Environmentales

Cars have harmful gases that emit as carbon dioxide and ozone. One car does little harm, but a billion or so cars have proven to be quite devastating. Automobile and Environmentalism are naturally opposing. But a car is a need in order to subsist in society and a suitable environment within which we can subsist. We can find a way to go subsist in both, probably the moderation or the new term “Green” work together for solutions.

That’s why; manufacturers are trying to find less toxic emission solutions, and a credit to the consumer demand for green cars.  Some cars use fuels other than gasoline and diesel. Smaller car models have also helped cut down on how much fuel must be burned and how many materials are used. Just making the cars more durable can help on the materials front.

So, people go for green cars, and here are some “Go Green Car Tips: First, Don’t be lame unless you’ve got a good excuse – Distances of only a block or two some people actually drive. Walking a couple of extra blocks a day could do wonders. In addition, the human body burns fuel much more efficiently than cars do. . Take a walk. Ride a bike. Skate. Second, Buy only used cars – There are of used cars available that are well-built and have a lot of life left. Buying them new not only creates more use of materials that will at least in part take up landfill space at some point, but it is most often a really bad fiscal move. New cars lose 80% of their value in the first few years. Used cars hardly change in value at all if they’re well-maintained. Best of all, there always seems to be a greater number of people trying to sell used cars than the number of people trying to buy used cars. Third, Buy cars that operate efficiently – Go for cars that have good gas mileage. Go with a hybrid. Retrofit your old car with more efficient systems. And lastly, don’t buy a car that has more space and/or bulk than you need – For a single man or woman driving around in the city, big cars and trucks rarely make any sense at all. Only SUVs can be great for a family of eight, achieving nice per-person energy consumption and emission rates.

Students at Georgia Tech will be driving cars with the aim of running on fossil fuels but don’t release tons of carbon into the environment. It’s all part of the universities long-term plan to develop vehicles that produce recyclable carbon. Eventually they hope to eliminate fossil fuel from the equation, but in the meantime they are working with an engine that traps carbon emissions for dumping off and recycling at fuel stations. Let’s hope they model it on this Swiss zero-emissions car called SAM, which looked cool but was discontinued due to lack of funds. The Georgia Tech team’s goal is to create a sustainable transportation system that uses a liquid fuel and traps the carbon emission in the vehicle for later processing at a fueling station. The carbon would then be shuttled back to a processing plant where it could be transformed into liquid fuel. Currently, Georgia Tech researchers are developing a fuel processing device to separate the carbon and store it in the vehicle in liquid form.

How does the carbon-collecting strategy work? A release from Georgia Tech says:

Georgia Tech’s near-future strategy involves capturing carbon emissions from conventional (fossil) liquid hydrocarbon-fueled vehicles with an onboard fuel processor designed to separate the hydrogen in the fuel from the carbon. Hydrogen is then used to power the vehicle, while the carbon is stored on board the vehicle in a liquid form until it is disposed at a refueling station. It is then transported to a centralized site to be sequestered in a permanent location currently under investigation by scientists, such as geological formations, under the oceans or in solid carbonate form. In the long-term strategy, the carbon dioxide will be recycled forming a closed-loop system, involving synthesis of high energy density liquid fuel suitable for the transportation sector.

Source: Georgia Tech

Academy Awards is known for its showcase of blinding glam and glitz. The most popular Hollywood stars are there but they are not complete without designers’ clothes, accessories, jewelry, and of course – cars!

At last year’s Oscars, Prius hybrid was the brightest car. Why is that so? Because stars flaunt their environmental concern by the mere act of driving a Prius.

This year, General Motors planned to make a difference. The Detroit automaker said over 75 stars got to the red carpet at Oscars in zero-emission hydrogen-powered cars and hybrids from GM.

“It has been such a Toyota top-sided story until now,” said GM spokeswoman Christi Conti, who said that Yukons were offered to all the presenters and all the performers. As we see it, GMC parts are getting greener and greener thanks to the escalating clamor and legislations. Even Yukon’s cousin – Chevy Tahoe, was acknowledged and won the ‘green car of the year’ award from Green Car Journal this year.

According to some reports, however, the organizers of the Red Carpet/Green Cars campaign – Global Green, is not pleased about the use of hybrid GMC Yukons because they only gets 22 mpg on the highway.

The Environmental Leader has given a few highlights of the Academy’s green program include:

- With support from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, 100% of the energy used for the telecast, the red-carpet arrivals show and the Governors Ball will be supplied by renewable wind power.
- All of the generators used for the production, for press support and the red carpet arrivals area are powered by a fuel mix that includes biodiesel.
- Nearly all food service ware for all events associated with the Awards Presentation is either reusable or biodegradable/compostable.
- The programs, invitations, RSVP cards, envelopes, parking passes and other printed materials include a minimum of 30% postconsumer recycled content.

For the very first time, Oscar presentors and performers will be joining the “green crusade” with the largest fuel-friendly fleet assembled by General Motors Corporation (GMC) and Chevrolet.

See George Clooney, Daniel Day-Lewis, Johnny Depp, Cate Blanchett, Julie Christie, Marion Cotillard, Elen Page and other famous Hollywood talents step out of “green wheels” such as the GMC Yukon Hybrid, GMC’s first full-size sport-utility vehicle (SUV) hybrid if not from a zero-gas, zero-emissions Chevy Equinox Fuel Cell capable of 0 to 60 miles per hour in 12 seconds, or out of FlexFuel E85 ethanol-compatible GMC Yukon.

This is part of GMC’s effort to promote fuel-friendly vehicles via the entertainment industry which is a powerful tool in advertising. Aside from the Oscar Awards Night, the company will also bring hybrid and fuel-friendly vehicles in other Oscar events such as the prestigious “A Night Before Party.”

