Filed under: Carbon Offset, Green Daily, UK

In this day and age of increased environmental awareness, not even motorsports are granted exclusion from the eco-friendly expectations which all companies and organizations are held to. Of course, it's not just the racing itself that causes carbon emissions, as the fans attending the event need to travel in order to get there. In fact, as you can see from the graph below, when race organizers for the upcoming Wales Rally GB in December did some fact-finding, they found that the race vehicles accounted for just 5-percent of the 4,333 metric tons of overall CO₂ emitted into the atmosphere. In order to make the actual race the first carbon neutral FIA Rally event, organizers have instituted car-pooling for officials and marshals as well as replacing battery-powered flashlights with wind-up alternatives and planning full-scale recycling. The remaining CO₂ will be offset through credits from The CarbonNeutral Company.

The Wales Rally GB is already looking towards the future. The event believes that it can significantly reduce the amount of CO₂ emitted from the event in the coming years, lessening the amount of offsets necessary to remain carbon neutral. After all, it's better not to emit in the first place than to cover it up afterward.

[Source: Wales Rally GB via Automotive News - sub. req'd]

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Filed under: Hydrogen, Nissan

Click above for a hi-res gallery of the X-Trail FCV on the Nürburgring

What's this? A Nissan-at-the-Nürburgring story that doesn't involve the mighty GT-R? Well, knock us over with a feather. We're accustomed by now of hearing about the GT-R's Nordschleife heroics, so when we saw a Nissan release touting a time of 11 minutes, 58 seconds, we thought, "Huh?" Then we saw that the vehicle recording the time was none other than the new X-Trail FCV. The 11:58 run is a record for a fuel cell vehicle on the graffitti-strewn Green Hell. Of course, it's also the only time a FCV has tackled the legendary circuit, so let's not go all crazy with the champagne just yet. Driver Frank Eickholt says that if the track had been dry, he likely would have recorded a substantially faster time -- perhaps by as much as 40 seconds. In any case, Honda, you now have a target to beat with your FCX Clarity. And GM, you're out on the 'Ring enough as is -- get Heinricy into a Fuel Cell Equinox and see what he can wring out of it. After all, it's not a real record until there's a little competition!


[Source: Nissan]

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Filed under: Emerging Technologies, EV/Plug-in, Hybrid

Today is the last day of the exciting convention, Plug-In 2008: A Short Drive to Tomorrow, here in San Jose, CA. While I haven't had much chance to post during this time, I have been able to film several interesting presentations and interviews. These video segments will be made available on AutoBlogGreen in the very near future.

What I found that made this conference unique, in addition to being the first such convergence dedicated to plug-in hybrid technology, was the bridging of the tech community in Silicon Valley with the plug-in hybrid industry. On Tuesday, Andy Grove (Former Chairman & CEO of Intel Corporation) gave a luncheon speech that drew parallels between the eary days of the microprocessor industry and the current experiences of the plug-in hybrid field. He called for a grand vision - a commitment from those in the policy realm, industry, and research community to facilitate the production 10 million plug-in hybrid cars by 2012.

Dr. Andy Frank (U.C. Davis) provided a counterpoint in perspective during Wednesday's luncheon speech. Dr. Frank has spent the last forty years of his research endeavors dedicated to the development of plug-in hybrid technology. While he mentioned that the field has made considerable progress during this time, he sadly lamented that there are only about 200 plug-in hybrid vehicles in existence globally today (five of which are his). Dr. Frank remained optimistic, however, and stressed the need for faster progress in the field.

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Filed under: Etc.

Click on the image for more shots of RCA's Eco-Cars of the future

To celebrate forty years in business, the Royal College of Art's fourteen graduates this year have undertaken the challenge of designing a future eco-friendly car for the 2008 Pilkington Automotive Vehicle Design award. Of course, some of the concepts are pretty far "out there," though others, like Sergio Loureiro Da Silva's Phoenix concept actually seem plausible. The Phoenix is a bit of a mixture of a motorcycle with sidecar and a normal four-wheeled automobile; it looks awfully futuristic. Pierre Sabas won the competition with his Airflow concept, which features electric motors directly integrated into the wheels. This technique is currently being explored by multiple companies for production cars, so the design doesn't seem to stray too far from reality.

The Nereus concept by Ceri Yorath, on the other hand, strays a bit from normality with its fuel cell powertrain and transformable body panels, which shape themselves based on how you are driving. Still, Jung Hoon Rhee's Noah concept seems the furthest from reality, as its "wave seats" were meant to "duplicate the lightness of being immersed in water." Right. Take a look at all of the concepts in our gallery below. Thanks for the tip, Mike!


[Source: Inhabitat, Wallpaper.com]

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