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Feb 03, `08 — General Motors will showcase several gas-saving commercial vehicles at the 2008 Chicago Auto Show Feb 6 thru Feb 17.

GM’s Fleet and Commercial Operations (FCO) will display vehicles featuring outstanding fuel economy, E85 ethanol and biodiesel capability, and gas-electric hybrid vehicles designed to help GM customers go green without going broke.

Here are some of the gas-friendly vehicles designed for commercial and business use that will be at the Chicago Auto Show:

Chevrolet Express 3500 Cargo Van
GM’s clean-burning, dependable and powerful 6.6 L Duramax engine can use B5 biodiesel and comes in rear-wheel or all-wheel drive. The Express also has left-hand side load doors and remote release side panels for easy loading and access.

Chevrolet Silverado
The half-ton Silverado gives customers the choice of powering their truck with E85 ethanol, gasoline or a combination of both fuels. In addition, this 2008 Fleet Truck of the Year continues to delight fleet owners with its comfort, capability and best-in-class fuel economy.

Chevrolet Impala Police Pursuit Vehicle
The 2008 Chevrolet Impala Police Car can operate on cleaner-burning, renewable E85 ethanol, an energy source that can help reduce our dependence on petroleum. E85 has been a very popular choice among fleet customers – including law enforcement agencies – because its availability is growing, and because E85 vehicles are an affordable fleet option.

Chevrolet Tahoe Police Pursuit Vehicle
The Tahoe PPV is the only SUV rated as a police pursuit vehicle. The 2008 Tahoe PPV is powered by the Vortec 5.3L V-8 engine delivering 320 horsepower (238 kW) and 340 lb.-ft. of torque (470 Nm). The Vortec 5.3L features Active Fuel Management technology, resulting in improved fuel economy, and can operate on E85 ethanol.

Silverado Hybrid
The 2009 Chevrolet Silverado Hybrid is a full-size pickup that achieves 40-percent greater city fuel economy and a 25-percent improvement in overall fuel economy.

The hybrid system provides all-electric driving at low speeds, allowing fuel savings to be realized even when the truck is fully loaded or towing a trailer. Silverado Hybrid can tow up to 6,100 pounds (2,767 kg).

The Silverado Hybrid goes on sale in late 2008. More at Chicago Auto Show.

Also, the AP reports, “GM says the 2009 GMC Sierra hybrid gets a 25 percent improvement in fuel economy without compromising performance, while its GMC Denali XT concept - a low-slung, muscular utility vehicle - gets 50 percent better fuel economy than a comparable small pickup.

The Sierra is the next large GM vehicle to get the company’s new two-mode hybrid system, which has also been introduced on the Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon sport utility vehicles and the Chevrolet Silverado pickup. The SUVs are expected to go on sale early this year, while the Silverado and Sierra are scheduled to hit the market at the end of 2008.” More at AP.

This Reuters video shows, Earthrace, a futuristic-looking bio-diesel powered boat with a net zero carbon footprint, will attempt to break the round the world speed record.

The project aims to promote awareness of the environment and the sustainable use of resources. More at Reuters.

Excerpts from Wired article “Around the World in a Boat Fueled by Human Fat“:
“This Wired article writes in detail about an engineer and sailor from New Zealand still hopes to circumnavigate the globe in world-record time at the helm of a boat powered in part by the ultimate renewable fuel - human fat.

Pete Bethune, a former oil exploration engineer, is so committed to proving bio-diesel is a viable alternative to fossil fuel that he and two other Earthrace crew members underwent liposuction. Together they stripped more than 2.5 gallons of fat from their bodies, which produced almost two gallons of fuel - enough to go 9 miles under optimum conditions.

Circumnavigating the world - a 27,600-mile journey - is the ultimate maritime challenge, and this is the second time Bethune and his crew will attempt it. The first ended disastrously in March when Earthrace collided with a fishing vessel off the coast of Guatamala. One fisherman was injured and another lost at sea; Earthrace’s insurance carrier paid the families a settlement. Earlier voyages have ended with propeller failures and when the Colombian navy fired upon the boat.” More at Wired.

NEW YORK - Police have found a way to help save the planet and perhaps sneak up on bad guys at the same time: an all-electric, ultra-quiet scooter, Newsday reports.

Newsday further writes, “The New York Police Department will begin road testing four of the plug-in Vectrix scooters early next month _ part of a broader campaign to make the nation’s largest police department a greener one as well.

The 36,000-officer NYPD has been looking for ways to retool its massive motor fleet to guzzle less gas and inflict less harm on the environment. A handful of NYPD hybrid cars and so-called flex-fuel vehicles, which can run on both gasoline and ethanol, are already on the road.

