During good economies and bad, energy efficiency has remained high on companies' to-do lists. The twice-annual economic survey we conduct of our 2,750-member-strong GreenBiz Intelligence Panel has found that "reducing energy use through efficiency" has remained among the top two environmental priorities of both large and smaller companies. Reducing energy costs certainly makes sense during a recession, especially during a time when everyone from investors to activists is leaning on companies to reduce their carbon footprints.

This week we report on several energy-efficiency matters. Commercial real estate sustainability consultant Leanne Tobias offers six insights into energy efficiency building retrofits. Gwen Ruta, who runs corporate partnerships at the Environmental Defense Fund, describes how her organization's Climate Corps program is sending some of the nation's smartest college students into some of the nation's largest companies to help them identify energy-savings opportunities. And senior contributor Marc Gunther introduces us to Dan Yates, CEO of OPower, which helps energy utility customers understand their energy use -- and how it compares to their neighbors'.

Also this week: architect and lighting designer Milena Simeonova discusses the imbalance between "our eagerness for energy efficiency and our nonchalance for inclusion of human factors and the impact that our energy efficiency measures will have on human health."

For more of our ongoing coverage of corporate energy efficiency, click here.

Guess Who's Coming to the Forum? As you probably know well by now, our San Francisco and Chicago State of Green Business Forums are coming up over the next two weeks. And you probably know that the roster of speakers for both events is top-notch.

What you probably don't know is the equally top-notch roster of companies that will be in attendance. Look for an e-mail this week that highlights some of the hundreds of companies that will be there. I think you'll agree that the conversations likely to take place offstage are at least as interesting as the ones onstage. And did I mention how great the program is? Sign up now before the few remaining seats are gone.

This report examines the progress of forest carbon markets in during 2009 and provides historical prospective on the establishment of the markets and their growth.

This research evaluates how UK FTSE 100 companies' emission reduction targets compare against the national target and utilizes the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) 2009 dataset to analyze how companies are currently setting emissions reduction targets and what level of reduction these targets will deliver.

Mark your calendars for two 2010 State of Green Business Forums, in San Francisco and Chicago. These one-day information-packed events coincide with the release of GreenBiz.com’s “State of Green Business 2010,” the acclaimed annual status report on corporate environmental trends and progress.