The hole in the ozone layer!!

The global warming!!

The dramatic changes in the climate!!

Diminishing energy storage!!

But that does not mean  you should  start to look for lands on the moon right away; this is the time for getting started on the path of damage repair and prevention of further damages of environment.

And among many eco-friendly measures, the increased use of public transport is likely to play a major role in future. Just look at the public transport system of the countries like UK and Japan….despite being two of the most wealthy societies of the world they hugely depend on the various forms of public transport system with the main focus on underground transport.

In contrast, USA has so far taken little efforts at curbing the fuel consumption by the individual automobile owners. The absence of a properly developed public transport system and heavy reliance on personal vehicle have accounted for  USA’s excessive reliance on the imported oils and  the consequences are known to all today.

Canada, the other rich North American country apparently seems to learn from USA’s experience and they seem to rather follow the European models rather than their American cousin. The country is on her way to introduce a green public transportation system based on hydrogen powered buses.

An important pilot program has started in Ottawa, Canada from 7th December of the last year that involves the test running of three shuttle buses in the Parliament Hill. The buses are powered by Ford’s advanced hydrogen internal combustion engine (HICE). The program is aimed at judging the real life viability of the buses.These shuttle buses are  being used to carry the parliamentarian fleet to and from several  buildings in the precinct. By replacing the traditional gasoline powered buses, these hydrogen powered shuttle buses are expected to cut off greenhouse emissions to near-zero levels.

The whole program involves a pre-commercial evaluation of Ford’s HICE technology and involves a fleet of total twenty buses to be tested on the roads of the USA as well. The outcome is very crucial as it will help the Ford company to assess the commercial viability of such hydrogen powered buses.

The hydrogen fuel injectors used in the these Ford HICE E450s have been provided by Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide, Inc. who along with Ford is quite optimistic about the future important role of hydrogen technology  as an alternative to petroleum usage and harmful auto emissions.

http://www.gemcar.com

How much do you think the common consumers are bothered about the environmental issues?

They care a lot actually!

Need the proof?

Just check with the growing interests among the consumers about the environment friendly electric cars ! Add to the environmental concerns the issue of high gas price, the speculations about its further rise in the future and the Statemen’s increasing appeals to the nation to cut back on their fuel consumption and you will find the explanation why the car giants are putting so much stakes on inventing novel electric car concepts.

Zero emission, dramatically low cost of fuel…there are several reasons why one should  consider an investment in  electric car! However, the futuristic electric car concepts that you come to see in the various auto shows across the nation are still years away to make them available in a practical scale. But if you are too impatient to wait till then and want to travel in your electric car right now…here are the two best options you can try on this date!

For instance think of this car…the Global Electric Motorcar– better known as the GEM car among auto enthusiasts. The GEM from the House of DaimlerChrysler has been given the most futuristic get up with an resemblance with Volkswagen Beetle. Just plug it into a standard 110-volt outlet and whooooosh….the Gem will take you 30 miles ahead without any recharge! Ideal for a city driving, the GEM car will help you to travel at a speed up to 25 mph. You will get a cool two to six seat model of GEM and a ride will give you the same comfort as the other compact cars on the road. GEM has been particularly popular with the older people with a penchant for golf-lifestyle.

Looking for something more energetic, more vibrant? Well the Tesla Roadster has everything in it to become your next favorite car! Looking like a Lotus sports car it takes as little as four seconds to pick up from zero to 60 mph and you can challenge the wind at the speed of 130 mph while riding your Telsa! and all this you can enjoy without harming the environment as it does not run on a traditional engine or burns tons of fuel; a lithium ion battery-powered electric motor is all that this wonder car needs to give you the most exciting ride. However, you should be ready to pay the price for the quality even though it is as high as $100,000. But price does not become an issue when you really get the value for your money and it has been proved with the sale of first 220 models within 6 months since its first brush with the stores.

