Japanese policemen will be saving us from bad guys and saving the planet’s resources at the same time. Well, at least they will be doing the second. The truth is, Japanese police have never been too good at catching the bad guys.

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. will supply new vehicles, the Mitsubishi MiEV, to Japanese in Kanagawa prefecture, home to Yokohama. The electric car has a top speed of 130 kph and can travel 160km on a charge.

The mini patrol car won’t need much speed, however, because it will be used to track illegally parked cars. How fast do you need to go to do that?

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BMW may not be targeting environmentalists with their new Electric Mini but we’re really excited even though only 500 units will be produced. Chances are that you’re not going to buy one because rumors already say 490 of these models have already been leased to selected customers.

Destined for California only (hear that Bill? a test drive?) the new Mini EV will help meet the the zero-emissions vehicle mandate that requires automakers to build 7,500 non-polluting cars by 2014. It will be built in BMW’s factory in England and then sent to Munich to get the electric drivetrain installed.

“This step will allow the BMW Group to gain an initial knowledge of how mobility can be achieved efficiently using purely electrically powered vehicles,” Dr. Norbert Reithofer, chairman of BMW’s board of management, says. “Our task here is to combine the ultimate driving experience with an efficient electrified drive with practically no emissions.”

Biggest drawback I see right now is that they don’t go mainstream with it, but I suppose the Germans want to test the market, before making the investment. Would you buy one? I know I would!

Wired

I was pretty sure that shop-till-you-droppers couldn’t hurt the environment or themselves as long as the hoofed it everywhere they went. Of course, retailers have to keep the lights on, heat and cool facilities at all ungodly hours so that shoppers could get the ‘unique shopping experience.’ Until now. Shoppers don’t even have to do the walk, get exercise, kick off their high heels anymore.

In Shanghai there is a mini-metro train that runs INSIDE the mall. Exhausted ladies can hop a ride and be dropped off at Coldstone Ice Cream. Not only that, the train can go anywhere inside the 6-story home furnishing mall.

Yeah, I want to see how this train goes up and down the stairs, too. Feeling guilty? (I doubt this) But, the mall has designed the interior of the building to include many trees and water landscapes. Isn’t that nice? Shoppers can feel like they are being kind to the environment while they use up even more energy to get around.

Something tells me that malls like this are going backwards when it comes to being ‘green.’ I think malls ought to be open only during the daytime when it’s cool out and only at night when it’s hot. But, don’t tell my wife I said that.

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Mazda Motor Corp has a hydrogen-powered minivan coming to Japan for lease beginning next March.  The minivan will have hydrogen-combustion and an electric motor. Mazda is the Japanese affiliate of Ford Motor Co. The company received permission from Japan’s transport ministry to test the Mazda Premacy Hydrogen RE Hybrid. The Premacy is known as the Mazda5 overseas.

The minivan has a generator-powered electric motor and a rotary engine. (And, the Mazda goes ummm…). Emissions are water vapor only. Lease costs will be Y420K ($3800)/month! I think, I’ll take a his and hers.

BMW AG is Germany’s attempt to develop a fuel-cell system. Electricity is generated through a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen. Honda’s Clarity will be available for lease in the US next month. Both cars have zero-emissions.

Beijing will follow NYC’s lead, sorta, restricting car traffic on roads during certain periods. The 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games are less than 2 months away. Beijing will ban vehicle traffic with odd and even-numbered license plates on alternate days from July 20th-Sept 20th. The hope is to improve air quality during the Games. Taxis, buses and emergency vehicles will be exempt.

The action is taken to fulfill Beijing’s commitment to host a “Green Olympics.”

Beijing will also ban all motor vehicles that don’t meet European No. 1 standards for exhaust emissions. Trucks not registered in Beijing will be prohibited from entering the city. To compensate motorists, owners will be exempt from taxes and road maintenance fees for three months. I wonder, what will NYC drivers get. Last year, Beijing ran a test that kept about 1.3 million vehicles off the road which in turn cut 5,815 tons of emissions.

So, why can’t the city do that all the time?

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Shenzhen is located across the river from Hong Kong. The city was mainland China’s first economically free zone in what turned out to be a successful experiment.

They are now building a new terminal at the Bao’an International Airport. The terminal will have a double skin canopy that will let patterned natural light into the space, thus reducing energy consumption. The inner skin of the roof will be made of a fine net that will allows diffused sunlight to come in creating a pleasant indoor atmosphere.

