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The Toronto based company, Softchoice, has unveiled a searchable database that will allow consumers to compare various computing products and identify the most eco-friendly among them. The database contains over 350,000 products from various computing categories.

Softchoice gathered the data from CNET Networks and the Green Electronics Council's database of products that have met EPEAT standards. The Council uses EPEAT (Electronic Products Environmental Assesment Tool)to evaluate computing equipment on 23 mandatory criteria and 28 optional criteria that measure a products environmental sustainability, which includes packaging, materials selection, longevity and end of life design. Products that meet 23 criteria are awarded a bronze certificate while those that

With over 12 billion dollars in climate change related assets, Deutsche Asset Management (DeAm) is now offering a green investment fund. The shift away from a carbon-based economy will be an increasing trend that the fund, distributed by DWS Scutter, hopes to profit from.

Areas of investment include clean energy generation, environmental damage mitigation, energy efficiency, and alternative energy infrastructure. The fund will seek maximum return, investing 80 percent of assets in stocks and

Last year on March 31 in Sydney, Australia, thousands of people participated in an event created by the World Wildlife Fund called Earth Hour. At 8 p.m. they turned their lights off for one hour, which resulted in a 10.2% reduction in energy use for the city.

Since then the idea has spread around the globe. This year millions of people in hundreds of cities around the world will participate, along with many major corporations, and, of course, many celebrities. This year's Earth Hour will take place tomorrow night, March 29th, at 8:00 p.m., your own local time. Many

Today in Seoul, South Korea, Hyundai Motor Company announced plans to begin mass production of hybrid electric vehicles by early 2009. Hyundai-Kia chairman Chung Mong Koo stated that "the importance of developing futuristic, environmentally-friendly cars is increasing for sustainable growth... Therefore, technology for advanced cars, like the hybrid, is imperative." He went on to say that Hyundai plans to develop a small fleet of fuel cell electric cars by 2012.

To meet its 2009 goals Hyundai plans to create a mass production system, develop new technology and expand its model lineup. The compact-sized LPG (Liquified Petroleum Gas) model, the Avante (Elantra)

Whirlpool recently unveiled its Trekish-looking "green kitchen" concept. The as yet unnamed amalgam of appliances will supposedly divert up to 60% of the water and heat generated by appliances to fuel other appliances.

The concept is modeled after the cycle of nature, which optimizes the use of heat and water, and is expected to increase energy efficiency up to 70%. For example, the refrigerator will use heat produced

A gravity powered lamp has won second place in the Greener Gadgets Design Competition, part of the Greener Gadgets Conference in New York City. Designed by Clay Moulton of Springfield, VA, the Gravia lamp uses the energy of a slowly falling mass to power LEDs that produce lighting equivalent to a 40 watt incandescent bulb.

The concept involves a four foot acrylic column that houses a mass that spins a rotor while slowly falling. The electricity generated by the rotor is used to power ten high-output LEDs that fire into the acrylic lens to diffuse the light throughout the column. The light output achieves from 600 to 800 lumens and lasts

The Brazilian pulp and paper company Grupo ORSA has been using a sustainable forestry model for the past five years that offers hope for the Amazonian rain forest.

Managing the world's largest private tropical forest, ORSA harvests just 30 cubic meters (12,713 board feet)of timber per hectare (2.47 acres) every 30 years. This falls just below the natural regeneration rate, so the forest is able to grow faster than it is destroyed. Augusto Praxedes Neto, a manager at

Using raw data from both the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Geographic Society's Green Guide, Popular Science has come up with a list of the top 50 greenest cities in America. The data were compiled

into four broad categories, with each category receiving a score out of either five or ten possible points. The total score determined the city's rank. The categories were:

Duke Energy has gained approval to build two coal-fueled power plants that will incorporate advanced clean coal technologies to drastically reduce emissions. One plant will be built in Cliffside Stream, North Carolina, the other in Edwardsport, Indiana.

The Edwardsport station will be the first power plant in the country to demonstrate carbon capture and storage, an exciting prospect considering recent criticism of the practicality of such technology. The plant will use integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) technology to convert coal into a synthetic

The first-ever Greener Gadgets conference and design competition in New York focused on environmental sustainability and rapid innovation in the consumer electronics industry. The event was sponsored by Inhabitat and Marc Alt Partners to address product life cycle management, energy efficiency, recycling, design, materials, and ecologically-minded lifestyle and product marketing.

Keynote speakers included Mary Lou Jepsen, former Chief Technology Officer of One Laptop Per Child, artists Chris Jordan and Natalie Jeremijenko, and John Solomon, Vice President of the Imaging and Printing Group at Hewlett Packard. Several products were represented