Green Building and Real Estate Blog

A few years ago, Creative Loafing ran a Must-Do List of "100 things you gotta do to be a true resident of Tampa Bay." You could check off the things you'd done, note the things you hadn't and rate your overall Tampa Bay-ness. The list below -- "100 ways to go green right now" -- wasn't meant to be a sequel, but it occurs to me that this is the real Must-Do List.

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Tackle countless chores with common household items (like toothpaste and salt).

Lemons

The acid in lemon juice removes dirt and rust stains. It's especially effective when mixed with salt, which makes "an excellent scouring paste," says Karyn Siegel-Maier, author of The Naturally Clean Home (Storey Publishing, $13, amazon.com).
Price: About 50 cents a lemon.

Use Them to Clean Your…

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The presidents of five Central Asian states are due hold a summit in the Kazakh city of Almaty about water, the most contentious issue in the region.

The annual forum includes all five founding members of the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea.

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The fictional Don Quixote fought windmills in Castilla-La Mancha - but in March they were one of the main sources of Spain's electricity.

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Researchers at the University of Essex in Colchester, as part of a £2.5million EU-funded project,  are using biomimicry to study new ways of monitoring waste water and polution.  They are creating a school of  robotic fish.

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Motorists will be offered subsidies of up to £5,000 to encourage them to buy electric or plug-in hybrid cars under plans announced by the government.

It is part of the government's £250m plan to promote low carbon transport over the next five years.

But ministers do not expect the cars to hit the showrooms until 2011.

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In a win-win move for both the environment and the US auto industry, President Barack Obama announced on Thursday that the US General Services Administration would order 17,600 fuel-efficient vehicles—including hybrids—from GM, Ford, and Chrysler by June 1. The purchase goal is fuel economy that’s 10 percent higher than the vehicle being replaced.

While auto sales have fallen 36 percent in the first quarter of 2009 compared to last year, the government’s purchase is still only symbolic, representing less than two-tenths of one percent of total US annual sales. But lawmakers from auto-industry states like Michigan and Ohio reacted with fervent support.

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It has taken a quarter of a century, but US researchers say their work has finally enabled them to determine to what extent city air pollution impacts on average life expectancy.

The project tracked the change of air quality in 51 American cities since the 1980s.

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The US government has admitted the nation's power grid is vulnerable to cyber attack, following reports it has been infiltrated by foreign spies.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) newspaper reported that Chinese and Russian spies were behind this "pervasive" breach.

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Climate change experts in North and South America are increasingly worried by the potentially devastating implications of higher estimates for possible sea level rises.

The Americas have until now been seen as less vulnerable than other parts of the world like low-lying Pacific islands, Vietnam or Bangladesh.

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Want some change at home, but don't want to spend on furniture or decor?

Things you can do at home at no expense..

Watch this video

The US must balance science with what is politically and technologically achievable on climate change, America's lead negotiator has said.

Speaking at UN talks in Bonn, Jonathan Pershing said the US must not offer more than it could deliver by 2020.

Poor countries said the latest science showed rich states should cut emissions by 40% on 1990 levels by 2020.

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