Meanwhile, on the perpetual motion front...

Water-fuel car unveiled in Japan

I can see that the car can be powered by energy from burning hydrogen generated by splitting water. Nifty.

What is not so clear from any text or video is what powers the 'energy generator' that produces the hydrogen to run the car.

It suspect that still may require some 'external input'.

Not that the reporter seemed concerned. Soon to be all round the MSM, equally uncritically, no doubt.

Beating the crunch

Sadly, not the credit crunch this time:(

However, in the spirit of 'it's good to share', and my last car-borne outing had a relatively happy outcome (our re-engined Golf doing sterling work as we speak... long may it continue to do so), let's try again.

Monday was, according to the Daily Telegraph, 'the most stressful day of the year.' Well, yes, I could get around to accepting that.

For this was the day my tropics-trained missus met black ice for the first time, and that's one postbox that won't be taking mail for a wee while.

Now it was an incredibly slow impact, as even the airbags didn't go off.

And, though it really... really looks worse in the picture, after a quick gander my hopes were raised.

Sure, all the crumple zones had done what they were meant to, but as far as I could gather, beyond the front, bonnet and a few important bits of engine that bore the brunt, it was all in one piece. And nothing major bent any further back.

Sadly, this seems not enough to be worth saving to the counters of beans at my insurers. I guess the cost of mending came in above the cost of slipping us the road value and, well, money talks.

So again I am presented with a series of dilemmas that span the whole gamut from enviro to eco.. nomic.

Take the money and get a replacement? If so, maybe an existing LPG? Or try and 'save' it. I am not sure what one can do, but assuming they give me the write-off value I can still 'buy' it from them and then try and fix it. But... is it worth it?

Another journey is embraked upon which I'll share....

UPDATE

The plot thick... well, goes further downhill.

It really is not worth trying to save. It can be fixed, but to do so would take something like £5k, and that's to end up with a car 'worth' £1300 (according to the nice man from Norwich Union - I then had to spend all day yesterday 'proving' it was worth more, and ended up in some bizarre Marrakesh-market haggle. Not what I expected from a top insurer).

I am now on the trail of some dual/bifuels, and they do seem to be like hen's teeth. Especially at the budget I have set. A further 'complication' is that having chatted with a few garages they seem to think getting a factory-fitted option is much safer to a retro-fitted kit version, and that reduces things a lot more. So far all I am seeing is a few Volvos.

The hunt continues....

IDEA - It is art...

...but as I have four rescued from my garden, can't a way be found to reuse them?

Artist creates sculptures from hubcaps

Maybe a central community drop off 'lost 'n found', say at a local garage forecourt, to let folk see if they can retrieve them... and make a charity donation as a thank you?

A new mission!

Auto default

Can you be a green petrolhead?

Agree on most. Especially on the size of machine required. A point a few of our green-auto advocates who need 6litre Hummers and 7-series Beemers still miss, even if they stick h2 in 'em to show their eco-cred.

But do cut those poor Americans, especially the teenagers, a wee bit of slack. (Oops, I forgot the host of this blog)

I haven't been there too often, but in many states they can't drink 'til they are 21, in others where there are reasonable, practical public transport systems it's no diff to London (Centre of the Universe), but in some places there's the small matter of most living in a country that is the same distance across as it is from here to Turkey.

Aside from the money, and the logistics and a few other things, if you live in a county where some kids need to travel often scores of miles to get in to school/cinema/etc, it's hard to imagine how else they would do it.

With those Yellow bus jobbies they seem to have the school run better sorted than we do here. As to the rest, if you can re-shoot Bullitt with a Prius...

IRONY ALERT - Driving misers crazy

It's a tricky one.

Competition throughout history has driven innovation, and innovation in driving is the competition here.

However, I had to crank a slight eyebrow at a piece on the news today about a driving competition that is based on the lightest foot winning.

I would just wish that there had (if there was I missed it) been a slight tilt towards the fact that, whatever the awareness, there are still an awful lot of cars gadding about the country burning fuel. It's better, but to me still erring on F1 trying to allude to eco-status by thinking about bio-fuels.

So far all I have gleaned as a consequence is that a smaller car uses less fuel, plus if you don't accelerate or break hard. Well, D'uh.

I do wonder what box-ticking effort this latest exercise in awareness might really be serving.

Addendum - Just watched the lunch news. The objective is, apparently, 'to use the least fuel'.

I wrote in and asked if, as a local participant (they went past my home), I could claim a prize, as my car used sod all fuel today as I didn't get in it.

