Making a slow boat look fast... photo: Neal McQ via flickr.
Having assessed the overall picture of how our patterns of global shipping and global aviation use tons of fuel, leave a high environmental footprint, and how technological changes can help but perhaps not fully solve the problem, let's move on to how we can change ourselves and our habits. Remember, we want to keep as much of the benefits of gl...Read the full story on TreeHugger
Photo: Michael Graham Richard
The Little Car that Could
The Toyota Prius hybrid has been sold in the U.S. for 10 years (even longer in Japan, where it was first introduced in 1997), and during that decade this car went from a small niche player considered 'weird' by most people (I remember back when the #1 question was "do you have to plug it in?") to a best-seller halo car whose technology has found its way in many other models, including vehicles made by Toyota's competitors. During that decade in the U.S., Toyota has sold about 900,000 Prius hybrids there, and about 1.8 million w...Read the full story on TreeHugger
Container ship photo: Daniel Ramirez; airliner photo: Bob MacInnes
Two things which I think are worth keeping front and center when discussing how we wean ourselves off our petroleum addiction: Travel between nations is good; trade between nations is good. It's easy to point out specific incidences where less-than-savory outcomes r...Read the full story on TreeHugger
Image from londoncyclist
Today is the big day: London's new bicycle rental system is being launched. Called Barclays Cycle Hire, after the bank which is a corporate sponsor to the tune of £25M, the system is high in Canadian content.
Modelled after Montreal's Bixi, the 6,000 bicycles have been built at Devinci Cycles in Batgotville Quebec. Many have bemoaned the...Read the full story on TreeHugger
Nissan Leaf battery. Photo: Nissan
Matching the Chevy Volt
As predicted here, Nissan has decided to match GM and offer a 8-year/100k miles warranty on the battery pack of its LEAF electric car. It will be great for early adopters who will have one less thing to worry about (at least for the first 8 years or 100k miles), and it will be great for the transition to electrified transportation....Read the full story on TreeHugger