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Get set for even higher crude oil prices; a renewable energy bill is headed for consideration by the U.S. House next week; and do you Twitter? Start your weekend with up-to-date CleanTech news from EcoTech Daily.

When Goldman Speaks, People Buy Oil: When brokerage house Goldman Sachs started talking about $200 a barrel oil prices a few weeks ago, many market analysts dismissed the prediction as somewhat self-fulfilling. In any case, the bulls have since dominated petroleum trading. Crude rose to new record prices yesterday, up $2.17 to $126.29 a barrel at Friday’s New York close. Goldman Sachs believes crude will break $141 a barrel sometime in the second half of the year. (Forbes)

Renewed Life For Renewable Energy: A renewable energy bill which would continue billions of dollars in tax incentives for solar power, wind energy, and biomass research cleared committee by the end of last week and is headed to the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. As it currently stands, the bill earmarks about $54 billion worth of green energy subsidies. It also contains money for deeply controversial “clean coal” research and post-Katrina cleanup. The bill could be brought up for a vote next week. (Envirowonk)

Big Brown is getting a little greener. UPS announced this week that they’re investing more heavily in alternative fuel vehicles. The company says it has placed orders for 200 hybrid-electric (HEV) and 300 compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles from Daimler Trucks North America. This increases the size of the UPS alternative fuel fleet by 30 percent: from 1,718 to 2,218 vehicles.

UPS already has quite a few compressed natural gas trucks on the road, but they were all converted from conventional fuels. The 300 new vehicles will all be specifically manufactured for alternative fuel use. Their bodies will be essentially identical to the brown signature models familiar to most UPS customers, but they’ll be powered by 5.9-liter, six-cylinder Cummins B Gas Plus engines.

The new UPS HEV trucks represent a departure for the company from their compressed natural gas track. Also built from the ground up as special purpose vehicles, the HEVs will feature Mercedes-Benz MBE 904 diesel engines and Eaton hybrid systems. Each truck will be equipped with a 2 kWh lithium ion battery pack, a computer-controlled manual transmission, and produce about 40 percent fuel savings and a sharp 90 percent reduction in carbon emissions when compared with standard diesel systems.

A million Prius hybrids hit the road; spreadable, self-powered Organic Light Emitting Diodes; and a high school science project raises new hope for storing solar power. The weekend is in sight: welcome to the Friday edition of The Daily Five.

Toyota has sold over a million Prius sedans worldwide: Toyota announced a milestone yesterday — they’ve sold their millionth Prius hybrid. They’re actually about 28,000 north of that number, the vast majority of which is represented by the company’s second generation Prius, which went on sale in 2003. Generation three is scheduled to be introduced at next January’s Detroit Auto Show, and Prius #2,000,000 is probably not too far in the future. (Autoblog Green)

Airbus and Algae: Why Biofuels Won’t Cut It: A gloomy reality check on the future of algae-based aviation biofuel from the WSJ. Airbus and Honeywell went public this week with their plans to to meet a third of the airline industry’s needs with second generation biofuels by 2030. The problem is this: despite Airbus’s promise. at air travel’s current rate of annual growth, we’ll still need eight million more barrels of conventional jet fuel each day than we are currently using. (WSJ.com)

Today is Bike to Work Day. While some cities and companies will actually be observing the event Friday, thousands of people grabbed their helmets this morning and put two tires on the pavement.

Bikes are old school CleanTech. Once a novelty of the Industrial Revolution, bicycles now supply millions of people with efficient, healthy, pollution-free daily transportation. Bicycles can reduce traffic congestion and noise. You can park a dozen bikes in the space of a single automobile, and the idea of a morning commute free of fossil fuels seems particularly attractive in the face of rising fuel costs.

Even if you only cycle once a week — on Casual Fridays, perhaps — you’ll be reducing your weekly commute’s environment by 20 percent. That’s about the same as trading your current vehicle for a hybrid, and a lot cheaper.

Yes, you’ll sweat. No, you won’t smell like a horse around the office. Yes, you can really do this. You’ll be healthier and a little richer for the experience.

But commuting by bicycle takes planning. Let’s get started!

Make it work at the office

There’s an old saying that a journey starts with a single step. With bicycle commuting, though, your journey begins with deciding what happens once you arrive.

The Solio Classic Hybrid Charger is affordable, convenient and above all, looks extraordinarily cool. I ensure this gorgeous green gadget will draw attention like a puppy on a hot summer day. Solio is your power source on the go for all the other gadgets in your life.

Storing power from the sun or outlet, the Solio can charge your cell phone or iPod at about that same rate as a wall socket and have around 10 hours of power stored for multiple charges. It’s compatible with many portable devices and generates free and clean energy immediately, anywhere, anytime.

The Solio costs around $100, not bad for replacing your car charger and reducing your ecological footprint. Want more? Upgrade to the Solio Magnesium Edition, that has twice the power and also twice the cost.

Solio key features:

• High capacity internal battery stores energy for up to a year
• Adapter Tip System reduces waste and increases compatibility
• Rechargeable from the wall or the sun
• One hour of sun = 15 mins talk time or 40 mins of MP3 music
• Durable and weather resistant
• Elegant, ergonomic design
• Light weight and easy to use
• One Year Warranty

Check out it out at Solio.com, after all it may come in handy if you’re stranded on an island paradise…for your iPod that is (my cell phone would swim with the fishes).