The Quick Service Restaurant (marketing speak for Fast Food) industry is beginning to take notice of the benefits of green building. Profiled in the article is a McDonald’s that utilizes passive solar, incorporates a white roof, and reserves choice parking spots for hybrid owners.

The McDonald’s, and a nearby Panera Bread, are part of the nation’s only LEED certified shopping center. Located in Savannah, GA, the center utilizes 5.5 million gallons of water runoff to irrigate landscaping, porous pavement allows water to drain into the soil, and energy-efficient HVAC systems are used.

Story from QSR Online.

The governors of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington have banded together to create the Western Regional Climate Action Initiative. Despite not having final details, the group plans to work together to create a regional plan to reduce greenhouse gases by working with the business community.

It will be interesting to see if this group can make progress, as it simply builds on existing programs that several of the states already have in place.

Story from the Associated Press.

Hybrid sales growth was up 28 percent from 2005 to 2006, the smallest year-over-year gain since 2000. Toyota continues to lead the pack with the ever popular Prius, but a reduction in the federal sales incentive has led to a sales decline and even prompted Toyota to begin offering incentives on a vehicle that previously had a waiting list.

There are a number of new hybrids set to roll out in the coming months so it is safe to assume that overall sales numbers should increase. New entries are to include the Saturn Aura, Dodge Durango, Ford Fusion, and more.

Story from Business Week.

Much media attention has been placed on the “green” issues of several major magazines, but just how “green” are the magazines themselves? Anyone who has been exposed to the magazine business knows that a tremendous number of copies go unsold each month, not exactly the model of sustainability.

In this article from Fortune, Marc Gunther calls out several publishers for not abiding by the same standards that they hold others to. For example, there is no chance of finding the environmental policy of Conde Nast, the Washington Post Co. won’t disclose the source of its paper, and Hearst won’t provide any details of its policy, though it claims one is in the works.

All is not lost though. Time Inc. (publisher of Fortune) has seemingly gone well beyond its peers and is forthcoming with details of the paper it sources.

Story from Fortune.

The world’s largest per capita producer of greenhouse gases has partnered with MIT on a renewable energy initiative that they hope will position the Emirates economy for a future without oil. The signing of the agreement between the two parties creates the new Masdar Institute of Technology.

The Emirates government is solidly behind the new venture, having already donates land and hundreds of millions of dollars to research.

Story from the Associated Press.

In the largest private equity deal in history, KKR and Texas Pacific Group have bid $32 billion for the largest electricity provider in Texas, TXU. As previously covered here, TXU had planned on developing almost a dozen coal power plants in Texas.

The deal is to be voted on today with an announcement as early as Monday. As part of the deal, the new owners would agree to stop the planned building of eight of the coal power plants.

Story from CNNMoney.

Orlando Bloom, star of such mega-hits as Pirates of the Caribbean and The Lord of the Rings, told the crowd at a pre-Oscar party that his new home on London is being built with the environment in mind and includes features such as solar and energy efficient light bulbs.

The party was for Global Green USA an environmental organization fighting global climate change. In addition to Mr. Bloom, attendees included Penelope Cruz, Chevy Chase, and others.

Story from the Orlando Sentinel.

Boston has approved several changes to the zoning code that will require that all new building and rehab projects over 50,000 square feet achieve at least 26 LEED certification points. Boston is the first city to mandate such measures and several are expected to follow in the coming years.

While the changes require that the buildings be certifiable, property owners do not need to go through the actual LEED application process. In addition, at least one person on the building team must be LEED certified.

Story from Architectural Record.

According to executives from the top six ad agencies in the U.K., consumers should brace for a wave of green marketing messages in the coming year. Experts agree that this wave will certainly increase the clutter and companies that aren’t convincing, or truthful, will see little benefit from such efforts.

Complete article from The Financial Times.

Once a darling of Wall Street, Whole Foods has seen its stock price plummet in the last year. Couple that with increased competition from traditional grocers and Whole Foods decided it was time to make an aggressive move to grow revenues and increase its footprint in the Northwest and Rocky Mountain Regions.

The purchase of Wild Oats will add 110 stores and about $1 billion in annual revenue. Growth by acquisition had been a favorite growth strategy of the country’s largest natural grocer, with Wild Oats being the nineteenth such move.

Story from the New York Times and Reuters.