Vectrix recently approached several big city police departments with the sleek, two-wheel scooters, but the NYPD was the first to take a serious look, said Andrew MacGowen, president of the Rhode Island-based company.

MacGowen said the Vectrix scooters, assembled in Poland, are the first all-electric vehicles to be government-certified to travel on any highway, street or road.

The Vectrix, which has a battery pack, is heavier than the Piaggio, but with a top speed of more than 60 mph, it’s nearly as fast. And riders cruise past the fuel pump: The scooters can be recharged simply by plugging into a standard outlet for two hours. MacGowen said recharging costs a fraction of refueling _ a savings he says would quickly cover the difference in price with Piaggios, which cost the NYPD about half as much.

The Vectrix can only travel 40 to 60 miles per charge, but police officials said they may be willing to sacrifice some range for zero emissions. Plus, the scooters would have the dual benefit of “reducing air pollution and noise pollution,” said Robert Martinez, the NYPD fleet director.” More at Newsday.

Commission proposal to limit the CO2 emissions from cars to help fight climate change, reduce fuel costs and increase European competitiveness.

Brussels — Dec 19, `07 — The European Commission today proposed legislation to reduce the average CO2 emissions of new passenger cars to 120 grams per kilometre by 2012.

The proposed legislation is the cornerstone of the EU’s strategy to improve the fuel economy of cars, which account for about 12% of the European Union’s carbon emissions. The proposal further underlines the EU’s leadership and determination to deliver on its greenhouse gas commitments under the Kyoto Protocol and beyond.

President of the Commission José Manuel Barroso stated: “This proposal demonstrates that the European Union is committed to being a world leader in cutting CO2 emissions and the development of a low carbon economy. At the same time, we are committed to promote the competitiveness of our industry and its global technological leadership.”

Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said: “The aim of the legislation is to reduce CO2 emissions from cars in order to help fight climate change. The legislation will also ensure important fuel savings which will translate into considerable benefits for consumers. Moreover, it will encourage the car industry to invest in new technologies and actively promote eco-innovation, which is a driver for more and high-quality jobs.”

Emissions reductions
The proposal will be a major step in lowering CO2 emissions in the EU. It will reduce the average emissions of CO2 from new passenger cars in the EU from around 160 grams per kilometre to 130 grams per kilometre in 2012 as part of the EU’s integrated approach to achieve overall 120 grams per kilometre. That will translate into a 19% reduction of CO2 emissions and will place the EU among the world leaders of fuel efficient cars.

How the legislation will work
The draft legislation defines a limit value curve of CO2 emissions allowed for new vehicles according to the mass of the vehicle. The curve is set in such a way that a fleet average of 130 grams of CO2 per kilometre is achieved. A manufacturer must ensure that by 2012 measured fleet average emissions are below the limit value curve, when all vehicles manufactured and registered in a given year by the manufacturer in question are taken into account.

This means that the level of emissions by heavier cars will have to be improved proportionately more than lighter cars compared to today. Manufacturers will still be able to make cars with emissions above the limit value curve provided these are balanced by cars which are below the curve as long as the fleet average remains at 130 grams.

The proposal will now be communicated to the Council and to the European Parliament as part of the co-decision legislative procedure. More at European Commission here and here.

Eminent coral scientists have given world leaders more reason to act urgently against climate change, by producing a new report that warns coral reefs will disappear within decades if atmospheric CO2 levels continue to rise.

Their paper, published on Dec14, in the prestigious Science magazine, is the most compelling scientific case yet that unchecked global warming will be a disaster for coral reefs and the 100 million people and one million species depending on them.

CO2 concentration in the earth’s atmosphere is currently 380 parts per million (ppm) but the authors say if future emissions exceed 450ppm we risk losing reefs.

“This is a very ambitious target and should represent yet another reality check for world leaders meeting in Bali,” lead author UQ Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg said.

The study has found serious consequences follow on from even small increases in CO2.

“The warmer and more acidic oceans caused by the rise of CO2 from the burning of fossil fuels threaten to destroy coral dominated reef ecosystems, exposing people to flooding, coastal erosion and the loss of food and income from reef-based fisheries and tourism,” Professor Hoegh-Guldberg said.

“Increased CO2 not only warms the climate but also dissolves in sea water making it more acidic. “This, in turn, decreases the ability of corals to produce calcium carbonate, which is what the all-important framework of coral reefs is made of.”More at the University of Queensland.

San Francisco, Calif — Arctic sea ice shrank drastically this summer, reaching a record low, largely because warm ocean currents ate away at the base of the ice sheet, new research says. The arctic ice cap melted at an unprecedented rate in mid-2007, losing an area of ice the size of the state of Alaska, US scientists said at a conference this week.

