Filed under: Hybrid, MPG, Ferrari, Fiat

With European Union regulators preparing to clamp down on automotive carbon dioxide emissions, the lower volume manufacturers of high performance cars are wondering how they can possibly meet the new requirements. This conundrum may be partly behind why Porsche has recently taken a controlling interest in Volkswagen. Presumably the fleet average will be a weighted calculation over all the vehicles produced by a company.

One company almost never thought of when considering green anything (except for cash) is Ferrari. The home of the prancing stallion makes a few thousand of the most expensive, beautiful, fast and thirsty cars on the planet every year. Meeting any kind of CO2 emissions limit would be nearly impossible on their own without destroying the essence of what a Ferrari is. Nonetheless they must find a way.

One part of the plan will surely involve lumping their fleet in with 85 percent stakeholder FIAT but they will likely go further than that. Diesels have apparently been ruled out as has biofuel, although eliminating ethanol as an option seems silly. Ferrari could surely do a turbocharged ethanol burner that would achieve their required levels of performance. The company has pulled some of the Formula One engineers into the the discussions and options like hybrids are being considered and elements like regen braking, start-stop, and direct injection would seem like obvious choices. Will they follow Tesla’s lead away from internal combustion altogether? Unlikely, but you never know.

[Source: Elmundo.es via MotorAuthority]

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

Filed under: Transportation Alternatives

Barcelona and Brussels already have human-powered rickshaws as part of their tourist attractions. They offer an comfortable yet ecological way of touring around the car-free old city centres. However, and despite of the multiplication of gears available, climbing some steep grades can be hard for the driver.

On the other hand, there are lots of electric bikes scooting around with some good available technology, a few ones using light lithium batteries that the biker can take away and recharge at home. The Universitat Politècnica de València (Spain), in a project codeveloped with Cyclotourbike has unveiled a new rickshaw that includes an electric motor that assists the driver. The name: Intrèpid, the hybrid human-electric vehicle which will be available this summer for tourist trips around València’s beautiful city center.

UPV plans adding a solar panel on top to recharge the batteries for next year.

Read also:

• Can you imagine the streets of New York City filled with electric rickshaws?
• Stylish new Italian pedal powered rickshaws
• Autorickshaw – people mover or race car? You decide.

[Source: UPV via 20minutos.es]

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

Posted by Page (in Amsterdam)

Dead whales, dolphins, and porpoises in The Hague. (Click to enlarge.) © Greenpeace/van Houdt, © Trouw.

Here on the Defending Whales blog, you’ve read about our display of dead cetaceans in Berlin and Stockholm, to emphasize the terrible threats these animals face, beyond being hunted. The mammals were collected from beaches around Europe; many were the victims of bycatch, which means they drowned in fishing nets. Others were mortally wounded by ships’ propellers. All in all, they died terrible deaths… and what’s even worse, is that these animals are protected by the EU Habitats Directive. They shouldn’t have died.

On Tuesday this week, we displayed the animals on “het plein” in The Hague, here in the Netherlands, right in front of Dutch parliament. Seeing the wounds was absolutely heartbreaking; I am haunted by the memory of the face of a harbor porpoise, barely recognizable because of the damage it sustained. I won’t ever forget the dolphins with their tails cut off by fishermen, so they would sink (more photos here, and here).

We handed out fliers, and talked to lots of people. Almost without exception, everyone I talked to was curious about how the animals died, and were shocked to find out that the Dutch government isn’t making much of an effort to enforce the EU Habitats Directive. We had “death certificates” displayed next to each animal, so people saw that some of them had drowned in nets used by Dutch fishing companies.

Continue reading In death, they speak even louder…

The Dirty Water Underground
Chicken Poop: More Glamorous Than Ever
Disaster Balloons
House-Off Button Makes ‘Going Green’ Easy
Sustainability Reports Help Investors Manage Risk

(more)

(Posted by David Zaks in News and Views at 11:48 AM)

Filed under: Diesel, Legislation and Policy

AASHTO (American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials) made a very sobering report to the federal commission on highways on May 9. They pretty bluntly stated that the use of the roads by trucking is outpacing the revenue being collected to maintain the roads. Like vehicles without fuel, vehicles without well maintained roads are just stationary tin boxes. All those lane miles of highway, those graceful overpasses and on and off ramps, cost a pretty penny to build and need constant care. However, many states have a fixed fuel tax rate in pennies per gallon so that the amount that goes to maintain the roads is fixed no matter what the price of the fuel is. This would be fixed by pegging the tax to the fuel price like a normal sales tax. They asked for a 3 cent increase under the current highway bill followed by a 7 cent increase under the new bill. Current federal fuel tax on diesel fuel is about 18 cents.

