“We have enough energy resources and green technology in the United States to enable us to stop relying on foreign dictators to supply us with fuel,”—- The USA finds her new advocate for alternative fuel generation in Brian Schweitzer, Democratic governor of Montana. His disagreement with President Bush on the point of war of Iraq is not under the scope of this site, but what interests us is his emphasis on building up of a more powerful USA on the basis of green technology.

The oil rich Middle East had much to do with the international power equation; but the scenario should change now and the USA has to do many things to initiate the process….feels Montana’s Democratic governor Schweitzer. “Along with a smart strategy in Iraq, our energy independence can make us stronger and safer.” affirms Schweitzer.

Presently the nation consumes up 6.5 billion barrels of oil annually. Only 2.5 billion barrels are produced at home; the rest comes from “some of the world’s worst dictators.”

The governor puts forward a simple three-prong strategy for achieving this energy-independence:

• Save 1 billion barrels through conservation
• Produce another 1 billion barrels of biofuels
• Get 2 more billion barrels by turning coal into liquid fuel

He stresses on various alternative fuel sources. He turned out to be great supporter of biodiesel, also pointed to the importance of producing more ethanol. Another option is wind power and it’s a fact that since the governorship of Schweitzer wind power electric generation has significantly increased in Montana.

The Governor seems to sincerely believe that all these efforts of generating green fuel can only take the USA to a greener and safer future. He believes, the green technology will throw open the doors for thousands of new jobs in the country. If pursued with sincerity, the alternative fuel sources will help the nation earn her much needed energy independence within ten years. Most importantly, with a reliance on greener and cleaner fuels, country will never require to send her children to the battle fields thousands of miles away from home. With an end to the war, there will be cut on defense budget too.

Even if you do not subscribe to political views of Schweitzer, you can’t possibly ignore its humane side! After all we all should try our bits to leave a greener, cleaner and most importantly safer world for the generations to come.

 

Since its first appearance in the North American International Auto show last year, the Ford Edge has invoked a great deal of interest among the hybrid enthusiasts! Since then more than 930,000 consumers have visited the Edge web site at www.fordvehicles.com/edge. The launching of Edge had been touted by the company as the single most important event for the year, 2006. Even before it hit the showrooms across the country, this new hybrid car has become a sort of celebrity! So moods are generally upbeat when “Ford joins US ‘green’ car trend”(BBC NEWS).

In its century-old history, the Ford remained the undisputed leader of the auto industry. But the rise of Asian rival brands with the emphasis on use of lesser fuel and cleaner fuel prompted the Ford to take the green isle. The company’s business acumen was duly rewarded as the new Ford Edge won the title of “Urban Truck of the Year” in this year’s Detroit auto show. It symbolized the emergence of a new leader in the crossover segment of automobile industry. And now that Ford finally unveils a test vehicle it becomes the latest to join the league of cars running on the green alternative fuels…reports BBC.

At the backdrop of Bush’s 2007 State of the Union address, where the President is expected to appeal to the nation to cut back its energy expenditure, the unveiling could not have a better timing. For the Ford, this launch is a part of their image repairing procedure—switching from the mould of the manufacturers of gas-guzzling cars to the advocate of greener fuel, safer environment.

The Ford Edge has been designed on the hybrid models that draw its power from the combination of compressed hydrogen and a battery pack that can be plugged into an electric socket. However full commercialization of the model is still a matter of distant future, as the production of hydrogen fuel cells still cost millions of dollars and there are still a few technical hurdles to be overcome.

The volume of traffic the Edge website generated in the months since its appearances in various Auto shows across the nation, sparks hope among the auto experts about the bright future of this new green car in the league. With the launch of Ford Edge, the number of the competitors in the crossover car segment increased by one; now is the time to watch how fierce the competition is going to be.

Blame it on the surge in the fuel prices or the increased consciousness among the consumers about environmental pollution caused by auto emissions…the last year saw an unprecedented fall in the performance of the three US automobile giants, Ford, General Motors (GM) and Chrysler.

Consider these stats:

Total sales of Ford fell by 8%, GM’s  8.7% and Chrysler’s 5%. On a contrasting note the Japanese duo the Toyota and Honda turned out to be the winners with 12.9% and 3.5% annual rise in their sales respectively.