“GM’s longstanding relationship with Hollywood and our strong commitment to bringing advanced technologies to market that will help diversify fuel sources and reduce vehicle emissions makes this perfect time for GM to drive ‘green’ to the Oscars,” Dino Bernacchi, GM director of marketing Alliances and Branded Entertainment, said in autospectator.com.

If you will recall, GMC’s fuel-friendly vehicles were also featured during the 50^th Annual Grammy Awards.

About 75 GMC vehicles will transport the Hollywood stars for the prestigious event to be presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center. The Awards Night will have its live telecast at the ABC television Network on February 24, at 5 p.m.

GMC, the world’s leading automaker, currently has 2.5 million FlexFuel E85 ethanol-capable vehicles.

Daniel Ide is a truck driver. And he is no ordinary truck driver. He wants the world to be greener and since we all can’t live without vehicles, he decides that the best way to go green would be to use used vegetable oil as fuel. He has even started his own company, Gazette wrote.

Ide’s company would be collecting the used oil from businesses and homes. When he has enough, he would bring the oil to a plant which would process the oil so much so that it can be used a car fuel. Ide says that his processed used vegetable oil is a bio-fuel.

“A lot of people use vegetable oil in their homes but perhaps find it difficult to dispose of it properly. Some people just throw it down the drain, which isn’t good for anyone. We want to make it easier for them,” he said. “We are hoping to collect from residents and business, which can be a limited market because a lot of commercial kitchens have their oil delivered and the deal is it gets collected afterwards.” He even shared that since everyone is out to do their green things, his share would not by having recycled mud flaps but by having this green company of his.

He calls his company Used Vegetable Oil Collection.

Goodluck Daniel!

Red, yellow, green. If you think that I’m plainly referring to colors of the traffic lights.Sorry, but you’re wrong. For this year in Germany, these colors serve as “tickets” for drivers who want a hassle-free travel.

According to aboutmyplanet.com, the government in Germany has implemented a law requiring all motorists to display their vehicle’s environmental badge (that comes in red, green or yellow) that represents its emission levels especially if they will be passing “green zones” such as Berlin, Cologne and Hanover. To add, all vehicles are entailed to have catalytic converters and diesel particulate filters (DPF), devices designed to reduce harmful emissions from the exhaust of the engine by 85 to 100 percent, or else they will be banned from these areas. Failure to comply with these laws means a 40 Euro fine applicable even to tourists having European road trips. In March, the green zones will extend up to 17 German cities.

In an article published by autobloggreen.com, an estimated 80 percent of the main city’s 1.2 million vehicles now have the label. The badge is divided into four categories depending upon its emission standards. Those categorized as Euro 1 are inhibited from getting a badge while those which passed the Euro 2 standard will get a red badge. Euro 3 signifies a yellow badge while a green badge goes for Euro 4. By 2010, it is envisioned that only vehicles with yellow and green badges are allowed to drive in Germany’s green zones.

Government authorities in Germany implemented this law to reduce pollution caused by car emissions that is claimed to be the reason why about 310,000 people, 20 percent of which are German, fall ill.

Between 1990 and 2004, Wikipedia reported that Germany attained a 17.2 percent decrease of greenhouse gases emissions, as part of its commitment to the Kyoto Protocol, a protocol to the International Framework Convention on Climate Change that aims to reduce greenhouse gases that cause climate change.

An environmental leader, Germany was such a bright example for other European starters in the fight against climate change.

TRIVIA TIME! Did you know that in the United States, about 214 million equivalent to 18 million dozen of roses are being grown to suffice Valentine’s Day sales?

And more often than not, farm workers handling these roses use chemicals - useful to these plants but harmful to the environment.

The solution? Reject anybody who’ll give you a rose this Valentine’s Day!

Indeed, awareness that ours is a finite earth and that all of us have the accountability to preserve what we cannot create have made a tremendous impact in our lifestyle - starting from our thoughts, our product choices and most importantly in how we get to our daily destinations. That is why car purchase is indeed a crucial decision-making process. Good thing, environmentalists out there never cease doing their homework - which involves guiding car buyers toward a green pick.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), for example, has released its Top Ten Fuel-Efficient Vehicles for 2008. As we all know choosing fuel-efficient vehicles over standard-type ones boosts our car’s fuel economy. It can save us about $200 to $1,500 in fuel costs plus it promotes our country’s foreign oil independence.

So much about self-gratifications. What really matters is that fuel-efficient cars help protect our environment by reducing consumption of fossil fuels such as gasoline and diesel that as everyone knows are major contributors of pollutants.

Now for EPA’s top ten list of fuel-efficient vehicles, the Toyota Prius got the top rank followed by the Honda Civic Hybrid. The Nissan Altima Hybrid landed on the third spot. The Toyota Camry Hybrid ranked fourth while the Ford Escape Hybrid 2WD, 6th. Followed closely by Toyota Corolla, Honda Fit, Nissan Versa Scion xD and lastly the Hyundai Accent.

Just like an Acura legend radiator hose, our planet’s resistance to global impacts caused by our environment abuse will eventually wear out if we don’t start caring for it NOW.

A green Valentine to us all!

A group in Australia is asking the country’s government to go ahead with its plans on having laws on the manufacturing of vehicles, the Herald Sun reported. The group is named the Australian Greens and they are dead set on making sure that the government does something about vehicle, coupe headliners and auto parts manufacture in the country.

The group is focused on campaigning so as to have the country’s officials approve the Green Car Innovation Fund which amounts to $500 million. That would be a huge amount of money so as to help vehicle manufacturers in the country be able to create vehicles that have low emissions like hybrid vehicles. The group has declared that if the government does not support such a cause, it is most likely that car manufacturers may go back to the conventional vehicles.