By John DeFore

For a movie that explicitly addresses the perils of overconsumption, Pixar’s WALL*E is being used to promote an awful lot of consumer products.

One tie-in in particular is rankling Greenpeace. It seems that the lovable robot’s image has popped up on boxes of Kleenex, a product the activist group has criticized with a “Kleercut” campaign that asserts, “it takes 90 years to grow a box of Kleenex” because the product’s manufacturer Kimberly-Clark “all but refuses to use recycled paper in its products.” (Among other things, they’re trying to get parents and teachers to reject the company’s tissues in classrooms.) [Read more →]

By John DeFore

Mitsubishi Electric announced Wednesday that it will quadruple its capability to produce solar cells, jumping from the 150 megawatts it currently produces each year to an annual 600MW capacity by 2012 — a more ambitious goal than its previously stated one to get to 500 MW by 2013. Current production levels are already triple what they were four years ago. [Read more →]

By Harriet Blake

Residents of the Dallas/Fort Worth metro area will again get a chance to trade in their pollution-emitting old clunker for a newer, less polluting car with the help of state money.

The North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) reports that it has about $12 million for the second year of the AirCheckTexas Drive a Clean Machine campaign, which began taking applications in mid-August. [Read more →]

By Barbara Kessler

For those yearning to hear more about the Democrats’ energy plans, Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer’s vigorous speech Tuesday night at the Democratic National Convention in Denver opened a more detailed dialogue on the subject.

Schweitzer, a first-term Democratic governor who chose a Republican lieutenant governor, called for “a new energy system that is clean, green and American-made.” He lamented U.S. dependence on foreign oil and what he labeled the Bush Administration’s single-minded focus on drilling to extract more oil, not just abroad but also domestically. [Read more →]

By John DeFore

The changing schedules of fall foliage may be a headache for nature lovers who time their forest vacations to maximize viewing of autumnal reds and oranges. But they could be good for the environment those travelers set out to enjoy.

According to a new article in the journal Global Change Biology, a team led by Michigan Tech forestry professor David F. Karnosky has established that increased levels of atmospheric CO2 “act directly to delay the usual autumn spectacle of changing colors and falling leaves in northern hardwood forests.” [Read more →]

By Nima Kapadia

J.C. Penney Company has announced plans to expand its renewable energy program with solar and wind projects that will provide electricity in 10 stores and one distribution center. In addition to these initiatives, J.C. Penney will also seek Energy Star certification for 200 stores by 2011.

“Hosting these solar and wind projects will add to our knowledge of the benefits and potential applications of renewable energy programs at our facilities,” said Mike Ullman III, J.C. Penney’s chairman and chief executive officer. [Read more →]

By John DeFore

Last Wednesday, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced his desire to turn the city into a wind-power titan, sprinkling the city with turbines and building huge wind farms off the coasts of Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island.

Speaking at the National Clean Energy Summit in Las Vegas, he issued a formal request encouraging green power entrepreneurs to submit plans for a range of sustainable energy projects. But what got the most attention was the suggestion that “perhaps companies will want to put windfarms atop our bridges and skyscrapers, [Read more →]

By John DeFore

Saturday marked the end of a tour hoping to convince Americans that hydrogen-fueled cars are not as far away from practicality as we might think.

The Hydrogen Road Tour ‘08 was an explicit (if partial) answer to the lament “what does it matter if I can buy a hydrogen car, if I can’t get fuel for it?”: Starting in Portland, Maine and ending in Los Angeles, the varied cars in this caravan covered the continent while running entirely on hydrogen. [Read more →]

By John DeFore

The New York State Fair began yesterday in Syracuse, and while many of us associate such events mainly with deep-fried food and concerts by (ahem) bands whose stars have faded, this fair may also debut a future star: An early version of an electric car whose makers think it could win a $10 million prize  — and get 100 mpg. [Read more →]

By Barbara Kessler

In yet another indictment of industrial farming methods and another threat to fish, researchers are reporting vast growth of ocean “dead zones.” Once rare, dead zones are multiplying and now total more than 400 around the world’s coastal waters, putting stresses on marine life by upsetting the underwater food chain, according to an August article in the journal Science. [Read more →]