“The average rate of loss of sea ice every summer year to year up to 2006 was equal to an area the size of West Virginia,” or about 62,800 square kilometers (24,250 square miles), said Michael Steele, the senior oceanographer at the University of Washington in Seattle.

However the decrease in ice between 2006 and 2007 “was almost equivalent to the area of Alaska,” or some 1.7 million kilometers (more than 663,000 square miles), Steele further said.

“It was a huge retreat,” said Steele, one of the researchers who discussed the subject at the annual American Geophysical Union (AGU) conference in San Francisco, California.

At the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) in San Francisco, some scientists argued yesterday that the end of the perennial ice is near.

“If this trend persists, the Arctic would be ice-free [in the summer] by 2013,” said Wieslaw Maslowski of the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. The researchers told a meeting of the American Geophysical Union that some of the observations had been astonishing.

“The further you go down this path, the harder it is to get back,” observed Don Perovich from the US Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory. “Things could come back, but basically it’s the fourth quarter and we’re down two touchdowns,” he said, using an analogy from American football.

The big thin
The extent of the sea ice cover fell to a record minimum in September of 4.13 million sq km, beating the previous low mark, set in 2005, by 23%. This was well publicised at the time, but some of the other “Arctic numbers” have not been so widely reported. Scientists say they demonstrate the step changes in environmental conditions in the northern polar region.

Warmth from below
A big driver behind the melt is the current warmth of the waters in the Arctic. In the summer of 2007, Arctic Ocean surface temperatures hit new maximums.

In waters just north of the Chukchi Sea (above Alaska and Eastern Siberia), sea-surface temperatures (SSTs) were 3.5C warmer than the historical average and 1.5C warmer than the historical maximum. SSTs of 4C were recorded.

This warming was probably the result of having increasing amounts of open water that readily absorb the sun’s rays, a phenomenon known as the ice-albedo feedback: less ice means less reflection and more absorption, leading to more warming and more melting.

“Water that is now circulating just 200 meters below the main ice pack is now significantly warmer than it was just five years ago,” said John Walsh of the University of Alaska, Fairbanks.

New research shows that carbon dioxide, one gas that traps heat in the atmosphere, can be captured as it leaves coal-burning power plants and then permanently sequestered in rock formations thousands of feet below the Earth’s surface.

How Much Time Is Left?
When asked how long the perennial ice might last, many researchers here shrugged their shoulders.

A report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released in February predicts that the summer sea ice may disappear early in the next century.

More at National Snow and Ice Data Center, BBC News.

September 9, 2007, sea ice extent compared to animation of Septembers 1979 to 2006 

BALI, Indonesia — Dec 16, `07 — A UN Climate Change Conference adopted a plan to negotiate a new global warming pact on Saturday, Dec 15, after the United States suddenly reversed its opposition to a call by developing nations for technological help to battle rising temperatures.

The adoption came after marathon negotiations overnight, which first settled a battle between Europe and the U.S. over whether the document should mention specific goals for rich countries’ obligations to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

The agreement launches a two-year negotiating process - the “Bali roadmap” - aiming to secure a binding deal at the 2009 UN summit in Denmark.

European and U.S. envoys dueled into the final hours of the two-week meeting over the EU’s proposal that the Bali mandate suggest an ambitious goal for cutting the emissions of industrial nations_ by 25 to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020.

EU Welcomes Agreement

European Commission President José Manuel Barroso: “There is only one planet. Together, developed and developing countries can reach success.”

The European Union welcomes the agreement reached at the UN climate change conference in Bali to start formal negotiations on a climate regime for the post-2012 period and on a ‘Bali Roadmap’ that sets out an agenda for these negotiations.

The conference set an end-2009 deadline for completing the negotiations to allow time for governments to ratify and implement the future climate agreement by the end of 2012, when the Kyoto Protocol’s first commitment period ends.

The decision explicitly acknowledges the findings of the recent scientific assessment by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and recognises that deep cuts in global emissions of greenhouse gases will be required to prevent global warming from reaching dangerous levels.

The conference also took important decisions on several other issues, including launching demonstration projects to reduce deforestation, finalising arrangements for a fund to help developing countries adapt to the impacts of climate change, and scaling up financing for transfer of technology to developing countries.

The Bali Roadmap

The conference agreed to launch formal negotiations among the 192 parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on action up to and beyond 2012. These formal negotiations replace a process of informal dialogue that has taken place over the past two years. They will involve the United States, which is a Party to the UNFCCC but not the Kyoto Protocol.

The decision to launch negotiations sets out a ‘roadmap’ to guide them which includes the key building blocks of a future agreement. These are: enhanced mitigation of climate change by limiting or reducing emissions; adaptation to climate change; action on technology development and transfer; and scaling up of finance and investment to support mitigation and adaptation. Four negotiating sessions are scheduled in 2008, starting in March or April.