For more information about these cars  visit their website at

http://www.teslamotors.com

Did you know that it is actualy possible to drive greener if you stay conscious about your driving habits? Well, the truth of the matter is: you can get some extra mileage if you bring some changes in your driving habits.Just think how wonderful it would be was there a constant monitoring system in your car to warn you about your driving erros and cheer you up for your each driving accomplishments!

Well, it is possible to have this kind of monitor in your car…thanks to Nissan that developed the cARWING technology that is soon to hit the Japan roads to help the drivers there to improve on their eco-driving skills.

Well, the Japanese car giant Nissan knew this all along: small driving mistakes lead to gross enegy wastage in the long run. Hence this electronic innovation from Nissan—the cARWING— that helps you to drive correctly and drive green. It is going to play the role of a kind of  e-guide that monitors your driving behaviour, indicates to the areas of driving where you went wrong and makes you drive the proper way to gain the maximum mileage from your car.

These are all parts of Nissan’s “Green Program 2010.” The CARWINGS system incorporates web-enabled technology which is designed to collect various driving data from customers’ vehicles. After being processed, they are presented to the customer through an user-friendly interface in form of value-added information  relevant for the improvement in eco-driving skills.

The system can be bought optionally with factory-installed DVD navigation systems. The system works on a day to day basis.

Nissan takes active efforts for curbing the CO2 emissions as a part of their  previously announced the “Nissan Green Program 2010″. CARWINGS service is another attempt at building up of public awareness about how flawed driving affect fuel efficiency and ultimately the environment.

The Asian automobile giant definitely deserves a big applause for these eco-friendly efforts. But the sad part is: CARWINGS  telematics service  is currently available only in Japan. We sincerely hope that the technology soon crosses borders to be available to the drivers of the rest of the world.

We often grudgingly call them the gas guzzling monsters!!

But we can not do away with them alltogether.

Yes, I am talking about the heavy duty trucks. Road transportation is one of the most crucial part of any thriving economy and the most important component of road transport are the heavy duty trucks powered on diesel and contributing to a lion’s share of green house gases.

 

While you can not ban them off the road completely you can surely take measures to cut off their emissions and that is what the Environmental Protection Agency standards resolved  to do. In order to meet the EPA standard, the new truck models of 2007 are to be equipped with particulate matter filters that will result into a 90% cleaner vehicles with a significant cut on nitrogen oxide emissions than the previous generation models.

 

The cynicals have however doubted the efficacy of such an ambitious standard. But they were proved wrong when the The Diesel Technology Forum  announced just a few days ago that all major heavy-duty truck and engine manufacturers have conformed to this  new standard for emissions cuts and received the certificate from the EPA for full production.

 

With the EPA certification now being mandatory, truck manufacturers will be able to produce cleanest diesel engines so far and that marks a milestone in the achievement for a cleaner environment. As the new trucks following EPA standard are replaced with their previous generation gas-guzzlers the total emissions of smog-forming gases are expected to be reduced by 2.6 million tons each year. In addition to that  soot emissions will also be scaled down to 110,000 tons annually.

 

Let’s check with the manufacturers that have passed the most rigorous standardization criteria; the names of EPA certified manufacturers include Caterpillar, Cummins, Detroit Diesel Corp., International, Mack and Volvo. This certification implies that all these above mentioned manufacturers  abide by all the EPA stipulated emission standards regarded as the most stringent in the whole world.

 

To be doubly assured check out what Allen Schaeffer, the Diesel Technology Forum executive director has to say: “America’s long-haul truckers can be confident in the reliability and durability of these engines,” …The technology on these trucks has been engineered through millions of miles of testing, which has shown the performance, fuel economy and durability required to not only meet but exceed customer expectations.”

 

So next time you roam around  in the super market looking for the new arrivals in the shelves, you can rest assured that all the goods have been transported along the green route. However, experts are of the opinion that the benefits of EPA standard can not be optimized unless the government adopts some incentive based initiatives to slowly banish the old models from the road.