Weekly Round-Up: May 16, 2008

I can’t report every green business story, so every Friday, I’ll give you a little round-up of the stories I didn’t mention during the week. Feel free to comment on any of these stories!

2010: The Year of the Electric Car?

The race to develop the first mass production electric car stepped up a notch this week after Nissan announced it would sell an electric car in the US and Japan by 2010, and Volkswagen reportedly signed a major deal with Japan’s Sanyo Electric to jointly develop lithium-ion batteries for use in hybrid and electric cars. Read more from Business Green…

Do you think Nissan will be successful by 2010? If they are, will you consider buying an electric car?

Green Coffee

Starbucks wants to slash energy consumption in its stores by 25 percent and buy enough renewable energy certificates to satisfy half of its stores’ energy needs, all by 2010, the company said Wednesday. Starbucks released its fiscal 2007 corporate responsibility report in which the company laid out new goals and detailed progress on previously announced initiatives. Read more from Green Biz here…

Starbucks is planning to incorporate green into all new construction by 2010. so far, they’ve been working to save energy by lowering the temperature a few degrees, buying sustainable coffee, and encouraged its suppliers to join renewable energy programs. However, in the past year, they’ve recycled less and canceled their Grounds for your Garden program. Is Starbucks doing enough?

The EEA and Microsoft Join Forces

The European Environment Agency (EEA) and Microsoft have announced a new five-year alliance to develop an environmental information portal for more than 500 million citizens across Europe. The plan is the first phase of a scheme to provide a global repository of environmental information for experts, policymakers and individuals. Read more from Computing.co.uk…

The can build the portal, but will it be used by the general public? If you live in the UK, will you?