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Sometimes you hold onto things, thinking you'll find a good use for them someday. That's the case with today's admittedly random assortment of just plain interesting reading from around the web.

The Quiet Clean Energy Revolution at the Department of Energy

"…Most recently, forward-looking officials like Assistant Secretary of Energy David Danielson and Acting Chief Operating Officer Matthew Dunne are meticulously implementing institutional reforms at the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) – DOE’s advanced R&D and technology demonstration office – aimed at transforming it from a stagnate, thirty year old bureaucracy into America’s premier energy research organization. While not as splashy as the big policy changes of the last four years, this quiet clean energy innovation revolution is a leap in the right direction and absolutely critical to creating a more flexible, innovation-focused DOE mission…"

-- By Forbes contributor Matthew Stepp of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. Read the complete article >>

New CEOs for the New Utilities Industry

"…Given the challenges in this environment—economic, technological and strategic—the profile of the utility CEO in North America and elsewhere must change. The traditional profile of today’s utility executive, politically astute and savvy in finance and regulation, must be expanded. The new utility CEO must have the vision of a longer-term architect who can align the capabilities needed to thrive as these new market and technology realities shape the utility industry of the future.

But is the industry making the changes that are needed? Judging from the results of Booz & Co.’s 2012 study of CEO succession, the answer is no…"

-- By James Hendrickson and Joseph Van den Berg of Booz & Co., a global management strategy and consulting firm, writing in Electric Light & Power. Read the complete article >>

President Obama’s Clean Energy Progress: How the Top 10 Energy Priorities Fared During His First Term

"... In December 2008, during President-elect Obama’s transition, the Center for American Progress proposed the “Top 10 Energy and Environment Priorities for the Obama Administration and 111th Congress.” This progressive agenda was designed to protect public health from carbon and mercury air pollution, reduce oil consumption, and simultaneously boost the economic recovery. Four years later the administration accomplished nearly all of these goals despite the worst economy in nearly 80 years and strong opposition from Big Oil, coal, and other energy interests. Unfortunately, the priorities that required congressional action did not occur, though some progress was still made in each of these areas…"

-- By Daniel Weiss, writing for the Center for American Progress. Read the complete analysis here >>