Govt awards Fisker Automotive $528.7 million loan to develop plug-in hybrid cars

WASHINGTON — Fisker Automotive, a California manufacturer of luxury electric vehicles, will receive more than $500 million in federal loans to develop a plug-in hybrid sports car with a sticker price of nearly $90,000 and a new plug-in hybrid vehicle to be built in the United States.

Co-founders of electric car company end legal fight with confidential settlement

SAN FRANCISCO — The co-founders of the electric car company Tesla Motors Inc. have settled their legal battle with laudatory statements of each other’s accomplishments.

What’s the scoop? Upstate NY group pilots composting program to rid dog park of pooch poop

ITHACA, N.Y. — A group of upstate New York dog owners thinks it has a can-do plan to profitably compost the tons of dog doo left behind by the roughly 50,000 canines that use the city’s pooch park each year.

Brazil proposes ban for sugarcane-ethanol plantations in Amazon

BRASILIA, Brazil — Brazil will prohibit sugarcane-ethanol plantations in the Amazon and other ecologically sensitive areas of Latin America’s largest nation under a plan unveiled Thursday by the administration of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Environmental group gives cruise ships bad report card on pollution efforts

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — An environmental group released its report card Wednesday on how well cruise ship companies operating in American waters are doing to reduce pollution, and not one received an overall grade of “A.”

Greenpeace says it has new evidence in Ivory Coast disaster, demands prosecution of company

AMSTERDAM — Greenpeace said Thursday it has uncovered new evidence linking a major oil trading company to toxic waste that killed 15 people in Ivory Coast in 2006, and asked Dutch prosecutors to reconsider charging executives with illegal dumping.

Students protest coal-burning campus power plants, urge colleges to increase green energy use

COLUMBIA, Mo. — College students from Missouri to Oregon are urging their schools to stop using coal-based electricity in favor of cleaner energy sources ranging from wood chips to geothermal power.

New federal program provides subsidy to suppliers of Upper Peninsula biomass electric plant

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — Suppliers of wood fuel for a biomass electric plant in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula will get a federal subsidy under an agreement signed Wednesday.

House votes to expand government research on advanced technology vehicles

WASHINGTON — Targeting more federal money to support the auto industry, the House on Wednesday approved an expansion of government-led research into making cars and trucks more fuel-efficient.

Environmentalists, economists, investors oil men and coal miners square off on climate bill

NEW YORK — Industry, economic and environmental groups are making a final push to influence a climate bill that may go before the Senate within weeks.

China’s current growth path could exceed energy resources of the planet by 2050

BEIJING — If China’s economy continues to expand rapidly and rely heavily on coal and other fossil fuels until the middle of the century, its power consumption would be unsustainable, according to a study by government think tanks released Wednesday.

House to vote on expanding government research on advanced technology vehicles

WASHINGTON — Targeting more spending toward the auto industry, the House on Wednesday considered expanding government-led research into how to make cars more fuel-efficient.

Automakers want to energize electric-car business by extending range, adding charging stations

FRANKFURT — The race is on among the world’s auto companies to make electric cars go farther on a single charge, bring the price down to compete with gas-powered vehicles, and give drivers more places to recharge them than just the family garage.

Urban farmers, gardeners in northern US use hoop houses to extend growing season

FLINT, Mich. — On the vacant lot in Michigan where her childhood home once stood, Carolyn Meekins grows seedlings for Asian greens, red kale and green beans in a plastic-covered greenhouse known as a hoop house.

VW plans new electric car at Frankfurt Auto Show; will continue to focus on efficiency

FRANKFURT — German carmaker Volkswagen AG said it would unveil several new models at this week’s Frankfurt Auto Show, including an electric car called the E-Up.

Appeals court blocks land swap between BLM and miner Asarco, citing bad environmental analysis

PHOENIX — A federal appeals court ruled Monday that a proposed land exchange between the federal Bureau of Land Management and copper miner Asarco LLC violates environmental laws.

Despite downturn, auto makers hope to dazzle with new models, technologies at Frankfurt show

FRANKFURT — Sales have plunged, General Motors Co. has emerged from bankruptcy and Chrysler has been taken over by Italy’s Fiat. The past year’s turbulence will be reflected this week in a smaller U.S. presence at the Frankfurt Auto Show — along with the new electric vehicles many hope will secure the auto industry’s post-recession comeback.

Researchers track 3,000 pieces of Seattle trash to get people thinking about their own refuse

SEATTLE — Where does that coffee cup, disposable razor or unwanted television end up once it’s tossed to the curb?

History, poor economy, declining Obama support could mean big losses for House Dems in 2010

NEW YORK — Despite sweeping Democratic successes in the past two national elections, continuing job losses and President Barack Obama’s slipping support could lead to double-digit losses for the party in next year’s congressional races and may even threaten their House control.

California lawmakers consider tough rules requiring utilities to boost renewable energy

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Increasing California’s use of renewable energy would seem like a relatively simple goal, but it has become one of the hottest legislative debates as lawmakers rush to finish their business for the year.

China could be $1 trillion a year market for green technologies, report says

SHANGHAI — China potentially could be a $500 billion to $1 trillion a year market for environmentally sustainable “green technologies,” a group of businesses and experts said in a report Thursday that urges governments to ease the way for such initiatives.

Federal judge says gray wolf hunts OK in Idaho, Montana

BILLINGS, Mont. — A federal judge said gray wolf hunts can go on for the first time in decades in the Northern Rockies, just months after the animals were removed from the endangered species list.

Federal judge rules in favor of controversial wolf hunts in Montana, Idaho

BILLINGS, Mont. — A federal judge said Wednesday that gray wolf hunts in the Northern Rockies can go on, denying a request by environmentalists and animal welfare groups to stop the first organized wolf hunts in decades in Idaho and Montana.

Okla. researchers hope 1,000-acre switchgrass experiment turns up a cash-making biofuel

ARDMORE, Okla. — Watching grass grow is tedious, but researchers in the Oklahoma Panhandle say they’ll stare at their switchgrass — all 1,000 acres of it — until they know whether they’ve found a commercially viable source of biofuel.

Mexico City’s love affair with plastic bags will have its limit under new law

MEXICO CITY — Teenagers use them to sneak beer into concerts. Morning commuters sip juice from them. Vendors save on containers by slopping everything from salads to bulk shampoo into them.

Japan’s incoming gov’t vows to cut emissions by 25 percent _ among most ambitious targets

TOKYO — Japan’s incoming prime minister promised Monday to aim for a 25 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 — among the most ambitious cuts proposed by an economic power and significantly more aggressive than the current plan.

Watchdog group: discrepancies in Sudan oil figures, southern Sudan could be owed millions

NAIROBI, Kenya — Sudan’s central government could owe its semiautonomous south hundreds of millions of dollars in oil revenue, threatening a 2005 peace deal that ended Sudan’s two-decade civil war, a watchdog group said Monday.

Former Army soldier gets 5 life sentences in Ky. for rape, murders in Iraq

PADUCAH, Ky. — A former soldier received five consecutive life sentences Friday for his role in the rape and murder of an Iraqi teenager and the slaying of three of her family members.

Peugeot Citroen, Mitsubishi agree to launch electric car in Europe by end 2010

PARIS — PSA Peugeot Citroen and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. have agreed to launch an electric car in Europe by the end of 2010, the companies said Friday.

Toyota’s Prius hybrid best-selling car in Japan for fourth straight month

TOKYO — Toyota’s hugely popular Prius ranked as Japan’s best-selling car in August, keeping the top spot for the fourth consecutive month with the help of government subsidies and tax breaks, an auto industry group said Friday.