Backing biofuels and calling for CCS: President Obama announced plans Wednesday to invest time, energy and funding in developing the next generation of American energy technology. He’s placing his bets on biofuels and carbon capture and sequestration.

Awfully good timing: According to a new biomass life cycle analysis published in the Journal of Environmental Science and Technology, stations retrofitted to run on a mixture of coal and dried wood pellets can produce cost-competitive, emission-reduced electricity even without the advent of a cap-and-trade system.

Regulation please: A planned California power plant is likely to be the first in the nation to comply with federal greenhouse gas emission requirements. The plant will produce 50 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions than even the most advanced coal-fired plants and will emit 25 percent fewer heat-trapping gases than the California Public Utilities Commission's standard.

Anything you can do, we can do too: Following the Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s lead, Reps. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), Ike Skelton (D-MO) and Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO) introduced legislation to strip the EPA of its authority to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. It seems that the cohort put the measure in play to ensure the viability of the renewable fuel industry.

RPS path to jobs?: According to a new report from RES-Alliance for Jobs, a coalition of green power businesses and trade groups, a national renewable portfolio standard of 25 percent by 2025 would create three times more jobs than weaker measures Congress is considering.

At least D.C. can blame something for the impending snow doom: The extra volatile winter weather we’ve all been experiencing is a sign of how climate change disrupts long-standing patterns, according to a new report from the National Wildlife Federation.

Did we miss the big story of the week? Let us know. Leave a comment below or email clements@rff.org.