David Ehrlich's blog

No, not Freedom Fries. It's the Freedom Prize.

Backed by the U.S. Department of Energy, the Freedom Prize Foundation is putting up more $4 million in awards for new renewable energy technologies.

Freedom Prizes of $500,000 to $1 million will be awarded for innovative deployment of existing technologies in five categories, including industry, military, schools, government and community.

The Freedom Prize was established by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 which authorized the DOE to support the foundation, but co-founder Josh Becker told the Cleantech Group it was a long road to get to this point.

It's not just the World Bank that's calling foul on the biofuel industry these days (see World Bank says food prices hit by biofuels).

Now a Jamaican musician is hitting the airwaves with a song calling for an end to biofuels, saying the alternative fuel is behind the recent global food crisis.

"The message of hunger and deforestation must be highlighted to the world and the unconcerned so that they stop the madness," said the singer known as Livebroadcast on his website.

Rich Uncle Pennybags is changing his ways, putting away his coal-fired power plants and investing his Monopoly money in green technology.

Just in time for Earth Day, Pawtucket, R.I.-based Hasbro (NYSE: HAS) announced that it would make a more environmentally friendly version of the classic Monopoly board game.

No, it's not being made out of bamboo or bioplastic.

No, the car isn't being replaced with a plug-in electric hybrid.

And no, Mr. Pennybags isn't exchanging his vest for one made out of organic cotton.

Grab your Ecomoana board, hop in your hybrid, and head down to the beach to catch some waves. It's time for eco-surfing.

France's Ecomoana makes environmentally-friendly surfboards for people who don't want to hurt the planet while hanging 10.

The company's boards, just nominated for a Volvo SportsDesign Award, use expanded polystyrene foam, which Ecomoana says is a lighter and stronger foam that is both longer-lived and more recyclable than polyboards.

Feel the flax

The electric roadsters still aren't ready at Tesla Motors, but their new CEO is.

Ze’ev Drori, former head of auto security systems company Clifford Electronics, reported to work today at Tesla.

Ze'ev is a successful high-tech entrepreneur and an experienced chief executive with the proven ability to create and manage companies with innovative products in both the high-tech and automotive sectors," said Elon Musk, chairman of Tesla.

"He has more than 30 years of continual success and has demonstrated the ability to lead a company from conception to profitability, a public offering and thousands of employees."

The big tree at Rockefeller Center in New York is getting a facelift this year with energy efficient LED lighting.

Tishman Speyer, the company that manages the landmark group of buildings, also installed 70 kilowatts of solar panels on the roof of 45 Rockefeller Plaza, which it said would generate more electricity in its first year than the tree lights will consume over the 42 days they will be illuminated.

"We have here the largest private solar roof in Manhattan, which will help conserve energy, eliminate carbon dioxide, and power the 30,000 LED lights on our iconic Christmas tree," said Jerry Speyer, chairman and CEO of Tishman Speyer.

Take a look at an earlier, non-green tree >>

Some may "venture" to say he's the most successful former vice president in U.S. history.

Al Gore, the man, the beard (no longer), the legend, has taken a spot as partner at Menlo Park, Calif.'s Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, which has become a leading source of funding for alternative energy companies.

Don't you just love the smell of synergy in the morning?

Take a look at Gore in his natural surroundings >>

So, the formula, for everyone keeping track out there, is:

Al Gore, former vice president of the United States and former Grizzly Adams look-alike, has been named, along with the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, as the winner of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.

The Nobel committee said it picked Gore and the IPCC "for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change."

Gore will have to share the $1.6 million in prize money, but will get his own gold medal and diploma, suitable for framing. He can put it right next to his Oscar for An Inconvenient Truth.

Check out a post-beard Gore here >>

Geothermal got some instant karma with the dedication of the geothermal-powered Imagine Peace Tower in Iceland on what would have been John Lennon's 67th birthday.

Lennon's widow Yoko Ono, who created the light sculpture, unveiled the tower this week in Reykjavik.

"I thank the people of Iceland, for having given so much love to this tower from its inception. Imagine Peace Tower was visualized with love, and realized by love. It is a gift from the people of Iceland and me to the world," said Ono.

Take a look at the tower here >>

Ono said she chose Iceland for the memorial because of its beauty and its reliance on natural power.

Folks in the U.K. might need some help loading Ikea's latest offering into their cars.

The Swedish flat-pack furniture chain has started selling pre-fab homes aimed at first time, low income buyers, along with a plot of land, at its store in Gateshead, U.K.

Known as BoKlok (pronounced "Boo Clook"), the concept was pioneered in Sweden in the 1990s. The company said the houses will be ecologically friendly, using renewable materials in the construction and solar panels and geothermal to power and heat the buildings.

Take a look at a BoKlok building in Sweden >>