts maps to visualize many aspects of climate change. Here's a sampling of his recent posts:

• Worldwide climate anomalies in 2007
• U.S. renewable energy resources
• Regional climate initiatives
• New York metro area with a 10-foot sea-level rise

Check it out and tell us what you think!

This post is by Sheryl Canter, an online writer and editorial manager at Environmental Defense Fund.

Our media director, Tony Kreindler, posted a brief post-mortem analysis on Grist that raises an interesting point. He says:

But there's another important part of progress that's less obvious, what a colleague of mine calls "clearing the underbrush" – many in Congress don't focus on the finer details of legislation until it is set for a vote.

In the past few weeks, Senate offices that never before explored the weeds of climate policy took a very deep dive.

The raw numbers bode well for action in the next Congress. But the process itself can't be overlooked, and we won't get quick action in 2009 unless senators and members of the House of Representatives continue to dig into the details and figure out what works, what doesn't, and what it all means for their constituents.

It's encouraging that the House isn't waiting: Just this week, Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell announced a series of legislative hearings and Rep. Ed Markey introduced a bill that looks to be the most comprehensive proposal yet in the House.

Given that the sponsors of the Climate Security Act plan to bring up the bill next year, the House looks to be moving, and the presumptive nominees of both parties say they plan to act on climate change, a post-mortem may not even be in order, even one as short as this.

Environmental Defense Fund is having its annual retreat this week, so you won't see new posts in Climate 411 until Monday. Have a great week!

This post is by Sheryl Canter, an online writer and editorial manager at Environmental Defense Fund.

Our own Scott Anderson is one of the experts featured in a new video on Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS). The video explains why CCS is an important tool in cutting emissions, and gives an animated description of how it works. It's a good companion to Scott's blog post on CCS.

This post is by Sheryl Canter, an online writer and editorial manager at Environmental Defense Fund.

This morning a Senate cloture vote to focus debate on the Climate Security Act and end the filibuster failed to win the necessary 60 votes. As a result, Majority Leader Harry Reid removed the bill from consideration this year.

On the plus side, a majority of senators – 48 to 36 – voted in favor, and six more senators sent written statements of support, bringing the total to 54. While the bill could not survive the continuing delay tactics, it garnered important new momentum that sets the stage for quick action in the next Congress.

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This post is by Charlie Miller, director of communications at Environmental Defense Fund.

Today's Senate debate on the Climate Security Act included quite a few misstatements of fact. We thought we'd offer corrections of some of the most egregious.

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This post is by Derek Walker, deputy director of the State Climate Campaign and director of the California Climate Initiative at Environmental Defense Fund.

Two weeks ago I posted about California's Dangerous "Proposition 98", with hidden provisions threatening the state's environmental laws. The alternative, Proposition 99, achieves the stated goals of Proposition 98 (protecting homeowners from having their dwellings seized for development) without threatening environmental protections.

The vote took place on Tuesday, and I have good news to report.

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This post is by Sheryl Canter, an online writer and editorial manager at Environmental Defense Fund.

It took until 9:45pm last night to finish reading aloud the 491-page Climate Security Act – the latest in a series of Republican stall tactics. Afterwards, a very angry Harry Reid (Senate Majority Leader) accused Republicans of "doing everything in their power to slow, stop and stall" the bill, citing a GOP strategy memo obtained from a lobbyist. The memo (this Grist post links to it) said the Republicans' goal was to "make political points" rather than amend the bill.

To move things forward, Reid filed a cloture motion to limit debate to 30 hours and proceed with a vote. This sparked another fight.

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This post is by Sheryl Canter, an online writer and editorial manager at Environmental Defense Fund.

As the Senate edges towards debate on the Climate Security Act, supporters and detractors of the bill are actively pushing for their position.

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This post is by Kusai Merchant, a policy specialist for the National Climate Campaign at Environmental Defense Fund.

At about 12:50pm today, the Senate passed a Motion to Proceed with the amendment process of the Climate Security Act. But are they ready to begin a real debate on the bill or amendments? Not quite yet…

Republicans objected to starting the amendment process without first having the clerk read the entire bill. So now the clerk is reading all 491 pages, word-for-word. At the current rate, the reading will take roughly 10 hours – that includes throat clearings and swigs of water. You can watch it live on C-Span2 (Senate Session).

This is the third procedural obstacle that opponents of progress have thrown up to a debate on the climate bill.

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