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‘earth friendly’ Stories

GM Volt to miss sales targets amid fire furore

, Dec 5th 2011 Discuss [0]

GM's fire problems with the battery-powered Volt may have been only the latest of the car company's headaches around its earth-friendly vehicle. General Motors is apparently set to miss its conservative first year sales targets by 20-percent, the WSJ reports, with around 8,000 of the 10,000 expected to be sold set to leave the forecourt before 2011 is through. The reason for the shortfall is simple, dealers say: the Volt is just too expensive. Read The Full Story

Honda, Toyota and BMW reveal green car plans

, Dec 1st 2011 Discuss [1]

Green transportation is high on the agenda for Honda, Toyota and BMW, with all three companies announcing earth-friendly engine plans at the Toyko Motor Show this week. Toyota and BMW revealed an engine-sharing deal that will see BMW-made 1.6 liter and 2.0 liter diesel engines slotted into Toyota cars on sale in Europe from 2014, as well as joint research into future motor technologies. Meanwhile, Honda previewed its new "Earth Dreams Technology" range of engines, kicking off with a 1.6 liter diesel that it claims is the first step to it becoming top dog in fuel economy within three years time. Read The Full Story

Google details green credentials

, Sep 9th 2011 Discuss [1]

Google has launched a stats offensive to prove its carbon-neutral status, adding a "The Big Picture" section to its Google Green pages that claims a month of using the search giant's various services only amounts to 3hrs light from a 60W bulb per user. The company's data centers use less than 0.01-percent of the world's electricity - something that's actually still pretty mind-boggling, if you think about it - thanks to a combination of renewable energy sources like solar and wind, and more creative building design. Read The Full Story

Apple suppliers environmentally poor claims Chinese report

, Sep 1st 2011 Discuss [2]

Apple has been accused of using Chinese suppliers guilty of "systemic pollution," with a group of five non-governmental organizations alleging that the Cupertino company was uniquely unresponsive among those contacted in an attempt to minimize production-led pollution. According to the report, published by the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs among others, Apple "[takes] advantage of the loopholes in developing countries’ environmental management systems" the Financial Times reports, although Apple has denied that some of the companies the document claimed it worked with are, in fact, suppliers. Read The Full Story

Nissan blasts Top Gear for misleading Leaf EV critique

, Aug 4th 2011 Discuss [8]

BBC motoring show Top Gear has been accused of purposefully sabotaging the performance of Nissan's Leaf electric car, in an attempt to make the earth-friendly auto look less reliable in a TV segment. While in the road test, outspoken host Jeremy Clarkson was shown running out of power in the Leaf, miles away from a recharging point, Nissan says that subsequent review of the data the car collects indicates that the test was begun with the batteries at just 40-percent and that Top Gear intentionally drove in circles to further reduce that charge. Read The Full Story

Climate-change skeptic funded $1m+ by fossil fuel firms

, Jul 1st 2011 Discuss [6]

Documents obtained by Greenpeace US allege that one of the most prominent climate change skeptics, Dr Willie Soon of the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics, has been on the big oil payroll to the tune of more than $1m, casting doubts onto the neutrality of his research. According to the investigation, ExxonMobil, the American Petroleum Institute and Koch Industries are among the coal and oil industry heavyweights to bankroll Dr Soon's projects, with the suggestion that every grant he has received since 2002 was from their coffers. Read The Full Story

HomePlug Powerline networks electric cars from Audi, BMW, more

, Jun 1st 2011 Discuss [0]

We usually associate HomePlug products with straightforward ways to spread your internet connection around the house using mains cabling rather than WiFi but, if the Powerline Alliance has its way, your future hybrid or all-electric car may also be using the system to talk to your power supply. Audi, BMW, Daimler, Porsche and Volkswagen have all thrown in with the HomePlug Green PHY (GP) profile for electric vehicle charging, enabling Earth-friendly cars to integrate with the smart grid. Read The Full Story

Apple’s eco-cred slated in Greenpeace data center report

, Apr 21st 2011 Discuss [2]

Apple has been named the least green of tech companies in a controversial new Greenpeace evaluation, due to its use of energy from coal-fueled power stations. The league table – which ranks Yahoo! as the greenest company, followed by Google and Amazon – is part of Greenpeace’s “How Dirty is Your Data?” report that will be released today. It suggests that Apple’s new North Carolina data center – expected to be the epicenter of new MobileMe and cloud-based services – will triple the company’s electricity consumption.

Read The Full Story

Greedy TVs put on notice

, Apr 16th 2011 Discuss [6]

Whether you’re convinced by 3D or not, buying into the HDTV market has never been cheaper. Retailers are slashing sticker prices across the board – you can grab a 32-inch LCD online for well under $300 – but soon those stickers are going to become more complex as longer-term costs come into focus. Consumers may not realize it, but a huge chunk of what an HDTV costs them isn’t just the initial purchase price, but the electricity that set sucks down.

Read The Full Story

UN Treaty Would Recognize “Mother Earth’s” Rights

, Apr 14th 2011 Discuss [4]

Bolivia, which has enacted its own "Law of the Rights of Mother Earth", reflecting the beliefs of the indigenous people of that country, is seeking to bring those principles worldwide with a United Nations treaty. The treaty, in draft at this time, would give Mother Earth the same rights as humans, including rights to life, water and clean air, the right to repair livelihoods affected by human activities, and the right to be free from pollution. \ Read The Full Story

Eco-friendly Superbus gets UAE trial [Video]

, Apr 8th 2011 Discuss [4]

The allure of public transport is so often undermined by the scent of urine and dawdling performance, but the only people soiling themselves in the Dutch-made Superbus are likely to be those over-excited by its eco-friendly turn of electric speed. Capable of accommodating up to 23 passengers and still hitting 155kph (96mph), the lengthy carbon fiber and fiberglass vehicle is headed to Dubai next month. Read The Full Story

OS GSR-110B portable generator uses flexible solar panel [Video]

, Mar 14th 2011 Discuss [1]

A Japanese company has developed a highly portable backup generator which uses a flexible solar panel to fit 40W of power into a 3kg package. The OS GSR-110B combines a 24W internal rechargeable battery with a 16W solar panel that pulls 1.2m from the side of the unit. Video demo after the cut Read The Full Story
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