Major U.S. Cities Put High Value on Sustainability Goals
from GreenerBuildings
Only one in six of the 40 largest cities in the U.S. say sustainability is not one of their top five problems, according to a new report from Living Cities, a collaboration of 21 of the world's largest foundations and financial institutions. The vast majority of city leaders have focused attention and effort on improving the environmental performance of their towns. More

Amazing Skyscraper Farm for Vancouver
from Inhabitat
Vertical farms are one of our favorite future-forward concepts for creating sustainable cities. Providing locally-grown produce and food will not only help us reduce our carbon emissions significantly, but also help us become healthier. Romses Architects recently came up with an amazing concept for a vertical farm in Vancouver as part of the City’s 2030 Challenge. Complete with a tower for growing fruits and vegetables, a livestock grazing plane, a boutique dairy farm, commercial space, transit lines, renewable energy and more, the Harvest Green Tower has the potential to be a food growing, energy producing, living, breathing sustainable transit hub. More

Shipping’s Carbon Footprint is Gone with the Wind
from Reuters
With increasing intolerances for transportation pollution and international greenhouse gas regulations growing, shipping companies are working to develop different greener technologies to deal with emissions, fuel and waste management. More

China Poised to Go All Out with Clean Tech
from San Francisco Chronicle
China is at a crossroads. This nation of 1.3 billion people is faced with the daunting task of building on its 30 years of unprecedented economic development without further damage to its environment. More

You Must Have Engaged Employees—And It's Not That Hard
from Forbes
Research over the last decade has made a convincing case that companies whose employees feel highly engaged outperform companies with less engaged ones in just about every important metric: growth, profitability, productivity, innovation and so on. More

Australia's Solar Future Looks Bright as AUD$1.3 Billion Boost Gives Power to the People
from The Age
The Australian federal government will try to make the most of Australia's sunny climate by investing AUD$1.3 billion in solar power initiatives. The measures will be aimed at households and researchers alike as part of a bid to vastly increase the amount of power that comes from an environmentally friendly source. A new solar flagship program will be created to turn Australia into a world leader in the generation of solar power. More

Airlines Target Lighter, Thinner Seats to Save
from USA TODAY
Airlines are paying more attention to one of the most important and least-discussed amenities: seats. Seat manufacturers say airlines have a greater selection of coach seats to choose from. And some airlines that are quickly adopting them—Singapore Airlines, Qatar Airways and India's Jet Airways—are putting pressure on U.S. competitors to take advantage of them, too. More

Britain Announces Broad Smart-Meter Plan
from The New York Times
The British government announced plans this week to put “smart meters” in every home by the end of the next decade. Smart meters monitor energy consumption on a continuous basis. The devices also communicate that information directly to utilities, cutting out the need for staffs to visit individual homes to read meters. More

Biofuels vs. Biomass Electricity
from Technology Review
A study published in Science concludes that, on average, using biomass to produce electricity is 80 percent more efficient than transforming the biomass into biofuel. In addition, the electricity option would be twice as effective at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The results imply that investment in an ethanol infrastructure, even if based on more efficient cellulosic processes, may prove misguided. The study was done by a collaboration between researchers at Stanford University, the Carnegie Institute of Science and the University of California, Merced. More

Swine Flu Data 'Very Consistent' with Early Stages of a Pandemic
from Science Daily
Researchers from the MRC Centre for Outbreak Analysis and Modelling at Imperial College London, working in collaboration with the World Health Organization and public health agencies in Mexico, have assessed the epidemic using data to the end of April. More