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The solar-friendly state has been working on a laundry list of renewable energy strategies in a coordinated effort to wean itself from fossil fuels. Last week, the state legislature upped the ante by passing a bill that calls for 100 percent renewables by 2045.

Carnegie has been on a seven-year journey to create the world's first bio-based interior textile that doesn't compromise performance, value or aesthetics.

Just as it was being called out for using the dirtiest mix of energy among Internet giants, Amazon Web Services  announced this week a deal to build an 80-megawatt solar farm to power its east coast data centers. It will invest $150 million towards construction of a solar farm in Virginia where the majority of its data centers exist - and where the incumbent utility Dominion Virginia relies on fossil fuels for all but 2 percent of its generation. 

Carbon Engineering has one idea for taking dangerous greenhouse gas emissions out of the air. It sounds like it's from a cartoon, but it's real life.

A CDP poll of 2,000 publicly traded companies found that nearly half - including a majority of fossil fuel energy companies - support negotiation of a climate agreement to limit global warming. 

Good news on a technology that could revolutionize geothermal energy made waves at the American Geophysical Union meeting last week. Anyone who understands that the world's hunger for energy will push our planet beyond the point of no return without technological solutions will welcome the idea of CO2 plume geothermal power or CPG.

The number of investment professionals in the US offering fossil fuel-free portfolios to investors jumped by more than 50 percent over the past year - from 22 percent to 36 percent, according to a new survey by First Affirmative Financial Network.

China plans to remove over 5 million vehicles from roads this year for failing to meet new fuel standards designed to reduce smog. The plan calls for removing 330,000 cars from Beijing and 660,000 from the surrounding Hebei province.

A sewage recycling system pioneered by Applied CleanTech (ACT) is reducing a Dutch water board's operational costs by around $1 million a year while reducing sludge by up to 30%. ACT's technology is designed to help industrial and agricultural wastewater treatment plants transform wastewater into raw materials for plastics, insulation, pulp and paper, construction, bio-fuels production, nano-cellulose, and other industries.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change calls for a dramatic shift from fossil fuels, aiming to influence world leaders to take concrete steps.

Bonaire (pop. 14,500), a small island off the coast of Venezuela, is famous for its beautiful marine reefs, which are visited by 70,000 tourists every year. What many of the tourists don't realize is that the majority of the electricity powering their needs comes from renewable energy. Yet for the residents of Bonaire, the switch from fossil-fueled to renewable energy systems has made a world of difference.

Finally, the fashion industry realizes we cannot continue this trend in a world where the rising population will have to devote more land to food - or even energy. We cannot continue to grow cotton like mad, nor can we endlessly spin fossil fuels into polyester or other synthetic fabrics. The road toward more sustainable fibers will be a long one with plenty of failures and misses, but it is one we need to take. That is, at least, absent a total rethink of how many clothes we really need in our closets - a discussion the large global clothing chains want to avoid.

UPS says that it expects its On-Road Integrated Optimization Navigation (ORION) routing system to reduce by 100 million miles annually the distance driven by its drivers, when fully implemented in 2016.

After trepidation about adding transportation fuels to the cap-and-trade mix, analysts say the latest carbon auction by California and Quebec could have ripple effects for companies and the economy.

UPS will accelerate the implementation of its ORION routing system to reduce the distance traveled by its drivers by around 100 million miles annually. The routing improvements are projected to reduce fleet CO2 emissions by 100,000 metric tons, fuel consumption by 10 million gallons, and save the company more than $300 million annually when completed in 2016.

The EU added a record-breaking 12.8 gigawatts of installed wind capacity last year, according to the European Wind Energy Association. The group says wind has surpassed hydro power, becoming the third-biggest source of generation in the EU. "Wind power accounts for one-third of all new power installations since 2000 in the EU. Conventional power sources such as fuel oil and coal continue to decommission more capacity than they install," EWEA said.

As the opening of the United Nations Conference on climate change starts today at the Bourget, we turn to see the commitment of Disneyland® Paris in favour of the energy transition. David Courvoisier, Director Infrastructures and Buildings, believes it is twofold: to reduce energy consumption and reduce the use of fuel.

The US energy landscape is swiftly transitioning away from fossil fuels in favor of renewables, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council. "By the close of 2014, the United States was relying on an unprecedented amount of renewable energy from wind turbines, solar panels, and other technologies. We are bearing witness to fundamental change in the energy sector, reflecting the needs and aspirations of all who depend on it," said the report. It added that US carbon emissions have already dropped 10% below 2005 levels