In order to maintain the rate of profitability, both Ford and GM resorted to huge restructuring: in an unprecedented move, GM sold off a majority stake in its GMAC finance unit to counter  its financial losses. In addition to that GM plans to cut 30,000 jobs and close several factories by 2008, while Ford plans to cut around 38,000 jobs.

In an contrasting move, Toyota however announced plans to establish six more factories around the world by the end of the 2010.

In the world auto market, Ford has recently been defeated by Toyota. The 2007 is also expected to belong to Toyota as the crown of leading automaker of the world is expected to go down to Toyota from GM. Toyota and other Asian car companies are also expected to grab increased  share of the pie in US domestic market… industry experts predict.

Although GM has emphasized on the improvements of battery technology, industry experts are not actually convinced that GM could do much to give a close competition to the hybrid giants like Honda and Toyota.

Toyota is already making profits by selling its hybrid cars; the profits on its Prius hybrid are believed to fall between 3 percent and 5 percent. For the models like the Lexus RX 400h, margins are expected to be even higher.

But Toyota is not content with its success so far; Toyota undergoes a constant upgradation…in late 2008 or early 2009, it is expected to unveil the third-generation hybrid system using the Li-ion batteries instead of the current nickel metal hydride cells. The new hybrids will be smaller and also cheaper by half the current price. Fuel efficiency is also expected to improve by 20 percent to 30 percent.

Honda is not much far behind…in gas-electric hybrids segment, a new subcompact model is on the way to make appearance as early as 2009. The plug-in hybrids of its own are also on the anvil.

The key factor for the coming years is going to be the breakthrough in the Li-ion battery technology. However, the American auto giants are also lobbying for getting governmental subsidies for battery researches. Even then it is the Japanese hybrid leaders that are predicted to start the first commercialized production of li-ion batteries for their hybrid cars.

So it can be safely predicted that it is the Japanese auto leaders that are going to dominate the hybrid market in the coming years.

“With America now importing 60% of the oil we use and a national bill for this habit that came to $250 billion last year, there is simply no time to waste. With worldwide demand growing rapidly, and with concern about the environmental impact of greenhouse gases rising, the deployment of clean, reliable sources of energy is clearly in our national interest.” - Secretary of Energy Samuel W. Bodman

So it was in complete lieu with the comment of Bodman when U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced a disbursement of a princely sum of $17 million with an aim to improve automobile efficiency and reduce the nations dependence on imported oil.  The announcements was made at the Washington Auto Show, by assistant secretary, Alexander Karsner before the senior executives from General Motors, Ford and DaimlerChrysler.

The total fund will be broken into two separate segments: $14 million will go to support the researches relating to plug-in hybrid electric vehicle technology. The rest $3 million is intended to encourage researches in the fields of E-85 engine performance.

Karsner emphasized on the development of commercially viable fuel-efficient cars…not just the concept cars. According to Karsner, this can be achieved by improving battery technology and engine efficiency….・

Here is a summary of the DOE plan:

The first and foremost aim of DOE is to encourage efficient and marketable researches relating to plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and E85-blended fuel. The FreedomCAR and Vehicle Technologies Programs of DOE are supposed to take the lead role in these efforts of DOE towards energy independence.

The second aim is to achieve a breakthrough in battery technology so that it becomes possible for the plug-in hybrid vehicles to deliver a performance as efficient as the 40 miles of electric range to facilitate usual roundtrip daily commutes.

On a practical note, a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle test bed at DOE Argonne National Laboratory has been created to allow scientists carry on with their experiments with advanced hybrid vehicles.

The concluding part of the fund comprises $3 million. This money is to be expended on the researches on the improvement of the fuel economy of E85 engines and reduction of vehicle emissions. E85, which is a gasoline-ethanol blend of motor fuel contains 85% ethanol and can be used in flex-fuel vehicles. Because of its enormous oxygen content, the E85 fuel burns out more completely, thus providing a cleaner fuel option than conventional gasoline.

It also welcomes the projects aimed at development of flex-fuel vehicles depending on the favorable properties of ethanol gasoline blends.

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.

