The erroneous contention that a Hummer is more efficient and earth-friendly than a Prius over the vehicles' lifetime has sailed across the net for months. The argument defies common sense, and has been debunked repeatedly. The "studies" were flawed by design, but they served the purpose of sowing confusion and doubt. The point by point rebuttal to this nonsense can be found here and here. To take just one point, it is presumed that a Hummer will drive more miles than a Prius, thus spreading out its environmental impact over a longer period of time. Huh?
So, when we saw the picture to the right, we had to wonder: is this Hummer a rolling advertisement for bad science or just a twisted sense of humor?
According to Graham Hill of Treehugger, the site related to all that is green was acquired by Discovery Communications, which many know primarily for the Discover Channel television programming. Here are the reasons cited for the deal:
They (Discovery) reach 1.5 billion (yes, billion!) cumulative subscribers around the world with top quality, often nature related, non-fiction content
They (Discovery) have commitment from the top of the company for over $50M to create content including programming for the world's first 24 hr green channel and in addition have allocated significant budget aimed at building the leading green web portfolio on the Internet
They (Discovery) already have web properties serving hundreds of millions of pageviews per month
They (Discovery) are looking to the TreeHugger team to help drive the direction of their green efforts online
What does this mean to readers of Treehugger? To quote Graham Hill again, "As a reader, you can expect TreeHugger to improve the quality and quantity of its offerings while maintaining the editorial integrity and attitude that you've enjoyed to date. You can also expect to see community tools that help you interact with each other and our writers as well as rate content. Discovery wants us to continue with the successful approach we've always taken, help us build a larger, deeper team, create new tools and help us reach a larger audience."
So, there you have it. As a reader of our site, you may be a reader of theirs as well, so we thought we'd share. Now, back to all the best green related automotive and transportation news!
Are you somebody who is always tinkering with your car to get the best mileage possible? If so, you may just be a hypermiler, and should share you finding with the rest of us. In fact, why not share your tip with Popular Science, Instructables and Treehugger in their newest contest. Of course, we are most interested in how you green your car here at AutoblogGreen, but any green projects count for this contest. To see the official rules and all of that jazz, click here.
If you happen to have a cool project that you want to share with our readers, of course you are welcome to do that too. Like, say... electrifying a VW Vanagon?
Assuming that these scooters were made from trees which had already run their life course here on earth, and were not cut down simply to be turned into these beasts, these are certainly what we could consider green. After all, they emit no carbon emissions. In fact, the do not emit at all. Nor does one need to worry where the electricity comes from, as they require none. I know it sounds too good to be true, but as you can see from the pictures, it's true. Gravity power... the future is now!
As part of a student competition, designers I. Kiryakov, S. Ballmeier, K. Eichelberg & M. Dressler have attached an exercise machine to a high-speed canoe hull, and called it the Tu-Fin. The vehicle transfers the movement of the stepping user to forward motion using a flipper, according to Treehugger. What benefit does this offer to the more standard rowing that would take place in a normal canoe or kayak? None really, unless you are in need of leg exercise as opposed to arm exercise. Whatever your goal, it is pretty cool and vehicles powered by human strength always get a thumbs-up from us.
Where do the big diesel-powered semi trucks fall on your list of green automotive trends? Not real high? Mine either, to be honest. This is not to say that trucking in not important, or that I want it to stop, that is not the case. As a matter of fact, the American economy is largely dependent on the vehicles transportation of our goods. They are necessary, is what I'm trying to say. And, being that there are so many on the road, anything that can be done to help them reach higher mileage and lower emissions is excellent.
That is why I was rather excited to see this post on Treehugger. Cascade Sierra Solutions has gone along with the SmartWay Partnership collaboration with the EPA. The gist of it is the modifications:
Single tires: A tire with 17-inch tread can replace double 11-inch wheels on long-haul trucks converting an 18-wheeler to a 10-wheeler, and saving as much as 8 percent in fuel.
A dashboard display that gives a continuous reading of fuel efficiency, allowing the driver to adjust driving techniques to save fuel.
Diesel air cleaners that reduce emissions 90 percent -- and cost $18,000. "You can literally put a white hanky over the tail pipe and it won't turn black," CSS director and founder Sharon Banks said.
The first such Cascade Sierra Solutions "Outreach Center" is in Salem, Oregon, and will be one of five planned. A comment on the site stated that the first three are easily attainable, but the fourth, and arguably best, is rather expensive, however CSS claims that there is an approximately 3-5 year return on the investment. With most trucks running much longer than that, this has great potential.
[Source: Cascade Sierra Solutions and SmartWay via Treehugger]
While the vehicles themselves have probably already been seen by many of our readers, Treehugger.com, the online blog for people who find it easy to be green, has picked a few prototype cars that they would like to see make it into production this new year, or become accepted by the general public. While there are serious questions as to whether some of them actually will, here's to hope!
