United States took major strides in energy efficiency this year, despite failing to pass new energy policy. Some advances in energy efficiency highlighted in the 2010 Scorecard include: nearly a two-fold increase of state budgets for energy efficiency measures compared to 2007 budgets; adoption of long-term, fixed efficiency savings targets by half of the states; a two-fold increase in the number of states that have adopted the latest energy-saving building codes for homes and commercial buildings…. Read ahead
Source: energyboom.com
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The world’s leading climate scientists will gather this week in the United States to hammer out plans to set up an early warning system that would predict future meteorological disasters caused by global warming. … 
Americans who currently use ethanol in their cars are said to be benefiting from the massive surplus of corn created from years of government subsidies. However, it now seems that corn-based ethanol production in the United States might have some competition from an unlikely source: wine yeast. … 
For the first time in the United States, populations of genetically modified organisms were found to be growing in the wild in North Dakota . along roadsides, in ballparks and cemeteries- and in some cases, have been cross-pollinating to create new plants that are resistant to several strains of herbicides. University of Arkansas graduate students traveled 3000 miles in the state of North Dakota and stopped every five miles on interstates, state and county roads to find out where exactly Franken-canola flowers were growing. The seeds of these pretty yellow flowers are used to make the popular canola oil, used in frying and baking all over America and beyond. Originally used to lubricate steam engines under the name rapeseed oil, canola oil was renamed for marketability and is now the third most popular vegetable oil for human consumption in the world. What the researchers found in the 406 plants they sampled was that 80% of them had at least one transgene, which is a genetically modified gene. Canola flowers were not only found along roadsides, where one would expect the seeds to blow off farm trucks and take hold, but also in .the middle of nowhere,. including grocery store parking lots, ballparks and cemeteries. Moreover, in at least two of these plants, the cross-pollination had created pesticide-resistant strains, resulting in canola plants that are resistant to both LibertyLink and Roundup Ready, two of the most popular commercial … 
Sagers agrees that feral populations could have become established after trucks carrying cultivated GM seeds spilled some of their load during transportation. She notes that the frequency and population density of GM canola that they found may be biased as they only sampled along roadsides. Alison Snow, an ecologist at Ohio State University in Columbus, says it is not surprising that escaped transgenic plants have now been found in the United States, given that this has already happened elsewhere. The escaped populations “could be a problem if you are worried about herbicide use”, she says. A major advantages of herbicide-resistant crops is that non-selective herbicides can be used, reducing the number of applications needed. But if transgenic crops escape and breed with related weed species, then that advantage could be eroded, and different and more herbicides might have to be used….