The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Check out some of our most popular stories of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites!

TakePart Gang:

Arrested in Development by Wendy Cohen

Is Google Making Us Dumber? by Blair Golson

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Nicole Hughes:

Top 5 Ways to Green Your July 4th

Greenopia: Eco-Guides For Your City

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Andy Kondrat:

Hypermiling Contest Winner Gets 124 Miles to the Gallon

Rise in Fuel Prices May Lead to Dirtier Energy Sources

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Jon Popham:

Red Tide in Yellow Sea Threatens Olympics

Mercedes-Benz Ditching Gasoline Cars by 2015

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Giulia Rozzi:

46664 Concert: Happy Birthday Nelson Mandela

Denise Richards Likes to Share

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Gina Telaroli:

Top 10 Movies for the 4th of July: For Patriots and Cynics!

The Radical and Beautiful Journey of Wall-E

Mercedes-Benz has announced plans to cut gasoline powered automobiles out of its lineup entirely by the year 2015. The German automaker that brought you the internal combustion engine powered car, with Karl Benz’s landmark invention in 1886, is setting its sights on the next innovations in automotive technology for the 21st Century and beyond. Mercedes intends to invest over $14 Billion before 2014 in research & development on biofuel powered engines, hydrogen fuel, & clean electric powered plug in cars and their necessary accompanying battery technology innovations.

In the near term, Mercedes is planning on releasing its F700, which debuted at last year’s Frankfurt Motor Show, powered by a turbocharged DiesOtto engine that gets mileage of 44 MPG in a luxury car. The DiesOtto is an engine that provides virtually the same fuel efficiency as diesel out of gasoline without having to fit the machinery with the expensive after treatment systems which can drive up the cost of diesel car production. The F700 will also be able to run on biofuels.

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Honda Motor Corporation is on the verge of limited release of its new hydrogen powered automobile, the FCX Clarity. The new alternative energy vehicle will be leased to residents of the Southern California cities of Irvine, Torrance and Santa Monica starting this summer.

The FCX Clarity runs off of an electric motor powered by a fuel cell that converts hydrogen and oxygen into electricity. The car has a range of 270 miles before refueling with hydrogen fuel and can reach a top speed of around 100 mph. Best of all the FCX Clarity produces Zero Emissions, making it about as environmentally friendly as a car can get. With Honda creating the car to use hydrogen, the most abundant substance in the universe, as a clean energy source, the final significant hurdle that remains is finding a viable, environmentally sound way to produce hydrogen fuel, a feat that has evaded scientists and engineers up to now.

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