C3 News Digest - Feb 7, 2012

Cool pick of the week: Canadian municipalities with potential water shortages are become increasingly interested in recycling wastewater, even from toilets.

A C3 study released today identifies the most cost-effective energy efficiency opportunities in Alberta's homes and buildings.

Would a $1-billion prize be incentive enough for U.S. carmakers to develop a 100-miles-per-gallon vehicle? Maybe Canadian governments should be offering subsidies for fuel-efficient diesel vehicles, instead of just electrics, this automotive journalist suggests.

This automotive journalist test drove the all-electric Mitsubishi i MiEV, the most fuel-efficient mass-produced vehicle in Canada. Canada needs to take further advantage of the demonstrable benefits of biofuels, this advocate argues.

Billionaires such as Bill Gates are backing scientists who advocate more climate-change geoengineering experiments. Londoners are more apt to be influenced by scientists or Prince Charles over celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio, when it comes to climate change, a poll suggests.  

The U.K. government is proposing building regulations that would make zero-carbon houses commonplace by 2016.

In Canadian climate change news, invading shrubs in the Arctic are affecting wildlife and fire frequency. Increasing tree mortality in Canada's warming boreal forest is reducing its capacity as a carbon sink, scientists say.

B.C.'s climate is warming faster than previously thought, new research indicates. A prehistoric bison bone unearthed in the Yukon has provided important clues to how animals can adapt to climate change.

Set-top boxes for modern TVs can consume half the power of a new refrigerator, research shows. New lighting standards are spurring a revolution in energy-efficient bulbs.