Sadly, no reply. But fear not, this is so popular that there are plans for many more. Gaia breathes easier, I am sure.

Addendum 2 - Just watching the BBC Breakfast News about some noble race or other across the Antarctic. I am sure TV show and book to follow.... on BBC Worldwide.

Now, I am all for all these 'higher, faster, stronger' celebrations of the human spirit, but do wonder how the irony alert gets disconnected because some staffers are on to plug the thing.

Were we not being lambasted for how all we are up to is messing up the wildlife in colder climes? And how do all these guys and their teams get there... kayak?

I am still trying to get my head round yesterday's well-publicised 'eco'-race (one of many to come, apparently. Maybe F1 will get in on the act) where hundreds of folk drive around the country to show how little petrol they used. I was the clear winner by not going out at all in my car, and if I did only for something I really needed it for.

Consistency, Aunty, consistency. Next you'll be vying for a slot on Virgin Galactic... oh.

Join Captn. Fishtock's 'Polar Bears need more settees to rest on icebergs' now!

PROFS POSER - Idle talk saves planets

This is the 'inspiration':

Stuck at a level crossing? Turn off the engine or pay £20 fine

Thing is, if you are not in Prius or snazzy Beemer, when is the right time to switch off, and even if there is one (there must be, like for flourescent bulbs) how can it be assessed in advance (ever switched off in a jam afater 5 minutes, only to find that's when it moves off?).

Thing is, I have an old wife nagging that says starting ans stoping uses 'more' (over a period tba) than shutting down.

A plug for plugs

Thanks to a post on a blog, I have been introduced to this:

Plug-in hybrid boosts electric motoring

Of course, I have been moved to write:

I have noted that there are some well-informed contributors here whose education and experience in technical matters I have come to trust more than almost any BBC 'analyst' I have to pay for, especially when overseen by editorial selection by agenda rather than objective fact.

This is an interesting and in many ways exciting story as we confront a future of ever-reducing fossil fuels.

Now I have to confess I fully accept that in an urban setting an internal combustion engine, especially running at idle (though a lot of ads I see - BMW - seems to suggest this can be addressed with ic too) is looking less and less ideal.

But then we need to consider urban and non-urban usage in totality. Being that most of these 'reports' are in the city, by the city and of the city (where one trusts, for the sake of one's charging reliability unless you post an armed guard at the parking bay, no local lads have a pair of tin snips), the whole thing seems to focus on this aspect, ignoring those who live and work in the country and have to pile up and down motorways. I am really hoping that the mindset in luvvie central is not a Prius or G-Wiz in the garage for the CC, and then one jumps in the Range Rover to get to Hay-on-Wye to discuss global warming. Frankly, in the city, why does anyone need a car at all? At least the caption on the wee orange jobbie raises the dilemma that presents. To meet my family/work needs/desires we have to plump for one Volvo estate, which we're looking at converting to LPG (which seems better for planet, and pocket if they don't monkey with the fuel taxes). Many (not all) of these things seem only suitable for singles or in combo with others.

I was thrilled to see that at least we no more have a moppet gurgling that electric is 'pollution free'.

But I'd still just like to know how 'environmentally-better' this option is beyond reduced localised pollution, and against all other options, including hydrogen. I am already wondering about the costs and wisdom of pursuing two such options at once, as the infrastructures are surely going to compete and hence dilute the possible eco-benefits of reduced Co2 emissions (which I gather is the main 'problem') NOW?

Ignoring for now the costs of getting the power of these new sources of energy to the wheels (isn't 'leccy soaring? No wonder our Vince at EDF is a fan, er, 'sous la lune' as we say not in the UK'. Seems also that nuke energy is coming in as a dun deel as I'm guessing the Kingsnorth half dozen have done for coal), I would love to know a bit more about the enviro claims, as that is how they come across here... just claims: if the wording of this, again from an EDF (does the BBC have shares?) rep is scrutinised more closely:

'Toyota's plug-in hybrid offers a 40% reduction in overall CO2 emissions compared with conventional petrol vehicles, according to Mr Hofman.'

I'm sorry, but this reads less and less like an objective report, and more and more like a PR for a bunch of various folk who have a fair bit of dosh to make from taking this direction.

No problem at all with that if it also serves my kids' futures well (by their own definitions of what is important to reduce, now), but not so great if this is just helping a bunch of folk use green, and the BBC's unthinking 'anything that claims to be green is good' to jump on a bandwagon.

Any proper tech/eco/economic insights appreciated. Grin:) (as all involved seemd to share their wisdom with them if you read the piece.

With luck I may get some feedback, and will share any that helps.

