Bridgeport Biodiesel, which converts used cooking oil into biodiesel, opened in Bridgeport’s West End neighborhood Monday.

Northeast fuel distributor Gulf Oil LP plans to open a new division that will buy electricity and resell it in deregulated markets in which customers can shop for power suppliers.

Final decision expected April 2. In response to an application from Northeast Utilities for approval of a merger with NSTAR, the Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority has established a docket and set a schedule for its review of this proposed transaction. Click on this environmental headline for more of this story.

Three Rivers Community College and Millstone Station are offering 16 full scholarships for the nuclear engineering technology degree program. The application deadline for students entering the 2012 fall semester is Feb. 15.

Attorney General George Jepsen and state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Commissioner Daniel C. Esty said a stipulated judgment has resolved a 2008 lawsuit against a manufacturing facility in Newington, charged with repeated wastewater discharge violations.

Fitzgerald, a freshman at Castleton State College in Castleton, Vt., has been awarded the 2012 CRRA Shelton Scholarship. The $1,000 CRRA Shelton Scholarship is awarded annually to one Shelton resident studying engineering or the sciences at an accredited four-year college. Preference is given to a student who declares a major in environmental or energy fields.

New Jersey-based Covanta Energy Corp. has wooed four more Connecticut municipalities — and their garbage — away from the Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority.

Until ASNAT Realty LLC and Evergreen Power LLC, who share an interest in the property and an address in Bayside, N.Y., conduct a full investigation of the contamination, finish an approved remediation plan for the site and show how it will prevent “adverse impacts” tied to the demolition, it can’t go forward, DEEP said.

Newington, East Hartford, Guilford and Madison have all signed contracts for services that will include sustainable waste disposal, recycling and composting.

NRG Energy, owner of the Montville Station power plant, is pushing ahead with its 4-year-old proposal to partly convert the plant from natural gas and oil to boilers powered by bio-mass fuel, the Hartford Courant reports. Click on this Environmental Headline for more on this story.

Montville officials are waiting to find out how the sale of AES Thames, a coal-fired power plant with assets totaling $162 million, will affect the town’s tax revenue.

Thomas S. Santa, president and CEO of Santa Energy in Bridgeport, has been elected chairman of the Connecticut Business & Industry Association’s board of directors.

In its eagerness to hype green energy, Connecticut has fallen into the same money trap as Washington, which foolishly sunk $535 million into Solyndra, as the solar power company collapsed.

Clearwater Systems Corp. announced Monday that it will move from Essex to Middletown to be the first tenant in the new Centerpoint Connecticut “green” complex on Industrial Park Road. Officials lauded the move as a sign that the city can compete for jobs and accommodate a growing sector.

A long-awaited biofuels production facility that will help expand the “green” footprint of the industry and add a company and jobs at the New Haven Terminal had a ground-breaking ceremony Friday.

Power-plant operator NRG Energy Inc., with generating stations in Connecticut, has acquired Solar Power Partners, a leading developer of commercial and industrial distributed solar projects in Connecticut and five other states, Puerto Rico and Canada. For more on this story, visit: NRG buys Solar Power Partners | Hartford Business. Blog this! Bookmark on Delicious Digg
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Connecticut’s commitment to the regional cap-and-trade system and subsequent investment in energy efficiency bolsters the economy, even as power plants shell out cash for their air pollution.

The extended power outage that paralyzed and bewildered much of Connecticut for more than a week should cause the public and state leaders to turn their attention to the merger of Northeast Utilities and NStar.

The restaurant has installed energy-efficient lighting, occupancy sensors, energy-efficient air conditioning, a programmable thermostat and new motor controls for the refrigeration units.

More than 30 million kilowatt-hours produced, avoiding an estimated 45.6 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions. Milestone recently reached from SunEdison solar installations on 33 Staples sites in California, Connecticut, Maryland and New Jersey.