thegreenguy - Adam Vaughan

And another new eco community: Britain Unplugged

It's looking like autumn 08 was the launch window for every green community on the planet. Britain Unplugged is the latest, brought you by the folk at the government-funded Energy Saving Trust.

Greenwala joins green social network bunfight

Hot on the virtual heels of eco community ooffoo comes Greenwala. Launched yesterday, it's a US social networking site with classifieds, a blog and a shamelessly Facebook-style news-feed. Do we need this many green networking sites? Does Greenwala look worth a punt? Over to you.

RWE plant turns coal CO2 into algae biofuel

Carbon emissions from coal power stations could be transformed into a green biofuel, German power firm RWE AG reckons. The company said today that it's started using flue gas from a coal power plant to 'feed' algae and produce algae waste that could, one day, be used as biofuel. Algae at the "Coal Innovation Centre" in Nideraussem, Germany, basically uses photosynthesis to process CO2 into algae waste. That waste could then potentially be used as future fuel. In other words, it's an embyronic form of carbon capture and storage. The project's taking place in partnership with Jacobs University and the Juelich Research Centre. I've asked the RWE AG press office for more details.07/11 update: no word back from RWE yet, but Jacobs Uni has just posted further info here.

Natural Collection adds 'ooffoo' green community

Online eco shop Natural Collection wants you to hang out with like-minded green people on its new community site, ooffoo. Launched today, the name comes from the web hex value for the colour green. Well, kinda. Strictly speaking 00ff00 is the value for green, but someone's already got that URL and it's not as easy to pronounce as 'ooo-fu'. So ooffoo it is. The site lets you post ads and blog posts, swap and sell products, plus it has a competition to win £500. I like the principle behind the site, but right now it's lacking a killer app. Still, it's early days, and any community site takes time to grow. Fortunately, Natural Collection has a lotta genuine fans. For proof, just look at the way it's always won the reader-voted category in the Observer Ethical Awards.