Cilion, a venture-backed ethanol startup, has fallen at the intersection of a vc and policy love triangle. The company, which was founded in May 2006, is backed by Vinod Khosla, Richard Branson, and Ron Burkle's Yucaipa Companies. That would be the same Yucaipa Companies where Bill Clinton is a senior advisor. In September 2006, Khosla, Branson, and Burkle appeared with Bill at the Clinton Global Initiative fund raiser, shortly after Cilion announced it had raised $160 million. Though Yucaipa claims it invested less than five percent of its equity in the ethanol company, this is still a substantial amount given the amount of cash Yucaipa has under management. And then there's Hillary. Her Senate office has been busy in upstate New York clearing the way for that area's nascent ethanol industry.

• Shenzhen Topray Solar hit the ground running on its debut at the Shenzhen Stock Exchange this morning. The solar company's initial public offer price was pegged at RMB 10.79, but it opened the day at RMB 51.20, hitting a high of RMB 57.00 in intraday trading despite an analyst consensus of around RMB 45.00. Shenzhen Topray closed the day up 378 percent at RMB 51.62, netting the company nearly $60 million in its IPO. Shenzhen Topray is China's first solar cell maker to list domestically. We're still not quite convinced.


• Bloo Solar grabs a $100,000 NSF grant to continue its nanotech research. The company uses vertically-layered nano-scale bristles to increase solar cell surface area over 700 times. While Bloo is waiting until marriage to take venture funding, it plans on spending most of its NSF grant to develop a nano-scale hairbrush to keep its bristles full of volume and shine as it waits for potential suitors.


• All but confirming recent rumors, it looks like Tony Hayward will dump BP's renewable energy programs. BP's environmental group, which is valued between $5 billion and $7 billion, will be the first casualty as Hayward seeks to close the gap between his company and Royal Dutch Shell and Exxon Mobil, his chief competitors. Central to Hayward's turnaround plan is a goal of producing 4.3 million barrels of per day by 2012. Barrels of monkeys, that is.


• State governments are exploiting a loophole in federal law, allowing them to buy flex fuel vehicles without buying the flex fuel. Under the 1992 Energy Policy Act, 75 percent of new state cars must be able to run on alternative fuels, though the act doesn't require states to actually buy the alternative fuels that would run them. State governments have purchased more than 40,000 alternative fuel vehicles, though there are only 34 state flex fuel stations in 20 states. I guess there's more than one bridge to nowhere.


• And finally today... only in Oregon.

The House of Representatives voted 236-182 this afternoon to repeal $18 billion in subsidies and tax incentives for oil and gas companies.  The windfall will fund investment and production tax breaks greentech producers and consumers. If H.R. 5351 passes the Senate (possible...) and survives a presidential veto (virtually impossible...), the available funding would support, among other things, a plug-in hybrid vehicle credit, an alternative refueling station tax credit, an extension of the renewable energy production tax credit, and a long-term extension and expansion of the solar energy and fuel cell investment tax credit.  A more in depth analysis can be found here. So kids... time to save your jobs and light up the White House switchboard. (202) 456-1414.

Google's hit on some hard times recently. The search giant's stock bottomed out yesterday at $464.19, dropping 38 percent from a record high $747.24 in November 2007. The massive downturn's tipping point came recently, though the momentum has built up for months, from a comScore report that found the company's revenue generating paid clicks remained flat in January 2008 compared with January 2007, while suffering a 12 percent sequential drop. But minimal growth in its revenue model can't be the only thing dragging Google down. Where's all that cash going? Google, according to disgraced tech trader Henry Blodget, "is moving in a thousand different directions and spending money like a drunken sailor." Blodget should know about spending money like a drunken sailor, but this time his research is right on the money, so to speak.

Shares of EnerNOC are down 27.22 percent as of noon today after the company announced a $9 million earnings loss for the 4Q 2007. EnerNOC disappointed analysts, whose consensus $0.29 EPS loss was taken to town by the 'NOCs $0.48 EPS loss in the last quarter. The company posted $19.7 million in revenue for the fourth quarter, up 234 percent year over year. Revenues across 2007 were $60.8 million, up 133 percent from 2006. Despite a tough day on the street, EnerNOC had a relatively big year of organic growth. The company added 703 MW to it's energy management program, bringing its total up 1,113 MW. EnerNOC, a demand response firm, contracts with corporations to manage their energy consumption, bring power usage down during peak periods. All tolled the 'NOC controls the equivalent of two coal fired power plants, retrieving "negawatts" and spinning them into gold - well, maybe not last quarter. Anyway, I hear there might be some growth opportunities in Florida.

Florida Power & Light, proving yesterday they're not old enough to play with real toys, received a $2.5 million grant to build nine wind turbines on its property. Knowing the utility's track record with system failure, residents of South Florida might want to be on the lookout for something like this: We love a good mystery at GTM, and apparently so does the Miami New Times, which is reporting "Hugo Chavez cut the lights." Which makes perfect sense, since the heads at FP&L aren't nearly incompetent enough to have pulled this off alone.

No coffee edition. Dangerous. Me, uncaffeinated, with Jon Bonnano and Alla Weinstein from Principle Power

• The House of Representatives is expected to vote today on a measure that curtails nearly $18 billion in tax incentives for oil and gas companies. If passed, oil and gas companies would pay as much as $17.56 billion in taxes over the next ten years. The windfall would fund production tax credits for wind, biomass, geothermal, and hydropower projects and investment tax credits for solar energy and fuel cells. The bill is expected to pass the House, and die a slow, painful death in the Senate.


• Now's the time to pick up an ethanol plant on the cheap. Bioenergy of America had its Chapter 11 case dismissed by a federal judge in New Jersey after the company was unable to pay administrative costs associated with the filing. Paragon Biofuels, always one to stab a brother in the back, withdrew it's $400,000 loan to Bioenergy at the same time. Bioenergy, much like the corn it used to process, is now headed into liquidation.


• Wednesday is officially goods-news-for-biofuel-day. Cargill has announced it will shelve a $200 million plant it had planned for Topeka, KA. The agro-giant, most famous for stuffing cows full of cement, cited rocketing corn prices and squeezing ethanol margins as primary reasons for its change of heart. Corns has traded north of $5 for the last few months, pushed up from under $2 on high ethanol demand from production plants.


• It's probably better we've only made a lame attempt at building an ethanol distribution infrastructure. Apparently "ethanol fires are harder to put out than gasoline ones and require a special type of firefighting foam". The groups and organizations listed as not having access to this foam include "many fire departments around the country". The foam itself only costs $90 to $115 for a five gallon container, so let's get three.


• And finally today... help us pick a design for the new GTM office.