“Range Anxiety” didn’t really cut it as a buzzword for 2011, did it? Not enough stories of electric car drivers stranded miles from a charging point to confirm the still widely-held view that petrol and diesel are still the only reliable fuels to power your car. So let’s try two words that might have a… Continue reading
Browsing Category Environment
Driving down low carbon avenue
Car manufacturers aren’t required to stress the green credentials (or, more generally, the lack of them) in their adverts. So despite the consensus view among scientists that burning fossil fuels is bad for our planet (Lord Lawson, opposing views are available) copywriters don’t do much to promote the eco-friendliness of the vehicle. They have very… Continue reading →
Pagan power – church takes energy from the sun
It would be wrong to overwork the metaphor of the Church of England turning to that most pagan of symbols, the sun, rather than prayer, for salvation. It’s a neat solution nevertheless, solving the perennial problem of paying to heat a large, cavernous and extremely old building with solar power. The successful scheme to… Continue reading →
Just how easy is it to give up the plastic bag?
If you’re looking for some rare good news, even if it’s only small and symbolic, before the climate change talks in Durban this week, I’ll offer you this. I stood outside a Tesco Extra hypermarket in Swansea last weekend while on a visit to Wales, waiting for my wife to do some quick shopping. After… Continue reading →
Fuel price crisis. Do you actually need that second car?
BBC Radio 5’s drivetime programme this morning lead on the e-petition to the government calling on the duty on petrol and diesel to be pegged. However, there was no discussion on several key issues. One of the interviewees in the “Vox pop” slot said it cost her about £100 to fill her car, which she… Continue reading →
Rooftop power helps Red Dwarf star zero in on low driving bills
Set aside “range anxiety”, clearly a big concern for many prospective buyers, for the moment, and there is still a big roadblock on the way to a much wider acceptance of electric cars. It’s that drivers are simply shifting the carbon dioxide generated in providing the energy to drive the car from the petrol… Continue reading →