OK, so I haven’t posted a weekly green news roundup in a while, but I’m getting back to making it a regular feature as of today. So what are the green scoops across the U.S. this week? There’s plenty:
- Over in Dallas, for instance, officials and urban designers are gathering today for an all-day “charrette” (or brainstorming session) to figure out what it would take to create a fully sustainable city block. They hope to follow up their meeting with an international competition to design just such a thing. (You can read more here (PDF)).
- Not too far away, folks in Austin are setting off on a different type of green initiative. The Pecan Street Project, developed in cooperation with the Environmental Defense Fund and other partners, aims to reinvent the city’s electric infrastructure to make it “smarter,” cleaner and more renewables-based.
- Over in my neck of the woods, Florida Power & Light Company this week broke ground on what it says will be the world’s first hybrid solar energy plant. The Martin Next Generation Solar Energy Center will generate solar power when it can, and fill in any gaps using traditional natural gas power.
- Hawaii earned a gold star this week by becoming the second state (California was first) to join forces with Better Place, which will help it develop an electric-car infrastructure (PDF). The state hopes to have electric cars available on the mass market by 2012.
- Dreaming of a green Christmas? A holiday display in Fort Wayne, Indiana, can help you with that. The Embassy Theatre’s annual Festival of Trees this year features a Christmas tree whose lights are powered with pedal power.
Well, that’s it for now, but I promise I’ll have another roundup for you all at the end of next week!