The decision explicitly acknowledges the findings of the IPCC’s recent Fourth Assessment Report (AR4), emphasises the urgency of addressing climate change expressed in the report and recognises that deep cuts in global emissions will be required to reach the Convention’s objective of preventing dangerous levels of climate change.

In parallel with the negotiations under the climate change Convention, the 176 parties to the Kyoto Protocol will continue negotiations already under way on new post-2012 emissions targets for developed countries that are in the Protocol. For this negotiating ‘track’ the Bali conference agreed on an intensive work schedule for 2008 to accelerate progress.

A review of the Protocol at the next UN climate conference, in December 2008, will help to inform these negotiations on future commitments by developed countries.

The negotiations under both ‘tracks’ – Convention and Protocol - will be completed at the UN climate change conference to be held at the end of 2009 in Copenhagen. The EU and many other Parties insisted on this simultaneous deadline to ensure a coherent result.

More at UN Bali Reports,  EU.

Billboard delivers up to 3.4 kilowatts of renewable, solar energy.

SAN FRANCISCO — Dec 03, ‘07 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Pacific Gas and Electric Company today unveiled the nation’s first solar-powered billboard,located in San Francisco, Calif. The billboard is part of the utility’s new advertising campaign, titled “We Can Do This”, which features information about a variety of programs and services PG&E offers that reflect the company’s commitment to the environment.

The nation’s first solar-powered billboard is prominently located at 1000 Brannan Street in San Francisco, visible from the Highway 101 9th
Street exit. It is outfitted with 20 solar modules that can provide up to 3.4 kilowatts of renewable solar energy to the PG&E grid. The power
generated by the system exceeds the power used at night to illuminate the billboard’s lights. In addition to installing solar, PG&E replaced the
billboard’s halophane light fixtures with energy-efficient LED lights.

The solar panels, provided by SunTech Power, collect direct current (DC) electricity from the sun’s rays. Using a Fronius IG 3000 grid-tie
inverter, the renewable energy is converted to alternating current (AC) power and fed into the electricity grid.

With the debut of PG&E’s solar-powered billboard, the United States joins Canada and South Africa as the only countries worldwide to utilize
solar technology in this innovative way. Unlike the two Canadian solar-powered billboards located in Vancouver and Toronto, PG&E’s billboard is interconnected to the grid, providing renewable energy to the utility’s customers. The South African solar-powered billboard is also interconnected.

To see how you can become involved in helping to slow climate change, visit PGE.com/WeCanDoThis

Know your contribution to climate change
mobGAS will challenge individuals to make small changes to their daily routine in order to achieve significant reductions of greenhouse gas emissions.

Brussels — Nov 30, ‘07 — mobGAS is a new mobile phone application available in 21 European languages that allows users to see how their daily choices impact on climate change.

This smart technology, developed by scientists working at the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, allows users to see the implications of the choices they make every day, in terms of the three major greenhouse gases – carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide.

Information about everyday activities – cooking, transport, lighting, electronic appliances etc. - is put into the application, and calculations made of individual emissions. A user diary of daily, weekly and yearly emissions can be registered on a secure website, allowing a comparison with national and world averages.

The application also includes an animation reflecting the user’s contribution to the Kyoto Protocol target.

Individuals can have a significant impact on reducing emissions. According to recent Eurostat figures, 21% of emissions are related to industrial and associated processes, while 31% are from energy production, 20% from transport, 9% from agriculture and 3% from waste, and the remainder from other sources.

All of this shows that individual behaviour, such as how we travel, the appliances we use or the food we eat, can make a real different to emissions. Lifestyle and consumer choices are a key factor, so it is important that people are aware of the implications of their personal choices.

By downloading the application to a mobile phone – something people carry with them almost all the time – it is possible to make use of quieter moments – travelling on a bus, or waiting for an appointment, for example – to input the data for that day. This could include the means of transport they took, how they heated their house, how long they watched television and what they ate.

From today, mobGAS is being made available free of charge to anyone who is interested. Communication networks and mobile phone producers will also be involved in rolling-out the technology at national level.

This technology will be demonstrated by scientists of the JRC at the EU pavilion during the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali from 3 December.

To download the application visit mobGAS

San Francisco, Calif — Nov 27, ‘07 — Google said on Tuesday it plans to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to help drive down the cost of electricity made from renewable energy below the price of coal.

The project, which Google is calling RE<C, using mathematical symbols to denote “renewable energy cheaper than coal,” will be based in Google’s research and development group and is hiring dozens of engineers and targeting investment financing at advanced solar thermal power, wind power, enhanced geothermal systems and other new technologies, Google said.

