I’ve been happy with all the recent efforts by European auto manufacturers to bring fuel-efficient diesels back to the States. From Volkswagen to Mercedes, diesels seem to be the new attempt at pleasing the US “green” crowd with classy, low-emissions fuel-sippers.

Reading that last sentence over, it seems funny to call them a “new attempt” because these high mileage diesels have been available to Europeans for a LONG time — but that’s another story.

So, while it’s debatable whether a gasoline-powered Prius at 40 mpg is more “green” than a diesel-powered Jetta at 40 mpg — it all has to do with how much of each type of fuel comes out of one barrel of oil — It’s a fact that having these new clean diesels as an option is certainly something the US has been lacking for a long time. And I appreciate having that option, I really do.

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The U.S. spends 2-3 times more than European countries per capita on health care, but several recent studies showed that the health of Americans was worse than that of the English. This study was one of the first to examine the difference between EU countries and the U.S. in terms of diabetes or high blood sugar, stroke, heart disease, hypertension, cancer (excluding skin cancer), and lung disease.  The fact that poor Europeans have equal access to primary and preventive care and education would logically lead to a health gap between poor Europeans and poor Americans.  However, the study finds that rich Americans are less healthy than rich Europeans as well.

The study discusses some possible reasons why Americans are less healthy than Europeans:

Several factors may explain why Americans have worse health than Europeans.  Although major risk factors such as smoking are similarly prevalent, the obesity epidemic is more advanced in the US than in Europe.  In addition, Europe’s social and healthcare policies are more comprehensive and contrast with a marked focus on specialist care in the US.

In addition, one has to wonder about walkable cities, less time spent in traffic, stricter environmental regulations, better protection from toxic chemicals, the banning of Genetically Modified Foods, and a diet that is not centered on a food pyramid that was heavily influenced by agribusiness interests.

Scott Cooney is the author of Build a Green Small Business:  Profitable Ways to Become an Ecopreneur (McGraw-Hill).

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*Am J Public Health.  2009;99:540-548.  Health Disadvantage in US Adults aged 50 to 74 years:  A Comparison of the Health of Rich and Poor Americans With That of Europeans.  Avendano, Mauricio, PhD., M. Maria Glymour, ScD., James Banks, PhD., and Johan P. Mackenbach, PhD.

Think of the Czech Republic and you’re more likely to think of beer, castles or Kafka than solar power. But the Eastern European country is one of the world’s fastest-growing markets, says Jenny Chase, a senior associate with London-based research firm New Energy Finance.

The country installed 50.8 megawatts of solar power last year, up dramatically from only 3 megawatts in 2007, she says. The bulk of that capacity — 31.5 megawatts — got installed in December, which represented more than fivefold growth from the 5.81 megawatts installed in November.

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Ambitious Indian car company Tata has revealed that it may launch its Indica Vista EV all-electric car in Europe by the end of the year, making it the first ‘mainstream’ company to bid for a slice of the continent’s potentially lucrative zero-emission vehicles market.

The move is likely to ruffle a few feathers amongst GM executives, who had grand plans that the Opel Ampera (the Chevy Volt’s European cousin) would become the first major player in the region, following its launch in 2011.

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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.

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