Eight states have passed legislation meant to make it easier for homeowners to put electricity-generating solar or wind installations on their property. They've found that homeowners who run into opposition from local agencies or associations often just drop the project - and states committed to cutting their emissions don't want to see that happen.

The Selectboard of Brattlebro, Vt. voted to dissolve the town's Peak Oil task force after receiving their report. The members were encouraged to work with Brattleboro's Climate Protection Director on integrating their suggestions with the town's climate protection plan.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government is showing great leadership in its efforts to address climate change. This article from Japan for Sustainability describes some of the strategies the TMG has undertaken.

Waste Management is converting a part of its California fleet to run on liquefied natural gas (LNG) to reduce emissions. But the really innovative part is that it will be generating its own renewable LNG from landfill emissions. Generating the fuel locally cuts down on waste while at the same time reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the landfill.

Here's a simple test you can apply to every new public works project, building plan or government land purchase: Will it increase the region's total greenhouse-gas emissions, or reduce them? That test is courtesy of King County, Washington's Executive Ron Sims, but state, regional, and city governments across the country are taking action to make sure development doesn't undermine their energy and emissions goals.

We've all heard that efficiency is the cheapest source of power. Here's one way to encourage efficiency. Cues from a "smarter" power grid can prompt end-users (or the computers they've set up in their homes) to be more frugal with energy during times of high demand. The technology is currently in testing phases in private homes.

Bike-sharing is hardly new, but this initiative in Washington, D.C., modeled on Paris's Vélib, will be a test case for the more high-tech version in this country. Tracking technology on the bikes can address some of the historical weaknesses that have doomed similar programs in the past, and arrangements with advertisers can defray costs to the city and the customer.

Maribyrnong City Council, covering the inner suburban area west of the centre of Melbourne, is rapidly proving itself to be Australia's (if not the world's) most peak oil aware council. On Tuesday 15th April, the council unanimously endorsed a Peak Oil Policy and Action Plan.

As part of a suite of bills passed in honor of Earth Day, the Council of Montgomery County, Maryland, approved one that would require all new buildings to comply with EPA standards for energy efficiency.

Previously, the only way for a local government to have a say in where the community's power came from was to establish a municipally owned utility. The Community Choice Aggregation process provides an easier way to switch to an earth-friendlier power supply without taking on the burden of managing the power lines, collecting bills, and the divisive politics involved with the expensive process of bringing energy under municipal control.

The mayor of a global metropolis, elected to his first term in 2001, set out to reduce driving and promote greener modes of transportation in his city. Congestion pricing turned out to be unfeasible, because influential political forces in the suburbs believed, rightly or wrongly, that charging people to drive into the urban core was regressive. Undaunted, the mayor found other means to achieve his transportation agenda.

At the Northwest Solar Expo, held last week in Portland (Ore.), the city's Bureau of Development Services announced a new permitting process for solar installations, which greatly simplifies what had been a fairly onerous process. The expo also saw much training in the booming field of solar installation.

The world is starting to be affected by the twin challenges of climate change and peak oil, but many involved in transportation planning are looking the other way. Richard Gilbert and Anthony Perl say that planning around airport development is folly for cities.

The US Energy Information Administration estimates that clothes dryers account for 6% of household energy use - third behind refrigerators and lighting. There's an easy and almost free way to avoid using that energy - but many people are finding legal restrictions on their use. Ontario is among a number of places that is considering striking down the clothesline bans that have been common in North America and parts of Europe, arguing that they are environmentally irresponsible. Laws seeking to overturn clothesline bans are now pending in Connecticut, Vermont and Colorado.

The mayor and city council of Gresham, Oregon have issued a challenge to city residents: live up to your environmental beliefs and sign up for renewably-generated power. Gresham hopes to enroll 300 more households during the course of the Green Power Challenge. Similar challenges have been conducted in Beaverton and Salem, Oregon.

Despite the building boom in the United Arab Emirates, cement companies there are facing lean times and closing their factories, leaving builders to source their projects on the black market. While the price of cement has been capped, the price of inputs - notably natural gas - have not. The higher prices of imported or black market concrete force building costs ever-higher.

A report back from the recent Green Intelligent Buildings Conference, which explored the potential links between green building and intelligent building. As states like California and Massachusetts look to encourage low to zero energy use in new buildings, intelligent building technology can help make that goal a reality.

Like other American cities, San Francisco residents rely on distant sources of food that travel an average of 1,500 miles to get to their tables. But the city is surrounded by unique agricultural lands, with a mild Mediterranean climate capable of producing nearly every kind of food enjoyed in the Bay Area. The American Farmland Trust's San Francisco Foodshed Study is looking into whether San Francisco residents could feed themselves exclusively from sustainable farms located within 100 miles of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Centre for Cities director Dermot Finch argues: If the [UK] government focused its energies on creating denser, more carbon-friendly eco-quarters in existing cities, the economic benefits over the long term would outweigh the initial costs. It's the magic formula of higher density, good public transport links, and easy access to jobs that profits both city residents and the wider economy.

Los Angeles County, California is considering imposing a fee on drivers in the county in order to generate funds for public transit and congestion-reduction programs, with the ultimate goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles. The bill, which is currently in the state legislature, has been endorsed by the County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.