In a new, first-ever analysis, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) issued a report showing that there were 3.1 million "green" jobs in the United States in 2010, or 2.4 percent of the nation’s overall employment. Green Goods and Services jobs, the BLS indicates, "are found in businesses that produce goods and provide services that benefit the environment or conserve natural resources."

President Obama embarked on a four-state energy tour this week and made his first stop in Boulder City, a Nevada town about 20 miles outside Las Vegas. The town is home to the Copper Mountain Solar 1 Facility, the largest photovoltaic solar power plant in the United States, where the President renewed his support for the solar industry.

Millennials and Generation Xers have adopted a reputation for being environmental idealists, but according to a new analysis, young Americans are less interested in becoming those "green" warriors that many have presumed them to be. Published this month by the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, the study compiled an analysis of surveys spanning four decades, and resolved that conserving resources and becoming more environmentally conscious are less important to young Americans than they were to their elders.

As gas prices loom near the $4-a-gallon mark, the Obama administration has been hit with a public outburst that could prove politically lethal. And while the President is quick to emphasize that he does not favor high gas prices, his administration is toting heavy baggage in the area of energy policy.

A heated issue now being debated amongst President Obama, congressional members, and the general public is the tumultuous rise in gas prices that Americans are now faced with daily. House Republicans have ramped up efforts to expose Democrats and the President for their purported resistance to oil development and energy independence.

To purportedly tame the progressive rise in gas prices, President Obama visited a North Carolina truck manufacturer on Wednesday to unveil a new $1 billion plan to advocate electric and alternative vehicles through consumer incentives and federal grants for states.

The Obama administration continues to deflect blame over soaring gas prices, and conservatives and congressional Republicans have been quick to excoriate the President for his costly environmental measures. President Obama’s energy policies, critics allege, have prompted not only an increasingly heavy burden at the gas pump, but also are shaping a progressive rise in Americans’ electric bills.

Adding to the growing list of failed "green" energy companies, another solar firm filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Tuesday in hopes of selling off its solar power subsidiaries and other assets. Energy Conversion Devices Inc. (ECD), a Michigan-based manufacturer of thin-film solar laminates (product shown at left), said it will continue to operate through the bankruptcy and sale process.

U.S. regulators on Thursday authorized plans to construct the nation’s first nuclear power plant in three decades, despite concerns stemming from Japan’s 2011 earthquake that led to a meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant last March. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) voted 4-1 to grant Atlanta-based Southern Company a license to begin operating two new reactors at its existing Vogtle plant in Georgia, which will cost about $14 billion and are expected to enter service as early as 2016 and 2017.

Ener1 Inc., which owns an electric car battery-maker that reaped a $118-million grant from the Obama administration, filed for bankruptcy protection Thursday. The New York-based company claimed defaults on its bond debt were spurred by rising competition from China and other countries. Ener1 listed $73.9 million in assets and $90.5 million in debt as of December 31 in Chapter 11 papers filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.