The Web services and online advertising group will be a big customer for the project, running computers and networks on the electricity and selling back what’s left to the power grid.

“Our goal is to produce one gigawatt of renewable energy capacity that is cheaper than coal. We are optimistic this can be done in years, not decades,” Larry Page, Google’s co-founder and president of products, said in a statement.

A gigawatt can power a city the size of San Francisco. An analyst at broker Raymond James noted the entire US solar cell generation capacity at the end of 2006 was only just over half a gigawatt, while 11.6 gigawatts came from wind power.

“We see technologies we think can mature into very capable industries that can generate electricity cheaper than coal,” Page further added, “and we don’t see people talking about that as much as we would like.”

The company also said that Google.org, the philanthropic for-profit subsidiary that Google seeded in 2004 with three million shares of its stock, would invest in energy start-ups.

As part of the initiative, executives at Google.org said they are working with two companies that have “promising, scalable energy technologies.” One of these, eSolar, based in Pasadena, Calif., uses thousands of small mirrors to concentrate sunlight and generate steam that powers electric generators. The other, Makani Power of Alameda, Calif., is developing wind turbines that will run on powerful and generally more predictable winds at high altitudes.

Page, in an interview, said that failing to investigate new businesses could hurt Google more than any potential distraction. “If you look at companies that don’t do anything new,” he said, “they are guaranteed never to get bigger. They miss a lot of opportunities and they miss the next big things.”

In a conference call Tuesday with reporters, Sergey Brin, Google’s other founder and president of technology, said the effort was motivated in part by the company’s frustrating search for clean, cheap energy alternatives.

“It’s very hard to find options that aren’t coal-based or other dirty technologies,” he said. “We don’t feel good about being in that situation as a company. We feel hypocritical. We want to make investments happen so there will be alternatives for us to use down the road.” Both founders declined to specify what the company now spends on energy.

Idealism is hardly new at Google. In their Letter From the Founders before the company’s 2004 initial public stock offering, Page and Brin wrote: “Our goal is to develop services that significantly improve the lives of as many people as possible. In pursuing this goal, we may do things that we believe have a positive impact on the world, even if the near-term financial returns are not obvious.”

Google does not disclose the energy consumed in powering its online services, but local energy experts say it ranks as one of Silicon Valley’s biggest energy customers.

“As Google grows, we don’t want our core business to be part of the problem. We want to be part of the solution,” said Larry Brilliant, head of Google.org, the company’s philanthropic arm which will direct the energy investments.

Brin said he felt the company would be “hypocritical” not to do something. Google and its founders are big promoters of electric cars and the roof of its headquarters in Mountain View, California, supports a large solar energy installation.

The push comes as oil prices near $100 a barrel and coal, which generates 40 percent of the world’s electricity, faces regulatory and environmental pressures that may boost prices.

Google plans to spend tens of millions of dollars in 2008 on renewable energy development and other efforts. Its initial focus will be solar thermal and enhanced geothermal systems.

Eventually, the company would spend hundreds of millions of dollars in for-profit “breakthrough renewable energy projects.” Hydroelectric and nuclear energy are not part of the project.

Page believes no more than 1,000 researchers worldwide are focused on renewable energy cheaper than coal. “We would really like to get those people in one room and give them resources.” More at Google.

As global warming erodes their world, the residents of Kivalina battle the elements — and now one another.

KIVALINA, Alaska — Nov 25, ‘07 –Alan Zarembo of LA Times reports an in-depth article on an Alaskan island, Kivalina, losing its ground.

“Beneath a moonlit Arctic sky, Joe Swan Jr. and most of his 12-person crew were taking a cigarette break when a dump truck arrived and emptied another load of black sand at their feet.

The backhoe driver, who happened to be his wife, gunned the engine, spewing a diesel haze into the air as she dug into the pile and filled another 2,500-pound sandbag for the sea wall shielding the island from the Chukchi Sea.

The crew has been repairing the $3-million wall almost since the day it was completed in October 2006. They bring more sand. The ocean takes it away.

Kivalina is disappearing, the victim of a warming world and a steady natural erosion that probably began long before the Eskimos settled here 100 years ago.

“You see the white water out there?” Swan said, pointing to some ripples a couple hundred feet offshore. “That’s where the beach used to be.”

When he was growing up here in the 1970s, the ocean would freeze each fall into a slush the thickness of mashed potatoes. Waves from the storms would crash into the ice, not the shore.

Lately, the autumn ocean has been a vast, iceless expanse that leaves the beach vulnerable to waves. The island is now a sliver of sand and permafrost less than 600 feet across at its widest point. The Army Corps of Engineers estimates it will be 10 to 15 years before the ground beneath the clump of clapboard houses washes away.

