Daily Archives: January 15, 2009

photo Venex_jpb @ flickr

How important is sustainable agriculture? It is expected that by 2050 the world’s population will need a doubling of agriculture productivity. Can we meet this demand without destroying the systems we depend on for life? Are the current methods of food production sustainable? If you asked Bill Mollison or Michael Pollan I would suspect they could point to many problems of our current agricultural system. As we have shown on TreeHugger they could als

Some time back, we reported that Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard had decided to extend the controversial “Hoy No Circula” (Today Don’t Drive) plan, a program where drivers are prohibited from using their vehicles one weekday a week based on their license plate numbers, to Saturday. The plan’s objective, since its launch in 1989, has been to force drivers off the road and ostensibly reduce pollution. But many question whether the policy actually works. S

Today’s TreeHugger Deal comes to you from ReadyMade Magazine. We’ve covered them several times over the years (see further reading links after the fold) because we think it’s a great reference that will be sure to enlighten you, entertain you, and inspire you to give your space the look and feel of you. Whether it’s a big space or small, or whether you live in a city or suburb – your place will be a better place with ReadyMade. And because the projects you make with ReadyMade will have you rethinking, re-using, and reinventing uses f

Click image above to see Mercedes BlueZERO slideshow.

Last month we covered in much detail the Mercedes BlueZERO trio of electric concept cars by Mercedes (which it now says are production-ready, and that it will make a low-volume EV in 2010), but back then we only had computer renderings. We had a chance to see it up close and personal in Detroit and took some photos:

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Setting the bar pretty high for airship design is this one from Christopher Ottersbach: Called the Aeolus Airship (named after Aeolus, the Greek wind god) it is designed to be aerodynamic than conventional airship designs, and stay aloft for up to two weeks on a supply of helium and, furthermore, is pedal-powered by the crew of 2-4 people. That’s about all the tech detail I’ve come across; it’s certainly made the rounds in the past couple of days but no specific website or contact info seems forthcoming. Christopher, I’d love to talk to you if you come across this.

In any case, here are lots of cool photos

Toyota’s Second Hybrid-Only Model After the Prius
The Lexus HS 250h hybrid is a first: The first dedicated luxury hybrid (at least if you don’t count the Fisker Karma plug-in hybrid, which is nearing production). It will also be Toyota’s second hybrid-only model after the Prius, and should be on sale this summer.

Read on for more details and lots of photos

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As January 20th ushers in a new era for America and indeed for the world, Barack Obama will have a cartload of sustainable development challenges to deal with if his presidency is to be all that he and the public want and expect. While the “Great Recession” could make addressing these challenges perilous and hard fought, with convincing rhetoric and bold action, Obama would do well to address economic concerns through sustainability.

Obama has already taken steps in that direction. During his campaign he pledged to spend US$ 150 billion over the next decade on clean energy, creating an estimated 5 million jobs. While he hasn’t given full details, he is expected to aim for doubling

“Kokage” means shade of a tree. Hirokazu Suemitsu and Yoko Suemitsu of SUEP have designed a house built from structural partitions that spread out like a tree to carry a canopy that acts as the roof. Each “tree” also is part of the mechanical system of the house, carrying cool water from the ground up to the top.

The fact that some of the USCAP members have been involved in projects in the Alberta Tar Sands, widely called one of the most environmentally destructive projects on the planet, makes me skeptical

despite the involvement of some great green groups such as NRDC, EDF and the Nature Conservancy. Photo: Wikipedia

Considering all of the reports that have come out about climate change, the amount of reductions needed, the best means of doing so, and the costs of inaction on every nation’s economy and environment I do find it slightly odd that another report has been released on the subject (which says essentially similar things to previous reports),

GM Increases Battery Investments
We already knew that the Chevy Volt would use lithium-ion cells made by LG Chem (and not A123 Systems – or at least, not at first), but now GM has announced that while the cells will come from South-Korea’s LG Chem, the actual T-shaped battery packs will be made in a new plant in Michigan. Rick Wagoner has also announced a new GM battery lab and a partnership with the University of Michiga