WASHINGTON, March 15, 2010 – Blair Levin, head of the Federal Communications Commission’s national broadband plan and the “national purposes” team at the agency previewed key points from the upcoming national broadband plan.

The object of the plan, they said, is not just to expand broadband networks, but to enable the creation of applications and innovations built upon that network. The six primary objective areas presented were healthcare, education, energy, civic engagement, economic expansion, and public safety.

WASHINGTON, February 22, 2010 – A meeting of regulatory commissioners last weekend included much discussion of major telecommunications issues such as the state of the nation’s broadband.

Washington, February 16, 2010 – Federal Communications Commission chief Julius Genachowski previewed the agency’s upcoming plan to outfit the nation with broadband access at a winter committee meeting of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners.

WASHINGTON, February 9, 2010 – The president of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners has nominated Carlito Caliboso of Hawaii and Robert Clayton of Missouri to become members of a group interested in advanced telecommunications deployment on local, state and federal levels.

WASHINGTON, December 17, 2009 – Vice President Joe Biden said Thursday that $2 billion will be made available on a rolling basis over the next 75 days to increase broadband penetration across the country. The money is part of the $7.2 billion Congress allocated in January for national broadband investments.

December 1, 2009 – At a Monday hearing on the relationship between broadband technology and smart grid communications by the Federal Communications Commission in Cambridge, Mass., panelists made clear the important relationship between energy-efficient technologies and economic growth.

“I think [broadband adoption] is central to our long term economic growth. And it’s success is proxy to how much economic growth we will have in the future,” said Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., speaking at the FCC event hosted by the Massachusetts Institute for Technology.

WASHINGTON, November 24, 2009 – The Department of Energy will provide more than $7 million to fund two Pennsylvania projects that are focused on advanced technologies that could be used to help build a more efficient electrical grid.

WASHINGTON, November 23, 2009 – The Federal Communications Commission plans to hold a field hearing on energy and environmental issues this month at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The hearing, which will take place on November 30, will focus “on how broadband can help the nation achieve its energy and environmental goals, including energy independence, greenhouse gas emissions reductions and clean energy generation.”

WASHINGTON, November 17, 2009 – An upgrade to a high-performance computing system housed by the Department of Energy has created the fastest supercomputer in the world, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory announced Tuesday.

“Supercomputer modeling and simulation is changing the face of science and sharpening America’s competitive edge,” said Secretary of Energy Steven Chu in a statement. “Oak Ridge and other DOE national laboratories are helping address major energy and climate challenges and lead America toward a clean energy future.”

WASHINGTON, November 15, 2009 – The government of the United Kingdom defined the term “carbon neutral” this month after holding a public consultation on the subject.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change, which was established in 2008, said that “carbon neutral means that – through a transparent process of calculating emissions, reducing those emissions and offsetting residual emissions – net carbon emissions equal zero.”