Anheuser-Busch, the parent of Budweiser, has launched an ultra-premium organic vodka via its Long Tail Libations group. Purus, is made from organic Italian wheat and will retail for $35 per bottle at upscale clubs and grocers in the northeast.

The bottle is recyclable and the tiny label is printed on tree-free paper using soy ink and is affixed using water-based adhesive. Pushing the green message even further, the company will plant one tree for the first 100,000 people who sign up for the newsletter. At last check there were 76 people signed up so there is still plenty of room.

Story from AdAge.

Google today announced a renewable energy initiative with the ultimate goal to produce energy that is cheaper than that produced using coal. The clever name that they came up with: Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal. The plan is to produce one gigawatt of renewable energy capacity, enough to power San Francisco.

The Wall Street darling plans to invest tens of millions of dollars in the project and hire aggressively. Key technologies of interest include solar thermal power, wind power, and enhanced geothermal systems.

Press release from Business Wire.

School sure has changed since I was a broke college student. These days students are being given CFLs on move-in day, computer labs are using 100% recycled paper, and organic meals are being served in the dorms. To highlight some of the most impressive efforts by colleges and universities, the Sierra Club has compiled a list of the top 10 green schools.

• Oberlin College: Oberlin, OH
• Harvard University: Cambridge, MA
• Warren Wilson College: Swannanoa, NC
• University of California System: 10 locations
• Duke University: Durham, NC
• Middlebury College: Middlebury, VT
• Berea College: Berea, KY
• Penn State University: 24 locations
• Tufts University: Medford, MA
• Carnegie Mellon University: Pittsburgh, PA

Story from the Sierra Club.

Ten years after the last revision, the Federal Trade Commission is taking another look at its green marketing guidelines. The market for offset programs has exploded over the past decade and the opportunity to make a few bucks has evidently led some folks to bend the rules a bit.

The story doesn’t name specific instances of fraud or abuse, but requests from Congress have led the agency to “fast track” the review date from 2009 to 2008.

Story from The Washington Post.

We realize there are probably a few of you out there who occasionally forget to check the blog so we are trying to make it easy for you. You can now receive our blog updates via Twitter.

For those of you not already using Twitter, it is best described in the company FAQs as…

“Twitter is a community of friends and strangers from around the world sending updates about moments in their lives. Friends near or far can use Twitter to remain somewhat close while far away. Curious people can make friends. Bloggers can use it as a mini-blogging tool. Developers can use the API to make Twitter tools of their own. Possibilities are endless!”

What you can expect: As we post stories to our blog, we will also post to Twitter. However, unlike an RSS reader, Twitter is limited to 140 characters so you will only receive the story headline and a link.

Pangaya Blog updates on Twitter.

The EPA and Google have teamed up to provide a useful tool for tracking air quality throughout the United States. The program uses the latest information available and lays the data over Google Earth for easy viewing. Users can then pick a state and one of six common pollutants to get additional information.

Get started on the EPA site.

Dear Whole Foods,

I’m a long-time customer of your stores and am thrilled that your location in Chandler, AZ finally opened. However, there is one problem. Your canvas bags are tiny and resemble something a grade-schooler would carry. Yes, I’m sure that you studied the issue and maybe even did a focus group or two, but the pint-sized green bags just aren’t cutting it.

A trip to Whole Foods usually results in a bill in the $100-$150 range. Do you have any idea how many canvas bags it takes to carry that many groceries? The cost of the bags isn’t the issue, I just don’t want to lug a dozen bags to the store for weekly shopping trips.

Hoping that version two comes in a larger size.

-Sean Bartlett
Co-founder
Pangaya

One of the problems of adding “green” features to new houses is that by making them optional many people simply won’t spring for the extra cost. This makes it difficult for builders to get the best prices from suppliers and the whole thing falls apart before it really ever had a chance. However, by building it into the plans and price from the beginning, these nice-to-have features are just part of the deal. Reid Homes of Canada is currently doing this with geothermal systems for a new 150 home subdivision in Ontario.

The systems add a $10,000-$12,000 premium to the price of the house and pay for themselves in as little as 4.7 years. The company is so inspired by the results from focus groups that they are planning to use geothermal in an upcoming 1,000 home development.

Story from the Toronto Star.

Chipotle, the wildly successful fast-casual restaurant and best performing restaurant stock of the year (up more that 100% in the past 52 weeks) is having trouble securing the ingredients that have helped make it so popular. According to company executives, suppliers simply can’t produce enough to meet the demand.

About 25% of the beans it uses are organic, but it is unable to find enough natural meat to feed the thousand who frequent its 670 locations.

Story from The Wall Street Journal.

A few months ago I wrote about how Subway goes through an astonishing 4,000,000 plastic bags every 24 hours. There is no slowdown in site, but according to an article in the Wall Street Journal, America’s largest restaurant chain (22,000 locations) is finally testing a recycling program at one store in Florida. The store provides recycling bins for plastic and is able to accept salad bowls, plastic bottles, drink lids, and straws. In addition, the store was built using recycled materials and high efficiency lighting and plumbing are included.

Story from the Wall Street Journal.