The prospect of Kivalina’s disappearance has set off its own storm, jarring a place that, like most of global warming’s early victims, has long struggled on the fringes of the planet.

Most of the 400 residents — filled with dreams of a new village with running water, better homes and, perhaps, a chance at a job — want to leave.

The big questions are: To where? And how?

Village leaders have squabbled for years with state and federal officials over relocating, which could cost as much as $250 million. No one has offered to pay.

Residents themselves are divided over where to go. Some want to move to higher ground. Others want to stay on the coast, even at the risk of seeing their new homes eventually disappear to erosion and rising seas.

“We’d love to move — get off this island,” Swan said. There is no heroic battle to stop the advancing water.

“Every time they do something, the surge comes in and destroys all their work,” said tribal administrator Colleen Swan, who walks by the wall every day. “It’s like a bucket that keeps developing holes.”

From the air, the island of Kivalina looks like a giant tadpole. The tail is a barren wisp of sand six miles long. The ocean steadily laps at one side. A silty lagoon fed by two rivers is on the other.

“Kivalina is nothing but fine sand,” said Oscar Swan, 84, as a grandson served him canned sausages for lunch while static buzzed over a citizens band radio.

Located 85 miles north of the Arctic Circle, Kivalina was once an occasional hunting camp for the Eskimos, who moved with the seasons in their constant search for seals, caribou and fish.” More at LA Times. Photo Credits: LA Times.

Bangalore — Nov 22, ‘07 –Indian automobile major Tata Motors and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) are gearing up to launch the prototype of the world’s cleanest car that will run on hydrogen and emit a mere wispy trail of water vapour, reports Rediff.

“Making this announcement in Bangalore on Thursday, ISRO chairman Madhavan Nair said that the car would roll out early next year. According to Nair, the car will run on Hydrogen and would emit water vapour, thus making it extremely environment friendly.

Nair said that an agreement for the pilot project to see whether hydrogen can be used as fuel for automobiles had been signed and work had already commenced on the project. He said that ISRO is working with the Tatas and, if all goes well, the car will be rolled out in early 2008.

This car will have engine as it will be completely electricity-driven, and hydrogen and atmospheric oxygen will be combined in the fuel cell to produce electricity that will propel the car. The car will also have hydrogen storage and regulatory control systems, Nair added.

It seems as though the first batch of cars will be launched in New Delhi. Currently, hydrogen-powered cars are being run in the research campus of Indian Oil Corporation. These cars will come out on the roads once the first hydrogen dispenser comes up in New Delhi.

Delhi is better geared to host hydrogen cars due to the CNG revolution that took place there. For vehicles running on CNG there would not be any major modification required as 10 per cent blend and the hydrogen could be stored in the CNG cylinder.” More at Rediff.

NEW YORK — Nov 22, ‘07  — The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree is going “greener” — with energy-saving lights replacing old-fashioned bulbs on the towering evergreen this year.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he hoped the change to the midtown Manhattan display will inspire the tens of millions of New Yorkers and tourists who see the tree every year.

“Now they will see an example of green leadership which may inspire them to make greener choices in their own lives,” Bloomberg said Tuesday.The 84-foot-tall Norway spruce will be covered with 30,000 multicolored light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, strung on five miles of wire.

Using the energy-efficient LEDs to replace incandescent bulbs will reduce the display’s electricity consumption from 3,510 to 1,297 kilowatt hours per day. The daily savings is equal to the amount of electricity consumed by a typical 2,000-square-foot house in a month.

The owners of Rockefeller Center, Tishman Speyer, also showed off a new 365-panel solar energy array that will generate electricity on the roof of one of the complex’s buildings, the largest privately owned solar roof in Manhattan. The roof will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 2,000,000 lbs. over its 30 year lifespan.

After the official tree lighting ceremony on November 28, the Christmas tree will be illuminated from 5:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. most days through the first week of January.

The Rockefeller Center tradition was started in 1931, when construction workers building the first part of the office building complex erected a 20-foot Balsam fir amid the site’s mud and rubble.After the tree is taken down in January, it will be cut into lumber to be used in houses built by Habitat for Humanity.

Nov 21, ‘07 — Digitimes is reporting on Taiwan planning to replace 460,000 traffic signal lights with LED lamps, with the total cost being between $31 million (NT$1 billion) and $62 million, citing a Chinese-language Commercial Time report, which cited Huey-ching, director general of the Bureau of Energy under the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

“All incandescent light bulbs are expected to be eliminated by 2012, with related production discontinuing in 2010″, noted Yeh in the report.

 More at Digitimes.

NEW YORK — November 11, ‘07 — Jon Friedman of Foxbusiness reports on the lunch and panel talk he attended by Time magazine to discuss possibilities for its Person of the Year issue.

