Love your ales, pilsners, weissbeers and stouts, but worried about all that fermented grain waste?

Thanks to German researcher Wolfgang Bengel, brew lovers can help create cleaner energy every time they down a pint.

The US Department of Energy has released a second wave of millions in stimulus funding aimed at helping low and middle-income families, across 13 states, save money on energy bills.

Five states and one US territory are receiving over $141 million in federal economic stimulus funds for state-based renewable energy and energy efficiency programs. It's just part of the $3.1 billion allocated to State Energy Programs (SEPs) under the Recovery Act.

The pugnacious morning session of the Senate's energy and climate hearings broke in time for committee members to make it to Al Franken's swearing-in as Minnesota's junior senator.  

Transportation, biomass, carbon offsets -- these were just some of the policy overhauls discussed this morning at a Senate Environment and Public Works committee hearing on energy and climate policy.

Creating renewable energy from motion is usually done on a large mechanical scale -- such as turbines spinning in the wind or propelled by underwater currents.  But minutely small mechanical devices have the potential to harness a lot of energy, as well.

Would you feel a little less guilty about all those lost hours playing "City of Heroes" if they helped stop global warming?