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ou can get a reduction on your busfare in Scotland if you hand over your cooking oil to a recycling plant making biofuels. Stagecoach, Scotland's largest transport company, booked so much success with this green scheme in the past six months, it's now embarking on a drive to become completely carbon neutral by the end of this year.

t's becoming crystal clear that the resolution of America's energy crisis is now the centerpiece of the current election campaign; it could conceivably be the decisive issue that decides the future occupant of the White House. Advertisement This is increasingly motivated by public opinion, which heavily favors a "drill now" commitment.

With gas prices going through the roof and regulators requiring cars to be ever more miserly, Volkswagen is bringing new meaning to the term "fuel efficiency" with a bullet-shaped microcar that gets a stunning 282 235 mpg. Volkswagen's had its super-thrifty One-Liter Car concept vehicle -- so named because that's how much fuel it needs to go 100 kilometers -- stashed away for six years. The body's made of carbon fiber to minimize weight (the entire car weighs just 660 pounds) and company execs didn't expect the material to become cheap enough to produce the car until 2012.

BPA - Elliot Mainzer takes the key role in developing energy agency policy on climate change, planning and renewables As renewable energy becomes a bigger slice of the Northwest's energy pie, few institutions have as important a role to play as the Bonneville Power Administration, the federal agency that markets electricity generated at 31 dams and a nuclear plant in the region. BPA's regionwide web of transmission lines delivers electrons generated at wind farms east of the Cascades to power-hungry consumers in the Willamette Valley. The agency's flexibility to modulate electricity production at dams on the Columbia allows utilities to safely feed their spiky supply of wind energy onto the grid.

Energy utility Exelon Corp. spent nearly $1.2 million in the second quarter to lobby on tax credits for renewable energy sources and other issues, according to a recent disclosure report. The Senate on Tuesday passed a broad tax package providing more than $17 billion in renewable energy tax incentives that the solar and wind industries say are crucial if they are to become significant energy sources in the near future. But the legislation faces obstacles in the House, where three separate bills are on the schedule Wednesday.

Drill, drill, drill. Suddenly, oil and gas exploration is all the rage on Capitol Hill. With energy prices a red-hot political issue, the Democratic-controlled Congress, in the midst of its final, three-week legislative sprint before the presidential elections, can't get enough of drilling bills. Not that most Capitol Hill watchers seriously believe that - in the absence of a major supply disruption - any substantive energy legislation will actually emerge from this frenzy and become law. "You don't pass energy bills in the heat of the campaign season," noted Frank Maisano, an energy specialist with Bracewell & Giuliani. Still, there should be plenty of action.

The City Council on Wednesday became the first in Ohio with a plan to channel grants and loans to residents and businesses to replace tar and shingles with vegetation. Supporters of the idea want to see Cincinnati become a leader in green roofs, a European-born movement that has spread to only a few U.S. cities, including Chicago, Milwaukee and Seattle.

Becoming a green consultant can be a great way to get you into the green movement while staying in the niche that you already know and love.

According to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), US wind producers enjoyed another record year of growth in 2008-the third in a row. The country now has an installed wind power capacity well in excess of 21,000 megawatts (MW), enough to supply electricity to over 5.5 million American homes. According to Randall Swisher, AWEA Executive DIrector, "Wind energy installations are well ahead of the curve for contributing 20% of the U.S. electric power supply by 2030 as envisioned by the U.S. Department of Energy."

WorldChanging has a post on a Rocky Mountain Institute backed initiative to pave the way fro smart grids and electric vehicles - Project Get Ready Aims to Create Electric Vehicle Revolution. Creating a well functioning smart grid - cyclically connected to smart vehicles and buildings and houses, as well as personal and public renewable energy systems - will be no small infrastructure feat. Utility providers, technology innovators, neighborhood councils and local governments will need to come together to provide needed support -- both monetarily and ideologically. Although U.S. President Obama and the recently passed stimulus plan are pushing the renewable, electric energy revolution forward, residents across the nation might need more motivation to make the leap from fossil fuel users to plug-in pioneers. A new project, headed by "think-and-do" tank the Rocky Mountain Institute, is offering to help city leaders provide community members with that extra inspiration. The initiative, Project Get Ready, supplies a menu of strategies that are meant to help cities prepare for the "plug-in" transition. According to RMI, problems related to individual hesitancy toward purchasing electric vehicles and investing in the infrastructure itself, can "be overcome if cities/regions become ecosystems that welcome electric vehicles."

