Geothermal power now accounts for about 28 percent of the electricity generated in the Philippines. With 90 million people, about 40 percent of whom live on less than $2 a day, this country has become the world's largest consumer of electricity from geothermal sources. Billions of dollars have been saved here because of reduced need for imported oil and coal.

The City Council on Wednesday became the first in Ohio with a plan to channel grants and loans to residents and businesses to replace tar and shingles with vegetation.

A growing number of urban residents are happy to have a green roof over their heads. Buildings topped with ground cover, shrubs and other greenery are sprouting up across the country. Such roofs cost more to build than conventional roofs, because of the extra materials and labor.

Berlin wants to become a world leader in the solar energy field, both as a user of the sun's rays for energy and as a pioneer in solar technology despite its northern, cloud-covered location, its economy minister said.

Those who feed the hungry have been watching the numbers grow for months – the lines for assistance stretching longer and pantry and warehouse inventories shrinking smaller.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, oil prices soared amid an energy crisis. Predictably, there was a surge in the number of people turning to alternative means - such as electric space heaters and wood stoves - to warm their homes.

Shorter work commutes are one way to reduce gasoline consumption, but a new study finds that not all cities are equal in how easy it would be to achieve that goal.

The program, with help from a U.S. Department of Energy grant in Missouri, Kansas and Illinois, relies on private contractors, such as home remodeling companies, to perform detailed energy audits, which recommend the most useful improvements to reduce a home’s energy use.

Heerlen, in the southern province of Limburg, has created the first geothermal power station in the world using water heated naturally in the deep shafts of old coalmines — which once provided the southern Netherlands with thousands of jobs but have been dormant since the 1970s.

The Sullivan County Legislature unanimously passed a resolution Thursday creating an Office of Sustainable Energy within the County Manager’s Office, the beginnings of a countywide effort to make the county more “green.” Last year, the legislature adopted a resolution to look into more environmentally friendly and economical energy sources and equipment. Now, with the passing of this resolution, they will officially create an office with the charge of doing just that. “They’ve identified close to a quarter of a million dollars in savings just in their first blush,” said Legislature Chairman Jonathan Rouis. “It’s an area that we are going to have to keep a close eye on given the cost of utilities in the area and we think there is more savings to come, and this helps focus the efforts.”

While it’s a bit slow, the video above does a great job of showing the many benefits of cycling-friendly cities. Produced by the Interface for Cycling Expertise, with a script by sustainable transport guru Enrique Penalosa, the flick visits Amsterdam, Copenhagen, and Bogota and shows how a commitment to designing cities that are people-oriented, not car-oriented, can make urban residents happier, healthier, and more environmentally responsible.

"In my judgment, strip retail is retail without a future, especially in a carbon-constrained world," Ed McMahon of Urban Land Institute said. "What are defining features of the suburban strip? First of all, they are ugly. And second of all, they are congested. ... Try that as a shopping slogan."

Now we need a new generation of infrastructure building, led by the new president and Congress. And our approach needs to be truly strategic. We need to link critical goals — on the one hand, enhanced mobility and efficiency that enable us to compete with more advanced European and Asian networks, and on the other, reduced oil dependency and a “green,” lighter environmental footprint that matches the carbon-reducing demands of the times.

“It’s no longer something kinky or interesting,” Jac Smit, president of the Urban Agriculture Network, tells Worldwatch writer Ben Block. “The ‘chicken underground’ has really spread so widely and has so much support.”

The "Insulate Colorado Week" program provides homeowners with rebates to insulate and air–seal their homes to address rising energy costs. The available rebate is equal to 20% of job cost, up to $300 per home. The insulation must be installed by a participating Colorado contractor.

Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear signed an executive order on August 5 directing the Transportation Cabinet to immediately create and execute an emergency regulation authorizing the use of low-speed electric vehicles on Kentucky's roadways. The order was triggered by high gasoline prices.

America's energy capital is seeking to slash emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases that contribute to climate change under the plan, which city officials released with little fanfare days before Hurricane Ike.

Elected leaders, especially in Georgia and North Carolina, where gas supplies remain low three weeks after Hurricane Ike, are wrestling with judgment calls about how much government should do to respond. Should they declare an emergency and restrict gas purchases, or let the markets take their course? Should they simply urge conservation or work the phones to try to persuade gasoline distributors to release more of their supplies? And will their actions create more havoc than help?

A crunch on available funding for road projects in South Dakota has officials there exploring what options might be available to ease a shortage of available dollars.

While greenfield eco-town schemes acknowledge the need for a radical new urban/rural model, transition towns address a far thornier problem: how to retrofit the sprawl we built when sustainability was still an obscure 14-letter word beginning with s.