Happy Patriots’ Day to our MA-based friends and to all of the Boston Marathon runners: good luck today! We’re cheering for you from Greentown Labs. 🙂

Here’s our weekly digest of big, interesting clean energy and cleantech news from last week. What did we miss? We’re always eager to see (and share) other energy and environmentally-focused articles so please tweet them at us @GreentownLabs!

Bloomberg: Banks Pledge $7B to Scale Up Clean Energy Investment

A group of eight banks and investors pledged $7 billion to join Bank of America Corp’s initiative that plans to raise at least $10 billion for investments in clean energy and sustainable development.

Boston.com: Elizabeth Warren Asks Feds to Reject Kinder Morgan Pipeline Expansion Request

In a letter to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the Massachusetts senator urged the federal agency to reject a request by the Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company, for an extension of the March 31 tree-clearing deadline so that the Kinder Morgan subsidiary can begin construction of the Connecticut Expansion.

Boston Herald: Baker Signs Bill Lifting Solar Energy Caps

The measure given final approval by lawmakers last week and signed Monday by Republican Gov. Charlie Baker raises caps on the state’s net metering program. Net metering allows homeowners, solar developers and municipal governments to sell excess power they generate back to the electrical grid in exchange for credit.

Fast Company: What Do We Mean When We Say “Clean Energy”?

We cannot allow big energy interests and industries to decide what gets dictated in the dictionary of record. No future student, as they’re choking their way to school, will look back on this history and agree with this industry’s definition. So before it gets written down for good, let’s strike it from an increasingly dirty record.

Forbes: The Burgeoning Trend of Corporate Climate Policy Support

As the Environmental Protection Agency’s new rules limiting carbon emissions from power plants come under a final attack before moving to a crucial legal test in the U.S. Court of Appeals in June, a stark pattern has emerged among companies lining up to support or oppose these reasonable, urgently-needed standards. It turns out that how a company views the dynamic trends toward low- and zero-emitting energy reflected in EPA’s Clean Power Plan says a lot about its ability to excel in an era of rapid global transformation.

Greentown Labs’ Blog: Reichert Testifies before the Senate on Relationships between EPA Regulations and Small Businesses

On Tuesday, April 12, Dr. Emily Reichert, CEO of Greentown Labs, testified before the Senate. During the hearing, entitled, American Small Business’s Perspectives on EPA Regulatory Actions, Dr. Reichert provided numerous examples of how EPA regulations affect small businesses, specifically the startup companies based out of Greentown Labs.

Grist: Here’s Everything We Know About How To Talk About Climate Change

Some climate scientists and activists think that if the American people only knewthe solid science behind climate change, they’d be motivated to fight this big problem. But most people just aren’t going to be inspired by hearing, “There’s overwhelming consensus among scientists.” Much better is to tell a good story.

Medium: How the Boston Cleantech Ecosystem Works and Wins Together

When we talk about an industry-specific ecosystem it can be difficult to see how it actually interconnects, works together and forms a community. Even more, when ecosystem stakeholders provide similar offerings or services, differentiating and understanding the important role each plays can be difficult. From Greentown Labs’ perspective, startups and entrepreneurs are the epicenter of Boston’s cleantech ecosystem and in order for them to thrive, they need access to a variety of resources.

The New York Times: Senators Reach Deal to Act on Comprehensive Energy Bill

Senators on Wednesday reached a deal to act on a comprehensive energy bill as soon as this week, breaking a three-month partisan standoff over the tainted water scandal in Flint, Mich. The bill, sponsored by Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska and chairwoman of the Senate Energy Committee, and Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington, the panel’s ranking Democrat, has broad bipartisan support and is expected to easily pass the Senate.