Friday Favorites: Clean & Green in Iceland, UK Eco-towns, Green for All, Vatican Climate Forest and more…

Iceland phasing out fossil fuels for clean energy

Iceland may be best known for world-famous musical export Bjork but there’s a new star quickly gaining this island nation worldwide acclaim — clean energy. For more than 50 years Iceland has been decreasing its dependence on fossil fuels by tapping the natural power all around this rainy, windswept rock of fire…read more at CNN

Eco-towns target doubled by PM

Gordon Brown has promised to double the number of “eco-towns” to be built across the UK from five to 10. The prime minister told the Labour conference in Bournemouth that a positive response to the project had encouraged him to expand it. This showed “imagination”, he said, adding that eco-towns would help the government meet housebuilding targets…read more at BBC

National Initiative to Create 250,000 Green-collar jobs for Urban America

Green for All, a new national campaign dedicated to bringing green-collar jobs to urban neighborhoods, launched today at the Clinton Global Initiative. Created by Van Jones, the co-founder of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, the group wants to harness the power of the growing green economic wave to bolster predominantly black, low-income communities in areas such as Detroit, Baltimore, and New Orleans…read more at TreeHugger

Vatican Penance: Forgive Us Our Carbon Output

This summer the cardinals at the Vatican accepted an unusual donation from a Hungarian start-up called Klimafa: The company said it would plant trees to restore an ancient forest on a denuded stretch of land by the Tisza River to offset the Vatican’s carbon emissions…read more at NYT

Prius a No, No – Peugeot, Citroen and Ford Are All Greener, Says New Study

It looks like bad news for the Toyota Prius. A joint study between Cardiff University and Clifford Thames an automotive consultancy revealed tht far from being the greenest of the bunch, the Prius lagged behind the likes of Peugeot, Citroën, Ford, Smart, and other cars in a new environmental rating system…read more at ENN

Sun-powered homes defy a cool housing market

Builders say buyers are seeking them out, and solar industry officials say growth is going through the roof. With foreclosures rising and home prices diving, there is a bright spot in California’s residential real estate market: Solar-powered homes are starting to outsell traditionally electrified new homes in several markets, and developers are stepping up their use of the technology…read more at LATimes