On Tuesday, House Democrats unveiled a much-anticipated draft of a comprehensive energy bill. Announced by Representatives Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Edward Markey (D-MA), the bill includes a Renewable Efficiency Standard (RES) for utilities as well as a market-based cap on carbon aimed at reducing total aggregate emissions by 83% by 2050.

The G20 Summit, in which world leaders gathered for a day-long conference to discuss the most pressing global issues, took place in London yesterday. Considerable focus was placed on the economic crisis, but the conference fell short on addressing environmental issues, according to George Monbiot.

Turning to industry, Greenbiz reported today that GM will seek $2.6B in low-interest loans to develop new lines of hybrid vehicles. Hopefully this would provide the automaker with the boost it desperately seems to need.

Finally, Cleantech Blog published an interesting story on clean coal earlier this week, in which it explored one of the more contentious issues currently facing the cleantech community (not to mention policymakers, utilities, and environmentalists in a broader sense).

Grant Draper, President of FD Element