Posted: October 28th, 2009 | Author: Steve | Filed under: Business, Cars, Peak Oil, Sustainability | Tags: BEV, biodiesel, biofuel, Business, Cars, corporations, efficiency, electric, Energy, Ford, linkedin, Peak Oil, PHEV, Sustainability, Transparency, Transportation | View Comments
Ford Motor Company may not be the first name that comes to mind when you think about large corporations that are committed to sustainability. After all, the company is one of the oldest and largest industrial corporations around, and produces many of the large SUVs and trucks that are at the center of the current climate controversy. So it may be surprising for some to learn that the company actually has a very extensive sustainability strategy in the works.
Posted: April 10th, 2009 | Author: Steve | Filed under: Cars | Tags: biodiesel, biofuel, Cars, racing | View Comments
Question: What has a steering wheel is made from carrots, has a body made from potatoes, is powered by waste chocolate and vegetable oil, and it goes 125 mph around corners?
1. Bugs Bunny’s carrot mobile
2. Mr. Potato Head’s Funny-Face Car
3. GM’s latest prototype
4. A Formula-3 race car
The answer, of course, is #4, and it’s the Environ-MENTAL, the first Formula 3 race car designed and made from sustainable and renewable materials, and, according to its designers, “putting the world first by effectively managing the planet’s resources.”
The Environ-MENTAL is the vehicle of choice for the WorldFirst Racing Team, a project of the University of Warwick’s U.K.-based Warwick Innovative Manufacturing Research Centre (WIMRC). The team’s goal is to prove to the automotive industry that it is possible to build a competitive race car using environmentally sustainable components. Much like electric-car manufacturer Tesla, the team seeks to change the common perception that environmentally-friendly means boring. They want to prove that sustainability can be exciting.
WorldFirst has set out to design not just a racing car, but an entire sustainable racing system: “If you are going to wholeheartedly embrace the ‘green is great’ ethos and do more than merely posture, you have to broaden your vision. This must encompass a strategy that stretches throughout the chain from the raw materials to the final disposal of the car. The project clearly demonstrates that automotive environmentalism can and should be about the whole package.”
Posted: October 13th, 2008 | Author: Steve | Filed under: 2019 | Tags: 2019, biodiesel, nomads, Peak Oil, ReDS, superstruct | View Comments
Getting anywhere in 2019 is a real challenge…and a lot slower than it used to be. It’s more similar to 1880 than it is to 1980, and we are certainly something like a wagon train.
For one thing…a lot of the time we have to make our own biodiesel. We have a portable mini-refinery which is towed behind one of the trucks, and about every 500 miles or so we have to stop and make more fuel. We have one truck that tows a 1000-gallon tank trailer, and everyone carries extra jerry cans. Unfortunately, the process takes several days, at least.
