People support renewable energy for a variety of reasons: Job creation, security, technology innovation, and of course, climate change. But a new poll of Americans shows a trend of increased skepticism around the issue of climate change.

Plus Boston-Power bumps up its Series E round, and GM takes a minority stake in Indiana-based Bright Automotive.

New funds emerge for cleantech in India, among 32 deals the Cleantech Group spotted in the past seven days.

3 India-focused VC/PE funds have announced that they are raising and earmarking capital for various cleantech sectors such as agriculture, solar and water treatment.

Siemens, BASF, and Sharp all announce cleantech deals, while the largest VC deal of the week goes to a a French electric vehicle company.

Two recent announcements highlight the success of the UK feed-in tariff according to consulting firm Ownergy and research consultancy iSupply. Ownergy announced that the UK figures on initial installations are out and show that the commercial sector was more active in renewable energy applications than the government had originally predicted.

The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded a contract to a Cincinnati company, AdvaceBio Systems, for research and development of a pretreatment reactor system of biomass feedstocks. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory will deploy the system and provide testing services at its facility in Colorado.

On August 5th, Senate Democrats dropped $1.5 billion of stimulus funding for renewable energy and electric transmission loan guarantees to help offset a $26 billion state aid bill that is set for a floor vote today. According to energy news outlet E&E:

"Sometimes when we don't have all the answers, we need to have the courage to do nothing," - Rep. Mike Noel Utah State Representative

Over the last 10 years, there has been a considerable change in biomass power generation in Asia. Indeed, owing to the scarcity and cost of biomass fuel, most power plants are in fact designed for multi-fuel and unconventional fuels. This creates several challenging issues in combustion and boiler maintenance, demanding improvised combustion technologies, modern fuel preparation and handling systems, for example.

After five years in the planning and development stage, ground was broken on the Northeast Biodiesel and Co-op Power, a 1.75 million-gallon-per-year facility located in Greenfield, Massachsetts. Biodiesel production is expected to begin in January of next year.

The U.S. has taken a shortsighted approach to "financing" our energy future for decades. We are rapidly depleting our energy capital of oil, gas and coal at greater rates each year, and giving very little thought to the long-term (20-50+ years) consequences.

Renewable Energy World Conference & Expo North America, set for March 8-10 in Tampa, Florida, is now accepting abstract submittals for the 2011 conference program. Submit your abstracts by Friday, August 13, 2010 and take advantage of the opportunity to share your insight with the renewable energy industry and gain visibility for your company or abstract concept.

For many years, the voluntary market for renewable energy was the main driver for the market. Today, it's state-level renewable energy targets. Even so, the voluntary market is still going strong, reports the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

According to Ernst and Young, U.S. venture capital (VC) investment in cleantech companies in Q2 2010 hit $1.5 billion in 65 financing rounds, a 63.8% increase in capital and a 4.6% increase in deals compared to Q2 2009. The analysis is based on data from Dow Jones VentureSource.

This is a unique time in history for energy inventors and entrepreneurs. As the need for clean, scalable sources of energy becomes more important, investors are looking for unique "Black Swan" technologies that could revolutionize the sector. The trouble is, they're not exactly easy to find (or create).

A new white paper from the World Bank's Development Prospects Group concludes that biofuels were not the main reason for the spike in grain prices from 2006 to 2008.