I have never gotten a parking ticket in my life, which is partly due to the fact that I never park next to a meter. Where I live in Northwest Ohio, there really is no problem finding adequate parking most of the time. But, what if your only choice was to park next to a meter, and because the meter lost power you got a ticket? That would really suck! It seems that this has been a problem over in the U.K. with some of their solar powered parking meters. Due to their infamous often gloomy weather, the meters sometimes did not get adequate power from the sun, leading to erroneous tickets for some unfortunate drivers. Despite these problems, it seems that officials in the U.K. are not giving up on the technology. The Mendip District of Somerset in southwest England is installing 50 new parking meters, half of which will be solar powered. Hopefully, the systems have a backup power source... just in case!

[Source: Treehugger, Telegraph and the BBC]

Here in the US people who buy hybrid vehicles can usually recover most of the cost premium of the extra hardware through a variety of tax breaks. Unfortunately government agencies gain no benefit from this and have to bear the full cost. Over in Britain the government has been buying hybrids for official use.

However, a group called the Taxpayer Alliance says the government could save £888,000 (almost $1.8 million) by purchasing 1.4L gas engine Ford Focuses. The price differential would be enough to buy over 74,000 trees which would absorb 54 million kg of CO2. TPA analyst Matthew Sinclair says you would have to drive a hybrid six million miles to save that much CO2.

As so often happens, statistics can be manipulated to support almost any side of an argument. Although a single hybrid would indeed have to go six million miles, the cost savings were based on 110 hybrids which amounts to 54,500 miles per car. It's not clear if the 54 million kg of CO2 absorption is total or annual, but either way the argument is far less clear cut than the Taxpayer Alliance makes it seem.

[Source: AutoExpress]

First Portugal and Scandinavia, now it's the U.K.'s turn. Tourists, businessmen and collision survivors now have the option of renting green with the introduction of the Toyota Prius to Avis' UK fleets. In addition to being kinder to the environment, the Prius is also exempt from the U.K.'s congestion charge, making it more wallet-friendly.

Avis Scandinavia also has the pleasure of maintaining several Ford Flexi-fuel cars and 400 Saab 9-5 BioPower cars, simply because they're in Scandinavia. Lucky Swedes. Because of these efforts of Avis going green, they claim to have saved 76,500 tons of CO2 emissions. Impossible, you say? You're right, because green cars alone can't accomplish that figure, which is why Avis, in conjunction with The CarbonNeutral Company, has been planting a tree for every vehicle in their fleet since 1998. A valiant effort, Avis. Keep up the good work.

Related post:

• Avis to offer 1,000 Priuses for rent on the west coast

[Source: Avis]

Gas-electric hybrid cars are still a very small segment of the market in Europe, but they are starting to pick up some steam, at least in England. So far in 2007 hybrid sales are up 111 percent compared to 2006 rising from 3,117 to 6,568 units. A monthly record of 604 Honda Civic Hybrids were sold in May, more than half of the total this year of 1,136. Hybrids are gaining popularity particularly with car-sharing services like City Car Club and also some chauffeur services that are switching over from gas engined cars.

[Source: Honda UK]

The environment has lept into the spotlight over the last year in a way we haven't seen before. Global warming and green house gas emissions have moved beyond a theory to be a call to arms for governments, business and individuals alike. As we all know, transport has a huge impact on green house gas emissions like carbon dioxide. In the United Kingdom, a number of new polices have recently been introduced to tax transport and encourage the use of more fuel efficient means to move around. A major report has proposed the implementation of a road pricing scheme to ease congestion and cut emissions while the U.K. government has announced plans to double taxes on air travel, increase petroleum fuel taxes and simultaneously lower biodiesel fuel taxes.

This is but one example of governments around the world moving to offer tax breaks and subsidies to promote the far more carbon-neutral biofuels of ethanol and biodiesel. Under the United Kingdom's Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation, five percent of transport fuel sold by 2010 must come from renewable sources. This relatively small percentage is expected to cut carbon emissions by an amazing 1m tonnes, equivalent to taking 1m cars off the road.

Businesses are getting behind emissions reductions schemes as well, for example, the giant Tesco supermarket chain is currently trailing a system developed by Clean Air Power, which enables its truck fleet to run on a mixture of natural gas and diesel. Not only does this allow Tesco to meet local emissions regulations, but they will save considerably on their fuel bill as well. The chance to improve the bottom line will always get a company's attention, but often its individual employees that bring such opportunities into focus for business. If you're working for a company, make sure you take a look around for a chance to save them money, and your environment as well.

Related:

• London parking authority setting fees based on CO2 emissions
• Britain's National Farmer's Union says biofuels pose no threat to UK food production
• Rent a green (tomato) car in London

[Source: The Guardian]