Green tech news harvest: Redesigning suburbs, cooking carbon, and mapping wildfires

Correction June 30 11:30 a.m. PDT: See below for details.

A sampling of green-tech news with quick commentary.

• High fuel costs threaten suburban lifestyles - The Boston Globe
  Does America need a redesign? Rising gas prices could drive an exodus from suburbs into city centers.

• Novomer launching plastic made from CO2 - Greentech Media
  Plastic made from carbon could be used in electronics and solar equipment.


Digital maps show the scope of California wildfires.
(Credit: Google Earth)

• Google Earth maps California fires - Google Earth Blog
  Tagged maps and NASA satellite imagery help to pinpoint some 1,400 fires raging in California.

• Number of flights to plummet by summer's end - The New York Times
  The number of flights by American carriers could plummet to post-9/11 levels as airlines struggle with rising fuel prices.

• Canadian carbon tax kicks in - Canadian Press
  A new tax has British Columbians paying an additional 8 cents per gallon for gasoline. Are similar taxes bound for the United States?

• Pacific 'Ring of Fire' nations mull geothermal power - Reuters
  Rich in volcanoes, Indonesia and the Philippines consider tapping deep into the earth for energy.

• Molten salt provides highly efficient thermal storage - Renewable Energy World
  Molten salt could be key for solar "towers of power" to work smoothly despite volatile weather conditions.

• Will shoppers become hip to square milk jugs? - The New York Times
  Square milk jugs meant to save fuel and water are bound for more bulk discount stores.

• EcoRAM could save power in server farms - GreenTech Pastures/ZDNet
  Spansion says its new flash memory would be 10 times more reliable and consume one-eighth the energy of DRAM.

• Military resists superfund cleanup - The Washington Post
  The Pentagon and Environmental Protection Agency battle toxic waste cleanup.

• Report: World to use 50 percent more energy by 2030 - Red, Green, and Blue
  This is a good explanation of last week's report that projects a 51 percent rise in carbon dioxide emissions in the coming decades.

• VW testing 94 MPG plug-in hybrid electric Golf - Carscoop
  Volkswagen is testing a plug-in hybrid that can run 30 miles on a charged lithium-ion battery.

Correction: This story initially misstated the comparison between Spansion's new flash memory and DRAM. The new memory would consume approximately one-eighth the energy DRAM does.