Consideration of the one year extension for the wind and solar investment tax credit has been dropped from Congress's economic stimulus bill. Senate Democrats fell two votes short of cloture on the Senate Finance Committee's amendment to the House's stimulus plan, achieving only 58 nods in favor. The Senate dropped the ITC late into the night, and will push through the stimulus plan without it. As it stands now, the ITC is set to expire at the end of 2008. The Solar Energy Industries Association has issued a release from Rhone Resch on the Senate's failure to pass the ITC extension. Citing support from Senators Baucus, Reid, Grassley, and Cantwell, Resch stated "[i]t is crucial for Congress to return to work to pass an 8-year investment tax credit." The SEIA wants to push through a 30 percent ITC with an eight year duration for commercial installations and a six year duration for residential applications.

I'll be liveblogging tomorrow from the "Power, Drugs & Money" MIT Enterprise Forum. With pictures! The conference is now sold out, so this will be your only access point for the latest info on the cutting edge thoughts from technology's leading entrepreneurs and innovators. Check back here throughout the day for constant updates and insights (and pictures!) from this exciting event.

Coskata, the hot ethanol company of the moment, has announced a partnership with ICM to bring their first plant online by 2010. The advanced biofuels company's much heralded partnership with GM, and their claims of commercial ethanol at $1 per gallon, have had industry insiders and investors salivating over a potential return to the good old days of arbitrage in the ethanol markets. Other analysts have reported seeing microorganisms running madly into the woods for fear of getting caught up in Coskata's conversion process. But who's this ICM character? ICM is a construction and engineering firm that's had a hand in building more than 50 percent of domestic ethanol production capacity. You go to Papelbon for the save, and ICM for the ethanol plant. Despite their big industry position, ICM also has a dark side.

We love green vehicles here at Greentech Media. We'd love to have one to cruise around Cambridge terrorizing MIT students in an environmentally-friendly manner. And we love the companies that make them - even the ones with crappy business models. What we don't love, though, is how they look. Face it. Green vehicles are usually the spawn of some sci-fi geek's wet dream of crossing an X-wing fighter with KITT from Knight Rider. In other words, they're hideous. Recently a crop of especially ugly green vehicles have popped up, inspiring us to create this Top 5 list of the worst, comic-book-looking, Jetson-wannabe, speeder bike-knockoffs on the market. Uggos after the jump.

Deep Throat's admonition to "follow the money" couldn't ring truer than in recent signals on climate change sent out by the big banks. The Carbon Principles, a set of guidelines addressing investment risk in electric power plants, were launched today by Citi, Morgan Stanley, and JP Morgan. While the guidelines themselves are high on fluff and low on actual guidance, they presage highly anticipated GHG regulation and provide a glimpse at what's ahead for advisers and lenders in the traditional power gen industry. The biggest development in today's announcement is the enactment of a so-called Enhanced Diligence framework, essentially a process allowing potential investors to evaluate risk factors in new plant construction. Power companies incorporating energy efficiency, carbon capture and sequestration, and/or renewables into new construction are assessed less risk than those that do not. With the Enhanced Diligence framework, the banks are sending a clear signal to power companies that business as usual construction will be penalized under any future regulatory framework. This is clearly not a cost the banks are willing to bear. What The Carbon Principles tell us is that the big banks - old pros at following the money - are ready to begin thinking critically about technologies enabling a low carbon future. Power plant construction is a multi-billion dollar business, and investors and lenders stand to lose big time if they get caught with their pants down after the initiation of GHG regulation. But The Carbon Principles are more than hedge against future regulatory uncertainty. They're also a smoke signal to Washington that the train is leaving the station. Most major American banks have already built carbon trading practice groups with eyes towards London (and Hong Kong). If the government blows this one, profits won't be the only thing we lose.

Finally some good news for publicly traded solar companies. Yingli Green Energy's shares bounced 14 percent today on news the company has successfully reduced its wafer thickness from 200 microns to 180 microns. The 10 percent reduction means the company will save on feedstock costs as it brings down polysilicon per watt while jacking up wafer output per ingot. In announcing its 2008 guidance, Yingli also noted it has secured roughly 70 percent of its polysilicon for 2008. The vertically integrated supplier also pegged its 2008 module shipment target at around 260 MW. Yingli's stock suffered along with other public solar companies in a big slump that started around Christmas. Today's breakout may signal a light at the end of the tunnel for some stunned solar investors. My guess is that Yingli benefited from its vertical integration, which allowed it shore up its supply chain while also investing in the engineering breakthrough. If this is the case, it means good news for a few companies in a similar position, like SunPower. While the well-stocked companies break away, the rest of the pack will be stuck at the bottom for some time to come.

A few of the interesting pictures follow!! The scene from my hotel room. Although the room itself brought back fond memories of my student days, staying at the YMCAs, the view was fantastic!! Only the Swiss can think of playing golf in the snow!!! Closing session with CNN interview