While it's important to spend time on the biggest issues of the day, and truly understand policy proposals for health care reform or carbon emission reduction, it's also critical to keep one's legislative goals in mind.

CNN: Commentary: This isn't much of a recess for Congress

It also said "great uncertainty" remained over the planned transition at the end of the year from Cert (Carbon Emission Reduction Target) to the UK government's "Green Deal" - a scheme which aims to improve the energy efficiency of homes by eliminating the need for householders to pay upfront for efficiency measures.

BBC: Stirling firm Superglass continues revival plan

"Tidal turbine technology is one of the key renewable technologies that will help the UK achieve the carbon dioxide emission reduction targets and is a clean, sustainable replacement for ever more expensive fossil fuels, " she said.

BBC: NEWS | UK | Northern Ireland | Sea power to provide electricity

Moreover, backing carbon-efficient building is one way to meet emission-reduction targets by 2020, as the government is committed to doing.

ECONOMIST: Building firms are struggling to emerge from the recession

Taking all these things together the burial of the charcoal and the substitution for fossil fuels of the heat, gas and oil produced by its manufacture Johannes Lehmann of Cornell University and Jim Amonette of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Washington state suggest that a reduction of between one and two gigatonnes of carbon-emission a year might be achievable.

ECONOMIST: Biochar could enrich soils and cut greenhouse gases as well