Green Blogging

The green black cab!

I was excited to read in the EDP, about the new green black taxis being developed by Norfolk car manufacturer, Lotus, as part of a project to reduce car fumes and noise in urban areas.

At present, the EDP report says, there are 20,000 black cabs in London. It is hoped that the first fleet of 20 green taxis and six hydrogen refuelling stations will be running by the 2012 Olympics. It is part of mayor Boris Johnson’s commitment to make all taxis in London zero-emissions in 10 years’ time.

Its a bit different from what they normally do! Neil Parsons the project manager:

We have worked on trucks, lorries and buses in the past, but it is a quite heavy vehicle and we could have made it considerably lighter, but it was not an upgrade project. We want to get it on the road to support the 2012 Olympics.

It is quite slow compared to some Lotus vehicles, but it is quicker than a normal black cab by about six seconds [from 0-60mph].

This technology could be the way forward. Mr Pearson told the EDP that that hydrogen-powered vehicles would not cost much more than a regular petrol or diesel engine once it is mass produced.

Good luck to them! And, please can we have some in Norwich?

I was excited to read in the Observer Magzine green column about a new product called pavegen.  This is a new sort of paving slab, which can store and use the energy from the people walking over it.  The idea is that this will power street lighting… Continue reading

Is climate change real?

After reading and reviewing Ten Technologies to Save the Planet, I decided that I ought to read a book coming from the other side.  An Appeal to Reason: A Cool Look at Global Warming by Nigel

The Sportspark at UEA is a very successful venture. It has 1.3 million visitors per year, including both students and the general public. Visitor numbers have increased rather than diminished during the credit crunch, and last years its income increased by 12pc to almost 3 million and is now the largest community sport… Continue reading

I was interested to read this article in The Times today about a solar powered boat, the biggest boat apparenty to be powered in this way.  Sadly though it is not British but comes from a Swiss company, and built in Germany.

The boat, which is from a… Continue reading

I was pleased to read this article today about the Wynyard facility in North East England. Being built by HP Enterprise Services with new innovative energy saving measures (including cooling by the cold North Sea winds) it is expected to be one of the largest and most environmentally friendly data centers in Europe once it is… Continue reading

Isn’t science wonderful?  In the New York Times there is an article about a new technology which can put a thin coating on items, such as dishes, mirros and factory machinery, which would make it possible for them to be washed with water alone, preventing all those detergents from… Continue reading

I was pleased to read two stories in the EDP Business section today with encouraging green news.

Maglev is a Norwich based sustainable technology firm,  developing green technology for businesses.  One of their products is a range of street lights powered by solar panels and wind turbines.

I… Continue reading

This is a marvelous book. Chris Goodall is a writer and broadcaster on climate change issues. In this book he considers ten separate technologies in some detail, discusses sensibly their strengths and weaknesses, the companies and individuals who are working… Continue reading

Exciting news recently about offshore windfarms.  Huge windfarms in the shallow seas in various sites around Britain have been announced (with the second largest being off the coast of Norfolk).  They say that it could generate up to a third of the UK power.

However that is a long way… Continue reading