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How discovering ice's secret could unlock alternative energy options

A long-suspected secret behavior of water molecules in ice is seen for the first time using a new technique that could help develop energy alternatives.




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New fuel cell technology could cost one-tenth the price of Bloom

The Redox Power System will use technology to produce energy more efficiently for far less money.




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Toyota's new Fuel Cell Vehicle: What it is, how it works, and how it drives

Mark your calendars: Toyota is promising (well, hinting very strongly), their 2015 model year collection will include a full-production hydrogen fuel cell vehicle.




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Toyota Mirai hydrogen fuel cell vehicle: We test-drive the future!

Toyota has finally released its vision of the future, 20 years in the making!




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Toyota plans 90% CO2 cuts from cars, 100% from factories by 2050

Just one more reason for Big Oil and Big Coal to worry.




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Power from poo: Breakthrough could lead to sustainable electricity from sewage

Oh, the wonderful things that poo can do.




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Riversimple won't sell its Rasa hydrogen car, but will lease its mileage

Goodbye car ownership, hello "mobility as a service."




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City of Freiburg has a brilliant alternative to disposable coffee cups

Customers pay €1 for a reusable cup that can be returned to any participating business in the city center.




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'Achtung Baby: An American Mom on the German Art of Raising Self-Reliant Children' (book review)

Author Sara Zaske shows that it all comes down to respecting a child's right to independence.




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Why is car-crazy Germany so much safer than the USA for pedestrians and cyclists?

A study comparing the two countries shows vast differences in how cars are used.




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Why can't North Americans have housing like WagnisART in Munich?

We have to start thinking about housing as a social good instead of a financial instrument.




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The car must die. But let’s get the reasons and the replacement right.

Cars kill thousands every day, wreck our cities, and spout CO2. What should we do about it?




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New Study Finds Kindle Greener Than the Printed Word

(Image: Geekbrief)The battle, no doubt, will rage on for some time over which is greener, e-books or the printed stuff. A new item of evidence, however, has been submitted: a report by the Cleantech Group has concluded that in a spine-to-spine lifecycle




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Bioneers 2009 - Annie Leonard Bringing Out More Stories of More Stuff

Annie Leonard is having an incredible run with her short documentary The Story of Stuff. The film still gets 10,000 views per day and has already reached 7.3 million people over the 22 months since it was released. The film




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All UK and Irish Tetra Pak Packaging to be FSC Certified

Image from Tetra Pak Tetra Pak is the world's largest packaging company so when they decide to do something environmental it has a big impact. They have just announced that all of their UK and Irish packaging will be FSC (Forest Stewardship Council)




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Ask Pablo: Real or Fake Christmas Tree?

Yes, they seem tacky and don't make your house smell like a coniferous forest but they also won't dry up and shed their needles all over the place




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Designing Out Waste in Industry Becomes a Priority for Big UK Businesses

This week a new report has been published by UK environmental think tank Green Alliance which unites top UK businesses on a mission to design out waste in industry. The report is called A Pathway To Greener Products and calls on the new coalition




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Big Surprise: New Study Shows Insulated Concrete Forms Are Better Than Crap

I have always wondered why a sandwich of polystyrene and concrete is considered green, and have taken significant abuse for my position on insulated concrete forms (ICF). Now an interim report from the impressive-sounding MIT Concrete




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Life Cycle Analysis Compares Footprint of Gas and Electric Passenger Cars

Electric cars are the darlings of the green technology futurists. But wait, cries a receding voice, "what about the environmental impact of all those batteries?" Until recently, that lurking uncertainty shadowed the




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Nissan's Mark Perry on the Arrival of the Leaf (Podcast)

Amid a media flurry starring a displaced polar bear and an easy-breathing Lance Armstrong, Nissan has become the unlikely leader as it delivers a mass-produced, affordable electric car. The Leaf is now arriving in the driveways of eager customers, and




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Europeans To Ban Fire Retardants and Phthalates Critical To American Building Industry

Comments to the post What is the Best Way To Build A Wall? Not A Simple Answer wondered why we wanted to reinvent the wall. The consensus was "Having XPS on the exterior is, I think, the easiest and best solution." I will be




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8 surprising wild plants you can eat

Whether lost in the wilderness or just foraging in the woods for delicacies, all of these plants can be safely consumed.




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Scientific American goes totally pro-GMO

The magazine rallies against GMO-labeling and denounces opponents of genetically modified crops as "unscientific."




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No surprise here: junk food lobby wants federal ban on GMO labels

Major food conglomerates want to stamp out state-by-state efforts to label foods containing genetically modified ingredients with federal legislation.




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General Mills now makes GMO-free Cheerios

An anti-GMO campaign declares victory.




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Synthetic fabrics and car tires are major source of microplastic pollution

We hear a lot about plastics breaking down at sea, but scientists are discovering that a shocking quantity of plastic enters the ocean already in microscopic form.




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How oysters are restoring New York's polluted harbor

These busy filter-feeders clean the water, attract biodiversity, and offer protection from storms.




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The world water crisis by the numbers

In honor of World Water Day, here are the sobering numbers behind the billions of people living without safe water.




