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It's called New Urbanism, and Christopher Leinberger, an urban planning professor at the University of Michigan, visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution   and author of The Option of Urbanism: Investing in a New American Dream  , says the movement is changing the American dream:

The US Department of Energy (DOE) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have unveiled an updated energy efficiency action plan for state policy makers and utilities.

In context of the rapid change in global energy situation, with the main lines of EU energy policy established, both the European Council (March 2008 European Council, Presidency conclusions, par.25) and the European Parliament (European Parliament Resolution (2007)413 "Towards a common European foreign policy on energy") have underlined the importance which they attach to enhancing the energy security of the EU and its Member States and to further developing the external dimension of the EU energy policy. Responding to this, the 2nd Strategic Energy Review to be prepared by the Commission will focus mainly on the related issues of security of supply and external relations.

The US government – the country’s largest single user of energy – is to have $80 billion at its disposal for energy efficiency, renewable energy and water conservation projects at its buildings and facilities.The Department of Energy (DOE) is awarding Energy Savings Performance Contracts (ESPCs) to 16 contractors including electricity utilities, renewable energy companies and heating and ventilation system manufacturers.Under the terms of the scheme, a contractor designs, constructs and raises the financing for an energy saving project and has to guarantee that the work undertaken will generate energy savings.

The European Parliament has overwhelmingly backed a comprehensive energy plan for the region, including a 35% improvement in energy efficiency.A large majority of MEPs voted to endorse the EU’s Second Strategic Energy Review, which was proposed by the EC in November last year.The proposals form the basis of Europe’s ’20-20-20’ policy which aims to cut CO2 and energy use by 20% by 2020, and increase renewables by 20%.

And that's not all. We reported recently on this site on the solar powered car making its way around the world. We also covered the concept of solar roads to capture usable energy. We even reported on a sail boat powered with a solar sail. Now the BBC reports   that the U.S. military has held a test run in Arizona of a UK-made solar plane, the Zephyr-6. The plane flew for more than three days, running at night on solar charged batteries. The more than 83 hour non-stop flight was the longest of any unmanned aircraft.

The European Commission (EC) has published a voluntary code of conduct for running an energy efficient data centre. The guidelines, recommendations and best practices could reduce energy consumption by up to 20%.

A consortium of four electricity distributors is rolling out Echelon’s smart meter to 90,000 homes in France.Echelon’s Networked Energy Services (NES) meters allow the amount of electricity produced as well as that consumed to be measured. This allows the meters to be used with renewable microgeneration technologies as well.

By 2020, the manufacture, distribution and usage of IT equipment could reach 3% of the world’s total greenhouse gas emissions – more than aviation and twice that of current UK levels, according to figures from the consultants McKinsey.