The current auto trends show that the Americans are totally infatuated with the hybrid cars. Over the past few years their sale seems to have skyrocketed to an unbelievable height. Reasons are varied: they give you good many numbers of extra mileages. Even you get tax cut from the Federal guardian. Above all, with a hybrid car you can don the image of an environment-conscious person who is doing his bits to scale down nation’s fuel costs!

 

But there is another factor that accounts for this huge popularity of hybrid cars; this is the influence of celebrity hybrid drivers. Starting from Tom hanks to Cameron Diaz, from Salma Hayek to Leonardo DiCaprio…all leading Hollywood stars’ love affair with their Hybrid cars are but an open secret today.

 

In a society that loves to stay besieged by the glitz and glamour of the Hollywood, celebrity endorsement holds immense brand building potentials. Celebrities can make the brand more conspicuous in the lives of the consumers. Most importantly, the celebrities can take a campaign to an extent, which is impossible to achieve through any other means. So the Global Green’s Red Carpet-Green Cars campaign seemed to take the right route to motivation when they made the celebrity like Charlize Theron drive up the Red Carpet in the Emmy Awards back in 2005, in a Hybrid car instead of conventional Limousine. The stars like Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz, Gwyneth Paltrow, Tom Hanks or Orlando Bloom are also some of the proud green drivers who move along the roads of Hollywood in their hybrid cars.

 

This fascination of the celebrities with their hybrid cars proved to be infectious and more and more people are stepping into the shoes of their favorite stars. The Global Green’s small efforts at important award ceremonies definitely bounced back in a big way…the skeptics turned tree huggers literally overnight.

 

Such is the power of celebrity endorsement: it can mould a non-believer into a staunch believer. But in the ultimate terms, each and every individual that drives a hybrid is a celebrity him/herself. A hybrid driver is helping the world to cope with the uncertain environmental future and energy storage. They are celebrities because they are silently contributing to the reshaping of international politics which at present seems to be controlled by the dynamics of too much oil dependence.

 

So emulate your favorite star for a bigger cause…be a celebrity yourself!

 

(NC)-Hybrid vehicles have caused a stir, and speculation abounds about how they work, how much they cost to buy, maintain and insure. Some of it is fact, but some of it is simply rumour.

A hybrid has to be plugged in

Rumour. The current available hybrids do not need to be plugged in. Basically, the way it works is the battery is recharged while you drive, from energy normally lost over the course of operating the car.

Hybrid batteries need to be replaced frequently

Fiction. Hybrid batteries are designed to work for the lifetime of the vehicle which is why many manufacturers offer impressive warranties. Toyota for example, offers an 8-year (or 160,000 km) warranty coverage on their Prius and Highlander hybrid-related components.

The only hybrids available are the Honda Civic Hybrid and the Toyota Prius

False. There are a number of hybrids to choose from, including cars, SUVs and pick-ups. Whatever your preference, chances are you can find a hybrid version. The most popular hybrids, as quoted online for auto insurance through http://www.kanetix.ca/, show how diverse the selection is:

1. Honda Civic Hybrid

2. Toyota Prius

3. Toyota Camry

4. Lexus RX 400h

5. Ford Escape Hybrid

6. Toyota Highlander Hybrid

7. Honda Accord Hybrid

8. Honda Insight

9. Saturn Vue Green Line Hybrid

10. Lexus GS 450h

11. Chevrolet Silverado Hybrid

12. GMC Sierra Hybrid

Hybrids cost more to buy

True. While fuel efficiency is a bonus at the pumps, it comes at the cost of a slightly more expensive vehicle, usually several thousand dollars. The good news here though is if you live in British Columbia, Ontario or Prince Edward Island you may be eligible to receive a tax rebate varying from $1,000 to $3,000.

Hybrids cost more to insure

Not necessarily. After comparing online quotes at http://www.kanetix.ca/, for the Honda Civic Hybrid, Toyota Camry Hybrid, Saturn Vue Green Line Hybrid, Ford Escape Hybrid and the Toyota Highlander Hybrid it appears there is no one particular insurance trend when it comes to hybrid insurance rates. Compared to their gas-powered alter-egos, the cost to insure a hybrid vehicle was neither consistently higher nor lower.

Credit: http://www.newscanada.com/