Environment

20110303-103604-pic-325411905.jpg

Van Metre Homes is building 3,100 town homes at Stone Ridge in Aldie. The homes have 2,562 to 2,608 finished square feet, with base prices from $348,990 to $359,990.

20110303-103629-pic-605863742.jpg

The kitchen has a center-island cooktop, a second island with a breakfast bar, stainless steel appliances and granite counters.

20110303-103622-pic-558237025.jpg

The Colorado model's main level features a center-island kitchen with a breakfast area and a walk-in pantry. Upstairs are four bedrooms, each with at least one walk-in closet.

NEWZEALAND.jpg

Tracey Harris, second left, is assisted as he walks behind the coffin of her 9-month-old son, Jayden Harris, In Christchurch, New Zealand, Wednesday, March 2, 2011. Jayden who was killed Tuesday Feb. 22, 2011, when a 6.3 magnitude earthquake hit Christchurch causing extensive damage and loss of life. (AP Photo/New Zealand Herald, Mark Mitchell)

20110301-184320-pic-722477689.jpg

Laborers offload bags of coconut powder in January at Hamriyeh port in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The goods were scheduled to be loaded onto a container ship for export to Iran. (Associated Press)

Switzerland_Auto_Show.sff.jpg

The new Audi Q5 Hybrid car is shown during the press day at the 81st Geneva International Motor Show in Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday, March 1, 2011. The Motor Show will open its gates to the public from March 3 to 13. (AP Photo/Keystone, Martial Trezzini)

National_Parks-Drilling.sff.jpg

Musician Peter Yarrow performs for a crowd of environmental activists across from the Frank E. Moss Federal Courthouse Monday, Feb. 28, 2011, in Salt Lake City. Hundreds of demonstrators showed up to march and support Tim DeChristopher on the opening day of his federal trial on charges of bidding up prices at an auction of land leases that he couldn't pay for. (AP Photo/Jim Urquhart)

20110228-195121-pic-406903855.jpg

Chef Langaney cooks vegetarian food using solar energy at El Romero last month. On its extensive menu: ceviche made from the stems of lily pads that grow wild, yucca and sweet potato "meatballs," pumpkin flower-paste crepes, sauteed prickly pear cactus with aromatic herbs. (Associated Press)

Severe Weather_Lea.jpg

A Washington Township school bus sits on the side of the road in Fishers, Ind., northeast of Indianapolis, on Monday, Feb. 28, 2011. Severe thunderstorms cut across central and southern Indiana early Monday, dumping heavy rains that flooded roadways and whipping up high winds that damaged homes and toppled trees and power lines. (AP Photo/The Indianapolis Star, Matt Kryger)

New Zealand Earthquak_Thir.jpg

A relief worker walks past the earthquake-damaged Christchurch Cathedral in Christchurch, New Zealand, Saturday, Feb. 26, 2011. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

TERROR.jpg

Carolina Biological Supply Company in Burlington, N.C., is shown in this Thursday, Feb. 24, 2011, photo. A young college student from Saudi Arabia who studied chemical engineering in Texas purchased explosive chemicals over the Internet as part of a plan to hide bomb materials inside dolls and baby carriages to blow up dams, nuclear plants or the Dallas home of former President George W. Bush, the Justice Department said Thursday. One of the chemical companies, Carolina Biological Supply, reported suspicious purchases by Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari, 20, of Lubbock, Texas, to the FBI on Feb. 1. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

NEWZEALAND.jpg

A search and recovery operation personnel sifts through the destroyed CTV building in Christchurch, New Zealand, Thursday, Feb. 24, 2011, after the city was hit by a 6.3 magnitude earthquake Tuesday, Feb 22. (AP Photo/Rob Griffith)

shuttle_5244

Space shuttle Discovery lifts off from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Thursday, Feb. 24, 2011. Discovery is on an 11-day mission to the international space station. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Space Shuttle_Live(2).jpg

Space shuttle Discovery lifts off Thursday from Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Discovery, as part of its last mission, will carry the Leonardo Permanent Multipurpose Module, or PMM, to the International Space Station. (Associated Press)

20110224-172134-pic-355152811.jpg

Jim Marsh, a Cayuse Indian from the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Pendleton, Ore., walks away from a bison that he fatally shot earlier this month near Gardiner, Mont. For the first time in more than 100 years, the Umatillas are able to hunt bison just outside Yellowstone National Park, restoring a centuries-old tradition guaranteed by a treaty signed in 1855. (Associated Press)

20110224-165342-pic-814175384.jpg

Optional low-rolling-resistance tires developed especially for the Panamera help this hybrid performance sedan deliver its impressive NEDC fuel economy figure.

New Zealand Earthquak_Thir.jpg

Rescue workers search for victims buried under the rubble near the Canterbury Television building in Christchurch, New Zealand, Wednesday night, Feb. 23, 2011. Students from across Asia are feared among the dead in the CTV building that collapsed in Tuesday's earthquake, with police saying Wednesday that they were "100 percent certain" no one trapped in the rubble was alive. (AP Photo/Kyodo News, Shuzo Shikano)