The current

Insulation-rule review Minnesota's standards for residential insulation products and installation are being revised by the Commerce Department.

The goal is to ensure that all manufacturers and installers are delivering safe and effective products. In addition, the Department of Labor and Industry plans to propose a new residential energy code soon that will contain provisions relating to foundation wall insulation.

Comments and requests for a public hearing will be taken until March 6. Contact Bruce Nelson, who is senior engineer at the Commerce Department's State Energy Office. His e-mail is bruce.nelson@state.mn.us.

JOHN J. OSLUND

Trillions for clean tech? Worldwide investment in clean energy technologies, driven by the need to address climate change, could reach a total of $7 trillion through 2030, according to a study by Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA), Cabridge, Mass.

Under one scenario in the report, high energy prices and public pressure to control emissions of carbon dioxide, a contributor to global warming, could lead to renewable power rising from 3 percent of the world's capacity to 16 percent. Renewable energy is poised for "substantial growth," with wind power set to make the largest gains, followed by solar power and biomass, CERA said.

BLOOMBERG NEWS

China's hunger for coal China is doing for coal what it once did for oil: pushing prices to new highs. China long has been a huge supplier of coal to itself and the rest of the world. But in the first half of 2007, it imported more than it exported for the first time, setting off a near-doubling of most coal prices around the world.

The capper came in late January when a winter of punishing snowstorms and power shortages led Beijing to suspend coal exports for at least two months. Since then, Asian prices have shot up an additional 34 percent, to $125 per ton. Last week, coal benchmarks hit all-time highs in the United States, Europe and Asia.

WALL STREET JOURNAL