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The cost of operating an automobile has intrigued me since I started riding a bike as an adult. From asking owners, I estimated in 1965 that a car cost about 25¢ a mile to operate, which caused a fellow student to scream at me. In the late 70's, when I was an owner, I figured the operating cost at 14¢ a mile, which was unrealistically low. We tend to believe what we want to believe.

Engineers and scientists at The University of Texas at Austin have achieved a breakthrough in the use of a one-atom thick structure called "graphene" as a new carbon-based material for storing electrical charge in ultracapacitor devices, perhaps paving the way for the massive installation of renewable energies such as wind and solar power. The researchers believe their breakthrough shows promise that graphene (a form of carbon) could eventually double the capacity of existing ultracapacitors, which are manufactured using an entirely different form of carbon. "Through such a device, electrical charge can be rapidly stored on the graphene sheets, and released from them as well for the delivery of electrical current and, thus, electrical power," says Rod Ruoff, a mechanical engineering professor and a physical chemist. "There are reasons to think that the ability to store electrical charge can be about double that of current commercially used materials. We are working to see if that prediction will be borne out in the laboratory."

The head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency lied to Congress about his rejection of a request from California meant to curb global warming emissions, Sen. Barbara Boxer said on Tuesday. Boxer, a California Democrat who has called for EPA chief Stephen Johnson to resign, made the statement at a hearing on regulation of greenhouse gases under the U.S. Clean Air Act.

ON a strip of Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles, a futuristic experiment posing as an ordinary fuel station may be bringing the world one step closer to the hydrogen age. From the moment engineers started dreaming about hydrogen as an alternative to oil, they faced a nagging question: What should come first - the fuel-cell car or the hydrogen pump?

Abrupt climate change is a potential menace that hasn't received much attention. That's about to change. Through its Climate Change Prediction Program, the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Biological and Environmental Research (OBER) recently launched IMPACTS - Investigation of the Magnitudes and Probabilities of Abrupt Climate Transitions - a program led by William Collins of Berkeley Lab's Earth Sciences Division (ESD) that brings together six national laboratories to attack the problem of abrupt climate change, or ACC.

The idea of painting our roofs and roads white to offset global warming is not new, but a recent study has calculated just how significantly white surfaces could impact greenhouse gas emissions. Last week, researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and UC Berkeley presented their study at California's annual Climate Change Research Conference in Sacramento. If the 100 largest cities in the world replaced their dark roofs with white shingles and their asphalt-based roads with concrete or other light-colored material, it could offset 44 metric gigatons (billion tons) of greenhouse gases, the study shows. That amounts to more greenhouse gas than the entire human population emits in one year, according to a recent article in the Los Angeles Times. The strategy could also offset the growth in carbon dioxide emissions, which account for about 75% of greenhouse gases, for the next 10 years.

Are you looking for a career path that you have complete control over every part of the business? No more boss to worry about. Starting a greenhouse business may be something to consider.

From the outside, there is nothing unusual about the stylish new gray and orange row houses in the Kranichstein District, with wreaths on the doors and Christmas lights twinkling through a freezing drizzle. But these houses are part of a revolution in building design: There are no drafts, no cold tile floors, no snuggling under blankets until the furnace kicks in. There is, in fact, no furnace. Published to:

Part of creating the ultimate sustainable planet will be our ability to find sustainable energy sources in a variety of means, such as sunlight, water flow, wind, and yes, even rain. We are of course speaking of the kinetic energy which can be harnessed from rain, which up until a few months ago, was not being considered for use in a consumer product... Lightdrops Umbrella This kinetic energy is created from piezoelectric material, which is able to convert mechanical energy into electrical energy. Now, we aren't talking about a whole lot of energy being created here, approximately 1 microwatt to 12 milliwatts per rain droplet. While not much in the large scheme of things, this technology has been put to use in a new LED umbrella called Lightdrops, which is able to self power an internal LED light using the rain from which it is protecting its user from.

