Green Options

A new report ranks ten leading world cities on their greenhouse gas emissions. It also examines how and why the emissions differ.

As the report says, over 50% of the world’s population lives in urban areas. Leading cities of the world, global cities, are the places where greenhouse gas emissions really need to be cut. The greenest city from the study is Barcelona and the worst is Denver.

Ambitious Indian car company Tata has revealed that it may launch its Indica Vista EV all-electric car in Europe by the end of the year, making it the first ‘mainstream’ company to bid for a slice of the continent’s potentially lucrative zero-emission vehicles market.

The move is likely to ruffle a few feathers amongst GM executives, who had grand plans that the Opel Ampera (the Chevy Volt’s European cousin) would become the first major player in the region, following its launch in 2011.

Austrian car company Magna has showcased a concept vehicle that gives the strongest clue yet about the design for BMW’s secretive Project i electric car.

Magna, collaborating with the German car giant on future electric car technology, unveiled the the MILA EV at last week’s Geneva Motor Show. The concept is a lightweight three-door hatchback featuring a detachable power module that includes batteries and electric drive motors. The MILA also boasts integrated solar cells in the glass roof to provide supplemental energy generation (see another picture of the MILA EV after the jump).

Swiss auto-maker Rinspeed has revealed a revolutionary electric car, that morphs its body shape depending on the number of passengers onboard (see gallery below).

The Rinspeed iChange is the brain-child of prolific Swiss designer Frank Rinderknecht, also responsible for the sQuba ‘fully submersible’ EV (video). The car, showcased at this week’s Geneva 2009 Motor Show, starts off as a one-seat sports car, but is capable of changing to a three-seat coupe thanks to a pop-up rear end. The intention is that the zero-emission EV can optimize its aerodynamic profile according to the passenger load required (more pictures after the jump).

Bentley has released official pictures of the ethanol-powered GT we previewed a few weeks ago.  This new car is the first flex-fuel vehicle in the company’s history, and Bentley is calling the 621 bhp bruiser the “Continental Supersports”.  Bentley claims the GT’s owners will be able to accelerate from 0-60 mph in 3.7 seconds on their way to a top speed of 204 mph.

Ever wish you could buy a car that would run on just about anything?  An engine that gave you something approaching the efficiency of diesel, and the convenience of gas?  Last week, the forward-thinkers at Lotus announced just that.

It’s called the Lotus Omnivore, and we’ve got all the details on this little, all-aluminum marvel.

Italdesign, the Italian design firm responsible for the development of dozens of Lamborghini, Maserati, and Alfa Romeo production cars over the past 40 years, has announced plans to bring what it calls “the world’s fastest hybrid” to this year’s 2009 Geneva show, which will also be hosting the debut of the hotly-anticipated ethanol Bentley supercar.

Photos and speculation after the jump.