If you go down to the Eden Project today you're sure of a big surprise...
for interest is growing there in BioPower


At Green-Car-Guide they're saying:

"As well as presenting the first public showing of the Saab 9-3 Convertible BioPower in the UK, and a Saab 9-5 Estate BioPower car at the Sexy Green Car Show, Saab will also be exhibiting the world’s first fossil-fuel free hybrid, the Saab 9-3 Convertible BioPower Hybrid Concept Car. This vehicle’s technology was unveiled in Stockholm a year ago, and is the first car in the world to combine pure bioethanol with electric power on demand, which means that it emits zero fossil CO2 emissions, and was the world’s first hybrid soft-top at the time of its unveiling."

Couldn't have put it better myself.

The Sexy Green Car Show will be open to the public at the Eden Project,Cornwall, from March 30th to April 15th 2007. Admission is free with entry to Eden. It will be open from 10am to 6pm with last entry at 4.30pm.

The Tesla Roadster given an Outing in Norwich today

Those of you who stop by regularly will know that Tesla Motors has for many months been featured to the right hand side of this blog page. For details of the Tesla Roadster, an aspirational and wonderful electric sports car, you can access the link there ,or here.

If you were at the Green Wheels Motor Show today ,held at the Forum in Norwich, you would have had the privilege of seeing a Roadster (for one day only) in the flesh, so to speak. Although being built in the UK, the car is currently not going to be licensed for use in the UK. I understand 100 cars have so far been ordered ,and the first of these will be delivered this year to buyers in the US, at a price of about $100,000 each.

This beautiful car ,though part of the future for green motoring, may not be available here for some time to come. Some of what is available, though, here and now in green cars, can be seen in Norwich until 30th March at the Green Wheels Motor Show, part of the Earth From the Air Exhibition.

BlueMotion coming to the greenhouse

As earlier flagged, the Eden Project in Cornwall plays host to manufacturers,designers,fuel technologists,and the like who will
be attending,many as exhibitors, The Sexy Green Car Show (30th March-15 April).
One of the exhibits at the Show will be the new Volkswagen Polo BlueMotion.

Due to go on sale this summer in the UK,the new Polo BlueMotion is said to produce only 102 g/km of CO2. Consumption is at an amazing 72 mpg.How come? Well,some of it is down to hard compound tyres which reduce rolling resistance. It also has lightweight wheels to increase running efficiency. Reduction in emissions and gains in economy are primarily won from the BlueMotion's three-cylinder diesel engine and optimised gear ratios.

You can have your first glimpse of this potential bestseller ,and many other wonderfully innovative cars ,at the Eden Project from March 30th through to April 15th.

Clean Green Cars joins drive for greener motoring

Last week, another website solely dedicated to greener motoring was launched.The stated aim of the new site(www.cleangreencars.co.uk) is:'to provide clear,easily understood advice about choosing and using cars in a more environmentally considerate way.'

Following a week ,in which the issues of climate change were placed firmly (only time will tell how effectively) centre stage by Gordon Brown with the green measures published in his final budget,we must all hope that the momentum will be maintained towards further and massive reduction in carbon emissions .The continuing development of green technologies for the production of motor cars and fuels,with full government and institutional support,is now seen by most commentators as essential to help protect our environment.

low emission car's mantra is :Love cars?It's your planet.Love it,too!


Copyright 2006-2007 M P Ryan and CFM(Services)Ltd. All rights reserved.

Brown's Budget for a Greener Motoring Future

Dufton Kellner, Chartered Accountants, produced a full Budget 2007 Summary today. Covering the environmental measures, the firm summarises the motoring related ones as follows:

"Road Fuel

From 1 October 2007 the effective excise duty rates for road fuels will be increased by 2 pence per litre. Further announcements were made that the next two years' increases will be 2 pence and 1.84 pence per litre.

The government has announced that the current 20 pence per litre duty differential on biofuels will be extended to 2009/10.

Vehicle Excise Duty (VED)
The government has announced the VED rates for this year and the following two years.

The major change will be increasing the rate for the most polluting band G to £300 in 2007/08 and to £400 in 2008/09. There will be a reduction in the rate of duty on band B cars to £35."

Lesson from No.11: 4X4 = higher road tax

Today, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, laid down his equation to reduce car emissions. In addition to a rise of 2p per litre in fuel duty, he changed the road tax band charges. For the most polluting cars (band G) this will mean increases upto £400. There was an incentive to use more cars in band B where road tax will be reduced to £35. A fuller report on these and other tax measures introduced as incentives for 'greener' motoring to follow...