It also gives me another new acronym: PR As News - PAN Reporting.

Indy Letters - Been here before

I am old enough to remember both the fanfare that accompanied the launch of the Sinclair C5 – an electric vehicle boasting cutting-edge technology that, we were told, would do away with the need for cars – and its descent to popular object of ridicule ("Make way for the Segway", 8 September). If the Segway finishes its days as spectacular a commercial disaster as its British predecessor, it will be because it failed to take into account its cheaper, faster, greener and greatly more efficient rival – the bicycle.

Yannick Read
Environmental Transport Association

If it works here...

Like most, I have a gas boiler (yes, I'll be nice, Mr. Putin). And outside is its vent.

Now, just I have never been able to figure out why all those pictures of oil rings and refineries had the stuff burning off without being used, I have often wondered why what seems (all due efficiencies inside) a lot of heat going out cannot be reused back in.

Now, one plan I had was to deflect it to waft over the car windscreen so in winter it is ice free.

Trouble is there a lot of vapour and well, it's also poisonous.

However, speaking of cars and exhausts, this looks interesting:

GM recycles exhaust into power

'Aving a bath Mother? Old up, I'll do a quick couple of blogs while you're running it'.

e-Wagen?

I still have a perfectly good, if dead Golf shell at the bottom of the garden. Could this be another option?

Crowd-sourcing the e-car

Auntie giveth, and Auntie taketh away

No one could excuse the BBC of being anything less than an enthusiastic proponent of matters green.

However, in its zeal I do wish it reporters could attempt to get their heads around certain realities so things can be put in proper context.

Today business reporter Declan Curry is at a Motor Show, which has a green section. So far, so interesting.

However, I have had to write in now twice:

H2...oh? - I am a big fan of the potential of hydrogen as an automotive fuel, and fully accept that it is mainly water that comes out the exhaust pipe (which is good at point of release) but is it true to say a car using it is 'zero emission'? I think it may have some consequence as the car and fuel still needs to be made.

Declan: 'Green cars... ...Without the environmental cost' Without... or reduced? They are different.

Telegraph - British International Motor Show: Green gloss masks red shift for car industry

I think I am on a loser here. They are, pssobly, 'better', but I guess the definition is now too firmly entrenched to save us from a marekting onslaught that ignores the actual enviROI:

21/07/2008: “2p A Mile” Car Ready To Roll Off Production Line

A zero-emission electric car that does the equivalent of 250 miles to the gallon is set for a summer launch.

EU Referedum - NEW - Green illiteracy

Red flag!

Petrolheads take to life in the slow lane

Just noticing a few comments in the main piece and thread that seem to suggest that the solution to getting back up to speed is just to go 'alternative', such as electric/hybrid.

How are these 'free' sources of non-polluting, carbon-neutral energy generated again?

I do believe it's what it takes to get the wheels turning that matters for pocket and planet; not what goes in the tank.

Chip & Dim

What seems to me another idiotic source of waste is highlighted.

Chipping away at high fuel costs

If cars can have their fuel economy and performance improved, however, why are the manufacturers not performing the operation at the factory gates? The answer is that like any product that is sold worldwide, car makers must produce performance figures that are consistent whether the car is driven in Abu Dhabi or Aylesbury. Because of this, and in order to get past the Single Vehicle Approval test (which forces cars to conform to British safety standards), car makers set the engine parameters to the lowest common denominator so it will perform equally well with low-grade fuel or bad servicing in, for example, eastern Europe, as it will in Britain.

At risk of sounding daft, if there is more mileage to be had by these methods, why on earth would it not be incorporated as a matter of course, and hence an immediate campaign launched to change the daft law/requirement that has created this wasteful situation? Lots more is done for much less.

PROF's POSER - Free into who will go?

It's inspired today by this - Battery-powered car on the cards for BMW in bid to cut emissions - which is by no means the first or only such PR outing for an alternative motor fuel/solution.

As all know, my primary concern is the enviROI to such things.

So while I concede that such as electric and hydrogen are most likely to result in fewer emissions from the car where it happens to be, I concern myself more with the total released to the atmosphere, for instance at the point the 'fuel' is created.

I'm just wondering if there is (and there surely must be) any sources that show the relative efficiencies of the various options.

I'm not here (but will be later) so concerned with the overall enviROI of the car (construction, operation/maintenance and disposal all have carbon consequences over lifetime), but simply how the fuel sources stack up in terms of, well... what measure to choose is another key factor.

I'd say the best might be the energy delivered and made available to the tank. As I say, what gets to the wheel is another matter for another time. Though efficiencies in getting miles from a litre of liquid gas or unit of stored electricity are also key.

