Feb 27 2009

The Green Seen

Posted by: Leonard Anderson

Several items relating to the business and technology of clean energy caught our attention this week:

• Toyota aims to build a small car with a bioplastic body made of seaweed. The vehicle would be based on the Japanese automaker's 926-pound 1/X plug-in hybrid concept car which has a carbon-fiber reinforced plastic body made from oil. A Toyota manager sees a future for new car materials manufactured from plants, saying he wants to create such a car from seaweed because Japan is surrounded by the sea.
• Portugal's Energias de Portugal and Seattle-based Principle Power Inc. plan a utility-scale, deepwater floating wind farm offshore Portugal but details for now are slim. Principle Power would first install a single "WindFloat" platform for a technology demonstration. The company also plans to build a 150-megawatt deepwater wind farm off the  Oregon coast.
• Closer to home, the popular Muir Woods National Monument across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco will revamp its cafe in the redwoods park to a sustainable menu and toss out bottled water, soda, refined sugar and high-fructose corn syrup. All the provisions will come from within 50 miles, mostly from Marin Organic, an association of organic producers in Marin County. Local farmers will also meet with park visitors. We'll be on alert for similar steps at other state and national parks.

© 2008 Pacific Gas and Electric Company. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms

"PG&E" refers to Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation.