Cleantech news as it happens — check back for regular updates:

• AT&T today announced plans to spend up to $565 million (US) for 15,000 alternative-fuel vehicles over the next 10 years;
• The European Parliament has approved new standards for fuel-efficient tyres but extended the deadline required for manufacturers to be fully compliant;
• The Ford Motor Company today announced it’s produced its 100,000th hybrid SUV;
• Illinois River Energy will receive $4 million (US) in state funding to develop a 50-million-gallon-per-year ethanol plant in northern Illinois;
• Given proper financial and political support, renewable energy technologies could provide 40 percent of the world’s electricity by 2050, according to scientists attending this week’s climate summit in Copenhagen;
• A new report from the Brookings Institution recommends that the US should transform its approach toward energy research and development by creating “a diverse array of energy discovery-innovation institutes”;
• Ascent Solar Technologies Inc. has begun producing flexible CIGS (for “copper indium gallium selenide”) thin-film solar modules at its plant in Littleton, Colorado;
• Amtech Systems says its solar subsidiary has received about $3 million (US) in orders for its diffusion processing systems from two customers in Asia.

• Green technology investors seek safer havens in 2011
• New US consortium plans $1.4bn in cleantech investments
• What does 2011 hold for China, US?
• World Economic Forum: Cleantech rules
• Virtual design speeds green reality
• Opinion: Darling’s green bank idea is laughably small
• Some guys and Holy Grails: 5 rules for spotting ‘cleantech porn’
• Despite some ‘green shoots,’ cleantech VCs see trouble ahead
• Cleantech Connect Awards recognise fast-growing innovators
• Irish cleantech firms seek opportunities in Silicon Valley