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One third of US construction market could be green by 2018 – report

A new report from the US Green Business Council found green construction has generated some $167.4bn in the last three years and supported more than 2m jobs – but some critics say the current LEED certification system is faulty

Green building construction is on track to make up a quarter of the US construction market this year, according to a new report from the US Green Business Council (USGBC) released this week.

The report, prepared for the USGBC by Booz Allen Hamilton, found green construction in the US has generated $167.4bn in the last three years, supporting more than 2.1m jobs and yielding $147.7bn in earnings for construction workers.

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Source: Guardian Environment

Volkswagen under investigation over illegal software that masks pollution

California and EPA accuse VW of installing ‘defeat device’ software that reduces nitrogen oxide emissions while a car is undergoing official tests

The US government has ordered Volkswagen to recall almost 500,000 cars after discovering that the company deployed sophisticated software to cheat emission tests allowing its cars to produce up to 40 times more pollution than allowed.

The Environment Protection Agency (EPA) on Friday accused VW of installing illegal “defeat device” software that dramatically reduces nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions – but only when the cars are undergoing strict emission tests.

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Source: Guardian Environment

Rescue teams continue search for Utah boy after catastrophic flash flood

Death toll has hit 19 after ‘hundred year storm’ hit the sister towns of Hildale, Utah and Colorado City, Arizona, often referred to as one place: Short Creek

The sister towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Arizona, straddle one another’s borders and are often referred to as one place, Short Creek, a reference to the stream which passes through their rural neighborhoods. It’s typically a shallow river. On Thursday, it was almost dry. Car tires, tree limps, and other debris poke from its thick red mud.

Search and rescue teams canvassed the riverbed on Thursday with shovels and cadaver dogs and dump trucks carried away tons of mineral deposit left by a wall of water that tore through earlier this week.

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Source: Guardian Environment

Martin Strel: 60-year-old man plans to swim through 107 countries in 450 days

The seasoned marathon swimmer hopes to raise awareness on water pollution through his 24,000-mile journey in March 2016: ‘It’s not such a big deal’

Martin Strel has a goal: swim more than 24,000 miles around the world to raise awareness of aquatic pollution.

The 60-year-old marathon swimmer will embark on this journey on 22 March 2016, which he announced last week, before displaying his swimming prowess in the rainy New York Harbor. Strel swam the 2.2-mile stretch between the Statue of Liberty and the marina near the World Trade Center in about an hour – a regular morning workout for the man who has swum the entire length of five large rivers.

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Source: Guardian Environment

Indonesia arrests seven company executives for illegal forest fires

A senior executive of plantation company Bumi Mekar Hijau is one of those held for suspected environmental crimes, as part of a wider drive to combat the pollution haze crisis, reports The Straits Times

Indonesian police arrested seven corporate executives on Wednesday in connection with illegal forest fires across Sumatra and Kalimantan, as part of a wide-ranging effort to stop the haze crisis.

Suspects included a senior executive from Bumi Mekar Hijau, a unit of Singapore-based Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), which is also Indonesia’s largest pulp and paper producer.

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Source: Guardian Environment

EU united for ambitious, binding agreement at Paris talks, says climate chief

Environment ministers agree bloc’s joint position after overcoming objections from Poland

Europe will not settle for anything less than a robust, ambitious and binding agreement on climate change at UN talks in Paris later this year, the EU’s climate chief has said.

“Today’s a very good day. The EU is equipped with a very solid position for Paris,” said Miguel Cañete after environment ministers agreed the bloc’s joint position on the climate summit, overcoming objections from coal-reliant Poland.

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Source: Guardian Environment

How not to save the rhino

As conservation efforts fail, scientists and economists are coming up with increasingly loony and dangerous schemes to save the rhino

Last month it was confirmed that the Sumatran rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) is extinct in Malaysia. The future looks bleak for this species. The few dozen remaining individuals are confined to remote forests in Sumatra (Indonesia), in refuges that are under siege on an island devastated by rampant deforestation.

Rhinos are under threat worldwide. The estimated population of the Javan rhino (Rhinoceros sondaicus), just 60 individuals, is even lower than that of the Sumatran rhino. In 2011 the West African black rhino (Diceros bicornis longipes) was declared extinct. The global population of another African sub-species, the northern white rhino (Ceratotherium simum cottoni), now consists of four individuals, all in zoos, none of them in breeding condition.

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Source: Guardian Environment

From Oregon to Johannesburg, micro-hydropower offers a solution for drought hit cities

Cities worldwide are harnessing the power of gravity to generate electricity from public drinking water pipes

To see how closely water and energy are linked, you only have to look at the west coast of the US, where four years of severe drought have led to historically low levels in water reservoirs, forcing some hydroelectric plants to shut down or cut production.

It’s little wonder, then, that new micro-hydropower technology that allows cities to generate electricity from the water running through their pipes is gaining worldwide attention.

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Source: Guardian Environment

We are pro-nuclear, but Hinkley C must be scrapped

Overpriced, overcomplicated and overdue, the Hinkley project needs to be killed off and the money invested into other low-carbon technologies

• Read more: Nuclear supporting environmentalists in call to scrap Hinkley C plans

As committed environmentalists, our conversion to the cause of nuclear power was painful and disorienting. All of us carried a cost in changing our position, antagonising friends and alienating colleagues. But we believe that shutting down – or failing to replace – our primary source of low carbon energy during a climate emergency is a refined form of madness.

Because atomic energy provides a steady baseload of electricity, it has great potential to balance the output from renewables, aiding the total decarbonisation of the power supply. The dangers associated with nuclear power have been wildly exaggerated, all too often with the help of junk science. Climate breakdown presents a far greater hazard to human life. The same goes for the air pollution caused by burning coal.

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Source: Guardian Environment

A dying Californian shopping mall gets the world's largest green roof

City links: Greening Silicon Valley, Guatemala City’s mystery zone and spray paint cycle safety in Berlin feature in this week’s best city stories

This week’s best city stories from around the web explore Silicon Valley’s newest sustainability project, an app which automatically sprays potholes you cycle over, the “missing” Guatemala City neighbourhood and Indianapolis’ growing pains with a new electric car share scheme.

We’d love to hear your responses to these stories, and any others you’ve read recently, both on Guardian Cities and elsewhere. Just share your thoughts in the comments below.

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Source: Guardian Environment