Beijing begins its final environmental cleanup before the Olympics; solar power stocks get the jitters; and what to do with 30 million obsolete TV sets?

Emergency Beijing Olympic pollution scheme begins: A month before the Summer Olympics, Beijing’s mandatory power-down to improve air quality is underway. While Beijing is one of the world’s most notoriously polluted cities, China has promised clean air in time for Olympic competition. Nearby industry is being shut down for the duration, new construction is being brought to a standstill, and the Chinese government hopes to idle about 60 percent of Beijing’s 3.3 million cars. (Reuters)

Tesla Motors Unveils Jaw-Dropping Menlo Park Showroom: With a well-heeled customer base of Silicon Valley kingpins, celebrities, and car collectors capable of dropping $100 thousand dollars on a high-end sports car, it’s not surprising that Tesla Motors spared no expense when it came to hiring decorators for its new showroom. As the star-struck bloggers of Techcruch noted, the company’s swank new Menlo Park showroom — minutes from Palo Alto — features a stylish “industrial chic” look designed to excite the senses and loosen the pocketbook. At Saturday’s VIP grand opening party: Google’s Sergey Brin and Larry Page, plus a handful of Teslas you can’t actually purchase. The company is currently cranking out about four a week, on the way to about 40 a week by early next year. (Techcrunch)

Solar Stocks Crashing on Tax Fears: Is the solar gravy train over? Solar stocks have been flying high in recent months, buoyed by high conventional energy prices and unprecedented demand for renewable energy solutions. But now solar stocks are moving into more troubled waters. The reason? Uncertainty over federal subsidies. The U.S. Congress has been unable to craft a solar tax credit likely to survive President Bush’s veto pen, and Spanish officials are in the process of defunding years of solar subsidies. That’s sent a ripple effect across the global solar market — and created restlessness among previously enthusiastic investors. (EcoGeek)

TV’s Go Digital, but Where Do Old TV’s Go?: The clock is ticking for millions of American TVs. That’s because starting next February, local television stations will vacate their traditional channels for digital service — turning non-cable televisions into useless paperweights. You’d think there would be massive e-waste programs in anticipation of the TV bricking, right? Not so. While the Consumer Electronics Association estimates 30 million digital TVs will be sold in the next year –and a similar number junked — there are so far no national TV recycling programs. (CleanTechnica)

Matsushita to triple capacity with new lithium ion battery plant: As Toyota eyes its transition to lithium ion batteries, Matsushita — better known in the West as Panasonic — is ramping up its manufacturing capability. The company has “informally decided” to toss almost a billion dollars at the construction of a massive lithium ion battery plant. The move would catapult Panasonic to second place in the consumer li-ion derby. The company hopes to being co-producing automotive power storage with Toyota in the next two years. (Autoblog Green)

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