The Ferris Files

On Wednesday I have an interview at the Pentagon with Jackalyne Pfannenstiel, who is in charge of a hugely ambitious program to green the Navy. What should I ask her?

It is July in Washington D.C., and my new lawn is scorching to death. Watering it seems unfair because the problem isn’t a lack of water: the problem is that the water is in the wrong place. The air has a lavish, abundant 86 percent water content that makes sweat burst from my brow when I open the door to get the mail. It just refuses to fall on my lawn.

News and insights of the week from the world of cleantech and sustainability.

This week: Are oil rigs a threatened species? Also, rain falls on the electric-car parade, and Google makes a curious investment.

LEED, the building standard that has lightened the footprint of tens of thousands of structures, announced a new standard today that amplifies the idea to neighborhood scale.

My lady Anjali and I just moved to Washington D.C. and I are trying to figuring out where to buy a house. Do we live in the suburbs, or in the District itself? We’re both children of the suburbs but are conducting our search from a sublet apartment in Adams Morgan, a hip neighborhood in the middle of the city. As I walk around to its stores and restaurants, I ask myself: Could I see living in a big city, not as a lark, but forever?