By Mark Seall •
April 14, 2008
Like this post? Subscribe to our RSS feed and stay up to date.
The motorcar has undoubtedly been one of mankind’s most useful inventions to date, a fact which is evidenced by our continuing love affair with our four wheeled friends. They represent some of the largest investments we ever make, we spend hours talking about them, we spend small fortunes maintaining them, we cherish them, we love them.
But our affair with the car has blinded us to some of the obvious drawbacks, such as its lack of compatibility with urban life which leaves our cities clogged by semi stationary vehicles with fuming engines and fuming drivers.
Teams from around the world are gearing up for the Automotive X Prize, a competition that will award part of $10 million to the team that builds the cleanest production-ready 100 MPGe (mile per gallon equivalent) vehicle.
This isn’t a race centered on space-age concept cars that will never see a US highway, but aims to jump-start the auto industry with revolutionary, super-efficient vehicles that consumers will actually want to buy. Entries must be ready for production and have a business plan outlining how they’ll be brought to market. They’ll also be judged on safety, cost, and features.
By Mark Seall •
February 4, 2008
The conclusion of our planes, trains and automobiles race across Europe. (Read Part II)
With the Green Team finally on their way towards England, the Blue Team about to miss the boat and the Red team fuming in traffic the competition is heating up.
16:40 – Red Team, M3, South of London
After almost an hour of solid traffic we’re moving again, but its slow going. The frustration of hours of endless queuing and shuffling around is now starting to take its toll. The heavy dose of air fresher that was obviously applied to the interior of my hire-car is starting to succumb to the natural odours of its previous occupant, which does nothing for my mood.
17:10 – Blue Team, Port of Calais, France
Sipping afternoon tea in the Club Lounge on P&O Ferries’ Pride of Dover as we set sail for England. I made the ferry with seconds to spare and I’m some way behind the Reds, but it’s not over yet. Time to enjoy the one hour crossing and have a break from driving.
17:34 – Green Team, Channel Tunnel
Making real progress now as the Eurostar enters the channel tunnel. In under an hour we’ll be in London and we’re catching up with the Red Team. Somewhere on the water above us the Blue team are slowly streaming across the channel whilst we speed through the tunnel – that feels good.
By Mark Seall •
February 2, 2008
Part II of our planes, trains and automobiles race across Europe. (Read Part I)
With the Red Team grounded in Zürich whilst our eco-racers make their way steadily through France things are looking bleak for air travel.
11.45 - Red Team, Zürich Airport (still)
Finally I am sitting in seat 27B, sandwiched between a large gentleman and a fidgety young boy. To my mounting frustration the captain apologizes for the delay in boarding due to bad weather on the inbound flight from London this morning, and tells us that we won’t be taking off for another 45 minutes due to air traffic congestion – a common problem on this route, which will get worse as passenger numbers increase.
12.00 - Blue Team, Somewhere in Eastern France
The scenery in this part of the country is fantastic with the Autoroute representing a roller coaster, rising and falling through the hills, twisting and turning through meadows and forests with dramatic cliffs in the background. For the driving enthusiast this is a treat.
By Max Lindberg •
January 5, 2008
Run your car on compressed air? Drivers in Europe may be doing just that by the end of the year, according to a report from the BBC…
Like to know more about the air car? Here’s their website.
By Elizabeth Redmond •
November 28, 2007
About three years ago in design school at the University of Michigan, I was making concept sketches of wearable energy-generating devices, such as turbines, for my thesis on people-powered energy systems. Although I focused in on a different, yet quite similar, project, I have been waiting for a personal, handheld wind turbine to come to market. After years of waiting, finally an attractive, multi-functional, and effective one is available.
The HYmini is a personal wind turbine meant to be attached to the handlebars of your bike (when you are actually out riding it), to the roof of your car, or just to be held in your hand on a windy day. It harnesses wind current, charges a battery to ultimately power your 5V devices such as an iPod, MP3 player, digital camera…
Back in June, the Christian Science Monitor ran an article on the greening of car fleets. Partly to develop green cred, and partly to save money on gas, companies ranging from Abbot Pharmaceuticals (which has a big fleet for its salespeople) to Enterprise and Hertz are adding thousands of hybrids and flex fuel cars to their fleets. While they’ve had to literally beg for hybrids because of relatively limited production, automakers like Toyota [...]
By Heidi Strebel •
September 24, 2007
From Budapest to Beijing, and from Bangkok to Buenos Aires, city dwellers across the globe hoped to enjoy an entire day without of the habitual pollution and hassle of automobile traffic.
Towns and cities signed up to participate in the annual car-free day held last Saturday. Since 2000 the World Carfree Network, an international association dedicated to advancing alternatives to automobile dependence, has called for the celebration of cities and public life "free from
[...]
Switchgrass: Image Credit: USDA
I'm not that much of an automobile enthusiast. Despite my proximity to the Motor City, I don't pay constant attention to the latest twitches in the auto industry. I take the bus to work, and drive a car only occasionally, usually for errands or to shuttle the kids someplace. But I attended the GM ChallengeX event on behalf of EcoGeek.org and Green Options, and
[...]
Search for "Largest corporate solar installation in the U.S." and you'll see Google pop up in the results. As of yesterday, the search engine giant became a lot less dependent on the grid by flipping the switch on nearly 9,212 solar panels. The output of more than 1.6 megawatts will serve up enough energy to power almost 1/3 of the campus. For some perspective, that's enough energy to power more than 1,000 homes!
[...]
As I noted last week, General Motors new Chevy Volt concept vehicle has received quite a bit of fanfare around the green blogosphere; as we also saw from some of the comments that post [at Green Options] received, the company’s claim that it must develop an automotive lithium-ion battery to move the Volt to production has met with its share of skepticism. The media event I attended last Monday was aimed,
[...]
The motorcar has undoubtedly been one of mankind’s most useful inventions to date, a fact which is evidenced by our continuing love affair with our four wheeled friends. They represent some of the largest investments we ever make, we spend hours talking about them, we spend small fortunes maintaining them, we cherish them, we love them. 
