T oyota denied today that brake problems on its Prius hybrid cars were a safety issue in Britain despite speculation in Japan that the crisis could deepen tomorrow if the company recalls 270,000 vehicles in the US and Japan. Toyota Motor Corp., battling new complaints about braking problems in its Prius hybrid, is evaluating whether similar glitches also need fixing in the Lexus HS hybrid (pictured). Toyota Motor Corp was preparing a global recall of its new Prius model on Monday, further damaging its reputation for quality and reliability on the heels of two other massive recalls. (Read More...)

A reva, the giant French nuclear company, has bought Ausra, a small manufacturer of solar thermal systems that can be used for electricity production or industrial steam. French nuclear company Areva has just taken its first step into the solar market with the acquisition of Ausra, a Mountain View, Calif.-based maker of solar thermal equipment. The acquisition will expand Areva's business interests in renewable energy, which already include biomass-based power and development of offshore wind, according to a representative. (Read More...)

T he National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Climate Service, modeled loosely on the 140-year-old National Weather Service, would provide forecasts to farmers, regional water managers and businesses affected by changing climate conditions. The move is essentially a reorganization of NOAA, and would bring the agency's climate research arm together with its more consumer-oriented services. Also known as global warming, climate change has drawn widespread concern in recent years as temperatures around the world rise, threatening to harm crops, spread disease, increase sea levels, change storm and drought patterns and cause polar melting. (Read More...)

G eneral Motors Co.'s Two Mode Hybrid powertrain, used only in trucks, will migrate to rear-drive cars in the next generation, Tom Stephens, GM's vice chairman of global product operations, told Automotive News. Two Cadillac models - ATS and CTS - are likely candidate to get the system, consultant Jim Hall of 2953 Analytics in suburban Detroit, told the subscription trade publication. Hall expects the next-generation Two Mode Hybrid system to be offered eventually on the Cadillac ATS, a rear-drive Cadillac smaller than the CTS. (Read More...)

H ybrids and electric vehicles of today need heavy battery packs to generate power for their onboard motors, which does degrade the efficiency of the vehicle. Researchers at the Imperial College of London are developing materials that can store and discharge electric current just as a conventional battery does, but also serve as the bodywork of the car. The researchers are working on the idea as a part of a 3.4 million 3-year European Union-funded project that involves car manufacturer Volvo as well. (Read More...)

A massive Australian coal export deal with China, seen as boosting the economy and creating jobs, would ultimately result in enormous greenhouse gas emissions, The Greens political party said Sunday. Australian miner Resourcehouse announced Saturday it had secured a 60-billion-US-dollar deal with energy-hungry China to ship 30 million tonnes of coal a year from a proposed mine in Queensland. Australian mining company Resourcehouse announced Saturday it reached a record $60 billion coal supply agreement with Chinese power stations. (Read More...)

C ompanies have been making misleading claims about the eco-friendliness of their products for almost as long as people have cared about the environment. Back in 2007, the marketing firm TerraChoice went into an unnamed big-box retailer and evaluated the green-advertising claims of more than 1,000 products. "In response to the explosion of green marketing in recent years, the agency initiated a review of its Green Guides to ensure that they are responsive to today's marketplace," Vladeck said in his written testimony. (Read More...)

N avigational locks and gates in Chicago-area waterways crucial for shipping may be opened less frequently than usual under a $78.5 million campaign to prevent Asian carp from overrunning the Great Lakes, federal officials said Monday. The plan falls short of closing the navigational structures entirely, as demanded by Michigan and five other Great Lakes states. They fear the locks will provide an opening to the lakes for the giant carp, which some scientists say could devastate the region's $7 billion fishing industry. (Read More...)

I ran on Monday told the U.N. nuclear watchdog it will step up its uranium enrichment efforts, raising fears that Tehran is determined to build a nuclear bomb. The organizer of the Munich Security Conference had invited Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, hoping that he would announce Tehran's willingness to enrich uranium abroad -- just as President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad indicated last week. Iran announced Monday additional nuclear and military ambitions in the face of mounting domestic and international opposition, authorities said. (Read More...)

A rctic Treasures: Global Assets Melting Away says that climate changes in the Arctic are already costing the world somewhere between $67 billion and $371 billion annually. As permafrost melts it will release large amounts of stored greenhouse gases, contributing to greater warming as well as higher economic costs. Meanwhile, a three-year study aboard a research vessel spending winters above the Arctic Circle, involving more than 370 scientists, and led by the University of Manitoba's David Barber has concluded. (Read More...)

