Here are my latest picks of the most notable and noteworthy energy efficiency related news, features and happening in the U.S. and around the world.

Dubai Developing World’s First Rotating, Energy-Efficient Building
Dubai has plans to build the world’s first rotating building with independently moving floors. What’s more, plans call for it to be completely energy independent…
http://cleantechnica.com/2009/02/13/dubai-developing-worlds-first-energy-efficient-rotating-building/

Where energy efficiency increases energy consumption: a caution
A new study warns policymakers to watch for unintended consequences of energy efficiency strategies. As energy efficiency leads to reduced usage, the price of energy falls. However, this could in fact lead to a subsequent rise in consumption of energy, if industry seeks to make the most of the low prices…
http://www.environmental-expert.com/resultEachArticle.aspx?cid=8819&codi=45315&idproducttype=8&level=0&section=5

7 Million UK Homes to Receive Free Insulation
It’s a full-on insulation war between Australia and the UK, with the former announcing free insulation for 2.2 million homes last week, and the latter announcing a program yesterday to give 7 million homes free retrofits…
http://cleantechnica.com/2009/02/11/7-million-uk-homes-will-receive-free-insulation/

Miliband announces green makeover for every home in Britain by 2030
Minister unveils ‘great British refurb’ to cut household emissions one-third by 2020 with insulation and low-carbon technologies…
http://www.climateark.org/shared/reader/welcome.aspx?linkid=118254

Google looks to conserve energy at home with Google PowerMeter
Google has a new example of their ever-enlarging web of applications in the works. It is called Google PowerMeter, and it is a program that helps people see how well — or how wastefully — they use power at home. The program is currently in closed beta testing right now, but will be released for free sometime relatively soon…
http://www.neoseeker.com/news/9843-google-looks-to-conserve-energy-at-home-with-google-powermeter/

MicroSoft Allows Midsize Companies To Analyze Energy Usage and Environmental Impact
Microsoft on Monday will make available an add-on to its Dynamics AX business applications that allows midsize companies to collect and analyze their energy usage and translate that into the environmental impact…
http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/software/0,39044164,62050785,00.htm?scid=rss_z_nw

Energy Efficiency Measures Would Cut U.S. Electricity Use By 34%
Energy efficiency measures applied uniformly across the US could reduce the country’s electricity demand by 34% by 2020, according to a report by the Rocky Mountain Institute. The study points to a gap in ‘electric productivity’ – how much gross domestic product is generated for each kilowatt hour consumed – between the best and worst performing states in the US…
http://ert.rmi.org/

Energy Efficiency Loan Programs in the States
States best practices for energy efficiency loan programs. The Alliance to Save Energy, which operates the REEEP North America Regional Secretariat, has recently released the second in its series of policy briefs on energy efficiency at the state level. The new brief, entitled State Energy Efficiency Loan Programs, focuses on loan programs in 30 states that are currently providing low- to no-interest rate loans to finance energy efficiency improvements – from energy-efficient windows to replacement HVAC systems – in the residential, business and public sectors…
http://www.reeep.org/index.php?id=51&content=12576

EnOcean, Inventor of Energy-Harvesting Wireless Sensors, Announces Partnership with EPA’s Energy Star® Program
EnOcean announced today a fundamental commitment to protect the environment by becoming an Energy Star partner. EnOcean, through its voluntary partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star Program, is helping to sustain green initiatives by fitting energy-inefficient buildings with self-powered wireless controls. EnOcean’s energy harvesting and wireless technologies simplify the installation of the energy-stingy wireless controls (sensors, switches, gateways and actuators) by replacing wires & batteries with self-powered wireless links…
http://www.businesswire.com/news/google/20090212005598/en

Ontario to integrate energy efficiency into building code
Dalton McGuinty, Premier of the Canadian province Ontario, has unveiled plans to make energy conservation and energy efficiency integral in building codes. The Green Energy Act, which will be introduced next month, will increase the importance of energy efficiency in the region’s building code and set up an Expert Advisory Council to advise on future improvements to the code…
http://www.energyefficiencynews.com/i/1850/