Solar plant in Md; Bolivia has Enough Lithium; Deep-Seawater Air Conditioning System; U.S. Patent Office to Speed Up Process for Green Companies; Audi e-tron

Constellation to build solar plant in Md. Constellation Energy Group, Inc. said Tuesday it would build a solar power plant in Maryland that will be the state’s largest when completed in 2012.

Bolivia has Enough Lithium for 4.8 Billion Electric Cars According to the USGS, Bolivia has 35% of the world’s lithium resources, and since in the coming years, electric cars and plug-in hybrids that use lithium-ion batteries are expected to greatly increase in numbers, this could mean big changes for Bolivia, South-America’s poorest country.

Deep-Seawater Air Conditioning System to Cool Honolulu Frigid seawater pumped in from the ocean’s depths will soon help cool more than half of the buildings in Honolulu’s downtown.

U.S. Patent Office to Speed Up Process for Green Companies The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office will accelerate the process for obtaining a green technology patent in an effort to spur the development of a renewable business here. Right now, it takes about 40 months to get a decision from the USPTO. The office will try to reduce that to around 12 months.

Audi e-tron sales to be limited to 1,000 units Audi may not be positioning itself as a “green brand,” but it’s still putting a rather big toe into the environmentally-friendly waters of electric sportscars with its R8-based e-tron, which is reportedly headed for production in 2012.