In his words, “After attending Time’s discussion of who should be the magazine’s Person of the Year, I reached two conclusions:

Al Gore looks like a shoo-in. Time is blowing a major journalistic and marketing opportunity by bestowing only one award.

Gore, 59, looms as a timely and popular selection. Through his respected documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth,” and his presentations, he has sparked interest in global warming and the environment. He has jump-started America’s “green” movement more significantly than any other individual. That alone is noteworthy.

But over the past few years, Gore has come a long way. In 2006, the puffy ex-presidential hopeful looked like little more than a prime candidate for a Weight Watchers commercial. Then, in only the past nine months, he has accepted an Oscar and a Nobel Peace Prize.” More at Foxbusiness.

Beijing, China – Nov 09, ‘07 — A Chinese official gave the clearest sign yet that Beijing will reject binding caps on greenhouse gas emissions at a global meeting next month, saying developing countries must be allowed to raise emissions to fight poverty.

Beijing is about to overtake the United States as the world’s top greenhouse-gas producer. It is under pressure from Washington to accept binding limits at a meeting in Bali, Indonesia of environment ministers from 80 nations to discuss a possible replacement to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on emission reductions.

Nations agreed in Kyoto to cut output of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases to below 1990 levels by 2012. But China, India and other developing economies are exempt.

“Climate change is caused mainly by developed countries,” Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui said. “They should have the main responsibility for climate change and to reduce emissions.”

“Most developing countries are in the process of industrialization and urbanization, and they face the arduous task of poverty reduction,” Zhang said. “So they need a large period of time for continuous energy demand growth with the growth of greenhouse gas emissions.”

Zhang did not say directly what Beijing’s position would be at the meeting on the Indonesian island of Bali, and he did not take questions from reporters.

A European Union official who met this week with Chinese leaders said they told him in private meetings that Beijing could not accept any binding obligations.

ROUND ROCK, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Oct 31, ‘07–Dell today extended its commitment to becoming the “greenest” technology company on Earth with the addition of an Energy Star 4.0-compliant desktop that helps consumers reduce their carbon footprint.
“We are committed to providing consumers a choice that helps protect the environment without sacrificing the performance needed to maintain a rich, high-definition digital experience.” said Karen Plotkin, director of consumer desktop marketing. “Consumers using this energy-efficient Inspiron 531 can reduce their carbon footprint while also reducing their electric bills.”

The specially configured Inspiron 531 is Dell’s first consumer PC to meet the Energy Star 4.0 requirements. Powered by an 80 percent efficient power supply, the system comes pre-configured to switch to a low-power sleep state after 15 minutes of inactivity and also includes a forest-friendly paperless owner’s manual. Using an energy-efficient desktop with a flat panel monitor for four years can reduce carbon dioxide (C02) emissions by approximately the same amount as not driving a car for eight weeks.1

With a starting price of $369, the Inspiron 531 is available to U.S. customers immediately. Entry-level configurations include an AMD Athlon 64 X2 dual-core processor, 1GB DDR2 memory, 160GB hard drive, CDRW / DVD combination drive, NVIDIA integrated graphics, Windows Vista Home Basic, and one year Limited Warranty with In-Home Service and support.

In addition to meeting Energy Star 4.0 requirements, the company is also advising customers on data center design to help reduce power needs. More information on Dell’s energy efficiency programs is available at www.dell.com/energy.

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Shai Agassi, former SAP executive, has announced today the formation of Project Better Place, an entity focused on one of the 21st century’s biggest challenges – developing a sustainable, environmental solution for converting country-wide transportation systems toward electricity and away from fossil fuel.  

The company will deploy the regional and global infrastructure to support electric vehicles on a country by country basis. Project Better Place will establish a widespread grid of electric charging spots at current parking locations as well as battery exchange stations through software systems integration. These capabilities will provide consumers with the energy to keep their cars charged and driving without the need to wait for electricity at any point. The new grid presents a practical solution to address barriers to electric vehicle adoption.  

“Our global economy urgently needs an environmentally clean and sustainable approach to energy and transportation. We need to rethink how to bring together consumers, existing technology, and the entire car eco-system to establish the next generation infrastructure that provides energy for commuters and is not dependent on liquid fuels,” said Mr. Agassi. “We have crossed a historic threshold where electricity and batteries provide a cheaper alternative for consumers. Existing technology, coupled with the right business model and a scaleable infrastructure can provide an immediate solution and significantly decrease carbon emissions.” More at Project Better Place

Commission Fees go Directly to Carbonfund.org, a Nonprofit Organization Committed to Fighting Global Warming. NEW YORK, Oct. 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Eco-conscious publishing company Ogden Publications today announced the launch of the climate change-combating website EarthMoment.com. An innovative new shopping portal, EarthMoment.com provides consumers with millions of competitively priced products from top retailers while dedicating half of its commission-based revenues to certified carbon offsets, one of the most effective ways to fight climate change.

