Green news harvest: Electric-vehicle reality check

Here's a sampling of green-tech news with quick commentary:

• As fed steps up, states step back on solar funding - The Associated Press
  Federal tax credits for solar-electric panels have been increased, but states are pulling back in light of budget problems.
• Electric Cars Are Unlikely to Help Carmakers Cut CO2 Emissions Significantly by 2020, According to The Boston Consulting Group - Press release
  Consulting firm tries to inject some realistic expectations into the electric-vehicle craze. The upshot: policies are required to get electric vehicles on the road and cut pollution.
• Electric cars disappointed in 2008--and 2009 won't be different - VentureBeat
  You might not agree with everything here (read the comments), but this piece does a good job of laying out the business and technology challenges of electric cars.
• More Than 70 Applications for the DOE's Green Car Loan Program - Earth2Tech
  Not quite like a stimulus package for auto start-ups, but these loan guarantees are vital to many new firms.
• Video: a whole new lightbulb - Greentech Media
  On why we're in the wild west of lighting and how technology developed for TVs may make it into your kitchen.
• Ice Energy Launches Utility-Scale Smart Grid Solutions - Press release
  Start-up Ice Energy, which sells an energy-efficient air conditioner, has shifted strategies to sell to utilities rather than consumers, likely because of hefty up-front costs.
• Utility poles make cheap ethanol feedstock for Enerkem - Cleantech Group
  Some expect to use trees damaged by pine beetles as a cheap wood source for ethanol.
• Colleges Turn to Wood Chips for Heat - The New York Times
  A form of distributed energy with a good amount of potential: using wood chips in a gasifier.