Picking a battery type for hybrid and electric cars isn’t so easy; WIRED aims its 15th anniversary issue at environmentalists; and at least one green writer think nuclear is the only option to coal-based power plants. Start your week with the latest green and CleanTech on EcoTech Daily:

UC Davis Report Provides Overview of Goals and State of PHEV Batteries: A University of California Davis report out this month illustrates the complexity of selecting battery types for plug-in and hybrid vehicles. The report points out that while lithium ion batteries are likely to better satisfy the overall requirements for an electric fleet, they’re not yet as suited for automotive use as nickel metal hydride batteries, such as those currently used by Toyota. The full text is available for download as a 1.1 MB PDF. (Green Car Congress)

WIRED’s Call to Environmentalists: True or False: We got an email during the wee hours Sunday from EcoGeek Hank Green asking us to take a look at his critique of a controversial new cover story from the crew at WIRED. The magazine has taken the occasion of its 15th anniversary with a cover that seems designed to raise the hackles of environmentalists (and maybe sell a few issues. Hank goes point-by-point through WIRED’s article — taking a pass on genetic modification and nuclear power — and it’s quite a good read. WIRED’s main error: assuming carbon is the only green issue. (EcoGeek)

Does Nuclear Power Compete With Conservation, Wind, Solar and Biomass?: While EcoGeek opts for neutrality on nuclear energy, there’s no such ambiguity for CleanTechnica’s Rod Adams. He’s a former nuclear power technician, and thinks it’s the best — and only — option to replace fossil fuel plants. Adams points out the obvious: wind is fickle and the sun goes down at night. Of course, there’s plenty of work going on right now to make wind and solar better suited for 24/7 base power generation. (CleanTechnica)

$2 Billion Wind Turbine Order Is Largest Ever: If you’d like to start your week with some unusual and very impressive views of industrial wind turbines, head over to Metaefficient. The shots illustrate coverage of Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens’ grand plan for windpower domination. Pickens plans to build the world’s largest wind farm in the Texas panhandle: a 4,000 megawatt, $10 billion behemoth that will supply power to well over a million homes. (Metaefficient)

Canühome Shows Smart Sustainability at Home: Here at EcoTech Daily, we never get our fill of cool green concept homes. Jetson Green has some nice shots of the Canühome project displayed at Toronto’s Green Living Expo. Immediately striking: the vast amounts of FSC-certified wood everywhere you look, giving the home a very livable appeal. Canühome packs an amazing array of storage, waste processing, and energy management features into a very compact 850 square foot plan. (Jetson Green)

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