Just yesterday I wrote about what I dubbed as “perhaps the ultimate city car,” the 59 MPG Toyota iQ 4-seater. I also bemoaned Toyota for releasing it in Europe but not in the US.

>>> more on the Toyota/Scion iQ

Well, turns out Toyota is bringing the iQ to the US under the Scion badge. Motor Trend, without citing sources, is claiming that the Scion-branded iQ will be shown to the public at the upcoming LA Auto Show next month.

Read more of this story »

Leaders of some EU countries may use the global financial crisis as an excuse to back out of climate change commitments, according to sources close to the ongoing energy negotiations The Guardian reports that the EU council, which meets next week, will propose dropping the previous commitment to an automatic increase in emissions cuts if the world gets a major climate change agreement next year in Copenhagen - which is a big “if.”

The current EU target of a 20% reduction in emissions by 2020 is set to automatically increase to 30% if a global deal is signed. But apparently, EU is seeking a completely new legislative process if the EU target is to go over 20%.

Read more of this story »

Environment Minsters in the United Kingdom want households to cut their water consumption 20 percent by 2030. The announcement comes as the UK Environment Agency prepares to release its study on water resource management, which looks at how the industry should coordinate resources in the face of climate change, rising energy prices, and growing demand.

Hilary Benn, the environment secretary, aims to cut use by 30 liters (8 gal.) a day per person by 2030, according to a report in The Times. Benn says the current daily consumption of 150 liters (40 gal.) is unsustainable and needs to be slashed. As a point of comparison, the USGS estimates that average daily water consumption in the U.S. is somewhere between 80-100 gallons per capita.

>>More on water at EcoWorldly

Read more of this story »

The projects, the first two with 20 turbines each, would be constructed for installation in Pentland Firth, the Sound of Islay and off the North Antrim Coast. The turbines are expected to be 30 meters (approximately 100 feet) in height, with 20-meter blades working at least 10 meters below the water surface.

Sidestepping a major concern common to wind turbines — harm to birds — ScottishPower says, based on tests conducted in Norway, the tidal turbines turn slowly enough to avoid harmful incidents with sea life.

Read more of this story »

This difference was also evident in houshold products - from luxury hotels in Italy fully outfitted with CFLs to low-flow water fixtures and dual-flush toilets in many homes to small upright washers in even the most basic apartments, the kinds of products associated with our burgeoning US green movement today were already the norm in many parts of Europe back then.

On a recent trip overseas I happened to pick up a French architecture magazine for the flight home. I was pleasantly surprised to see that we had really caught up in the past six years - outside of being written in French, you would have been hard-pressed to distinguish this magazine from any of the leading US architecture magazines.

One article caught my eye, though, for it did point out a slight difference that needs to move across the pond. It was on a beautiful and practical prefab home, called the EvolutiV house by Olgga Architectes of Paris. The house itself is striking, made from two rectangular prefrabicated sections that can be rearranged to develop different floorplans and having exterior walls made from sections of wooden logs. The homes also come with the latest and greatest in eco-design: natural ventilation, rainwater collection, solar panels (both PV and thermal), green roof, radiant heating with an option for geothermal heating/cooling, and the typical eco-friendly materials throughout.

The most interesting piece of the story, though, is that the literature for the house and the articles written about it all refer to the home’s target energy usage: less than 48 kWh / m2 / year, which translates to about 4.4 kWh / ft2 / year. This is 70% less energy usage than the typical US home in similar climates.

It’s not the level of performance that makes this interesting, for many prefab options in the US can do as well. It’s that the media in France AND the architecture firm who designed the house feel compelled to advertise efficiency in terms of a single number that is easy to understand and can be used to compare this home to others one might choose. I’ve rarely if ever seen that in discussion of US prefab options (or other green homes) - outside of a LEED rating, we’re often left to guess exactly how eco-friendly that home is. We’d love to see this become more widespread in the US - information is power, and simple, objective numbers like this can help us separate the truly eco-friendly from innovative designs that are green in name (or advertising) only.

To see more photos of the Evolutiv house, click here to view the balance of this posting. (FYI, the EvolutiV house is about 800 square feet and is available in France for about $150,000.)

And click here to find great green prefab homes available in the US.

Read more of this story »

August saw the fastest retreat of arctic sea ice on record, according to new NASA data. During that month, sea ice melted at a rate of 32,700 square miles per day, compared with 24,400 square miles per day in 2007. The rate of decline is even more dramatic when compared with the 30-year average rate of decline, 19,700 miles per day.

The accelerated seasonal retreat of sea ice surprised NASA scientists, who expected a more moderate retreat on the tail of a la Niña year. Moreover, the data show that one cold year, when sea ice levels are able return to normal, is not enough to counter the long-term melting of the arctic.

Read more of this story »

#1: High-speed trains

America, this is what a train should look like. These streamlined vehicles rocket between destinations at around 190 MPH (300 km/h) in at least eighteen countries outside the US. And they’re getting even faster. This week, Kawasaki made headlines with plans for a new 217 MPH (350 km/h) train in Japan. High-speed trains make long-distance travel fast, comfortable, and more hassle-free than flying. You sit back with a book, a beer, or a sandwich and relax, watching the scenery whiz past. Seriously, what’s a red-blooded nation like the US doing without a form of transportation that actually encourages beer drinking?

Although there is not currently a nation-wide high-speed train system in the US, things are looking up. In 2000, Amtrak opened the Acela Express, a 150 MPH (240 km/h) train serving Boston and Washington DC. More exciting yet, Californians will get to vote this November on whether to build a 220 MPH high-speed train connecting Sacramento and San Francisco in the north with Los Angeles and San Diego in the South.

