In an automotive sector strained by recession, lay-offs, bankruptcies, the credit crunch and recalls, one bright spot over the last year has been the move among corporations to more fuel efficient fleets.

Poland Springs Water, a brand of Nestle Waters, has been greening its fleet since 2007, and seeing big savings as a result. It all started when Chris McKenna moved from warehouse manager to fleet manager at Poland Springs. He had been using biodiesel in the warehouse yard trucks and thought it might be worth testing for the fleet.

Just a few years ago, the idea of replacing kerosene-based jet fuel with renewable fuel from plants seemed out of the question. The cost of producing such alternative fuels dwarfed that of traditional jet A-grade fuel, and moving a severely carbon-intensive industry toward cleaner fuels would only happen if the economics worked out.

A 2008 spike in oil prices and a global economic slowdown later, and suddenly bio-jet fuel isn’t just back on the table, it might be in your airplane’s engines in the next four or five years.

EVO Electric’s chief technology officer shared an important bit of news with a room full of venture capitalists at the Cleantech Forum in San Francisco: The three-year-old British startup had just formed a key partnership with luxury carmaker Lotus. The Lotus Group officially unveiled the partnership this morning, announcing that its concept Evora plug-in hybrid, on display at the Geneva Auto Show, will include two EVO electric motors and an EVO range extender system.

It’s the first electric vehicle announcement in quite awhile that touches on something other than batteries or plug-in infrastructure, a fact that either hints at a dearth of technology or results in that section of the market, or an excessive secrecy among those working on motor, drive train and range-extender technology.

If you think IT and sustainability are two totally different worlds, think again.

Most of what is referred to as “smart” these days — smart transportation, the smart grid and smart cities, for example — is made intelligent by processors, sensors and analytical software, and of course the servers that make it all possible. So it’s not surprising to see tech giants like IBM wanting to create a smarter planet, Cisco wanting to craft smart tech solutions for utilities and companies, and plenty of other, smaller companies wanting a piece of the action.

But while the money and hoopla surrounding all things smart can cloud the issue a bit, the point is that infrastructure in this country is sorely in need of an overhaul. In its Smarter Cities Virtual Leader Forum today, IBM recapped what it’s doing to make education, transportation, government, energy and healthcare smarter. It sees cities as systems of systems.

Cities around the world could soon be tapping shipping giant FedEx’s logistical expertise as they develop more sustainable transportation systems. The company is joining forces with EMBARQ, The World Resources Institute Center for Sustainable Transport, and will spend $500,000 over the next two years to help support the program’s efforts in Mexico.

Why Mexico? There are a few reasons. First, EMBARQ launched there, and its work in Mexico City over the past eight years has helped inform work done by its other centers throughout the world. It also has strong partnerships with government and private agencies throughout the country.

Mexico’s role as the host of the next big global climate summit starting in late November may have attracted FedEx’s attention, as well.