An article in Business Week Online tells us that experimental hybrid cars get up to 250 mpg (a very similar article appeared in the New York Times business section a couple of months earlier). I enjoy reading between the lines of lay press science and technology articles. There was a great discussion in Grist on this subject not too long ago. Gremban ...spent... $3,000 tinkering with his car... [I]n the trunk sits an 80-miles-per-gallon secret -- a stack of 18 brick-sized batteries... [T]he extra batteries let Gremban drive for 20 miles with a 50-50 mix of gas and electricity. In …

Here in Gristmill, we like to present companies and their eco-friendly practices to see if they should be praised for their efforts. Today I give you: Subaru, Cascade Engineering, HP, Xerox, Toyota, Fetzer Vineyards, and Collins & Aikman Floorcoverings. What do these companies have in common, you might be asking? One, they are all mentioned in the Wired article that I'm writing about. Two, and more importantly, they are all actively reducing waste in some fashion. For example, a Subaru factory in Lafayette, Indiana produces less waste than you and me. In fact, the article claims the amount is zero: …

Impending regulation in Europe may de-toxify electronics worldwide As the clock ticks down toward a tough new environmental regulation in Europe, electronics manufacturers worldwide are busily reworking their supply chains to create less-toxic gadgets. In July 2006, the Reduction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) rule will go into effect across all 25 member nations of the European Union, severely limiting the import of six key toxic substances regularly used in electronics, including lead and cadmium. Thanks to the size of the European market, RoHS will set a new de facto global standard for limiting toxics in high-tech products, and similar regulations …

Exxon Valdez: No, your other left! Photo: NOAA. Lee, we barely knew ye. Oh, wait, yes we did. "You either retire or die and I'd just as soon not die," you said recently, and then yesterday announced your imminent exit as chair and CEO of ExxonMobil after more than 40 years with the oil behemoth. We'd just as soon not die either, Mr. Raymond, but anticipate we all will, so on the occasion of your retirement we offer this modest encomium to your many accomplishments. What impresses above all is your consistency. You joined Exxon in 1963, and no matter …

Big demand for solar energy runs up against finite panel supply Global demand for photovoltaic panels is causing months-long delays and price hikes for would-be buyers in the U.S. American suppliers blame a weak dollar, shortages of raw materials, and swelling demand both at home and abroad. The worldwide solar-power market has grown about 40 percent annually in the last five years -- driven largely by Germany, where an incentive program allows businesses and individuals to sell excess solar-generated electricity back to utilities at a premium rate. Germany consumes 39 percent of the available solar-panel supply, followed by Japan at …

Dear Umbra, Grist keeps mentioning that the U.S. government gives large subsidies to oil companies, but doesn't go further into what these subsidies are. I can't make a good argument against the government's subsidizing Big Oil if I don't know more about it: Are the subsidies tax breaks, and if so, for what? Are the tax breaks larger than for most other large companies? How biased is our treatment of Big Oil? ChristineHillsboro, Ore. Dearest Christine, Just as an aside, I'm not sure such a being as Wee Oil exists. Can we get you anything? The word subsidy finds its …

Tiny fish being wiped out to make health-food supplements Omega Protein Corp. is overharvesting a little Chesapeake Bay fish called menhaden in order to make omega-3 fatty-acid food supplements for its health-crazed customers, leading to a decline in the striped bass that eat them (the menhaden, not the supplements or the health-crazed customers). This according to Greenpeace, which protested at Omega's Reedville, Va., plant on Saturday. Omega uses 66 ships and 30 spotter planes to hoover up whole shoals of menhaden from the bay. Omega's offered to cap annual take at about 149,000 tons for the next four years while …

Wal-Mart's new big-box store being constructed in McKinney, Texas, has a twist: It will employ several conservation methods and green technologies, making it the company's first "environmentally friendly" store. Apparently, not only will it have a wind turbine to generate 5% of its power, and a rainwater catchment system for 95% of its irrigation needs, but it will use waterless urinals in its restrooms and recycle its oil from the deli and automotive departments to help heat the building. The inspiration for all this being "to save money and keep costs down."  I guess if you overlook the proliferation of …

Hip, new wind-turbine designs shed those fusty rotating blades As anti-wind-power crusaders make ever-louder indictments of unsightly turbines, wind advocates are fighting back with a new tool -- aesthetics. A handful of wind-power companies are teaming up with designers to develop new contraptions that can harness wind energy without the traditional spinning blades, as well as new plans for placing turbines away from scenic landscapes. Take the Aerogenerator, a new wind turbine intended to be situated far out at sea; the Guardian describes the vaguely V-shaped design as looking "like a cross between a glider and a giant harp, or …

Wal-Mart building two experimental green stores Mega-giganto retailer Wal-Mart is conducting an experiment. No, not the world-domination experiment, a different one: It's constructing two "Supercenters" with green-building features designed to reduce energy and water use. The first, in Texas, will have solar cells embedded in skylights; runoff waste water will be captured and reused; heat from refrigeration units will warm water for the bathroom sinks; waste oil from the garage and food-service areas will be burned in a radiant floor-heating system; energy-efficient LED lights will illuminate the low-paid, uninsured, non-unionized Wal-Mart "associates" on the floor below. After three years, the …