AASHTO, of course, is looking out for itself. Its members are the professionals that use the tax funds collected to maintain and expand the highway system but they do have a point here. Thousands of 80,000 lb trucks cover the heaviest traveled sections of the highway system every day. “Today, the average Interstate highway mile caries 10,500 trucks. . .” As someone who appreciates the goods that trucks deliver, and likes to use the Interstate highway for myself once in a while, I can only say I am willing to pay the extra tax as long as it is wisely used. I don’t want to see a roadway in so-called “designer colors”. Nor do I want to see free driver massages paid for by that tax. Hmm, wait a minute! That is not a bad idea. Improves alertness!

[Source: Transportation Topics]

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

Filed under: Diesel, MINI

Click the photo for a high-res gallery of the new Mini Cooper D

A couple of months ago the latest generation Mini went on sale in Europe in a Cooper D edition with the D being a reference to Dr. Rudolf and his magical oil burner. The 53.5mpg diesel Mini has never been an option for the American Mini buyers but an increasing number of them are starting to make their voices heard in favor of the idea.

The crew over at MotoringFile.com are now clamoring for the Cooper D with over 130 comments on the post. The desire for the diesel is sure to grow even more that BMW has announced that they will be adding their Efficient Dynamics system including start-stop functionality and regenerative braking to the entire lineup. That will boost the D up to over 60mpg. If I could get a Cooper D for a price in the low 20s I’d be all over it.

[Source: MotoringFile]

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

Filed under: MPG, Volvo

One of the (relatively) unknown facts that Volvo has is a driving academy that gives a course on how to save gas with savvy driving.

The Volvo Cars Driving Academy (VCDA) is located in Göteborg, on the west of Sweden. About 12 students at a time enter the course. They first get to drive a set urban route with cars that are equipped with instruments to measure exact fuel consumption. Then after the class, the students then get to drive exactly the same route once more, applying their newly learned skills.

The results is that simple skills allow an average reduction of 8-10 percent in gas usage, although 15 percent can be achieved easily. The tips aren’t rocket science and are just applications of common sense. Similar courses are offered by RACC and the ADAC.

[Source: Volvo]

Ten simple tips for more economical driving:

1. Start with as little throttle as possible
2. Change up quickly
3. Maintain a steady speed
4. Avoid really high speeds
5. Don’t let your car run at idling speed unless necessary (it’s worth your while to switch off the engine if you’re going to be at a standstill for more than 20 or 30 seconds)
6. Use engine braking
7. Don’t brake unnecessarily
8. Always maintain the correct pressure in your tyres (this saves both tyres and fuel)
9. Don’t drive around with a roof box unless you actually need it (some people really find fashionable to keep the ski racks in summer)
10. Don’t carry around any unnecessary loads in the car

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

Posted by Dave (at the last day of the International Whaling Commission, in Anchorage, Alaska)

A round of applause just echoed around the chamber – a majority vote of 37-4 in favour of the CITES resolution has effectively overturned the St. Kitts Declaration from last year’s IWC. The St. Kitt’s resolution, which effectively declared that a ban on commercial whaling was no longer need, has now been overturned!

This reconfirms that the 1986 moratorium (i.e. ban) on commercial whaling is as valid today as it was two decades years ago. Nice to see the IWC working as it should work! Time for some celebration…

Draft resolution on CITES
CITES: Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
Wikipedia: CITES

From the AP story: “President Bush on Thursday urged 15 major nations to agree by the end of next year on a global emissions goal for reducing greenhouse gases.”

Sounds very proactive of him. But wait a sec. There are already globally agreed emission reduction targets. They were set in Kyoto, Japan… 10 years ago. Hmm. Maybe no one told President Bush about the Kyoto Protocol, or perhaps it has just slipped his mind.

If you run into him, please point out that the Kyoto Protocol entered into force (became legally binding) on 16 February 2005. It commits industrialised countries (like the USA) to cut their combined emissions to 5 percent below 1990 levels by 2008 – 2012.

Continue reading Bush’s sham of a climate plan…

This month I wrote about making biodiesel from algae, growing biodiesel crops in freeway medians, refinery issues surrounding high gas prices, and the demand for sustainable biofuels.

Here are some stories I missed:

Al Gore was in Argentina, where he spoke before the biofuel industry there (May 1)
Argentina is looking to jump on the biofuel bandwagon by offsetting 5% of its fuel usage with biodiesel or ethanol within the next 3 years. If not implemented carefully, the diversion of food or cropland to biofuels could drive up commodity prices for the 25% of Argentina's population who live in poverty, not to mention the already strained middle class. "Every potential solution must be handled carefully and the danger with biofuels is that extremely valuable forests will be destroyed unnecessarily," said Gore, "Another danger is that, if it is not pursued carefully, it will drive food prices up."

Just Say 'No' to Bad Biofuels (May 9)
Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, RSPB and WWF have launched an advertising campaign against 'the wrong kind of biofuels'. The 'wrong kind' being those produced in ecologically destructive or irresponsible ways, like rainforest-eating Malaysian Palm Oil. Campaign posters depict a gas pump handle being held to an orangutan's head along with the words "Tell the Government to choose the right biofuel or the orang-utan gets it." The groups are urging the government to avoid misguided biofuel mandates without implementing proper environmental safeguards.