A report in the Independent outlines how the oil giant is still funneling money through various conservative think tanks and organizations in order to propagate the myth that the science behind human-caused climate change is "unsettled". Hell, we even fell for it when they said so (see Exxon turns off the disinformation tap). Because Exxon has only one, singular goal -- and just like that ol stereotype of the Evil Corporation -- it will do anything necessary to continue to turn profits. (Read More...)

M mm, I wonder if Will Ferrell and his comedy compatriots at Funnyordie.com saw Audi's Super Bowl ad last night? If they did, then they might have recognised the ad's satirical vision of a world patrolled by the "green police". The reason being that they made virtually the same joke - scoring far more laughs in the process - in their Green Team video a couple of years ago. To scratch one layer deeper: what is Audi's message to these guys who want to be good but find the effort anxious-making? Here's a way to meet your green obligations and still have a bad-ass car.

"I t was an important event," said Jean-Jacques Dordain, director general of the European Space Agency. "... A very beautiful launch ". Among the cargo is the European-made Cupola, a collection of seven windows that will allow space station dwellers to look directly out into space. Once Tranquility is installed, astronauts will move in air purifiers, urine converters and a bathroom which are currently cluttering the station's Destiny science laboratory. (Read More...)

T he Dongria Kondh tribe from eastern India today appealed to film director James Cameron to help them stop controversial mining company Vedanta from opening a bauxite mine on their sacred land as they believe that he will understand their plight better than most. The mine will destroy the forests on which the Dongria Kondh depend and wreck the lives of thousands of other Kondh tribal people living in the area ". Human rights organization, Survival International, has taken out an ad in Variety magazine pleading with James Cameron to help the Dongria Kondh tribe of Orissa, India. (Read More...)

C anadian environment minister Jim Prentice said that Quebec's new light vehicle emissions regulation are "counter-productive," a statement that has Quebec countering that the federal government is siding with the automotive industry. Quebec's new vehicle emissions regulations, which are modeled after California's, were put in place Jan. 14, but the full ramifications won't be felt until 2016. The regulation gives automobile manufacturers six years to adopt emissions reductions ranging from 24 percent to 37 percent, depending on the size of the vehicle. (Read More...)

I nterview In 2001 the IPCC published its Third Assessment report prominently featuring a graph that became "the logo of global warming". Mann's model could produce hockey stick shapes using random data, such as baseball scores, or red noise. Critics alleged that Mann's choices of data and statistical tools all cooled the Medieval Warm Period, and emphasised late 20th Century warming. (Read More...)

M asdar Institute researchers, along with several companies like Boeing, Etihad Airways, and UOP Honeywell devised a method of growing salicornia for getting biofuels out of it and keeping the CO2 balance in proper equilibrium. Their goal is to produce the salicornia biofuel without the shortcomings of other biofuel production techniques: using large amounts of fresh water and taking away land from food crops. The end use of the salicornia-based biofuel is, as you have probably guessed by the project's backers, is aviation. (Read More...)

S o what will it be, Mr. Punch-it-through, or Mr. Bipartisan? Obama seems to be determined to give bipartisanship one more shot, hoping that his reasonableness will trump Republican obstruction. Last week, right after his State of the Union Address, President Obama spent several hours with the Republicans at their Baltimore caucus retreat in his continuing, elusive quest for common ground. Speaking to a town meeting in Nashua, New Hampshire, Obama insisted that the health bill was alive, with or without Republican support. (Read More...)

E lectric-car services company Better Place has announced deals in Israel with corporate fleet operators and a gas station company, steps toward launching a nationwide network for all-electric cars next year. With the deals in place and support from the Israeli government, Better Place projects that it will be operating a nationwide network of thousands of charging stations by 2011, according to reports. Better Place, which promotes the idea battery swapping as a solution to EV-range issues, also said Motorola and Computer Associates are among a group of 92 companies that will exchange a portion of their Israeli gas-powered corporate fleets for Renault EVs starting next year. (Read More...)

V elozzi, a US-based car designer and manufacturer, has decided to integrate Capstone's ultra-clean microturbine in its two latest models: an electric supercar and a crossover vehicle. Velozzi cars will be operated fully on battery that can be recharged efficiently by microturbines, giving a driving range of up to 1,000 miles. Filed In: autos, driving range, eco, in, its, luxury, microturbine, supercars, two, use, velozzi, will (Read More...)