[ World Environment Day RoZone Rally ]

The Portland Rose Festival is presenting the World Environment Day RoZone Rally at Tom McCall Waterfront Park on Wednesday, June 5 from 3:30-6pm.

One of the reasons Portland was chosen as the North American host city for World Environment Day is the fact that Portland’s Official Festival has been consistently recognized as the Cleanest & Greenest Festival in the world by the International Festivals & Events Association for many years. That distinction comes thanks to our unique parade clean-up program, which encourages parade-goers to get back to the basics of environmental responsibility and clean up after themselves.…

[ On Science, Politics and Climate Change ]

U.S. Representative Lamar Smith’s strutting his science cred.

Smith, a Republican, represents the 21st District of Texas, which includes his hometown of San Antonio, and chairs the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology. I met him a few weeks ago at a hearing on climate held by the Subcommittee on the Environment. He was the consummate gentleman. Despite the fact that I was testifying as a witness for the Democratic Party, he was cordial and gentle in his questions.…

[ Tesla Motors’ Success Gives Electric Car Market a Charge ]

Amid a decimated field of E.V. startups, Tesla Motors is riding high. But can its feats help take electric cars mainstream?

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[ With a New Look, French Teams Take Top Prizes in Shell Eco-marathon Europe ]

For several years running, French engineering students from two neighboring Loire Valley schools, Polytech Nantes and La Joliverie, have shared engineering and effort to build rocket-shaped vehicles that captured top prizes at Shell Eco-marathon Europe fuel efficiency race. But the students began to feel there was something lacking in their cars’ perennially award-winning profile.

“It didn’t look like a car,” explained Nantes student Frederic Calvez.

So the students designed Cityjoule, a super-compact, but street-legal electric blue coupe powered by a hydrogen fuel cell.…

[ New Energy Secretary Moniz Stresses Efficiency, to Start ]

In his first official remarks as Energy Secretary Tuesday, Ernest Moniz focused on an aspect of energy policy that lends itself to consensus perhaps a bit more easily than others:  the need for greater efficiency.

Speaking at the Energy Efficiency Global Forum in Washington, Moniz noted it was fortuitous that the annual event followed his swearing in just three hours before: “Efficiency is going to be a big focus as we go forward.”

The 68-year-old physicist and MIT professor was unanimously confirmed as energy secretary by the Senate last week.…

[ The Aftermath of Rotterdam 2013 ]

A mere few days after Shell Eco-marathon 2013, everyone from Eco-Runner Team Delft is still in a whirl. The team did a great job getting second place in the hydrogen prototype class. Even though we fought and hoped for first place, second is still a great achievement.

The week started perfectly. The Ecorunner managed to get through technical inspection without many problems. That enabled us to do some test laps on the real track at Ahoy on Wednesday. This gave us insight on the things that still needed improving in order to get the most out of the Ecorunner.…