If you are planning to become an electric vehicle conversion specialist, you wide range of skills to be able to perform your duties.

A player who can never become Buddhist………..a player who never believes in middle path but believes in only do or die concept.

In February, President Obama called for a doubling of the US renewable energy capacity within three years. Yesterday, Obama visited a wind energy company in Newton, Iowa and again emphasized the importance of new forms of power generation: "Now, the choice we face is not between saving our environment and saving our economy. The choice we face is between prosperity and decline. We can remain the world's leading importer of oil, or we can become the world's leading exporter of clean energy." vote nowBuzz up! With billions in stimulus dollars heading toward improving the electricity grid and building sustainable energy infrastructure, emission-free power may be coming to your neighborhood sooner than you think. Here are five of the biggest, most ambitious projects that are in the pipeline, both in the US and elsewhere.

During Earth Week, visitors to the U.S. Department of Energy website -- energy.gov -- will be immediately directed to a special web feature giving them key energy saving tips and user-friendly information about the critical emerging technologies and initiatives underway to move the nation toward a clean energy economy. The webpage is intended to help people enjoy a more green lifestyle by making simple adjustments. It details steps consumers can take to make informed energy decisions, save money on monthly bills, become more energy efficient, and protect the environment. These money saving tips include monitoring energy usage in homes, purchasing fuel efficient hybrid and plug-in hybrid cars, insulating homes, using Lighting Emitting Diodes (LED) and Compact Florescent Light (CFL) bulbs and using power strips to fully shut off multiple appliances and electronics at once when not in use. "Earth Week is a fitting time for all of us to reevaluate our personal energy habits," Secretary Chu said. "By taking simple steps to reduce our energy use, all Americans can strike a blow for energy independence, while saving money on energy bills and moving America toward a clean energy future."

President Obama today announced over $467 million from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act to expand and accelerate the development, deployment, and use of geothermal and solar energy throughout the United States. The funding announced today represents a substantial down payment that will help the solar and geothermal industries overcome technical barriers, demonstrate new technologies, and provide support for clean energy jobs for years to come. Today's announcement supports the Obama Administration's strategy to increase American economic competiveness, while supporting jobs and moving toward a clean energy economy. "We have a choice. We can remain the world's leading importer of oil, or we can become the world's leading exporter of clean energy," said President Obama. "We can hand over the jobs of the future to our competitors, or we can confront what they have already recognized as the great opportunity of our time: the nation that leads the world in creating new sources of clean energy will be the nation that leads the 21st century global economy. That's the nation I want America to be."

TreeHugger has a post on a solar thermal power plant planned for Arizona (Which isn't the largest announced, but how many of these get built in the short term remains to be seen) - Largest Solar Plant in the World Coming to Arizona ?. Could be--details are still emerging and sketchy, but it looks like one of the world's biggest solar projects will find its home in Arizona. The proposed 340 megawatt system would use advanced parabolic trough technology, and would cost over $2 billion--and yes, it would take advantage of stimulus funding. Looks like Arizona's becoming a hotbed for solar power indeed--this would be the fourth solar plant in Mohave County, AZ alone. Here are the whispered details: Mohave Sun Power and Albiasa Solar are the companies behind the ambitious installation, and they'll be using the same technology as another recently proposed massive solar project:

Green building of the week from Inhabitat is this vertical farm proposed for Vancouver - Amazing Skyscraper Farm for Vancouver. I'll believe vertical farms work when I see it, but I'd like to see one tried, purely for the sake of showing how successful they can (or can't) be. Vertical farms are one of our favorite future-forward concepts for creating sustainable cities. Providing locally-grown produce and food will not only help us reduce our carbon emissions significantly, but also help us become healthier. Romses Architects recently came up with an amazing concept for a vertical farm in Vancouver as part of the City's 2030 Challenge. Complete with a tower for growing fruits and vegetables, a livestock grazing plane, a boutique dairy farm, commercial space, transit lines, renewable energy and more, the Harvest Green Tower has the potential to be a food growing, energy producing, living, breathing sustainable transit hub.

Ezra Drissman of GreenCareersGuide gives suggestions on how to get a good green job by becoming an energy consultant.

Car sharing has become an increasingly common concept today. What is it? Car sharing is the concept of sharing a vehicle rather than owning it outright. It is similar to carpooling, only you do not ride with other people in every case.