Best bet to turn the White House green?
Who's best equipped to turn the White House green -- John McCain or Barack Obama? Both have made energy security and environmental stewardship part of their presidential campaigns. Both favor curbing the greenhouse gas emissions that spur climate change. Both say they want to stop U.S. "addiction" to imported oil.

L.A. residents ferret out toxic sites for researchers
Marcela Herrera wiped sweat from her nose as the screeching sound of a saw cutting lumber mixed with mariachi music blaring from a house across the street. Clipboard in hand, Herrera jotted down addresses in this Pacoima neighborhood where lumber, steel, ironworks and heavy equipment rental shops operate near homes.

Solar Powered System Helps Reduce Ship's Emissions - Innovation on the High Seas
Japan’s largest shipping line, Nippon Yusen KK, has teamed with Nippon Oil Corporation in developing a system of solar panels capable of generating 40 kilowatts of electricity for use on a 60,000 ton cargo ship for Toyota Motor Corporation. Unlike the solar panels soon to be offered on the tops of the Toyota Priusthat I wrote about last week, these panels are designed to assist with the ship’s motive power.

Failing grades for carbon emitters down under
Some major Australian power generators are doing next to nothing to prepare for a low-carbon future, according to a new report from WWF-Australia. The 2008 WWF-Australia Power Generators Carbon Future Score Card assessed 19 of Australia’s power firms on the work they are doing to reduce their carbon emissions and around half were awarded two stars or less out of a possible five.

Trucking firms line up for ports' clean-air programs
Following weeks of worry about whether they could meet their own deadlines, Los Angeles and Long Beach port officials said Friday that they were closing in on having enough trucking companies lined up to get their clean-air programs off the ground in October.

Global warming: Western U.S. feels the heat
As pilot Bruce Gordon lifts up from the local airport, the distant perspective of the Teton Range raises the spirits, but the unfolding sight of dying forests sears the soul.

California revives program to buy water from farmers
SACRAMENTO -- -- Saying California's water reserves are all but gone, state officials on Thursday announced the revival of a dormant 17-year-old program to buy water from Sacramento Valley farmers and sell it to the thirstiest Southern California agencies in case this winter brings a third year of skimpy precipitation.

Sea level rise limited to two metres
What is the maximum amount that sea levels could rise by 2100? Much attention has been given to the numbers issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2007, and the fact that they are absolute minimums.

New Hewlett Packard Notebook Cuts 97 Percent of Packaging
The new HP Pavilion dv6929 notebook has ditched the Styrofoam and cardboard boxesthat traditionally protect computers in favor of a 100 percent recyclable messenger bag that reduces packaging by 97 percent.

Australia adviser urges cautious carbon targets
Australia's top climate adviser on Friday recommended carbon be sold for an initial A$20 ($16) a ton from 2010, with only marginal increases for the first two years, to help business adjust to carbon trading in Australia.

E.P.A. Issues New Engine Rules
Announcing what it called new “surf and turf”? standards, the Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday set stricter antipollution rules for engines that run pleasure boats, lawn mowers and weed trimmers.

Asian pollution could spur U.S., European warming
Asian pollution from Asian power plants, cooking and heating could create summer hot spots in the central United States and southern Europe by mid-century, U.S. climate scientists reported on Thursday.