Honda Highlights Natural Gas Civic

Honda Motor Co., aiming to expand its range of low-pollution autos in the United States, is studying ways to boost sales of natural-gas-powered Civics to capitalize on consumer interest in a gasoline alternative.

The company sells only about 1,000 Ohio-built Civic GX sedans a year in California and other states with natural-gas fuel stations open to the public. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rates the GX as the cleanest internal-combustion engine auto ever tested, and the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy this month named the model ''America's greenest car.''

Demand for the vehicles is still low because buyers don't see a big enough advantage over gasoline-fueled cars, said Don Hillebrand, director of Argonne National Laboratory's Center for Transportation Research in Argonne, Illinois.

'Going Green' Pays Off For Boise Carpenter

The green building wave is paying dividends for Brad Boggess. Less than six months after starting his company, Sustainabuilt, Boggess has already moved once, and he's quickly running out of room at his newest Garden City location.

Stacks of kitchen cabinets made of recycled wood and exotic woods like bamboo lobby for space amid giant table saws. Boggess has barely had time to catch his breath since founding Sustainabuilt, which builds environmentally friendly furnishings for homes and offices.

Boggess, 32, used his own money to start the company. He formerly certified homes to make sure they met federal Energy Star standards and green-construction standards developed by the U.S. Green Building Council. He saw a business opportunity.

Energy Efficient Microchip

Researchers at MIT and Texas Instruments have unveiled a new chip design for portable electronics that can be up to 10 times more energy-efficient than present technology. The design could lead to a variety of devices that will last far longer when running from a battery.

The key to the improvement in energy efficiency was to find ways of making the circuits on the chip work at a voltage level much lower than usual. While most current chips operate at approximately one volt, the new design works at just 0.3 volts. Reducing the operating voltage, however, is not as simple as it might sound because existing microchips have been optimized for many years to operate at higher standard voltages. Therefore, memory and logic circuits have to be redesigned to operate at very low power-supply voltages.

One key to the new design, was to build a high-efficiency, DC-to-DC converter that reduces the voltage to the lower level — right on the same chip, thereby reducing the number of separate components. The redesigned memory and logic, along with the DC-to-DC converter, are integrated to realize a complete system-on-a-chip solution.

Michigan Governor Urges action on renewable Energy bills

Governor Jennifer Granholm wants the Legislature to pass bills in March requiring that 10 percent of electricity be from renewable resources by 2016. She said at least two dozen other states have such a standard and are attracting the jobs Michigan needs.

The utilities say they need legislative changes before they build multibillion-dollar power plants -- either coal-fired or nuclear plants -- whose costs would be passed onto customers. They argue that, without laws limiting how many of their customers could look to other energy sources, they would not be able to get the loans they need to build the new plants.

Wal-Mart to Audit State Capitols' Energy Efficiency

As part of their focus this year on clean energy, the nation's governors Saturday announced a partnership between the National Governors Association and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. that is intended to reduce the overall energy consumption of state capitol complexes.

Under the Greening the Capitols partnership, a team of Wal-Mart energy experts will conduct a clean energy audit of up to 20 state capitol complexes during 2008 and 2009. They will identify energy efficiency improvements that could provide a return on investment within five years.

Westar to Invest In Renewable Energy

Westar Energy plans to put off building additional coal-fired power plants in favor of energy efficiency programs, investing in renewable energy and improving the environmental performance of existing coal plants.

As part of its long-term plan, Westar also said it would enhance its transmission network, extend the life of its existing nuclear plant and improve the reliability of its service.

The report comes in the light of growing opposition to coal-fired power plant projects across the country, including Texas, Kansas and North Carolina.

Upgrade Your Home To Conserve Energy

If you are interested in energy conservation, the following five products should be added to your home:

• Washers that save energy and water. The newest washers are front loading, with features that use less water to clean clothes. Whirlpool, for example, has a washer that uses steam technology to save 73% of the water and 77% of the energy used by top-load washers manufactured only four years ago. A spin speed cycle is able to extract more water from clothes, cutting down on dryer time. Dishwashers are benefiting from steam technology too. The KitchenAid Steam Option dishwasher saves about 2,400 gallons of water over the life of the appliance.

• Toilets that conserve water. In many homes, toilets are the biggest water users. To save water in the bathroom, manufactures are developing toilets that use less per flush.

• No-VOC paints. Typically paints have contained some amount of volatile organic compounds. Today's paints often have low amounts of the gasses that hurt a home's indoor air quality, but a new product introduced at the builders' show contains no VOCs at all.

• Smart thermostat applications. Programmable thermostats are often touted as a way to keep energy costs down. The only problem is, many times consumers use them incorrectly.

• Low-flow faucets and showerheads. The latest versions of low-flow faucets and showerheads perform a lot better than their older counterparts, and homeowners who wouldn't sacrifice their hand washing or shower experiences for water conservation are giving these products a second look. Delta says it has a Water-Efficient Showerhead with H20kinetic Technology, a product that creates larger water droplets and provides a more drenching spray.