Britain’s first solar powered electric car charger (the eTap) will open next month (July 2011) at the Centre for Engineering and Manufacturing Excellence (CEME) at Rainham, Essex. Motorists will pay £1 to plug in at one of the six charging points under the solar panel roof, and then 63p for every hour the electric vehicle (EV)… Continue reading
Charge is on to bring solar power to the electric car
Is “range anxiety” being toppled from its perch as the top reason not to buy an electric car (apart from the cost)? Has it been replaced by “it’s just as polluting because the energy comes from coal-fired power stations”? I don’t know, but Italian design finesse has just met the solar battery charger, and the… Continue reading →
Helping discarded fish scale the heights of cuisine
The very successful anti-discard campaign, taken forward by the cook Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall earlier this year, has already forced, or inspired, retailers into action. This month (June) Sainsbury’s launched its ‘Switch the Fish’ campaign. Customers who ask for cod, tuna and skate are offered, in addition, a free portion of some of the unfashionable species… Continue reading →
Wire up for an electric holiday
If you owned an electric car, would you take it on holiday with you? The answer, with range anxiety alarm bells ringing, is probably not. You would need somewhere to charge it, and the prospect of threading a wire through the landlady’s kitchen window at the B&B is a bit daunting. Hotels wouldn’t be any… Continue reading →
Civil servants, forces to be served sustainable fish
UK Food Minister Jim Paice MP has announced a big change to Government plans to introduce sustainability standards for fish bought by Whitehall. They will now extend to all fish, without any exceptions. Previously 4 out of 10 fish bought by Whitehall (effectively the British civil service) were to be excluded from the plans. This… Continue reading →
Tread lightly on the planet, Swedish style
A Swedish family has cut its CO² output by 80% in a six-month experiment, using available technology allied to some not too drastic domestic behavioral change. Nils andAlicia Lindell and their children Hannah and Jonathan lived in a purpose-built, solar panel and hydro-electricity powered house in Hasselby Villastad in the suburbs of Stockholm. The parents… Continue reading →