Water. We use a lot of it in California, and especially in Central Valley, one of the largest agricultural areas in the world. This area is inhabited by many wonderful folks, including Bill and George Longfellow, the dairy farmers we [See the full post…]

It wasn’t that long ago that newspaper headlines began calling our attention to claims that large computer server systems like those used by companies like Amazon.com, Google, Yahoo, and EBay (to name but a few) were consuming more than 10 [See the full post…]

During the Frankfurt Auto Show, GM Europe‘s (or GME) presentation introduced the new Opel Flextreme, the new Opel Agila, the new Cadillac BLS wagon and more, which highlighted GM’s global strategy for reducing CO2 in the [See the full post…]

During the Frankfurt Auto Show in Frankfurt, Germany, we had the chance to be on-hand for the unveiling of GM Europe’s Opel Flextreme hybrid concept, the European version of the Chevy Volt. The concept uses the monocab design popular [See the full post…]

Think of Central Valley, California — an incredibly large agricultural area in the middle of a state, which is vital to the Calif. economy, but not exactly known for its regular and heavy rainfall. Our crops and our cattle require [See the full post…]

Our final story from Hybridfest, in Madison, Wisc., features event organizer Bill Robbins. [See the full post…]

If you’re looking for a nice hotel that’s keeping a sharp eye on its carbon footprint, you’ll want to check out the Crown Spa Hotel. It’s in Scarborough, on the Yorkshire coast, but if you can get there, you’ll [See the full post…]

Katie Gerrigan’s documentary film, Feeling Fuelish?, highlights her trip from L.A. to Chicago, via Route 66, in a Toyota Prius. I spoke with her at Hybridfestin Madison, Wisc. [See the full post…]

Western Canada is very rich in heavy oils. These thick oils that have the consistency of molasses or even peanut butter are rather tricky to produce in an environmentally friendly manner. However, with our strong dependency in the next several [See the full post…]

While at Hybridfest in Madison, Wisc., I had the chance to speak with Wisconsin Public Power, a regional power company serving 49 customer-owned electric utilities. WPPI is very involved in clean, renewable energy, converting a hybrid Prius to a [See the full post…]

We’re not running out of oil, but we may be running out of the oil in easy-to-reach places. That’s because oil doesn’t sit in a big pool just below the surface — it’s always been hard to reach, but the [See the full post…]

Full Spectrum Solar is a local, independent leader in solar energy installations in Madison, Wisc. The brainchild of brothers Burke and Marc O’Neal, Full Spectrum has installed over one hundred solar energy systems, including the largest grid-connected battery-backup and residential [See the full post…]

During Hybridfest in Madison, Wisc., Dr. Chris Damm gave a talk on “Well-to-Wheel Emissions from Motor Vehicles.”

Photo Credit: Michael Pereckas, via Flickr/Creative Commons [See the full post…]

The US imports 10 million barrels of oil per day. This is more than it is producing itself, and over half of its oil consumption. If the US keeps consuming oil as it is now, imports will make up an [See the full post…]

Pat Cadam is owner of Pat’s Garage, an independent auto repair shop located in San Francisco’s SOMA district. He and his mechanics work primarily on hybrids like the Toyota Prius and Honda Insight. He’s also one of the [See the full post…]

If one man could be credited with bringing the first plug-in hybrid electric school bus to California, it would be Ralph Knight. As transportation director for the Napa Valley Unified School District, Ralph’s tireless four-year effort paid off with [See the full post…]

There are more than 500,000 yellow school buses in the U.S. Those buses, on average, get between 7 and 8 miles per gallon. Imagine if those buses were hybrid buses, capable of a 40-percent increase in fuel efficiency and a [See the full post…]

While in San Francisco for the launch of the Vectrix, the all-electric motorcycle, I spoke with Tansy Brook of British Motor Cars. BMC will be the exclusive distributor of the ZEV throughout California. From the company’s flagship store [See the full post…]

Have you ever looked up and watched a jet high in the sky leaving a long contrail? Have you also wondered what effect that contrail might have on global warming and our environment? Dr. David Travis, from the University of [See the full post…]

It’s Day 11, and Roz Savage is dealing with 40 knot Pacific winds on her rowing journey across the Pacific, singing the theme song to Hawaii Five-O. More videos from the Roz Savage Voyage:

– Roz’s launch party

– Naturally [See the full post…]

During Hybridfest in Madison, Wisc., Sherry Boschert, author of Plug-in Hybrids, The Cars That Will Re-Charge America, gave a talk entitled, “Drive with the Wind, Run with the Sun.” [See the full post…]

We visit Scott Elrod (PARC) again to have a look at the new concentrated solar PV system designed at PARC with Solfocus, a start-up incubated at PARC. It’s a clever device that is designed to reduce the [See the full post…]

At Hybridfest in Madison, Wisc., I finally got the chance to ride in the Kurrent, the LSV from American Electric. A NEV with top speeds of 25 mph, the Kurrent costs .02 cents per mile to operate and [See the full post…]

Imagine a world in which our houses coexist with the environment, filtering and harvesting rainwater and grey water. And imagine if these houses were mind-blowing and beautiful.

Meet architects Lisa Iwamoto and Craig Scott who have created this – a [See the full post…]

I love this interview with Scott Elrod, manager of the hardware systems group at the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC, for short). PARC, under the creative and enthusiastic leadership of Elrod, has ventured into the clean technology area. Recently, PARC [See the full post…]