Climate Technology

Fallen Idles

Electrified truck stops let tired drivers turn off their diesel engines Long-haul trucking, however much our economy depends on it, is an environmental nightmare. For one thing, there’s all the gasoline burned. For another, as a recent episode of The Daily Show revealed, there are the sealed bottles of pee truckers throw out their windows […]

A Journey of a Gazillion Miles Begins With a Single Inch

Wal-Mart declares it’s going green After months of scattered signs — green-built Supercenters in Texas and Colorado, a program to conserve thousands of acres of land through The Nature Conservancy — Wal-Mart executives have made it official: Their company is going green. Or, well, greenish. In a speech at a biz school yesterday, CEO H. […]

Exhaust in Translation

Green cars all the rage at Tokyo Motor Show The most buzzworthy attractions this week at the 39th Tokyo Motor Show weren’t the biggest or the most powerful but the most eco-friendly. Hoping to dazzle drivers battered by high gas prices, automakers debuted a dizzying array of low-pollution, high fuel-efficiency vehicles — some electric, some […]

Ford’s green guru discusses cars, climate, and time-warp activism

Last month, Ford Motor Co. CEO Bill Ford laid out a new vision to turn his company into a leader in technological innovation and, just perhaps, an environmental performance champion as well. His announcement, including the promise to produce 250,000 hybrids annually by 2010, comes during a time of trouble for the industry, and we […]

The Melting Plot

Thawing Arctic opens new competition for northern territory, resources The melting of the Arctic ice cap is bad news for polar bears, seals, some Arctic natives, and, oh yeah, possibly much of humankind — but great news for a few countries and companies looking to score bucks. The high stakes include lucrative new summer shipping […]

Sport Futility Vehicles

SUV sales take a dive as gas prices ascend It seems America is suffering from some shrinkage. SUV sales plummeted in September, compared to the same period last year. Ford Motor Co. reported a 55 percent-plus freefall in sales of mega-SUVs like the Expedition and Lincoln Navigator; sales of its F-series pickup trucks also dove […]

How to put the brakes on employee driving

Even before last month’s Gulf Coast catastrophes sent the nation’s oil companies scurrying to hike gas prices, the cost of driving to work was nearing the pain point. And not just the price of filling up: as average commute times have grown over the past five years, even in green-minded cities like Portland, Ore., and […]

Hybrid Anxiety

Ford plans to hybridize half its models by 2010 Reeling from recent profit declines and concerned about stiff competition from Japanese automakers, Ford Motor Co. today announced a big expansion of its hybrid strategy, including plans to offer gas-electric hybrid versions of half its models by 2010. Its current hybrid offerings are limited to SUVs […]

Former Google chef plans to launch sustainable cafe in Cali

Regular web searching was not enough. Neither were searches for images, news stories, and things for sale. Our own computers were becoming a web of their own, so there is desktop search to help keep us organized. And who can keep up with the ever-evolving blogosphere? But don't worry, there is now a search for that too. And the world is apparently not enough for Google.

In addition to niche searches, Google also provides a number of services, such as email, photo management, text and voice messaging, and web page translation. And there is even a rumor that Google wants to get in on the Wi-Fi bandwagon.

So what could possible be the next Google gift to the world? How about sustainable cafes? That's right; Charlie Ayers, former Google chef, has cashed in his shares and wants to launch a health-conscious and sustainably farmed cafe in Palo Alto, Calif.

New E.U. environmental standards are changing the global marketplace

Europeans are a wee bit funny when it comes to incubation. During the Middle Ages, they obsessed about the threat from incubi, evil spirits rumored to descend upon women and have their way with them as they slept. Then (in the condensed version of history) came the New Economy, and incubating was all the rage, […]