Saab had asked for something akin to its pre-budget "BioPower Budget" wish-list (a Saab BioPower model shown in London traffic , above left) more at...



Copyright 2006-2007 M P Ryan and CFM(Services)Limited.All rights reserved

Green's In At the Geneva Car Show

Did you miss it? The recent Geneva Car Show? If you did ,here is an opportunity to click to a report of the green cars well featured at the show this year. See a large range of CO2 busting cars that are ,or soon will be , available to buy here in the UK, as well as some very exciting concepts which you will have to wait a little longer to own.

In the here and now, you should look at the Daihatsu Charade (currently the Cuore) soon to be for sale in the UK (from next July, I understand). Affordable at c. £7,000, this car has a petrol engine ,but carbon emissions break down through the 100g/km barrier at 99g/km using its Idle Stop System.

Looking a little further ahead, there is the possible next generation of the ground breaking Prius, Toyota's new hybrid concept , the Hybrid X. Designed by Toyota's European Design centre ED2, the futuristic Hybrid X (pictured above) gives a glimpse of the future for the hybrid synergy drive. The new design incorporates large glass areas and controllable ambience in the car - the better to adjust "the four senses of sight,sound,touch and smell", according to Toyota Motor Europe's executive vice-president, Thierry Dombreval.

So go on, have a look at these and some more ...

Welcome to the garden of Eden!

That's what their saying from rural Cornwell.From 30th March to 15th April this year, the Eden Project is inviting the Public, admission free,to a Show dedicated to 'green' motoring.What the Eden Project describes as ‘the planet’s premier eco-car show’ is attracting the giants from the motoring-world eager to showcase the very latest in ‘green’ driving, alongside innovators in car design, transport leaders and fuel manufacturers.Where better to see how exciting new technologies being used in the manufacture of certain new generation cars, and the development of new fuels to drive them ,are working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, than the Eden Project home to the largest greenhouse in the world! You are all cordially invited to find out what's going on.More...

Car drivers should go for a smoother ride

This is the government view. It happens to be our view also, and has been for some time.Please see motoring tips.
The idea is that significant carbon emissions can be reduced by more careful and smoother driving.Unnecessary heavy braking and rapid acceleration cause increased fuel consumption and therefore greater carbon emissions.All costing us extra money.


UK Drivers are being urged to watch out for under-inflation

Recently, at the Geneva Car Show,Director-General of the FIA Foundation,David Ward,stressed the importance of motorists regularly checking their car tyre pressures to ensure that they are correct as stipulated in the car manufacturer's handbook. He says that checking your tyres just twice a month could save lives, reduce motoring costs and cut carbon emissions.The rolling resistance of an under-inflated tyre on the road surface is greater than when fully inflated.Therefore the tyre is less efficient and causes greater fuel consumption,as well as heavier tyre wear,and also results in increased cost and compromises safety to the driver and other road users.

A similar safety message was put out this week by Kwik-Fit.David White,customer services director at Kwik-Fit commented: "Motorists might be fooled into thinking that they can check whether a tyre is under-inflated simply by looking at it.But a smaller, yet nonetheless still significant loss of pressure is not always possible to to visually detect.That's why it is so important to regularly check the tyre pressures yourself,or get an expert check them for you."

So could keeping under-inflation of tyres at bay result in such a significant benefit to the environment and to drivers' pockets? Well,Kwik-Fit say they found that one in five cars checked by them had insufficient tyre pressure.From this it is estimated that a staggering five million car drivers were putting themselves and others at risk.This number equates to the combined total of cars registered in Scotland and Wales.A very significant number contributing to pollution.

Is talk of global warming being caused by CO2 emissions just a lot of hot air?

Did you catch the C4 ITV programme "The Great Global Warming Swindle" last night at 9pm.Vivid opening images of a violent environment ,with widespread serious flooding and hurricane winds, were introduced with a message of comfort for us all:It's not your fault.What the self-serving scientists have been telling you is just not true.

This was full in your face stuff.The CO2 emissions argument, as the prime cause of climate change, was robustly dismissed by several scientists with some snappy graphics in support.Natural cycles in the sun's activity were apparently to blame. Somehow, it all just did not all hang together for me. The view was strongly voiced that the current environmentalists ,contending a man-made explanation for climate change, were nothing more than a number of people of little science forming a consensus,creating jobs for themselves,peddling speculation, and in the process suppressing the rightful aspirations of developing countries.

Key immediate problem issues facing the environment are the ever increasing demands globally for energy and the need to find alternatives to fossil fuels,the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to minimise air pollution and physical environmental damage.Seems a worthwhile cause to me.

