Reduced emissions, increased fuel efficiency and the first car manufacturer to get their fuel cell vehicle on the road are buzz in the “Green Car” category at the 2008 L.A. Auto Show. As it should be. With more consumers desiring to purchase highly efficient and low impact “green cars” the industry is really beginning to show major moves in this direction.
This years auto show reveals this to be true as many important models in popular classes consumers are buying are now being produced with hybrid engines (gasoline-electric). In fact all 5 nominees for the 2008 “Green Car” title are all hybrids. Chevy is now making their Malibu mid-size and Tahoe SUV with a hybrid engine, both in contention for the “Green Car” of the year. Other contenders are the Mazda Tribute SUV Hybrid, the Nissan Altima Hybrid and the Saturn Aura Hybrid.
Fuel cell cars are the next giant leap in the automotive industry. Honda’s FCX Clarity pictured above is the next generation of the companies fuel cell vehicles. The BIG NEWS is they’re guaranteeing these cars will be released in 2008 (GO HONDA!). The FCX clarity comes with an advanced fuel cell “V Stack” engine with single hydrogen fuel tank powering the electric motor and the best part is it puts out 0 emissions.
Honda plans to lease this low slung eco-champion to a limited number of retail consumers in Southern California as soon summer 2008. They will launch the FCX clarity with a 3 year lease term with a price of $600 a month, including maintenance and collision insurance. You may be thinking where does one fill up a hydrogen powered car, but there is already stations in our nations 3 largest cities, New York, Los Angeles and D.C. For all the information on the FCX clarity visit World Honda.
Do you know of any other new or major green car developments?
Does anybody know about this site ( http://www.earthlab.com ) ? I have seen other environmental sites with carbon calculators like yahoo and tree huggers, but I am wondering what the deal with earthlab.com is? I saw they also published a list last month of the top ten greenest cities ( http://www.efficientenergy.org/Top-Ten-Green-Cities-in-the-United-States ). Does anyone know if this site is better than the others? Fill me in!
I took their carbon foot print test and it was pretty interesting, they said that I put out 4.5 tons of carbon, does anyone know about any other tests?
I really enjoy reading your blog, it always has great insight. But I am very frustrated with the fact that so few people are talking about presidential candidates and their thoughts on global warming. Now that it is down to just a few candidates I would think that this would be a bigger issue.
Live Earth just picked up this topic and put out an article ( http://www.liveearth.org/news.php ) live earth is also asking why the presidential candidates are not being solicited for their stance on the issue of the climate change. I just saw a poll on http://www.EarthLab.com that says people care a lot about what their next leader thinks of global warming. Does anyone know of another poll or other results about this subject?
Here is the page where I saw the EarthLab poll: http://www.earthlab.com/life.aspx. This is a pretty legit website; they are endorsed by Al Gore and the alliance for climate protection and they have a carbon footprint calculator. Does anyone have a strong opinion about this like I do? No matter what your political affiliation is or who you vote for this is an important issue for our environment, our economy and for homeland security.