Not sure what you will think but the pre-historic family we all know, The Flintstones, got arrested in Brussels, Belgium, while driving towards the European Parliament building.

It wasn’t Fred or Wilma to get the penalty, but six Greenpeace activists dressed as cavemen driving the “Flintstone car”, that protested on the influence of the auto industry on proposals to curb carbon dioxide emissions from car. This week the European Parliament will start debating on the legislation that forces down CO2 emissions from cars, with fines on manufacturers that fail to comply.

“Our activists and their zero-emission vehicle are raising the alarm about the influence this dinosaur industry exercises over EU climate policy,” said Greenpeace transport campaigner, Melanie Francis.

Not sure about you but I remember the pedal powered ‘Flintstone car’ driver that got his traffic ticket dismissed, so I hope nothing happens to these six well-intended cavemen.

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If you’re an environment friendly sailor and have a passion for speedboats check out Czeers MK1, a 10-meter boat that packs 14 square meters of solar panels and an 80kw electric motor. It was showed off at the Millionaire Fair last year and though it’s just a prototype, this baby goes up to 30 knots on water.

Made 100-percent of carbon fiber with orange leather trim, photovoltaic cells on almost all horizontal surfaces and an LCD touch-screen control system, Czeers MK1 uses no oil, produces no engine noise and no fumes. The company expects to sell 4 to 8 models a year and though they didn’t disclose the price, expect to hit the sky.

Here is a video of the superboat. Do you like it ?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WepYoOJQf4[/youtube]

via Gizmag

photo by vr2006

With 1.8 million cars counting for 75-percent of the air pollution, Madrid is one of Spain’s most polluted cities. Recently the City Hall announced that their official vehicles will “turn green” by 2011 using clean fuels like bio-diesel, ethanol, natural gas or even running on electricity. Madrid also joined the BEST (BioEthanol for Sustainable Transport) European project to promote the use of ethanol in cars and is going to make agreements with taxi companies to offer them road tax discounts if they will turn green, too.

Such decisions could make people realize that something has to be done if we want a cleaner air. We can start with our cars.

via AutoBlogGreen

Designed as “a rally car but for oceans”, Earthrace is a trimaran running on 100-percent pure biodiesel that wishes to set an around-the-world speed record with a net zero carbon footprint. They tried to break the record in 2007, but mechanical problems kept them from finishing the race.

The boat is famous not only for being featured on lots of news channels or because it runs safely on bio-diesel alone. Earthrace can submerge up to 23 feet in water if it needs to fight big waves and the most important fact is that parts of the boat are made from a hemp-based composite, bedding foams are made from canola oil, and the operation’s total carbon footprint has been balanced by purchasing carbon credits.

At a speed of 6 knots (6.9 mph) the boat goes up to 15,000 miles on a full tank, while at 25 knots (29 mph) it runs for 2,300 miles.

Previous record of 74 days, 23 hours and 53 minutes was set by UK boat Cable & Wireless Adventurer in 1998 and Earthrace plans to beat that time. They left Sagunto, Spain on April 27 and got to Panama traveling across the Atlantic in just 8 days. In their journey they will include a total of 12 refueling stops and will pass through the Suez and Panama canals.

Let’s hope they manage to break the record this time.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VK6nSJCw58[/youtube]

If you want to stay updated, check out the Earthrace blogs.

Source

by aslaugsvava
If last month Virgin Atlantic tested a Boeing 747 running with 80 percent normal fuel mixed with 20 percent biofuel, but Continental Airlines wants their own piece of the pie.The company  partnered with Boeing and GE Aviation to demonstrate in the first half of the next year (2009)  an aircraft running on bio-fuels. From what I understand it’s going to be bio-fuel only and if the test will be successful Continental Airlines will be the first major US carrier to use biofuels on flights.

“Exploring sustainable biofuels is a logical and exciting new step in our environmental commitment” said Mark Moran, vice president of operations at Continental Airlines.

I/we all hope these are not just test meant to increase their popularity among people that care about the environment. – via – BusinessGreen

Hybrid buses are nothing new but this one in particular is special. Toyota’s Hino division is responsible of building this hybrid electric bus with a diesel engine and a set of batteries (here comes the nice part) that apparently won’t use a plug to charge but will use a wireless charging system built on the road.

The system is supposed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 60 percent but the first thing I could think of, is that the wireless transfer of energy may not be efficient. Probably less than half the energy is going to be actually transmitted and stored.

The system uses a series of inductive coils. One is installed on the bottom of the bus while the others are built in the concrete and resonate energy at a certain frequency and the buses will probably have to follow a certain path in order to recharge.

The system has potential and Hino will probably build a fully electric vehicle that will have zero emissions, when they solve the efficiency problems (if there are any). Meanwhile the buses are being tested for two weeks on a 4.2 km route at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport.

Asahi via Carectomy

The first time I’ve been in Italy I was amazed by so many scooters. Old, new, it doesn’t matter because you see them in different colors at every corner. I even heard people calling Rome as the scooter-capital of Europe.

A classic Vespa scooter. Photo by the-spidernet

But there seems to be a problem. The Italian government is keen on keeping a healthier air in their cities and one of the measures they are taking is paying owners to change their old scooters with new ones. Obviously the 2-stroke engine emits much more harmful pollutants than a new generation 4-stroke model and add the fact that there’s no catalyst and you have a big polluter.

This is why authorities will offer a 300 Euro bonus when buy a new scooter and ditch your old one. Of course, if you live in Italy.

Source

Aside the architecture in Barcelona, the next thing that impressed me was the railroad system they have in place. It gets on time, you don’t have to check in or check out and it’s fast.

Renfe is the company that invested in the new high speed train network in order to take you from Barcelona to Madrid in just two hours and a half which is much faster than a normal flight. Another advantage is the fact that if it’s a windy day or heavy rain an airplane may not be able to take off.

400 passengers will be able to travel with the new AVE S103 (pdf link) that can hit speeds of up to 350 km/h and produces four time less pollution than an airplane. The cost of a trip is going to range between $30 and $80 depending on the class you’re traveling.

The Spanish Government is prepared to spend over 80 million Euros to develop their high speed inter-city railroad so that it can take you across Spain no more than 30 miles from your final destination. Rumors say that the AVE system will also be extended to France with a line going from Barcelona to Paris any time soon.

Add to all these the fact that Renfe will reimburse your ticket if the train is 5 minutes late and I can already see how flying short distances might die.

via Inhabitat