In the C4 programme ,no debate was countenanced to challenge its conclusions.I was particularly impressed,though, by the comment of one the guest speakers who suggested that we should not be afraid of CO2 because,after all,we are all made of the stuff. Enough said,I thought.

More Low -Down on Low Emissions and a Marketing Challenge

The Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership (LowCVP) has launched a ‘greener’ motoring marketing competition targeting the professional marketing and educational sectors.More...@Green-Car-Guide

The Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership is an action and advisory group, established in 2003 to take a lead in accelerating the shift to low carbon vehicles and fuels in the UK and to help ensure that UK business can benefit from that shift. More...

The Great Global Warming Debate

An upcoming C4 ITV programme(9pm on Thursday,8th March)would have you believe that the above headline should read:The Great Global Warming Swindle - the title of the piece.It would seem the programme's conclusion will brook no argument : The whole movement to ward-off a cataclysmic change in the earth's climate, by seeking to radically reduce the man-made emissions of CO2, is nothing more than a bullying tactic by a bunch of oddballs fronting a global-warming industry.

Let's wait and hear what the programme's makers have to say. For me ,there is a real possibility of the planet's environment being completely ruined by the human race,though probably not in my lifetime.However, what is more worrying and beyond doubt (I don't have to be a scientist to make a valid point on this) is what is happening as a result of human activities here and now, on earth. In China, there are many suburbs of cities and townships where the daily existence for many is a gasping and painful existence much like some English cities of the 19th century Industrial Revolution; or of Pittsburgh ,in the early 20th century ,with its coal and steel industries which generated the choking smog causing the street lights to be turned on at just turned midday every day. Those city workers that could afford a shirt often changed it twice a day, such was the grime in the air.In the UK,quite recently, the provisions of the Clean Air Acts of 1956 and 1968 helped drive away the frequent and appalling city smogs,and so greatly improving air quality. Another example ,is the vastly improving air quality, and therefore quality of life, in Los Angeles, California, where until recently the fug hanging over the city's rush hour traffic was appalling. Man-made pollution is a sufficient scourge to be kept at bay. Unnecessary depletion and waste of natural resources are also to be deplored. We are running out of fossil fuels for energy.What happens next, if we do not have adequate alternative provision?

Climate change resulting from man-made degradation of the earth's environment has to be prevented.And low emission cars supports any steps to reduce carbon emissions.The near quarter of all CO2 emitted in the UK by our motor vehicles is contributing to a desperate situation facing the earth in the long run. Improved air quality and sustainability of energy supplies are in themselves imperatives, and essential for the tolerable future existence of all peoples throughout the world.

Will the C4 programme turn-up real evidence in support of the contention that the 'greening'of motoring,for instance, is a waste of time, and somehow a front for unworthy causes? The recent widely supported Stern report suggests this is unlikely. However,what would be a tragedy is if a theory about the Sun and its changing effect on our climate, should of itself provide an excuse to those political or commercial interests who, for short term gain,or through apathy,will cause a reversal of the trend of continuing to introduce improvements and greater efficiencies in the use of scarce resources,in waste disposal ,and in reducing environmental pollution. Whose vested interests are vying to hold sway now?

More to follow in later posts, after next Thursday.

Oh,and please don't forget the Low Down On Low Emission Vehicles In London,details at the Green-Car-Guide


Copyright 2006-2007 M P Ryan and CFM(Services)Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

Environmentally-friendly F1 racing.What on earth is going on?

This does seem a contradiction in terms ,with roaring monsters hurtling round a racing circiut, belching out all those harmful emissions ,and using-up fuel at an alarming rate.Well some things are changing at Honda Racing."We're not saying F1 is 'green',"says John Kingston,Environment Manager, Honda(UK)."But the fans can really make a difference.If just one per cent of the people who watch F1 were to change one light bulb for an energy saving one,this would save 38,000 tonnes of CO2- the same amount of carbon emissions produced by the Honda Racing F1 team over three seasons."

So what on earth are they actually doing to help protect the planet? Well, apart from Honda constantly striving to be innovative in its technolology and its thinking-it is at the forefront of developing a hydrogen fuel cell car-it is actively encouraging fans,sponsors,customers and members of the public to help address global environmental issues.But how...?

Honda are replacing the traditional advertising and sponsorship logos, which for so long have bedecked F1 racing cars. Instead the new Honda RA107 F1 car will have as its complete livery an image of the earth to be built-up of pixels,each pixel to be the name of a member of the public who has pledged to improve the environment by a change in lifestyle and also donate to an environmental charity. This practical and exciting new concept is supported by Honda's existing partners ,who are being joined for the 2007 season by by other leading global brands,including e.g.IBM and Fila.

More...