EFFICIENCY: In a speech at the CPAC conference, Iowa Rep. Steve King tells how he stockpiled “black market” light bulbs for his Capitol office, lambasting custodial crews as “Pelosi’s Stasi troops” for replacing them with CFLs when they burned out. (Des Moines Register)

BIOFUELS: Could sweet sorghum dethrone corn as the king of biofuel crops? (Midwest Energy News)

SPEAKING OF THE EPA: Religious-right leaders are attacking an evangelical environmental group for casting support for EPA mercury rules as a ‘”pro-life” position. (The Hill)

EFFICIENCY: Commercial buildings account for a fifth of U.S. energy use, but haven’t improved their energy efficiency in decades. A  Department of Energy “innovation hub” aims to change that. (ClimateWire)

EPA: The coal industry plans to cite household energy costs as it fights EPA regulations, releasing a new study that finds those costs have doubled for most consumers in the last decade, driven primarily by gasoline prices. (Bloomberg)

POLITICS: The energy industry is putting its money on Mitt Romney for president, and after 185,000 pages of Solyndra documents fail to unearth evidence of wrongdoing, House Republicans are asking for more. (E&E Daily, The Hill)

RENEWABLES ON CAMPUS: Ball State’s geothermal system, which will save the school $2 million a year and enable it to retire its aging coal-fired boilers, is an example of universities taking the lead on renewable energy. (Midwest Energy News)

POLITICS: Around the country, conspiracy theorists are fighting public transportation and other green projects, believing them to be part of a United Nations-led plot to deny personal property rights. (New York Times)

CLIMATE: Minneapolis has cut its greenhouse gas emissions 12.8 percent since 2006, but part of the credit goes to a slow economy. (Minneapolis Star Tribune)

TRANSPORTATION: At a Michigan conference, auto industry experts say they’re not worried about the pace of electric car adoption. (MLive.com)

This week, the energy news from the Midwest covered everything from universities taking the lead on renewable energy to accusations that public transportation is part of a UN plot.