Climate Technology
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Global biz leaders support push for international climate agreement
Undeterred by the shaky economy, a gathering of global business leaders on Wednesday gave the thumbs-up to the United Nations’ effort to clinch a global climate deal at its December 2009 rendezvous in Copenhagen.
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Big Ethanol descends on Africa for land, water, and sympathetic governments
A few weeks ago I was in Mozambique for a conference that brought together NGOs, small-scale farmers, agricultural associations, and local media to discuss the impact of biofuel production in southern Africa. While the United States and other Western countries mandate ethanol quotas to supposedly reduce their consumption of fossil fuels, many farmers in Africa […]
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Chrysler puts kibosh on hybrid SUVs
Chrysler is discontinuing production on its Dodge Durango hybrid and Chrysler Aspen hybrid. And if those SUVs don’t sound familiar, it’s because they never hit the market in the first place.
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Legal ivory sale raises $1.2 million
Some $1.2 million was raised at the world’s first legal ivory sale since 1999, held in Namibia on Tuesday. Backers of the approach point out that the money will be used to help out elephants; opponents say it will cause more people to buy ivory — which is akin, says one activist, to “signing an […]
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Wal-Mart scales back expansion plans due to poor economy
Wal-Mart announced this week that it will scale down its expansion plans in fiscal 2009 and 2010 due to concerns about a weaker economy. This year, Wal-Mart built 243 new stores, but in these relatively uncertain economic times, the retailer said it plans to construct just 212 new stores in 2009 and 177 in 2010. […]
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Corporate foot soldiers fired up to kick environmental butt
I’m at REFF-West — a clean tech conference in Seattle — today. These conferences are a dime a dozen these days, so I probably won’t bombard you with tons of posts. But as I was listening to Kostya L. Zolotusky of Boeing, I had a thought. Aviation is considered one of the top evil-doers by […]
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Hundreds of U.S. car dealerships going out of business
The economic slump and its attendant credit woes, combined with America’s declining love for the automobile, have already shuttered some 590 new-car dealerships this year, as well as 430 last year. Before 2008 is over, 110 more U.S. dealerships are expected to close their doors for good. May we suggest a nice bike shop instead?
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European Union will require airlines to join carbon-trading program
Airlines flying within the borders of the European Union will be required to participate in a pollution-permit trading system to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions starting in 2012, the E.U. ruled on Friday. The decision ticked off the U.S. and the airline industry.
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Greenland ice-loss soars: Bad for you, great for bottled water biz
A new study in Geophysical Research Letters ($ub. req’d) led by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory finds … … the ice sheet was losing 110 ± 70 Gt/yr [billion tons/year] in the 1960s, 30 ± 50 Gt/yr or near balance in the 1970s-1980s, and 97 ± 47 Gt/yr in 1996 increasing rapidly to 267 ± 38 […]
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Some mass-transit agencies hit hard by financial crisis
Even with increased ridership, some major metropolitan transit agencies are struggling more than usual these days as the credit crisis messes with their funding and ailing banks suddenly call in huge loans, asking for millions of dollars on short notice. Transit agencies in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., have been affected […]
