Michigan is an unlikely home for a solar powerhouse, but in early February 2009, when the Dow Corning Corporation announced it had produced double-digit increases in revenue in 2008, the company credited the Hemlock Semiconductor Group, its solar energy materials unit, for much of the good news.

Since it was formed in 1961, Hemlock Semiconductor has manufactured polycrystalline silicon, the basic raw material that powered the computer chip industry. In 2002, as global interest grew in generating solar energy from photovoltaic cells, the company began providing greater amounts of “solar grade” polycrystalline silicon to solar cell and module manufacturers.

(Read the full report in Matter Network)

President Barack Obama moved to boost U.S. job creation on Monday by making it easier for small business owners to borrow money and by spending up to $15 billion to ensure funds are available for loans.

The programs announced on Monday build on $730 million for small businesses included in the $787 billion stimulus package approved by Congress last month to help the economy out of recession. (Read full report at Boston Globe)

The Walt Disney Company has released a set of strategic environmental goals to reduce emissions, waste, electricity and fuel use, along with its impact on water and ecosystems.

The goals are part of Disney’s first Corporate Responsibility Report, and include the company’s first comprehensive greenhouse gas inventory and updates on its healthy food guidelines and smoking guidelines for films.

The company’s environmental goals include cutting carbon emissions from fuels by half by 2012. And, by 2013 the company plans to cut solid waste to landfills by half  and reduce electricity consumption by 10%–both based on 2006 baselines.

If you’re looking for a great bargain in the Las Vegas home market, take a Sunday tour of foreclosed homes on  the new bus called the “Foreclosures Express.” The eager real estate agents from Prudential offer Danish and muffins and then load the would-be home buyers into a small shuttle bus for a look at 16 cherry-picked foreclosed properties in well-respected communities. 

The bus also tours Stockton, San Diego, and Palm Springs. (Read more in the LA Times)

Also see www.VegasForeclosureExpress.com. 

100 people began lining up in the cold, 24 hours before a new Chick-fil-A opened its doors, to win a year’s supply of weekly free chicken dinners. The Virginia customers were greeted by the earnest Chick-fil-A CEO as they entered the restaurant following a festive night of partying and sleeping in tents as elite members of the “First 100” club. 

Read reporter Dan Zak’s account of the generous chicken company and its loyal fan base here, in the Washington Post.

“Spend 24 hours at a Chick-fil-A opening and witness the teeny ironies of human economics: how people skip work and burn gasoline traveling hundreds of miles for coupons and how a company thrives in a marketplace meltdown by treating its customers like royalty…”

(photo courtesy of Dan Zak) 

World stock markets rallied Thursday after better than expected U.S. retail sales figures for February generated hopes that consumer spending in the world’s largest economy may be stabilizing despite big rises in unemployment.

The Commerce Department report showed retail sales in the U.S. edged down only 0.1 percent last month _ less severe than the 0.5 percent drop expected _ and that January’s rise was even bigger than previously estimated at a three-year high of 1.8 .

“February’s retail effort suggests that consumers have returned to the shopping malls after the catastrophic holiday season,” said David Buik, a senior strategist at BGC Partners. (Read full AP report in Forbes)