• Bricks from India are made from recycled paper mill waste, cement
  Two Indian researchers have developed bricks made of recycled paper mill waste and cement that can be used to make partition walls and false ceilings. These bricks are half the price of regular bricks, are lighter and reduce waste. Inhabitat (1/31)      

• New roof technology can add sustainability to existing buildings
  A new design known as "Energy Roof" can provide solar energy and collect rainwater for existing buildings, according to this article. The structure consists of "Solar Ivy cells" that use the sun and wind to create renewable energy, and a "Super Hydrophobic Drain System" that stores rainwater. It also functions as a green roof to reduce the heat-island effect. Eco Chunk (India) (1/29)      

• Ethanol industry is urged to support Open Fuel Standard
  Diversifying the country's fuel supply would decrease gasoline prices and boost energy security, said Anne Korin, co-director for the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, during a talk at the seventh annual Iowa Renewable Fuels Summit. A bill calling for an Open Fuel Standard has been reintroduced in Congress, but it needs the full support of the biofuels industry to advance, Korin said. "It's very important for the country that the ethanol industry be engaged in this fight," she said. DomesticFuel.com (2/1)      

• Bye-bye, boomers -- and hello to Generation Y
  Generation Y consumers are replacing baby boomers as the key target demographic for green marketers, writes Gwynne Rogers. The "born green" generation is more suspicious of corporations in general but more eager to live a sustainable lifestyle, making them a perfect target for eco-branding messages. "Understanding what makes this consumer group tick is an investment that will pay off for businesses for years to come," Rogers writes. The Guardian (London) (2/4)      

• Energy Secretary Steven Chu resigns
  Steven Chu is stepping down from his post as secretary of the Department of Energy. During his tenure, Chu brought a "unique understanding of both the urgent challenge presented by climate change and the tremendous opportunity that clean energy represents for our economy," President Barack Obama said in a statement. Chu is expected to stay on until the end of the month or until his successor is named. The Oregonian (Portland)/The Associated Press (2/1)      

• Nuclear energy has an undeniable clean-energy role
  Clean-energy advocates are wrong to exaggerate the dangers associated with nuclear energy while downplaying the shortcomings of wind power, writes Norman Meadow, first vice president of the Maryland Conservation Council. Several academic studies have supported nuclear energy's safety and reliability, Meadow writes, and the relicensing of several of the country's nuclear plants shows that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission acknowledges these traits. The Baltimore Sun (1/31)      

Top five news stories selected by SmartBrief on Sustainability readers in the past week.

• The case for culling cats to save other animals (ScientificAmerican.com)

• McDonald's wins eco-label for seafood products (FastCoExist)

• How to eat fast food with a clear conscience (The Huffington Post)

• 49ers stadium to be a net-zero energy facility (American City Business Journals)

• Chipotle looks to boost its standing as a lifestyle brand (Bloomberg Businessweek)

• Results based on number of times each story was clicked by readers.

• 6 ways to boost engagement through empowerment
  Leaders who focus on employee empowerment will have greater worker engagement than those who focus only on exercising their control, Thomas J. Walter writes. He suggests six steps to successful engagement, including giving workers the chance to make decisions and not assigning blame when failure occurs but rather focusing on the cause and fixing it. SmartBrief/SmartBlog on Leadership (1/31)      

Until now, boomers have dominated the sustainable marketplace. ... But, the tide appears to be shifting." --Gwynne Rogers, senior business director at the Natural Marketing Institute, writing in The Guardian