- New Lamborghini featured at swanky Beverly Hills gala
http://t.co/DMOjzVZ92011/12/01 13:52 by HootSuite - Honda's natural gas Civic named Green Car of the Year
http://t.co/NNCNiTsf2011/11/30 13:55 by HootSuite - Amazing ICON redesign of the classic Ford Bronco.
http://t.co/kkvQcwpW2011/11/30 08:10 by HootSuite
Archive for the ‘Eco Friendly Driving’ Category
We’re still not completely sold on electric cars as an eco-friendly alternative, mostly because of questions over how the batteries are created, but this commercial creatively links the Renault line of electric cars to how so many appliances and machines use electricity today.
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The New UPS Plastic Prototype via blog.ups.com
We saw these new UPS vehicles on the Good Magazine blog today and had to research more. UPS is a pretty innovative company, constantly searching for ways to lower gas costs. In 2007 they created new routes based on making right turns, which lowered overall mileage by 28,541,472 million miles and saved millions of gallons of diesel fuel. They’ve gone even further by developing new prototypes rumored to save 40% more fuel.
UPS embarks on an epic search today; “The Search for MPG.” UPS is the proving ground for five new vehicles by Utilimaster and Isuzu. These are not alternative fuel vehicles. They are diesel vehicles, but have smaller, 4-cylinder engines and lightweight composite materials to increase their fuel efficiency.
UPS will test them through December 2011 on the harshest routes in our U.S. network. Will these lightweight vehicles survive the rigors of deserts, mountains, back roads, snow and the constant weight of the UPS packages delivered every day? Will they endure while saving 40 percent more fuel at the same time?
Although we have 1,900 alternative fuel vehicles, none of our package car-sized AFVs are suitable for high-mile routes. Their fuel systems aren’t efficient at long ranges. Maybe the venerable diesel engine can be re-engineered to sip less fuel and lose a little weight. The composite material makes exterior parts replacement modular and could eliminate paint entirely!
I like this approach. You don’t abandon an old favorite if there’s still a ton of room to improve and make it even better. In UPS’s case, diesel is still the only capable option for many routes, so we’re working to make it ultra-efficient. [Source]
The notorious marketing campaign, “What can brown do for you?” is now “How can Brown save money and the earth?” And it is proof that each company can do its part to save the earth while reducing costs and increasing efficiency.
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[Image via Nissan]
Considering buying an electric vehicle? Here’s a great article from Car Talk called Electric Vehicles: Three Reasons EVs Will Make Your Life Better (And Three Reasons They Won’t).
If you’re an environmentally conscious consumer, your old tires are either left with the tire replacement shop to be recycled, or taken to an approved landfill or recycling center in your area if you replaced them yourself. Most communities also offer recycling programs that allow homeowners to put tires, batteries and electronics curbside for pickup once or twice a year.
At one time, these used tires tended to pile up, creating a singularly ugly health and safety hazard that encourages breeding mosquitoes, rodents and –when heated by intense summer sun – a source of almost inextinguishable fires (thanks to layers of compacted debris) that can seriously impact air quality.
Fortunately, a combination of advanced technology and an increasing awareness of the environment have led to a plethora of recycling options, some highly commendable, others somewhat peculiar (if no less desirable). For example, I can clearly see the value of tires as bumper guards. Tire art, on the other hand, leaves me frowning. Read more
Photo courtesy of Zipcar.com
If you are like me, you knew about car sharing, but only in a very generic way. Turns out, car sharing under the Zipcar banner is far from generic, and offers dozens of options to keep you moving while saving cash and that other kind of green – the environment.
As Zipcar media describes it, carsharing is about “practicable and actionable†sustainability that reduces the negative effects of transportation on the planet. This synopsis is shared by Greencar.com, which also suggests that car pooling (using Zipcar as a rideshare tool) where possible reduces overall spending – a definite planet- and pocket-plus during this recession. Read more
And, no, it isn’t the Tim Burton movie of the same name, but a Volkswagen automobile called the Bio-Bug that runs on methane gas extracted from a nearby sewage treatment plant outside Bristol, England. Unlike the almost mythical water-fueled car, the methane-driven Bio-Bug is here now, and – according to the report in Wheels – gets enough gas from 70 area toilets to travel 10,000 miles a year. Read more
According to a brochure developed jointly by the NOAA, the American Red Cross, and FEMA, almost half of all deaths from flooding happen to people 
trapped in vehicles. In fact, only in recent years has heat surpassed flooding as the primary cause of fatalities in the U.S. Flash floods are the most dangerous type of flooding, largely because waters rise rapidly and unexpectedly, especially in arroyos and irrigation ditches not normally associated with water, leaving most drivers (and their passengers) unprepared.
More important, water itself is a tremendous force. It weighs 62.4 pounds per cubic foot, delivering 500 pounds of pressure per square inch to doors and windows. It also makes cars buoyant, subtracting 1500 pounds from the weight of the vehicle for each foot it rises. Water a mere two feet deep can sweep away a vehicle, even a heavy-duty truck or SUV, as well as the bridge it is trapped on. Vehicles trapped in underpasses during rapidly rising water are in even more danger, and when flooding occurs at night drivers often can’t see such danger until it is too late. As Carblog.com notes, even a burst water main can trigger dangerous flooding in low-lying areas. Read more
Summer is traditionally travel season, and the tradition remains strong even in these days of job losses, housing foreclosures and manufacturing downturns.
The upside to families visiting that favorite vacation spot, be it Grandma and Grandpa’s house or a to-die-for cabana on the Pacific near Mazatlan, is that gas prices remain well below 2008’s astronomical $4 a gallon or more.
These prices, which are also sparking a renewed interest in bigger vehicles (think crew-cab trucks and family-sized SUVs like the Ford Flex reviewed on Roadtripsforfamilies.com), average $2.72, offering hope that the family road trip is not a thing of the past (we weren’t all that fond of staycations anyway, were we?). Read more
By Jeanne Roberts
So you’ve decided to go “green†right down to your choice of an auto repair specialist. How do you know if the mechanic or garage you have chosen is as “green” as you would like? Read more
