Subscribe by RSS Subscribe by e-mail
Green Blog - The Environment Blog

Archive for the ‘Cars & Transportation’ Category

June 27th, 2008

Airship will help the US coastguard to chase smugglers

By Simon | No Responses

Skyship 600

Image shows Spirit of Dubai - The Palm, on the UK leg of her 2006 tour. Note the scale of the airship from the two technicians standing below her. Photo by: Antony McCallum

I have written in the past about airships as a green option to today’s dirty aviation. Since the disaster with Hindenburg in May 1937 we haven’t heard much from them. But now, when the fuel prices are rising, more and more people are looking towards their direction again.

This week the US navy announced that they were going to acquire a Skyship 600 (see picture above), which is almost as large as a Boeing 747. The manned airship will help the US coast guard chase smugglers between Florida’s southern coast and Cuba.

George Spyrou, president of Airship Management Services Inc, said that the airship is “considered a very green machine,” and added that a “regular jet uses more fuel to travel from the gate to the taxiway than we would to fly for a whole week.”

June 3rd, 2008

Pedal-Powered Ecocabs comes to Stockholm

By Simon | 4 Responses

Pedal-Powered Ecocabs comes to Stockholm

You might have seen these pedal-powered Ecocabs rolling around in cities like Toronto, Dublin and Berlin the past few years. And now these eco cabs can be seen in Stockholm, Sweden.

Stockholm’s Ecocabs will be available from May through September each year and will costs you 40 Swedish Kronor (about $6.50) per 15 minutes.

(more…)

May 24th, 2008

The “Bike Tree” keeps your bike safe

By Simon | No Responses

The Bike Tree

Here at Green Blog we love bikes. They are green, easy and cheap to maintain and will even help you go down in weight.

But of course they also have their downsides. And one of the worst is that they are so easy to steal! But maybe the “Bike Tree” can help keep your bike safer, and even save some space in crowded areas?

The idea is pretty simple. Instead of parking you bike in an ordinary bicycle stand you lift it up in a “tree” away from the ground (see above image). The “tree” has room for five other bikes besides your own.

(more…)

May 22nd, 2008

Sweden upgrades its train fleet

By Simon | 3 Responses

Regina Intercity

While the discussions about high-speed railway systems are many and the people who want them are even more in Sweden the political decisions that are needed still seems far away.

Sweden who once was a leading railway country now seems dreadfully behind the rest of Europe when it comes to high-speed railway systems.

(more…)

May 10th, 2008

Chrysler promises car buyers $2.99 gas

By Simon | 2 Responses

Chrysler promises car buyers $2.99 gasThese days it seems the price of gas and oil will keep rising and never become stable again. And why should it? We have reached peak oil and the demand for the black and deadly gold keeps soaring.

People’s love with huge and gas-guzzling SUVs and cars seems to be loosing its former glory. Cause who would want to pay a fortune for a gas-thirsty climate change monster? Not even Americans seem to do these days.

Small and fuel-efficient vehicles are the future. The Asian automakers understood this several years ago, and now the western automakers are trying to catch up. Well, at least some of them.

(more…)

April 16th, 2008

Karin Dilettante - the top hybrid sedan

By Simon | No Responses

The Karin Dilettante

With advertising slogans like “bad plus good equals better for everyone” and “feel self-righteous in a hybrid car that sounds like a vibrator” this hybrid sedan will surely be popular in Liberty City, “the capital of the world.”

The Dilettante will be on sale at the end of this month. And yes, it does look a lot like the Toyota Prius. Video after the jump:

(more…)

March 25th, 2008

Lady Liberty dismisses Mr. Car Fetish and marries Mr. Transit

By Simon | No Responses

At the car-fetishes altar of happiness, the NY International Auto Show at the Javits Center, this year experienced a rather special protest from the people behind StreetFilms.

Thousands of people flocked to the NY International Auto Show at the Javits Center on Saturday. In the midst of it all, Lady Liberty ended her 100 year “spectacularly combustible love affair” with the automobile. Lady Liberty said, “Frankly, this relationship has just gotten to be much more work than it’s worth. My health, liberty and freedom have suffered greatly, and now I hope that my new relationships will finally give me security and happiness.” Then Reverend Billy officiated her marriage to “Mr. Transit” and the Stop Shopping Gospel Choir sang in celebration.

Video after the jump:

(more…)

March 21st, 2008

Ford Transit Connect Taxi Concept

By Simon | 3 Responses

Ford Transit Connect Taxi ConceptThere are currently around 12000 traditional “yellow cabs” in New York today. They are big and gas-guzzling. Now Ford wants to replace them all with their new Ford Transit Connect Taxi Concept.

The new Ford Transit Connect is smaller and more compact than the older yellow cabs. They are designed with less horizontal space and with more vertical space. But it will actually have more space for passengers and their cargo than the older cabs. It also features dual sliding doors which help cause less pain in an over-crowded city like New York.

(more…)