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Toyota Passo Sette: Yaris-Sized 7 Seat MPV

The Amazing Shrinking car It seems like Toyota has learned quite a bit from building the Toyota iQ (follow link for photos), the "Smallest Four-Passenger Car in the World". But the question really was, if they can fit 4 people in a car that small, how




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Detroit Auto Show 2009: All-New Toyota Prius to be Unveiled Soon (But We've Already Seen It)

The Best-Selling Hybrid Car Gets a MakeoverIt might not be very suspenseful because we've all already seen leaked shots of the 3rd generation Toyota Prius hybrid (see below -




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Detroit Auto Show 2009: First Look at Toyota FT-EV Electric Car Concept

Diminutive but Electrifying The Toyota FT-EV electric car concept that debuted at the 2009 Detroit Auto Show is based on the platform of the 57 MPG Toyota iQ microcar that recently went on sale in Europe and that is apparently already a hit in




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Detroit Auto Show 2009: New 2010 Toyota Prius Hybrid Will Get 50 MPG, Optional Solar Roof

Photo: Michael Graham Richard. Click to see 2010 Toyota Prius Slideshow.2010 Toyota^ Prius Hybrid: Hello WorldAfter some not too suspenseful waiting, here it is. The official debut of the 3rd generation Toyota Prius hybrid! You can see tons of




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GM Volt Versus Toyota Prius: Which Design Type Will Be More Effective At Reducing Stack & Tailpipe Emissions, And Energy Consumption?

This is one of those comparison posts that that could draw many angry comments: like Could Hype Sell An Inferior Hybrid? - Ford Fusion versus Toyota Camry did. Please carefully read the caveats.




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Audubon and Toyota Team Up to Promote Volunteering, Give Away Prizes

The Audubon Society and Toyota are teaming up to promote volunteering for the environment by offering prizes, including tents and bikes, to those who log the most volunteer hours.Starting today, their project, TogetherGreen,




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George Will Disses the Prius, Obama and the Facts

On This Week with George Stephanopoulos yesterday, conservative columnist George Will commented on President Obama's emphasis on green cars, now that the White House is arguably a co-owner of Chrysler and




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Toyota Kills Most Inexpensive Prius Model, Raises Price $400 on Others

Image: Toyota Supply & Demand A few months ago, Toyota was quite afraid of the new low-cost Honda Insight hybrid. It even went as far as to make a $21,000 version of the 2010 Prius (aka Prius I) to try to compete with Honda on price. Well, seems like




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Toyota Recalls 3.8 Million Vehicles, Including Prius Hybrids

Photo: Wikipedia, Public domain 2004 to 2009 Prius Included in Toyota's September 2009 Recall Toyota has just announced a huge recall. About 3.8 million vehicles are included, and that includes the 2004 to 2009 Prius hybrid. Since that's probably a




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2010 Detroit Auto Show: Toyota FT-CH Hybrid Concept Might Join Prius Family

Photo: Michael Graham RichardPrius Might Become a Family, 8 New Hybrid Models ComingMaybe the rumors that have been floating around for a long time were true... Toyota said during its press event at the 2010 Detroit Auto Show that they are considering




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Toyota Will Increase Hybrid Production to 1 Million Units Per Year in 2011

Photo: Michael Graham Richard Twice As Much as 2009 Hybrid Production According to the Nikkei, Toyota is planning to ramp up hybrid vehicle production pretty significantly this year, with a goal of production 1 million hybrids annually in 2011 (up from




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NHTSA to Look Into 2010 Toyota Prius Braking Problems

Photo: Toyota The Japanese Government Told Toyota to do the Same Now's not a good time for Toyota, and it's not a good time for the 2010 Prius hybrid, a kind of "halo" car for the company. Yesterday, I wrote about an acceleration problem that Apple




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Toyota to Recall the 2010 Prius in U.S. and Japan for Braking Problems

Photo: Toyota Update: Kaizen Fail: Toyota Recalls 437,000 Hybrids Worldwide, Mostly 2010 Prius Models 311,000 Third Generation Prius Hybrids to be Recalled by Toyota It seems like Toyota has yet to hit rock bottom. Last week the NHTSA announced that it




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Kaizen Fail: Toyota Recalls 437,000 Hybrids Worldwide, Mostly 2010 Prius Models

Photo: Toyota Ouch We all knew it was coming, but now it's official. Toyota has formally filed a voluntary recall for 437,000 hybrid vehicles worldwide. Most of those are third generation Prius hybrids, but they're also recalling the few Prius PHEV out




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Zipcar Stops Renting 2010 Prius Hybrids Until Brake Problems are Fixed

Apologies for the bad Photoshop job... Photo: Zipcar Logo, Toyota Less Than 1% of Zipcar Fleet, But... I'm pretty sure that many TreeHugger readers are also Zipcar customers (car-sharing in general is booming), and chances are that with that crowd, the




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Cosmic Rays May Have Driven Toyota Vehicles Crazy

More than 8 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles have been recalled worldwide (including the 2010 Prius), and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has linked at least 52 deaths to unexpected acceleration in these vehicles. Although floormats




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Toyota Prius Named Top Green Car

It's been a rough year for Toyota, which has been plagued by recalls, but the Japanese car maker's top selling Prius is still scoring points for the embattled company. Kelley Blue




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Looking for an Affordable Mercedes? Try the Hybrid

OK, affordable might be a bit of an overstatement, unless you're one of the richer tree huggers out there. We've told you before about Mercedes-Benz's hybrid S400,




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China Bans Rare Earth Sales To Japan; Japan Starts Serious Recycling

Alex previously wrote about concerns as China Tightens Grasp on Rare Earth Metals Vital for Green Technologies; now we are seeing it in action. After a dispute over a collision between the Japanese Coast Guard and a Chinese




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Toyota i-Road 3-wheeler launching in French carsharing & smart city scheme

I love this little vehicle. If it ever becomes commercially available outside of carsharing schemes, I may have to get one. Or maybe I should just start a carsharing scheme in my city....




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11 electric cars now under $27,000... in California

There are now 11 mass-manufactured electric cars that come in under $27,000 in California... after federal and California incentives.




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Toyota's new power plant will use dairy manure to make clean electricity & hydrogen

The forthcoming Tri-Gen facility is being called "the world's first megawatt-scale 100% renewable power and hydrogen generation station."