They say we Americans love a good challenge, so in the face of global warming Slate collaborated with Treehugger to come up with the Slate Green Challenge. The idea is that you take a short quiz which determines your annual carbon footprint and then for the next eight weeks, the nation goes on a carbon diet with the end goal of reducing carbon emissions from individuals by 20 percent. The average for a U.S. citizen is 44,312 lbs.
I signed up immediately after reading the press release. It just takes a few minutes out of your busy day to take the initial quiz. After that, you'll be directed towards week 1's topic: transportation. The page offers some tips on saving gas and suggestions for air travel such as purchasing carbon offsets through companies like TerraPass or Native Energy. Make sure to check it out and keep in mind that the first 500 people to complete the challenge will receive a free Slate/Treehugger Green Challenge t-shirt.
Treehugger recently wrote about this article in the New York Times spotlighting General Motors for switching to solar power for electricity in some of their buildings. The reason why the General's accountants are so happy is because they're saving money on their electric bill and there wasn't a single penny to pay for upfront costs.
Take GM's parts building in Cucamonga, California. The photovoltaic cells that are installed on the building's roof can generate about 1.5 million kilowatt hours per year, however, GM buys the electricity from the cells just as they would from the grid. That's where the solar developer called Deers (Developing Energy Efficient Roof Systems) comes in. They signed GM to a long-term contract, bought the equipment and then installed it. And now, GM expects that the system will reduce their overall electricity costs by 10 percent.
Kamesh Gupta, manager of planning and programs for General Motors Energy and Utility Services, said that, "the savings are small, but it's exciting to create such an environmentally sound project without any need to shell out capital." To us, it sounds like a winning effort for all parties involved as well as the environment.
Here's something I didn't know about converting a diesel engine to run on straight vegetable oil: the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says it is a violation of the Clean Air Act, so violators could be hit with a fine of $2750. Finding this out is why New York Times reporters get paid more than bloggers, I guess. Anyway, the Times' Sunday story on putting straight vegetable oil into a converted Jetta TDI is a good read. The author got a kit from Greasecar and paid about $1,700 for the kit and the installation. Since making the switch about 2,000 miles ago, the Jetta gets "slightly better mileage, it seems to run a little more quietly and it has just as much zip as it does on diesel." A good enough reason to think about converting your diesel, or at least to go read the entire article here.
As we know, it's awful hard to quantify just how green our lifestyles are. Pretty much everything we use, buy or eat has a history that can be chained further and further back, where the ecological impact gets harder and harder to measure. We can commute to work on a bike, for example, but how was the metal for the bike extracted from the earth? How was the bike transported from the factory to the shop? And so on. It might be only the greenest of the green who stay up nights worrying about this, but it's becoming fashionable for companies to hype their green food chain to attract customers and to do right by Mother Earth. This is the case with Cameron's Coffees, an Ontario-based coffee roasting company that recently announced they were "bullfrogpowered". Bullfrog is a 100 percent green electric power company, and Cameron's Coffees' roasting facilities are using the green juice. The company also advocates using biodiesel in their delivery vehicles, buys fair trade coffee beans and installed a solar panel on the roasting facility. Declarations like this make it a little bit easier to trace the green (or not green) history of the things we buy, which may allow some of us to sleep better at night.
Reaction to Ford Motor Company's lessened focus on hybrid technology and switch to ethanol has been strong. Treehugger, the websource for the environmentally-conscious buyer, points to the Alternative Fueled Vehicles Rule of 1998 and 2004 as one reason for Ford's change of heart.
The federal rule, which simultaneously encourages automakers to develop alternative-fuel vehicles while avoiding penalties, would be easier to comply with with more flex-fuel vehicles than hybrids. Ut would be a simple matter for Ford or any other automaker to update its vehicles to accept the ethanol and retool its factories to build them. Hybrid systems, with their complex gasoline-electric systems, are considerably more expensive to produce.
Toyota, the premium manufacturer of hybrid vehicles, has stated it will also pursue ethanol-powered engines as well as research into plug-in hybrids.
Green automobile technology and
biofuels are worldwide news, but it’s true that AutoblogGreen is pretty focused on North America and Europe, but
we love to post news about the goings on in other countries and areas (like Thailand,
Zimbabwe, and Eastern Europe). That’s why this
tidbit, about a hybrid delivery vehicle making the rounds in Mexico is totally welcome news. The truck is made by
Vehizero, Mexico’s only hybrid vehicle manufacturer, and gets 60 percent
better fuel economy. The company plans to make busses, larger trucks and personal vehicles in the future. I’d say
they’re on the right track. This is an awfully cute truck. I’d let it deliver ice cream to me any day of the
week. [Source: Vehizero, via Treehugger]
The erroneous contention that a Hummer is more efficient and earth-friendly than a Prius over the vehicles' lifetime has sailed across the net for months. The argument defies common sense, and has been debunked repeatedly. The "studies" were flawed by design, but they served the purpose of sowing confusion and doubt. The point by point rebuttal to this nonsense can be found here and here. To take just one point, it is presumed that a Hummer will drive more miles than a Prius, thus spreading out its environmental impact over a longer period of time. Huh? 
_thumbnail.jpg "Beijing 2008: BYD e6")
