High corn prices are making it tough for ethanol producers to acquire affordable feedstock, and rattling investors nerves. Even ethanol companies that don't use corn are taking a hit in their stock price.

BlueFire Ethanol has seen its stock swing from under two dollars a year ago to more nearly $8 in January, and then lost nearly half its value to $4.35 today.

BlueFire CEO Arnold R. Klann issued a letter to shareholders to calm fears that something was amiss: BlueFire cannot attribute the stock decline to a single cause but the overall market decline, traditional producer shortfalls and aggressive selling of the company's stock may have all influenced the stock price... The recent sharp decline in stock price does not reflect where we are currently as a company."

According to the company, the first of its U.S. based plants that will turn agricultural waste into ethanol is on track to open in Lancaster, CA next year, and another 19 plants are in development.

Logic would suggest that if corn-based ethanol becomes too costly that there is greater opportunity for cellulosic ethanol, but perhaps investors aren't thinking long term. A shakeout is coming with considerable consolidation in the ethanol industry, but innovative technologies should be winners as they are acquired by traditional energy companies looking to diversify.

A 64-megawatt concentrated solar power plant will be built near Las Vegas at the cost of $266 million. According to Wells Fargo & Company, one of the financing companies, this is the largest solar facility to be built in 16 years and will cover 400 acres.

Acciona Energy is building the Nevada Solar One facility which is described as "182,000 parabolic trough-shaped mirror panels that track the sun throughout the day and concentrate solar radiation onto receiver tubes. This heats a special fluid in the receiver tubes to create steam that drives a conventional steam turbine generator to produce electricity."

If any city in the world should be using solar energy it is Las Vegas, with its 24-hour lights and non-essential use of electricity. By relying on non-polluting renewable energy for casino power, Las Vegas will greatly reduce its carbon emissions. Recently coal and gas-burning plants in the area were cited for spewing bad air.

The second recall of toys made in China that are unsafe because of lead paint got me to thinking about the other health cost we pay for importing so much of our manufactured goods from China.

While labor is cheaper in China, the carbon and other emissions from the older machinery and lack of regulations puts an added cost on all of those toys and electronics that are so much cheaper to make elsewhere. According to one estimate, the energy consumption (relying mostly on old coal power plants) is more than four times that of the U.S.

Unfortunately it is almost impossible to find goods in many categories that aren't made in China, so sustainability-minded individuals have little choice. But perhaps an import tax could be used to expand our efforts to update Chinese factories and power plants. Alex Steffan of WorldChanging calls it offshoring our emissions.

"That's because globalization has tended to move heavy polluting industries offshore, away from Europe and North America, and to places like China and Brazil. We still consume the lion's share of the goods these nations manufacture, but the carbon is emitted there, not here.."

So blaming China, India et al for not being part of Kyoto when they are providing us goods that produce millions of tons of CO2 isn't fair.

Also, consider the fossil fuels burned in shipping from 5,000 miles away versus to a port in the U.S. before the are moved by rail/truck to warehouses and then driven to your local WalMart.

This system may be the most economically efficient, but not the most sustainable.

While bouncing around the Net looking for connections between climate change and the tourism, I uncovered The Daily Green's report on a brand-new subsection of world travelers: Climate Change Tourists. These are people who travel to places like Norway's chilly Svalbard Islands to see reindeer, seals, polar bears … and evidence of dramatic climate change.

Who knew that global warming itself could become an attraction? On the one hand, it's encouraging that influential people, including Hillary Clinton and John McCain are seeing for themselves the alarming and rapid changes occurring in remote places such as this.

But does this trend risk devolving into just another form of disaster tourism, exploiting victims and complicating efforts to understand and correct the problems? To be honest, I'm not entirely sure.

Managed responsibly, such trips could benefit local economies while providing individuals with a deep personal connection to what's happening to our world. These tourists could even supply a source of manpower for scientists and others who are working to make a difference.

Or, if it gets out of hand, trips to these sensitive areas could actually exacerbate the problem, not unlike rubber neckers jamming up traffic in order to gawk at someone else's tragedy.

So … what do you think? Is Climate Change Tourism a sign of hope, or just another example of humans looking for new ways to make a greenwashed buck?

Banks and local governments are developing new incentives to make solar energy pay for itself right away.

Comerica Bank has joined with solar installer Akeena to develop financing options that instantly become cash flow positive.

Solar power is more expensive that fossil-fuel electricity in most states, but the combination of tax incentives and write-offs can make it cost effective. States with net metering that allow you to sell excess power during the day can make the systems even more lucrative

"... In most cases, the monthly after-tax HELOC (home equity line of credit) payments will be less than the electric savings from the solar power system – providing positive cash flow for our customers the moment the system is switched on,” says Barry Cinnamon, CEO of Akeena in a press release.

By financing the solar system you can add value to your home while adding a backup power system using batteries.

Cities in Silicon Valley are providing special incentives to get people to install solar. SolarCity has teamed up with the cities of San Carlos, Mountain View, and San Jose to offer up to 20 percent off the installation price of a solar system. Along with California, New York, New Jersey and others, Rhode Island offers up to a 25 percent incentive on solar installations.

Even though I'm generally old school about paying for things, with solar it doesn't pay to use cash.