So... let me kick off with Grams of CO2 per Kilojoule?

Greenbang - Hydrogen highway: won’t somebody think of the water? - May throw up an answer

Funny, I was pondering this only today.

Well, not the water bit as it seemed we have enough of that (but having watched 'V' in the 70's, you should never take such things for granted) and figured it was just going to come back in a cyclical manner, serving merely as part of the energy transfer process.

Plus a quick question to Arnie: why does it have to be a 6/7 litre Hummer? No H2 Civics around, I guess.

Alternative views

The Indy Letters page is always a worthy scope: 'Fuel cards' to fight climate change

Often good suggestions, pithily posed (for some reason they never print mine - even when i try a do pithy)

Take the one on fuel cards. Soul of reason. What's not to like?

Thing is, I stumble with the pure 'tax fuel' notion because it doesn't seem to take into account those who live and work where a car is needed a lot more than places where it is not.

It's a complex interaction, from manufacture through purchase to use and duration to disposal that cannot be reduced so simplistically. And then there are the related issues of alternatives. You simply can't equate an Islingtonista with a Prius for the weekend jaunt to Devon, with a Midlander who has a Fiesta for the daily 100 mile round trip to the factory.

Meanwhile, as I read on to the issue of watercress (next ban?)...

... watercress has been sourced from the US for more than 20 years, many of the farms being British owned. The watercress is air-freighted on passenger-scheduled airlines, so as to reduce carbon emissions.

Try as I might, I can't see how air-freighting something reduces carbon emissions. At least without some qualifier to explain the possible alternatives.

Well I never

Meanwhile, where the Daily Mail may have a point: Dimwits: EU's edict to keep car lights on ALL day will cost drivers £160 a year in wasted fuel

My Volvo is ten years old. The headlamps have burned bright since I bought it. Never really thought about it, but enregy has to coem from somewhere.

Now another e-lemma: 'safety' vs. 'eco'. And the dosh, too!

On the other hand, Jeremy Clarkson might not like it

The £1,290 car delights Indians but horrifies the green lobby

Beyond the poor taste humour of the headline, there is a rather serious back story to this.

Frankly it was/is inevitable. Just economic growth and market forces at work. Can't be denied.

And while I'm sure the green lobby can be relied upon to be horrified, I'm a might more interested in how the global political leadership sees such things developing.

Look... no exhaust pipe. So it doesn't pollute!

I saw this today in the newsagent rack and headed straight here to blog: Green tax puts extra £1,000 on family cars

At the same time, manufacturers will be given incentives to accelerate... those that run entirely on electricity.

I have been beaten to it. Though only one has so far mildy enquired as to where and how the 'leccy gets made. If this is the quality of official thought and media reporting we have today... god help our future.

Green Van Man?

(DFT) Multi-million fund for low carbon vans

And you know I can't resist the odd highlight...

Setting the tone:

Cleaner, greener van fleets could be a reality on our roads...

Actually, it's more a case of 'why not before?'. However, I do concern myself at the potential for a box getting ticked without the enviROI being properly sussed out.

A smaller glass for your wine, Mr. Falstaff?

Going green in a Hummer?

Glad to see that question mark. Because we go from '..to get..' to '..is proving..' to '..currently working on...' to '...he predicts...' in short order.

Sadly this kind of proves a point. If he had being doing his mileage job on a Civic how many in the media firmament would care? Or write about it?

Which kind of glosses over acknowledging that if we do need personal transport, then maybe instead of using technology to make the bloated behemoths some have 'better', it might be more productive to first cut down to more reasonable sizes and then play with them.

Which is why hydrogen powered Hummers for Arnie and 7 series for rose (or rather green)-tinted 'Captains of Eco-mmerce' kinda wash over me. Seems they can't quite do modest in all their efforts to show the rest of us the way to go.

ADDENDUM - Speaking of Hyrdogen - ST Letters - Can't vouch for the science (which makes these 'replies' objects of caution as the media seldom clarify at ll, much less later), but it is worth bearing in mind.

ADDENDUM 2 - ST Letters - I was watching out for this, which shows as much about the way debates can get streeeecthed out so they lose coherence, as much as the 'facts' being debated, when they are. Don't know about you, but I am none the wiser now.

ADDENDUM 3 - ST Letters

While you're out luv, could you get me a pack of cars?

In the same edition that looked at causes of MWCC: Here comes the £1,200 car

But I'm betting they have 'Bags for Life' when the do their shopping at the mall.

Closing the garage door after the main issues has accelerated away?