The pictures of what this airport will look like are stunning, to say the least. See the gallery after the break. (more…)

Sumitomo Electric Industries has an electric vehicle prototype that is driven by a superconducting motor. It’s the first in the world and we will get a glimpse of the vehicle at the G8 Summit in Toyako, Hokkaido beginning on June 19.

Sumitomo wants the world to know that high-temperature superconductivity technology is an option for electric motors.

The usual electric motor uses low current and high voltage which translates into low torque. Sumitomo is proposing a superconducting coil with high current, lower voltage and fewer turns producing a higher torque.

WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!

Don’t touch the engine to see if it’s warm or you may not be back on GreenPacks to read more articles!

There’s got to be a better way. There’s got to be a better way. Repeat after me. There’s got to be a better way. At least two more ‘better ways’ have taken a step forward in the past couple of days.

Germany’s Robert Bosch GmbH has agreed to work with South Korea’s Samsung SDI Co to develop the next-generation batteries for hybrid cars. Bosch is the world’s top parts maker and Samsung is, um, Samsung. In a 50-50 joint venture, the two giants will spend some $500 million over the next five years to improve on the lithium ion battery for hybrids, then sell them to GM, Ford Motor, Hyundai and any other takers.

In short, they will spend the next five years chasing Toyota and Nissan. Toyota is working with Matsushita Electric and Nissan has formed a partnership with NEC Corp.

The goal - bring down the costs of the hybrid car battery and in turn bring down the overall costs of the more eco-friendly cars. Presently hybrids go for as much as $5000 more than their gasoline counterparts, they are better on the environment but not the wallets of consumers. That’ll change.

Meanwhile, Honda Motor Co is even farther ahead with the launch of the Clarity hydrogen-fueled car for lease in the United States.

Source: Nikkei (sub req)

In some worlds trains are faster than airplanes, or at least definitely more convenient considering fuel and airline ticket prices, rising the way they are.

Image by Nicola Beccu

Europe’s first high speed train link from Paris to Lyon saw air traffic drop significantly. This was followed by the same phenomenon more recently in the Paris-London, Paris-Brussels and Paris-Amsterdam combinations. Madrid-Barcelona high speed trains caused an 18.4% drop in airline passengers. When I lived in Japan, Tokyo was linked to Niigata by bullet train and the air route was canceled altogether.

It’s faster to get on the train and than to going to the outer limits of the city to reach the airport, check-in, fly, check-out, etc.

Image by Dan Holder

Train speeds are pushing along faster - 300 kph (200mph) about the speed and sometimes better of small commuter airlines. In any event, can we expect trains to overtake plane routes in more places? I don’t see it happening in the States. The country is too big. However, there has been talk of a high speed train route from San Francisco to Los Angeles.

But, those talks always stall because of some special interest group. In this case, the environmentalists prevent environmentalists from trying to do ‘good.’ Then what?

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Giant car maker Honda is set to release its new zero-emission hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, the FCX Clarity, in the United States starting in Southern California and expanding rollout as fuel cell stations are created. Using just hydrogen and electricity, the output is obvious: only water and none of the gases believed to induce global warming.

First customers to look into that direction, probably trying to set a trend, are actress Jamie Lee Curtis and filmmaker husband Christopher Guest, actress Laura Harris, film Fn Jon Spallino and Jim Salomon.

The Japanese automaker is expecting to lease a “few dozen” units this year and about 200 units over three years with prices of $600 a month for a three year leass, which includes maintenance and collision coverage. At least that’s in California! Not a very bad deal, I’d say.

According to the company, Honda FCX Clarity has a 270-miles per tank range, with hydrogen consumption equivalent to 74 miles per gallon and pretty good specs, reaching up to 100 miles per hour.

“This is indeed a historic day for both Honda and American Honda - a new chapter in our nearly 50-year history in America,” said John Mendel, executive vice president of America Honda Motor Co. “It’s an especially significant day for American Honda as we plant firm footsteps toward the mainstreaming of fuel cell cars.”

Biggest drawback in taking the new Honda FCX Clarity mainstream is the lack of hydrogen fuel stations and Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor of California, has called for a statewide network of hydrogen stations. However, things are slow!

A couple of days ago Clean Energy announced partnership with General Motors Corp to open a hydrogen station in Los Angeles. Can you imagine the lines that will form to fuel your new Honda? Or Toyota, who recently announced their FCHV hydrogen car.

It’s a fierce battle and the winners are people like you or me, right?

Here are a few more pictures: