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Volvo have launched a campaign to make people more aware of the dangers that car emissions pose to our health.

Did you know that as many as 50,000 people a year are dying prematurely due to toxic air emissions, linked to fossil fuel combustion? That’s more than 20 times the number that die in road accidents in the UK each year! [source: Environmental Audit Select Committee]

The most dangerous of these emissions NOx, Hydrocarbons and Particulates. But together, we’ll call them “Nasties”. Watch this animation to see the Nasties in action.

Find out more about the Fight for Your Right To Clean Air at www.facebook.com/insidevolvouk and join the debate at www.twitter.com/insidevolvouk

Over the last few years, car manufacturers have been working away to create a viable alternative to a petrol-fuelled vehicle. The solution seemed to be the electric car.

Peugeot has recently announced that its electric car, the i0n, is due to go on sale in the UK by the end of the year. Nissan has created the concept car the Leaf, while Renault has been working on the futuristic Twizy concept car, which will soon be entering the virtual world of The Sims.

But behind the scenes researchers in Israel have been working on making hydrogen a viable competitor as an alternative to petrol.

Previous problems identified with hydrogen have been its flammable nature and the difficulty in storing the gas within a vehicle, as it requires large, heavy tanks.

The Israeli scientists believe that they have overcome one of these problems by creating much smaller and lightweight storage containers.

The gas would be stored in a series of very small glass tubes. Almost 400 of these tubes would then be bundled together to create an “array”, which is about the size of a drinking straw. Finally, 11,000 of these arrays would be place in the vehicle.

This would take up half the space and weigh half as much as other storage methods, yet still power the vehicle for 240 miles.

So does this mean that manufacturers will all start scrambling to create hydrogen powered cars? The answer is probably not.

Electric cars still have the upper hand when it comes to refuelling, as there is already a national grid established, meaning large amounts will not have to be laid out to create a charging infrastructure.

In addition, car makers will be looking at their profits and will be unwilling to dispose of all the equipment they invested in to produce electric cars before seeing a return.

Hydrogen fuel cells are also often used in electric vehicles to charge batteries and extend the distance they can travel without having to stop. The new research will mean that the two could be able to operate better hand in hand.

Car manufacturers will continue to look at the bottom line, and green enthusiasts will continue to look at the carbon footprint various fuels, but should they also be keeping one eye on hydrogen technology in the coming years?

>>> Please read the full article here

By Fred Pearce – New Scientist

ASIAN pollution is a global problem. Millions of tonnes of soot, sulphur dioxide and other pollutants are fast-tracked into the stratosphere each year by the summer monsoon.

“The monsoon is one of the most powerful atmospheric circulation systems on the planet, and it happens to form right over a heavily polluted region,” says William Randel of the US National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado.

The stratosphere begins about 12 kilometres up, above the troposphere where weather systems like the monsoon develop. Most pollution stays below the boundary between the two. However, by using satellite instruments to track hydrogen cyanide, a minor but telltale ingredient of the pollution, Randel and his colleagues found “pipes” of polluted air moving through the boundary.

They think that the exceptional updraughts of air inside the monsoon’s giant clouds can bust through and send pollution deep into the stratosphere (Science, DOI: 10.1126/science.1182274). This is where the planet’s ozone layer sits, filtering out ultraviolet radiation from the sun.

The findings will trigger a radical rethink about the state of the stratosphere. “Received wisdom has been that gases like sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides don’t make it into the stratosphere,” says Peter Bernath of the University of York, UK, a member of the research team. “Nitrogen oxides in particular are of concern,” he says, because they can destroy ozone. Sulphur dioxide can shroud the planet in a cooling haze.

John Pyle, a specialist on the ozone layer at the University of Cambridge, agrees that the research raises key questions. “How much will the transport of pollution change in the future, as emissions increase or the monsoon changes?” he says. It’s unclear whether climate change will weaken or intensify monsoons.

In the lower atmosphere, pollutants like sulphur dioxide “rain out” of the air within days. But in the stratosphere they can stay aloft for years, spread by fast winds known as jets, meaning the threat is global. The effects may have already been unwittingly detected: researchers recently noted an increase in sulphate particles in the stratosphere around the globe, which could be linked to China’s rapid industrialisation over the past decade.

>>> Please read the full article here

Car manufacturer Ford is working with computer software giant Microsoft to develop new charging technology for electric vehicles.

The two companies want to help electric car owners manage their energy use and make the vehicles cheaper to run.

Their system, called Microsoft Hohm, will use smart meter technology to show motorists when is the best time to recharge their car at the lowest cost.

“For Ford, this is a needed step in the development of the infrastructure that will make electric vehicles viable,” said Ford chief executive Alan Mulally.

It is hoped that the energy management application will be ready is time for use with Ford’s Focus Electric car next year.

The news comes after it was announced that Nissan is to build its new zero-emission electric vehicle the Nissan Leaf at its Sunderland factory from 2013.

Around 50,000 vehicles will be made at the site each year, which is close to the manufacturer’s existing electric car battery plant.

>>> Please read the full article here

Researchers at three UK universities are working on a new project that aims to turn carbon dioxide into fuel for cars.

They are hoping to develop porous materials that can absorb CO2 from the atmosphere and convert it into chemicals for fuel, after being offered funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

Led by the University of Bath, the project will also involve scientists from Bristol University and the University of the West of England. 

It is hoped that the new materials could be used to line factory chimneys and soak up CO2 emissions before they are released into the air.

Dr Frank Marken, senior chemistry lecturer at Bath, said this process, which would be powered by renewable solar energy, would be more energy-efficient than existing carbon capture techniques.

“Current processes rely on using separate technology to capture and use the CO2, which makes the process very inefficient. 

”By combining the processes the efficiency can be improved and the energy required to drive the CO2 reduction is minimised,” he explained.

Researchers in France are also working on the development of green fuels.

Using a reactor found in plasma televisions, they are devising a process that can turn waste materials into ultra-clean biodiesel.

>>> View full article here



A new government scheme to train lorry drivers in eco-driving techniques could result in savings of up to three million tonnes of carbon over five years.

Eco-driving skills could become mandatory under new government proposals to reduce carbon emissions from the freight sector.

The plans would mean that drivers are tested on energy-efficient driving techniques, as part of their EU Driver Certificate of Professional Competence, which is compulsory for all professional bus, coach and lorry drivers.

According to Department of Transport estimates, eco-driver training could result in savings of up to three million tonnes of CO2 over five years.

Minister Paul Clark said: “We are absolutely committed to reducing emissions from across the transport sector. Given that 20 percent of all transport emissions come from road freight, these drivers must be a priority.

“With initiatives like this I am confident we will succeed in creating a greener and cleaner industry fit to meet the environmental challenges we face.”

A consultation of approximately 16 weeks will aim to enable at least 90 percent of lorry drivers to take up eco-driver training. The government also plans to extend take-up through promoting the schemes.

Overall, transport accounts for a quarter of man-made greenhouse gas emissions from the UK.

>>> Read the full article here

The Department for Transport will from January 2011 provide grants worth £5,000 against the cost of a fully electric or plug-in hybrid car.

In order to qualify for the grant, the amount claimed must not represent more than 25 per cent of the cost of the car. Furthermore, the vehicle must have a range of at least 70 miles, a minimum top speed of 60mph, and meet European safety standards.

London, Milton Keynes and the North East will receive funding for 11,000 charging points in car parks at railway stations and supermarkets. Many of these will enable rapid charging, although not all will be installed before 2013.

Similar electric car grants already exist in America and China.

A spokesperson for the Environmental Transport Association (ETA) said: “The grant is intended to coincide with the launch of mass-produced electric cars like the Nissan Leaf and Mitsubishi iMiev – currently the choice of electric vehicle is very limited.”

Which electric cars will be eligible for the £5,000 grant?

When the scheme first launches, only two cars – the Tesla Roadster and Mitsubishi iMiev – will qualify for the £5,000. However, many more models are promised in 2011. The following electric vehicles are currently undergoing testing on British roads.

>>> Read the full article here

The Government has played down claims it is not doing enough to help introduce electric cars in the UK.

In a visit to the region this week Ivan Hodac, secretary-general of the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, said money spent on support for the North East’s electric car infrastructure was not supported across the rest of the UK.

His outspoken attack on “piecemeal” Government support has upset ministers who have spent millions of pounds on electric vehicle support.

Nissan’s Sunderland plant, which employs more than 3,000 workers, is currently bidding against its factory in Portugal to build the manufacturer’s LEAF electric car – a contract which it hopes could create thousands of North East jobs. But Mr Hodac said Portuguese efforts to introduce electric car charging points were moving much faster than UK plans.

The Government claims to have found £30m for charging points for electric and plug-in hybrid cars.

“Cities and businesses are joining together to bid for this money which will help fund the installation of charging points on streets, car parks and in commercial, retail and leisure facilities,” the Government spokeswoman said.
She added: “Overall, we’re investing more than £400m to encourage the development, manufacture and use of next generation ultra-low carbon vehicles. This support is being targeted to create jobs in a low-carbon automotive sector and to cut carbon from UK road transport.”

Mr Hodac is a representative in Brussels of the 15 European car makers.

View the full article at nebusiness.co.uk

The average fuel efficiency of the US vehicle fleet has risen by just 3 miles per gallon since the days of the Ford Model T, and has barely shifted at all since 1991.

Those are the conclusions reached by Michael Sivak and Omer Tsimhoni at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute in Ann Arbor. They analysed the fuel efficiency of the entire US vehicle fleet of cars, motorcycles, trucks and buses from 1923 to 2006.

They found that from 1923 to 1935 fuel efficiency hovered around 14 mpg (5.95 km/l), but then fell gradually to a nadir of only 11.9 mpg (5.08 km/l) in 1973. By 1991, however, the efficiency of the total fleet had risen by 42 per cent on 1973 levels to 16.9 mpg (7.18 km/l), a compound annual rate of 2 per cent.

Full Article at New Scientist

The manufacturer of a hydrogen car unveiled in London yesterday Tuesday will make its designs available online so the cars can be built and improved locally. The Riversimple car can go 80km/hr (50mph) and travels 322km (200mi) per re-fuelling, with an efficiency equivalent to 300 miles to the gallon.

A new type of fuel cell developed by Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies has resulted in the two-seater zero emissions hydrogen-electric city car with an expected fuel consumption equivalent to 360 miles per US gallon, six times better than today’s best available hybrid electric vehicles.

The small city concept car, developed by Riversimple, has four electric motors and a 6kW fuel cell which maximizes energy efficiency by utilising lightweight composite materials, eliminating heavy mechanical components and by networking fuel cells with ultra capacitors and a 60 percent efficient regenerative braking system. As a result, 240 miles (390 km) can be traveled on one small tank of hydrogen weighing only 2.2 lbs.

Next year, Riversimple aims to release 10 prototypes in a UK city which has yet to be confirmed.

The design of the car will be published on the web so that versions can be developed to suit local requirements in urban areas. The cars will be leased to users rather than sold, with owners paying for a maintenance, support and fuel package. The makers claim the all-up cost of the car could be as little as £200 ($315) a month.

Riversimple has partnered with gas supply company BOC to install hydrogen stations for the cars in the city where the prototypes are launched.