In some circles I suppose Paris Hilton is doing her part to heat things up, cause more global warming, maybe, and in others she is just making a fool out of herself…and me, too for caring what she thinks. In any event, people read about her, look at her…and I hope, never listen to her.

Hilton’s energy plan - “We can do limited offshore drilling with strict environmental oversight while creating tax incentives to get Detroit making hybrid and electric cars.”

I’m betting she either read that off a script, it was tucked into her travel magazine, or someone was whispering it in her ear.

Offshore drilling is not outsourcing dental care, Paris.

Can you spell ‘environmental’ Paris?

And, what do you know about oversight, Paris? Who’s watching over you.

Incentive is not putting a penny into the arcade machine to get a souvenir, Pairs.

And, how much does it cost to fill up your limousine and jet to go gallivanting around the world?

One last question - Do you know where Detroit is?

In any event, the world is getting hotter each time Paris and the likes blow hot air and strip down just to heat things up, no?

source 

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Is it possible that a gas station, gas pump, filling station, service station (take your pick) be green? GP hardly thinks so. But, Treehugger proves us wrong. Sure enough, if a station, this one looks like a Shell station (we can really read the hell out of it), is left alone long enough it will turn green.

Is that kind of like when we die and our bodies return to ashes?

Electric cars like the i-MIEV, G-Wiz and Vectrix are where it’s at for several reasons.

1. 1% of all car journeys are over 100 miles.
2. Less than 1% of all cars on the road at any one time need a filling station
3. Just 10,000 filling stations are catering to the world’s 27 million cars rolling about
4. Electric cars can be refueled at home
5. Electric cars are sufficient for 70% of the people 99% of the time.

These figures may be good for Europe but I am not as confident that they would apply to the gas hog America. One hundred miles of driving a day has to be more than 1%. One hundred miles at a time? That’s different.

And, who pays the electric bill when these things are recharging anyway? I get the part where the cars are less polluting, but somebody somewhere is producing electricity, from coal maybe? Isn’t there a trade off here? Has anyone done the calculating?

In any event, I’m for not letting the gasoline stations turn green. Let’s rip them out if they aren’t in use instead of becoming eyesores. But then again, maybe in 20 years my little girl will point at one of these moldy old service stations and ask “Papa, what’s that?”

“Sweetie, when I was a kid we used to….”

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

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!

The Norwegians are on to something. Think Global is the company and Think City is their electric car that can go 110 miles without a recharge. Apart from meeting all US and European safety standards, the two-seater also packs very good performances and tops at 65mph.

Assembled in Southern California, Think City will be sold for less than $25K and the company “could be selling as many as 50,000 units in two or three years.”

Think Chief Executive Jan-Olaf Willums said test vehicles will be brought to the U.S. in coming months. He also said that a convertible Think City model, is in development. Can you imagine wind blowing through your hair at 65mph, without harming the environment?

Now if they could just come up with a better name…

Here’s a quick pictures gallery if you still need to be convinced !!! (thanks to mr.frego)

See also -

The “Microjoule” does 7,148 mpg - beat that!

Bertrand Delanoe, the actual Paris mayor said that if re-elected he will build the “Autolib” which is a self-service electric and/or hybrid-electric car system, that will include 300 free re-charging stations in different parts of the city and 2,000 cars (electric and hybrid). This car-sharing system may be a solution that would reduce car congestion and may solve some of the parking issues in the city, but Parisian taxi drivers don’t see it in pink.

Norwegian company THINK, is considering a bid on the project with their “City” and “Ox” models, the modern urban car that have zero local emissions, that can travel up to 200 kilometers on a fully charged battery and reaches 100 km/h.

Just for that project and Bertrand Delanoe will probably get a lot of votes, but from saying to making it the real thing, there’s a long way.

via Wikio