Read more of this story »

Nearly half a century after her landmark work with chimpanzees in Tanzania, “Dr. Jane” as she’s more often known, is traveling the world with a message that “peace is possible.”

This message is inspiring many to join Roots & Shoots, the Jane Goodall Organization’s international youth activism program. Roots & Shoots supports grassroots activities and projects that benefit the environment, animals, and communities.

On September 21st, Roots & Shoots groups and other individuals around the world will symbolically join Dr. Jane in a call for peace from communities the world over. Groups from Tanzania to Tennessee will make and fly Giant Peace Doves, like the one pictured here.

Read more of this story »

This week from our friends at ZapRoot: The FDA needs to have their heads examined. We respond to the numerous Chinese comments. Explore the world through Google Earth’s Environment section.

This week’s show links:

Eco Child’s Play - CA Fails to Pass Chemical Ban in Baby Products
Eat Drink Better - FDA Allows Producers to Irradiate Spinach & Lettuce
BPA Opinions
Corn Syrup All Natural
Google Earth Environment

Despite the fact that women living in poverty are the most threatened by the dangers that stem from global warming, they also key actors in ensuring their communities’ ability to cope with and adapt to climate change.

In general, women lives are more intimitately connected to the environment more than men. Oftentimes, men tend to be away in the cities while the women look after children and work on the land in rural areas.

Many women depend on the ecosystem for food, energy, water and medicine, the very ecosystem which is threatened by the specter of climate change.

Read more of this story »

The European Union decided pull of the accelerator of its fairly ambitious bio-fuel plans for the future.  Nearly two thirds of the European population feels that climate change is a big issue, yet the EU itself is not planning on holding up its end of the bargain.

Read more of this story »

Now, in one simple statement, the EU’s Environment Minister Stavros Dimas has sent a shiver down the collective back of all Europeans. He said:

“if someone who lives near the sea has a swimming pool, then they will have to pay more. It is only logical to tax more heavily those who can afford to have a swimming pool, when they could just as easily swim in the sea”.

Read more of this story »

According to Businessweek, Ford lists a littany of excuses why they could never market this car in the US. Chief among these excuses is that they don’t think they could ever sell enough of them to make a profit. Ford says that in order to produce them for the US market they’d have to build a new plant and then make at least 350,000 of them a year.

If there’s no way to make a profit on these cars and Americans won’t buy them, why are so many European and Asian car makers bringing these new “clean diesels” to the U.S. starting next year? When I see news that Mercedes, Nissan, Volkswagen and even Honda are all building clean diesel cars with excellent fuel economy for the US market, Ford’s excuses start to seem pretty hollow.

Read more of this story »

Local but poor populations in many parts of Africa are increasingly being driven deeper into economic obscurity yet 60% of them still depend on agriculture for survival. Another 60% of that eke out a living by subsistence farming and animal husbandry.

The World Bank has been sitting on a secret report since April that says biofuels are responsible for the global food crisis; food prices have risen 75% because of the impact of the search for alternative fuels through the use of food products.

African civil society is calling for a moratorium on new biofuels investments in Africa amid concern that that the biofuels revolution will bring more food insecurity, higher food prices and hunger to the continent.

Read more of this story »

The proposed offshore grid would be more than 3850 miles long, and connect more than 100 wind farms, containing a total of 10,000 turbines to seven countries, including Britain, Denmark, France, Norway, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.

The plans, based on a report written by Greenpeace and environmental consultants 3E, assume that 68.4 gigawatts of capacity, across 118 identified wind farms, will be in place across the North Sea within 10-20 years, and could meet an impressive 13% of the annual energy needs of the countries involved.

Read more of this story »

And the Europeans are ready to spend US$ 130 million annually to enliven the old adage - an apple a day keeps the doctor away - as well as improve their carbon footprint by promoting greener consumption.

But Europe is also grappling with weight as a serious health issue and now a strategy to fight obesity in kids is being pushed through European parliament to provide free fresh fruits and vegetables to school children.

Read more of this story »

The construction of  31 offshore wind farms, to be ready by the year 2012, is not being totally accepted by Spaniards.

People from Cadiz, Galicia and Tarragona, Spain, are not very comfortable with the project. The objection: offshore wind farms may spoil the view.

Certainly big wind turbines make the landscape uglier, not only in the mountains but also in the sea, at least if they are not well planned.

Read more of this story »

In an Aug. 9 op-ed column titled “Flush with Energy,” Friedman drew a stark contrast between America’s energy policy and that of Denmark.

That the United States – the all-powerful, lone (for now) superpower –  can so easily be trumped by little Denmark is shameful.

It only adds salt to the wound that so many foolish, ignorant and willfully oblivious Americans still insist that they live in the “Greatest Nation on Earth” despite so many shortcomings, such as displayed by this stay-the-course mentality that leaves us in the energy policy dust of forward-thinking nation’s like Denmark.

Read more of this story »

Greenpeace has an important mission for you: to show the European Commission how much you love forests! Why? they explain it on their website:

The European Commission has delayed a vital vote on protecting forests from illegal logging till September. We want to make sure the commissioners don’t forget about it during their summer holiday. We need you to help us make an extra impression before the September vote.

We all love the forests, and we would like to showcase all that love to the EU (and we know for a fact that the EU doesn’t have anything against some loving). The forests already have made an effort themselves!

Read more of this story »

The team is part of a joint initiative of University of Stellenbosch and the Danish biotechnology firm, Aresa, which has developed the “RedDetect” bio-sensor technology in a weed called Thales Cress.

The weed changes color from green to autumnal red when it detects nitrogen dioxide leaching from mines buried in the soil.

Because the weed is too small to be seen from a safe distance, the scientists went looking for a more viable alternative, and landed on the tobacco plant, which grows easily in most parts of the world, with a little help from genetic engineering.

Read more of this story »