Climate Cities

Keepin’ It Real Estate

Portland’s real-estate database makes it easy to search for green homes Realtors in and around Portland, Ore., will soon be able to search more easily for homes that have met […]

How Ultra-Low Can You Go?

California makes the jump to ultra-low sulfur diesel Starting today, on-road and off-road diesel vehicles in California will fill up with ultra-low sulfur fuel. California is leading the pack on […]

A new exhibit lets New Orleans residents tell their own stories

In the beginning of July, I arrived in New Orleans for an internship at the Louisiana Bucket Brigade. I met with Anne Rolfes, the coordinator and one of the founders […]

Umbra on electric cars

Dearest Umbra, Why are electric cars considered so great? They don’t pollute the air where they are driven. But certainly when they are plugged in they use energy from a […]

Are people smart enough to abandon the ‘burbs?

A fairly speculative piece on MSN yesterday asks the question, "Could rising gas prices kill the suburbs?" Its talk of infill and vertical cities may be the stuff of urban planners' dreams, but how will it resonate with real people?

Someone I know read the piece and took away this message: Housing prices in the suburbs are about to drop because everyone's going to leave! Sweet!

And if last night's House Hunters -- in which a couple with a baby upgraded from a 2,800-foot house in the 'burbs to an even bigger one because there "wasn't enough room" -- is any indication, it's gonna take a lot more than $3 gas to move us forward.

Engineers Gone Wild

Automakers combine forces to develop new hybrid transmission Tired of getting their rear ends handed to them by the Prius, GM, BMW, and DaimlerChrysler plan to invest over $1 billion […]

Umbra on carpooling to a reunion

Dear Umbra, You have told us, in no uncertain terms, that traveling by train is better ecologically than traveling by car. Several members of my family plan to carpool to […]

Pardon Me Boys, Is That the Chattanooga Cough-Cough?

Add diesel locomotives to the list of things killing you Recently, researchers discovered they’d been a little off in their estimates of how much smog-forming pollution diesel locomotives generate. How […]

Switch Getters

Industries pull the switch on mercury switches The steel and auto industries have agreed to pay $2 million each to remove mercury-containing light switches from millions of scrapyard-bound vehicles. The […]

Umbra on car trade-ins

Dear Umbra, I’m the not-so-proud owner of an 18-year-old Honda Civic — great car in that it gets 39 mpg, has a decent amount of zip, and generally runs well. […]