Today, the Green Car Journal gave its 2009 Green Car of the Year award to the Volkswagen Jetta TDI at the Los Angeles Auto Show. The 2009 Jetta TDI is a quiet-running, diesel-powered car. It beat out hybrids and mini-cars to take the title. The Jetta uses a technology called "clean diesel" which actually lives up its name pretty well. It has a very clean tailpipe, and an EPA estimated 41 mpg highway fuel economy. The diesel fuel burns 98.5% cleaner than vehicles in the 1970s, and thus produc...

As the ghost of GM's assassinated electric car haunts a fearful Detroit, another boogeyman is waiting in the wings: the world's first mass-produced plug-in hybrid electric car, being readied for its December release -- in China. BYD, a company that first made its reputation as the world's largest maker of cell phone batteries, has announced it will release the F3DM hybrid sedan on December 15. And BYD says it plans to release a version of the car in the US and Europe in 2010 or 2011, just when GM plans to begin selling its own plug-i...

Photo via belgianchocolate Are they going to have to make a Madagascar 3 movie where a lion, zebra, giraffe and hippo work to rescue some crazy lepilemurs (and pygmy tarsiers) not from foosas, but from human destruction? South Korea’s Daewoo Logistics has signed a 99-year lease entitling them to half of all Madagascar’s arable land. And, they will pay nothing to farm corn and palm oil there. The goal is to boost Seo...

photo: Julian Last month British newspaper The Guardian started a greenwashing column to turn the spotlight on the dubious claims of environmental benefits that some companies put forth. In the latest of these columns, Fred Pearce takes on BP, showing how that company hasn’t really gotten ‘beyond petroleum’ at all. Check it out, as similar claims can be made about pretty much every fossil fuel company: Despite any efforts they’ve made in ...

Jewelry by MoxRogers Etsy.com is a hotbed for creative reuse of junk. Even the quickest of peeks in the shop reveals artists making waste into treasure. Fortunately, artists are also repurposing computer parts that would otherwise be e-waste. One such artist is Audrey Rogers (aka Mox) who is designing jewelry for a much bigger purpose that simply salvaging junk. ...

Cargill ethanol facility in Iowa, photo: Steven Roermerman Regular TreeHugger readers will know that most of the posts about corn ethanol on this site are not exactly favorable, neutral at best. Compared to other feedstocks for ethanol, biodiesel, or some of the ‘green crude’ being developed, corn simply isn’t the best choice—not that other feedstocks also don’t have their problems, not by a long shot (palm oil plantations being the oft-us...

Photo via TroyMason @ flickr Trips into the outdoors often remind us just how rich life can be when we are reduced to necessities, instead of the superfluous. An Xbox game can't compete with a stunning sunset; the tang of saltwater spray, when you're under sail, is sweeter than any bottled sugar water. If you're a devoted outdoors-lover, the best gift you can give is your enthusiasm and passion; of course, it's hard to put a bow on that. If, on the other hand, you're buying for that special weekend warrior, we've done the hard part for you: collecting a lineup of presents in a variety of price ranges to save you some of ...

Photo via Getty Images Four big companies have recently churned out reports on how they’re doing with their greener sides. Not only is it fun to check out what they have to say, but it is also invigorating to see so many major companies trying to increase transparency, lighten their carbon loads, and help us do the same by producing better products. Read on for more on what these big four have to say. ...

Photo via Blude The Demand Response and Advanced Metering Coalition (DRAM), a group that works to educate and influence policymakers and the mainstream about smart grid technology, is changing its name to the Demand Response and Smart Grid Coalition (DRSG). But that’s not the interesting news. The interesting part is that it has accepted a few big names into the fold. Google, CPower, CSG and CSE have all joined the coalition, helping to add their industry influence to t...

image: Recurrent Energy The number of companies finding room on their property/roof for solar power systems continues to rise. Outdoors gear manufacturer The North Face has announced that it has completed installation of a 1 MW solar power system at its West Coast distribution center in Visalia, California. All of the electricity from the system, which is owned and operated by Re...