Green Options

I have an issue. A problem, a concern. A nag. It’s an itch, and I just gotta scratch it.

It’s this. America, the UK and Iceland have all been bailed out by the taxpayer. You see it and you hear it: “Taxpayer to pump billions of squidoos into financial system” etc.

Except it’s a bald and blatent lie. The USA’s bailout was $700bn. The UK’s bailout has been estimated at $400bn. Iceland is more tame, at about $5.4bn.

Whenever you take out a loan the temptation is to imagine a big mountain of money in a secure vault somewhere.

Your friendly bank manager, a nice affable chap, is on hand doling out credit to any soul who can jump through his hoops.

This is miles, no decades, away from the truth. Here’s how debt works today ….

Chrysler has announced that it is working on an electric powered version of its Voyager MPV, which could be put into commercial production as early as 2010. The model will most likely be based on the ecoVoyager concept (pictured), first seen at this years Detroit Motor Show. Details are limited at this stage, but it seems that the zero-emission car will have a 300-mile range - pretty impressive for an MPV capable of carrying an entire family and their luggage.

The company has already stated its intentions not to be left behind the competition when it comes to green and fuel efficient vehicle technologies. The electric MPV is the first in a series of three possible production electric cars that will be viewed by dealers later this month, with the one that’s best received going into production first.

Following a meeting earlier this week with House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi, the ‘big three’ US automakers are optimistic about their prospects of receiving a multi-billion dollar loan.

Wow — the feds are suspending a major loan program for rural coal power plants, citing the risks of global warming regulations and rising construction costs at the rate of 30 percent a year. Coal plants are a big source of carbon dioxide (CO2), a major contributor to global warming and the electricity source for rural utilities is about 60 percent coal.

Abigail Dillen with EarthJustice — a law group that sued to to block the loan program because of the reasons above — put it this way:

This is a big decision. It says new coal plants can’t go to the federal government for money at least for the next couple years, and these are critical times for companies to get these plants built.