• DoD's Green Defense Plan: The U.S. military has announced its first plan for energy efficiency. The WSJ reports that the plan lays out how the Pentagon will "develop more energy-efficient weapons, embrace non-oil energy sources and demand more energy-conscious behavior from the troops."

• Ethanol Subsidy Survives Budget Battle: The U.S. Senate voted 59-40 yesterday to continue a 45 cents-per-gallon subsidy on corn ethanol, with farm-state Republicans and Democrats supporting the subsidy.

• Cleaning the Ganges: The World Bank and Indian officials yesterday pledged the first $1 billion toward cleaning the sacred Ganges river, which supplies drinking, cooking and cleaning water for hundreds of millions of people in India. The project to improve the Ganges' water quality will likely cost hundreds of billions of dollars in the coming years.

• Ford's Latest CSR Results: Ford today released its 12th annual sustainability report, showing a 5.6 drop in emissions per vehicle over 2009 figures, and setting a goal of reducing emissions from its facilities by 30 percent by 2025. We'll have a more in-depth look at the report from Ford's John Viera later today.

• Virgin America's Green(er) Jet Bet: The airline today announced that it had placed an order for $1.4 billion in LEAP-X jet engines, to be installed on its new Airbus A320 jets. The fuel-efficient engines are built by GE and France's Safran SA, and are expected to save Virgin around $1.9 million per plane per year in fuel costs, at today's prices.

• Why Your Cable Bill is a Lot Higher Than You Think: The Natural Resources Defense Council yesterday released a new report showing that the 160 million or so cable and DVR boxes installed in U.S. homes and businesses are wasting $2 billion per year in energy costs by drawing energy even when they're "off."

• Maybe an Apple a Day Won't Keep the Doctor Away: The Environmental Working Group today released its Dirty Dozen guide to pesticides on conventional produce. The fruits and veggies with the highest levels of chemicals this year include apples, celery, strawberries, peaches and spinach. The "Clean 15" include onions, corn, pineapples, avocado and asparagus.

• A Different 'Kind' of Miracle-Gro: The first sentence of this WSJ article by Dana Mattioli says it all: "Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. has long sold weed killer. Now, it's hoping to help people grow killer weed."

_{Tank photo CC-licensed by Chris Bartnik.}