The monorail episode of The Simpsons — it never stops being relevant. Case in point: today’s Cool Green Morning link about the Podcar (version depicted above). Just do yourself a favor — try not to think about how that episode ended with the monorail accelerating dangerously out of control and Homer stopping it by means of a giant donut. Yeah: Don’t think about that.

• Introducing the Podcar: Holy updated monorail! Check out these driverless electric taxis slated for Abu Dhabi.

• You Will Fall Into a Deep, Deep Sleep: Leaving PCs on overnight costs U.S. businesses nearly $2b annually. But Treehugger reports that you can now hibernate your computer overnight (thus consuming minimal energy) but still transmit and receive information. (Hat tip: EcoGeek.)

• Climate Change Might Miss Me: Only 32 percent of U.S. residents think climate change will personally harm them even a “moderate amount,” reports the Yale Project on Climate Change — although 61 percent think it will harm “future generations of people.” (Hat tip: Treehugger.)

• Climate Policy Update: What — you haven’t been keeping up with the progress of the Waxman-Markey climate change bill? If not, The Vine summarizes the week that was — and the important week of hearings that will be. Meanwhile, Todd Stern, the U.S. climate envoy, tells The Wall Street Journal we need a bill to curb U.S. CO2 emissions to have any chance of an international climate agreement this year.

• Impacting Hard: Wired Science reports the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has just released its database of wildlife strikes on planes. (But the FAA believes only 20 percent of birdstrikes are reported.)

(Image: Suggested personal electric taxi system in Stockholm. Credit: visulogik through a Creative Commons license.)

Posted: April 27th, 2009 under Birds, Climate Change, Energy, Green Living, Media, Policy, United States.
Tags: Abu Dhabi, bird strike, carbon emissions, Climate Change, EcoGeek, Federal Aviation Administration, monorail, PC hibernation, personal electric taxi, Podcar, Simpsons, The Vine, Todd Stern, Treehugger, Wall Street Journal, Waxman-Markey, Wired Science, Yale Project on Climate Change