Green Options

After the last diesel car was taken off the Japanese market in 2007, Nissan Motor Company has become the first domestic automaker to release a diesel car in Japan in six years. And in the current day climate of everyone looking for ways to save on fuel – to cut costs and to help the environment – Nissan’s X-Trail 20GT sport utility vehicle is also the world’s first “clean” diesel.

Being powered by an engine lead-developed by partner Renault SA, the “clean” diesel refers to the fact that the X-Trail meets Japan’s new emissions standards that are set to kick into effect October 2009. These standards are said to be the strictest in the world.

A video that’s at once cute and humorous. An instant internet classic, right?

Do The Green Thing put this and other great videos together. Each one’s a little piece of green comedy manna. Watch this video and then check them out for more.

Via: Times Online

Mr Zhang of Jilin, China, has had it with thieves who kidnap parts from his car, then demand ransom money to have the parts returned.

He said the car’s computerized engine management system was stolen twice, and it cost him 500 yuan ($70) each time to get the parts back. Now he’s built a cage to house his car and thwart thievery.

Source 

Using this Driving Directions and Fuel Efficiency Tool you can calculate the dollar and environmental cost of your daily commute, or almost any other type of trip you make in your car. The various ways we can reduce our fuel consumption have been widely published, but many people do not understand the impact each change in their driving behavior will make.

Preventative care is always better than going to the Emergency Room. That's an appropriate comment whether discussing personal health or car maintenance. Today we'd like to finish up our multi-part car care series by mentioning a few things we haven't hit on so far.

Could a shift in green thinking from world-wide automakers simply be a little window-dressing? Chrysler's Chief Economist, Van Jolissaint, answered this slightly by describing climate change as something "way, way in the future and with a degree of uncertainty."

Forget 'Tom-Tom'! The navigation systems coming down the pipe will do more than get you to the correct destination; they will also soon help you conserve fuel and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A satnav system, at the Lund Institute of Technology, has been developed to give motorists the most efficient route.

"The team assigned fuel consumption factors for three types of car on 22 streets in a satnav's digital map database. These were based

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