Speed and power have long been the most important criteria when judging a supercomputer's worth as a number-crunching lab workhorse, but energy efficiency is fast catching up. The greenest supercomputers are those that can process the most scientific calculations per second while drawing the least power.

During the first half of this year, the power of the world's fastest supercomputers increased in aggregate 15 percent, whereas average supercomputer energy efficiency rose 10 percent, according to the Green500 List, a project led by Virginia Tech computer scientists Wu-chun Feng and Kirk Cameron to rank supercomputer energy efficiency. "While the supercomputers on the Green500 are collectively consuming more power, they are using the power more efficiently than before," the organization said in a statement following the release of its fifth and latest ranking in June.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D–Nev.) yesterday introduced legislation that would give the feds the authority to build so-called "green" power lines to carry renewable energy, such as solar, wind and geothermal, from remote sources to the nation's electric grid. Under the measure, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) could step in if states fail to install lines—deciding where to place them and who should pay the tab. This move comes just two weeks after a federal appeals court in Richmond, Va., upheld a state's right to nix a federal transmission line project.

The proposed Clean Renewable Energy and Economic Development Act of 2009, would give President Obama the authority to declare "renewable energy zones" that have great potential for generating electricity from renewable sources but currently lack high-voltage transmission lines to bring that power to consumers, the Associated Press reports.

Democratic lawmakers are calling for $80 billion in federal funds to be set aside to beef up the nation's Internet services, develop renewable energy sources and computerize health care records. 

The investment would be part of the $825 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill of 2009 [pdf] (which the House is expected to vote on the week of Jan. 26). The money spent on new technology is expected to "increase economic efficiency by spurring technological advances in science and health" via $54 billion to bolster production of energy from renewable sources, $20 billion to computerize health care records and $6 billion to provide broadband Internet to regions where it's lacking.

Environmentalists are worried that President-elect Barack Obama’s pick for Interior secretary is too cozy with oil and mining interests and isn’t committed enough to conservation.

Obama yesterday named first-term Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar, a Democrat, to head up the department, which regulates U.S. natural and cultural resources.

"I will do all I can to help reduce America's dependence on foreign oil,” Salazar said yesterday at a Chicago press conference where Obama introduced him as his pick. Salazar added that he hoped to “take the moon-shot on energy independence” as Obama develops a combination of green and traditional sources of energy, including wind, coal and natural gas, according to the New York Times.

American research firm SRI International and Japan's Hyper Drive Corporation today are testing the latest generation of their jointly developed buoy-mounted, ocean wave-powered generator off the coast of Santa Cruz, Calif. As the generator bobs up and down, an accordionlike device inside, made of artificial muscle called Electroactive Polymer Artificial Muscle (EPAM), stretches and contracts, creating mechanical energy that is converted into electricity.

SRI is hoping to demonstrate its ability to generate at least 10 Watts of power in waves about 3.3 feet (one meter) in height, a stepping stone to the 100-Watt capacity the researchers hope to be able to generate within a few years. One of their goals is to replace the 25-Watt batteries that navigation buoys use today with a source of renewable energy that can power additional equipment such as cameras and storm warning sensors.