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bloomberg.com — New York City will likely benefit more from energy efficiency and conservation than mounting wind turbines on city skyscrapers and bridges. Mayor Michael Bloomberg asked renewable energy developers to propose ideas for generating wind energy and other pollution-free power sources within the city's five boroughs. Along with offshore wind farms, other ideas included tidal and solar power and geothermal energy. Responses are due Sept. 19.

iht.com — Iraq is on the verge of reviving an 11-year-old contract with China worth $1.2 billion, its largest oil deal since the invasion in 2003, an Oil Ministry official said. The deal sets new terms for an agreement reached between China and Iraq under Saddam Hussein in 1997. Unlike that agreement, which included production-sharing rights, the new one is a service contract, under which China would be paid for its work at the Ahdab oil field southeast of Baghdad but would not be a partner in the profits.

usatoday.com — The Interior Department received 423 bids from 47 companies to explore a swath of the Gulf of Mexico off Texas. The bids cover 319 of the 3,412 tracts the federal government put up for lease, or about 10% of the 18 million acres available. The preliminary results of the lease sale underscore the problems politicians face in arguing for more domestic drilling to ease high energy prices: Making more land available does not necessarily mean it will be drilled. Also, most offers — 237 — were for 10-year terms, an extended timetable that will have little impact on gasoline prices now.

hosted.ap.org — A Bush administration rule barring states and local governments from requiring more air pollution monitoring is illegal, a federal appeals court ruled. In a 2-1 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit threw out a two-year-old rule that may have allowed some refineries, power plants and factories to exceed pollution limits because the Environmental Protection Agency "failed to fix inadequate monitoring requirements … and prohibited states and local authorities from doing so."

washingtonpost.com — A senior aide to Vice President Cheney is the leading contender to become a top official at the Energy Department a promotion that would put one of the administration's most ardent opponents of environmental regulation in charge of forming department policies on climate change. F. Chase Hutto III has played a prominent behind-the-scenes role in shaping the administration's environmental policies for several years, the officials said, helping to rewrite rules affecting the air that Americans breathe and the waters that oil tankers traverse. In every instance, according to both his allies and opponents, he has challenged proposals that would place additional regulations on industry.

money.cnn.com — As angry voters spark a barrage of energy bills in Congress, the oil industry is spending record amounts of money protecting its interests. In what may be surprising to some, the most recent figures from the Center for Responsive Politics show the oil industry gives a relatively small sum to individual political campaigns — it's 16th on a list of top 50 industries. But when it comes to lobby money — money that goes towards researching, writing, and convincing lawmakers to vote its way — the industry ranks fifth. If the spending continues, it's set to break last year's $83 million record.

money.cnn.com — Home heating bills are expected to soar this winter and Americans, already struggling with high gas and food prices, are bracing for more financial hardship. On average, consumers are expected to pay $1,182 to heat their homes this year, up 20 percent from last year, according to recent estimates from the Energy Information Administration (EIA). But the outlook for the Northeast, where 8 million households depend on heating oil, is even more worrisome. Homeowners in the region are expected to spend an average of $2,725 on heating oil this winter. The looming spike in heating costs could pose an even more serious threat to household budgets than the high price of gas, according to Tancred Lidderdale, a senior EIA economist.

nytimes.com — At least 40 cities are exploring streetcar plans to spur economic development, ease traffic congestion and draw young professionals and empty-nest baby boomers back from the suburbs, according to the Community Streetcar Coalition, which includes city officials, transit authorities and engineers who advocate streetcar construction. More than a dozen have existing lines, including New Orleans, which is restoring a system devastated by Hurricane Katrina. And Denver, Houston, Salt Lake City and Charlotte, N.C., have introduced or are planning to introduce streetcars.

money.cnn.com — Americans drove 12.2 billion miles fewer, or 4.7 percent less, in June than they did during June 2007, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Transportation. U.S. driving levels have decreased in every month since November 2007. From November to June, Americans drove 53.2 billion miles fewer than they did over the same period last year, the study of more than 4,000 highway traffic recorders showed. The recent 8-month drop surpasses the total 49.3 billion-mile driving decline seen from 1971 to 1980, when an oil embargo, high inflation and recession took a toll. Of course, Americans also drove about one-third as many miles in 1971 as they do today.

online.wsj.com — The conflict in Georgia is placing grave doubt on the country's reliability as an energy corridor bringing Caspian crude to global oil markets. Some 1.2 million barrels of oil a day flow through Georgia, 1.4 percent of global crude supply. Attacks could send shockwaves through the world-wide supply chain. Alarm was triggered by reports that Russian planes had bombed near a pipeline, Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, which brings 850,000 barrels of oil a day from Azerbaijan's Caspian oilfields through Georgia to the Turkish port of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean Sea.