The South Korean government has allocated 18.3 trillion won (about US$14.2 billion) for an energy efficiency initiative that will run until 2012 and save 34.2 million tonnes of oil equivalent (toe). The goal is an 11.3% improvement in energy efficiency by 2012, compared with the level seen in 2007. Among the steps are a 16.5% increase in new vehicle average fuel economy by 2012. In 2004, South Korea replaced its voluntary, unenforced standard with a mandatory program-the Average Fuel Economy (AFE) system-that started in 2006 for domestic vehicles and will start in 2009 for imports. (Earlier post.) The current standards are 12.4 km/l (29.2 mpg US) for vehicles with engine displacements of 1.5 liters or less and 9.6 km/l (22.6 mpg US) for vehicles with engine displacements of more than 1.5 liters. Credits can be earned to offset shortfalls.

In order to start you new green career as an ethanol lab technician, you will need to get some schooling under your belt. If done correctly, you should be in your new job within about two year.

Having almost been run off the road by Iowa's gusty winds, I'm not surprised to hear about the state's interest in wind energy. But the scale of its current project- a one billion dollar wind farm- is truly impressive. The proposed Trade Wind Energy farm will feature 335 wind generators that can produce up to 500 MW of energy. Each generator will be able to power 500 to 1,000 homes. The generators will each be at least 1,000 feet apart, and property owners in the vicinity will receive rent for use of wind rights. Project details haven't been finalized, however, and the number of wind generators will ultimately depend on success in leasing property rights. But Trade Wind Energy representatives are confident that the project will go ahead as planned since some leases have already been signed and area farmers seem receptive.

A solar power station, reportedly the largest in China, will be built up in the Chadam Basin, Qinghai Province in 2009. With total investment of about CNY1 billion for the first phase, the project will use thin film amorphous silicon and crystalline silicon photovoltaic array technology. Its first phase will have a capacity of 30MW and it will be the largest solar power station in China when completed.

How important is it to eat organic? Is it a fad, a craze or is it a warning against chemical fertilizers and GMO crops, which will help protect the next generation? Organic farming is natural farming, that means no chemical fertilisers, no genetic modification for either food crops or feed crops. Commercial farming pushing demand for agricultural produce forced a shift towards chemical fertilisers and farming methods to maximise output, for maximum profit, unaware of the significantly unnatural processes being used can be harmful. At the consumer level organic produce is a relatively new phenomena. On the supermarket shelves we are finding products labelled 'organic', most of us think it means 'natural' or 'cruelty free'. When you buy organic you are buying a green product . That means methods such as green fertilisers, crop rotation and biological pest controls are used instead of toxic chemical fertilisers and genetically modified organisms which are harmful to the land. Organic farming composes about 2% of all farming on the planet.

As we advance more into the 21st century, technology will advance as well. A very interesting advancement is the idea about turning grease into electricity.

A Seattle company is hoping to convert the motion of the ocean into electricity. Grays Harbor Ocean Energy Company has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for permits to harness energy from waves off the coastline of six states. In all, the company would build seven harnessing sites - in federal waters off California, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island - each covering about 100 square miles.

There has been of talk in the news about green collar jobs, green careers, and green in general.

A sustainability consultant is a professional who is knowledgeable about the impact of business practices on the environment, and works with businesses to reduce the environmental impact of these activities.

One man in the classroom earned more than $100,000 framing tract homes during the building heyday. Another installed pools and piloted a backhoe. Behind him sat a young father who made a good living swinging a hammer in southern Utah. But that was before construction jobs vanished like a fast-moving dust storm in this blustery high desert. Hard times have brought them to a classroom in Kern County, about 120 miles northeast of Los Angeles, to learn a different trade. Tonight's lesson: how to avoid death and dismemberment. This is Wind Technology Boot Camp at Cerro Coso Community College, where eight weeks of study and $1,000 in tuition might lead to a job repairing mammoth wind turbines sprouting up across the nation.

March 3, 2009 Arizona based First Solar has achieved a major milestone in reducing the manufacturing cost for solar panels below the $1 per watt price barrier - the target necessary for solar to compete with coal-burning electricity on the grid or grid-parity. Using cadmium telluride (CdTe) technology in its thin-film photovoltaic cells, First Solar claims to have the lowest manufacturing cost per watt in the industry with the ability to make solar cells at 98 cents per watt, one third of the price of comparable standard silicon panels. The efficiency is in part due to a low cycle time - 2.5 hours from sheet of glass to solar module - about a tenth of the time it takes for silicon equivalents.