Consumers have access to more than 15 million products and services from over a thousand leading merchants including Apple, Barnes and Noble, Blockbuster, Circuit City, GNC, Kohls, Macy’s, Office Depot, Sharper Image, Wal-Mart, and many, many more. While other companies that put money toward “environmental funds” do so by tacking on fees to consumer purchases, EarthMoment.com contributes 50% of its revenue from vendors to carbon offsets — at no additional charge to the consumer.

Earth Moment allows consumers to compare prices from different vendors, then takes the shopper directly to the retailer of their choosing. Any purchase made on the retailer’s site within 24 hours will contribute to Carbonfund.org.

The commissions Earth Moment receives from each vendor go directly to Carbonfund.org, a nonprofit organization committed to addressing the issue of climate change by supporting projects that reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Consumers can decide how they want to reduce their carbon footprint: energy efficiency, renewable energy or reforestation.

EarthMoment.com shoppers create a profile to assess their total annual emissions and the dollar amount needed to offset their personal contributions to global warming. From there, users can set carbon-reducing goals and track their progress as they go from “red” to “green.”

“We think we offer consumers one of the easiest ways to make a positive difference in the world.” Said Bryan Welch, Publisher and Editorial Director of Ogden Publications and Managing Partner of Earth Moment.

More at PRNewsWire, EarthMoment

Ann Arbor, MI Embraces LED Technology to Reduce Energy Consumption, Greenhouse Gas Emissions. City to install more than 1,000 LED streetlights, joining Raleigh and Toronto in growing LED City community. ANN ARBOR, MI., OCT. 16, 2007 - Cree Inc, a leader in LED solid-state lighting components, and the City of Ann Arbor, Michigan, today announced that Ann Arbor will join Raleigh, N.C. and Toronto, in the growing LED City™ initiative. In an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption, Ann Arbor plans to become the first U.S. city to convert 100 percent of its downtown streetlights to LED technology.

Ann Arbor expects to install more than 1,000 LED streetlights beginning next month. The City anticipates a 3.8-year payback on its initial investment. The LED lights typically burn five times longer than the bulbs they replace and require less than half the energy. Each fixture draws 56 watts and is projected to last 10 years, replacing fixtures with bulbs that use more than 120 watts and last only two years.
Full implementation of LEDs is projected to cut Ann Arbor’s public lighting energy use in half and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2,425 tons of CO2 annually, the equivalent of taking 400 cars off the road for a year. Detroit Edison, Ann Arbor’s local utility provider, will meter the new LED streetlights with the intent to gather sufficient information to develop new LED-based tariffs.

“This decision is based on three years of extensive research on the energy and maintenance savings associated with LED lighting, citizen surveys and a very successful pilot of 25 LED lights spanning an entire city block,” said Mayor John Hieftje. As a result, the City received a $630,000 grant from the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority to fund retrofits for the downtown lights. “This initial installation should save the City more than $100,000 per year and reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 294 tons of CO2. Our plan is to retrofit all downtown lights with LED alternatives over the next two years.”

“We applaud the tremendous efforts by Ann Arbor’s civic leaders to make energy efficiency a priority for the City,” said Chuck Swoboda, Cree chairman and CEO. “We are especially pleased that Ann Arbor is joining the LED City program to share the results of their product testing and surveys with other municipalities to help accelerate the adoption of LED lighting worldwide.”

The LED streetlights currently installed in Ann Arbor are based on the New Westminster Series made by Lumec, Inc., which contains LED light engines from Relume Technologies, Inc. The light engines are based on the performance-leading Cree XLamp® LED.

More at City of Ann Arbor, Press Release (in pdf)

Reuters reports this breaking news: “OSLO (Reuters) - Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and the U.N. climate panel won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for their part in galvanising international action against global warming before it “moves beyond man’s control”.Gore and the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) won “for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change”, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said.

They were chosen to share the $1.5 million (740,088 pounds) prize from a field of 181 candidates. “He is probably the single individual who has done most to create greater worldwide understanding of the measures that need to be adopted,” the committee said of Gore.

“The IPCC has created an ever-broader informed consensus about the connection between human activities and global warming,” it said.

“Action is necessary now, before climate change moves beyond man’s control,” the citation said of rising temperatures that could bring more droughts, floods, rising seas. It was the second prize to a leading U.S. Democrat during the presidency of Republican George W. Bush. The 2002 prize went to former President Jimmy Carter.”

More at Reuters