Green news harvest: Green-tech lobbyists get busy

• Lobbyists Are First Winners in Obama's Clean-Technology Push - Bloomberg.com
  With government money at stake, venture capitalists and executives and clean-tech start-ups are spending a lot of time in Washington.
• Carbon trade could fund high-speed U.S. trains: CCX - Reuters
  Another thought on how to fund high-speed rail lines in the U.S.
• Smart Grid Leadership: The Top Ten "Smartest" States in 2009 - Smart Grid News
  So much for the argument that tech and policy innovation happens first on the coasts. See where your state is on the smart-grid scale.

• Live From Green:Net - Earth2Tech
  Round-up of coverage from conference exploring intersection between IT and energy.
• World's Cheapest Car: Boon or Bane? - New York Times
  An energy-efficient Tata Nano mini car is good for the environment, right? Many people see downsides in terms of pollution and congestion.
• Secretary Chu's Bumpy Ride From Laboratory to Washington - The New York Times
  Good profile of Energy Secretary Steven Chu who needs more than scientific brilliance to wield DOE bureaucracy and navigate Washington politics.
• Ormat Technologies Commissions the OREG-4 Peetz Project - Press release
  This company, which also does utility-scale geothermal, expects to convert waste heat from pipelines this year into 53 megawatts of electricity, the equivalent to a medium-size power plant.
• Wind energy finds fix for exploding bats - Washington Times
  Turning off turbines at low speeds will help alleviate problem of killing bats, say researchers.