Treevolution » 1024

Branson to get Boeing going on biofuels

Laura Grant — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 23:07:05 +0000

Virgin Atlantic Airways plans to fly a Boeing 747 from London to Amsterdam on a mixture of biofuels (20 percent) and conventional jet fuel (80 percent) next month, Dow Jones reports.

A Virgin spokesman wouldn’t say what the biofuel would be made from or who would be making it. But he did reportedly say that the fuel would be sustainable and that it was not an oil that would compete with food.

No passengers will be on the flight, the report says.

Via CNNMoney.com

Make a change: Green tip #1

Alastair Otter — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 10:07:29 +0000

Keep your car tyres properly inflated. Driving with under-inflated tyres can increase your fuel consumption, and therefore your emissions, by up to 5 percent. Keeping your tyres properly inflated also reduces wear and tear.

Source: Friends of the Earth

Trans-Sahara expedition powered by chocolate

Laura Grant — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 04:19:25 +0000

A chocolate-powered truck left Britain on Friday and is making its way overland to Timbuktu in Mali in an attempt to complete the first carbon-neutral trip across the Sahara.

The entire 6,000km trip â€“ which will take them through France, Spain, Morocco, Western Sahara and Mauritania on their way to Mali â€“ will be powered by biodiesel made from waste chocolate.

The BioTruckers, Andy Pag and John Grimshaw, aim to show that biodiesel can be made in ways that are environmentally friendly. They say their truckâ€™s fuel has been assessed by independent experts at CarbonAided and â€œits manufacture and use emit just a tenth of the carbon footprint of fossil dieselâ€.

The BioTruck is a â€œrecycledâ€ 1989 Ford Iveco Cargo flatbed that was rescued from the scrap heap. It is carrying 1,500 litres of the choccy-diesel and two Landcruisers from the mid 80s that will be needed to complete the difficult last 200km stretch of the trip to Timbuktu.

The team is expected to arrive in Timbuktu on December 16.

For more on the BioTruck expedition click here

Ford uses soya to make greener car seats

Laura Grant — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 22:38:13 +0000

Ford seems to be doing quite a bit to green up its seating arrangements. There are lots of reports on the Internet about Fordâ€™s plans to use soya-based foam in its car seats, starting with its 2008 Ford Mustangs. Soya is a renewable resource so the new seats will be far more environmentally friendly than the petroleum-based foam that is normally used in car seats. Also, the foam has up to 24 percent renewable content, takes less energy to produce and cuts carbon dioxide emissions, said Ford in a press release, adding that it gives the company the â€œopportunity to conserve natural resources and reduce our environmental footprint”.

Debbie Mielewsk, technical leader for Fordâ€™s materials research and advanced engineering department, said that each vehicle produced today contains an average of 13,5kg of petroleum-based foam. â€œThe total annual worldwide market for the foam is 9-billion pounds (4-billion kilograms),â€ she said, therefore, â€œresearch and development of renewable, more environmentally friendly materials to produce the foam, could have a significant environmental impactâ€. Source: Ford website

In another press release the car maker reports that the fabric on the seats of the 2008 Ford Escape will be made from 100-percent recycled post-industrial waste – defined as â€œanything intended for retail use that never makes it to the consumerâ€ and it can be anything from plastic to un-dyed polyester fibres.

Interface Fabrics, which supplied the new recycled fabric, estimates that by using post-industrial recycled materials, rather than virgin fibres, Ford could conserve about â€œ600,000 gallons (2-million litres) of water, 1.8 million pounds (800,000kg) of carbon dioxide equivalents and more than 7-million kilowatt hours of electricityâ€. Source: Ford website

It’s a shame these greener seats aren’t earmarked for any of the models we get in South Africa.