2012 Ford Focus Will Have Hybrid, Plug-in Hybrid, and Battery Electric Models
December 20, 2010 No Comment
Photo: Ford All Coming from the Same Factory I guess now we know how former U.S. president George W. Bush spends his time: Driving cars for photoshoots! Kidding aside, this post is about the 2012 Focus. Ford has announced that thanks to a $550 million investment in their Michigan Assembly Plant (which used to make gas guzzling SUVs, and now has a 0.5-megawatt solar system and electric trucks that carry parts around), they will be able to make 4 different versions of the Focus: the regular gasoline-powered one, a gas-electric hybrid, a plug-in hybrid, and an all-electric version…. Read the full story on TreeHugger
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Photo by lrargerich via Flickr Creative Commons What are city trees really worth? Just how much of a contribution do they make to cityscapes, and how can we calculate the pricetag? A software program called i-Tree helps to save urban trees by pinpointing their value. Created by the US Forest Service, the program hammers out cost-benefit calculations to quantify the contribution trees make in urban environments…. Read the full story on TreeHugger
Continue reading …Hexavalent Chromium, Erin Brockovich Chemical, Found in 31 of 35 U.S. Cities’ Tap Water
December 20, 2010 No Comment
Image: Mitwa AV via flickr Hexavalent chromium, the cancer-causing chemical made famous by the film Erin Brockovich, has been detected in the tap water of 31 of the 35 U.S. cities tested by Environmental Working Group-commissioned studies. That’s 89 percent of cities sampled. … Read the full story on TreeHugger
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Photo: gordonramseysubmissions / Creative Commons Breathing and smelling is not the only things a nose is good for. In the animal world, they’re used for much more: From tentacled protrusions that find food, tools for eating and drinking, grabbers, and mating signals, the nose is a major component of survival for these 10 creatures, ranging from fish to primates.
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Images via Silvr Lining Despite the fact that solar cell technology is constantly improving, there seems to be little indication that fashion incorporating those solar cells is improving at all. Example: Silvr Lining’s GO Solar Power Collection . Their new line of jackets, vests and cargo pants sport solar panels for charging gadgets while on the go. However, they probably won’t do you much good since you likely won’t want to leave the house wearing them. … Read the full story on TreeHugger
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Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons When TreeHugger compiled a short list of contenders for the title of “Person of the Year” in 2010, we knew it would be difficult to choose a single winner. Everyone on the shortlist, we agreed, deserved some recognition. In the end, however, it became clear that if a Person of the Year was going to be named, he or she would be honored not only for a history of contributions to environmentalism but also for significant and specific accomplishments in 2010. This person, whose strong legacy was… Read the full story on TreeHugger
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A lighter take on a serious subject, one day before the official start of winter… The tune is familiar, the words clever and the cause serious: Fracking for natural gas , occurring in a number of places as fossil fuel companies try to to … Read the full story on TreeHugger
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Image via CrunchGear A new copy machine by Toshiba hopes to be the next big thing for paper-conscious offices. It prints documents that can be erased instantly by heating the pages, and the paper can be used up to five times before needing to be recycled. The toner is heat-sensitive, and loses color when warmed up. But what happens if you leave your important documents in the hot car?… Read the full story on TreeHugger
Continue reading …Liquid Coal Subsidy Written into Tax Cut Bill: Expected to Increase Demand for Coal and Produce More Emissions, Too
December 20, 2010 No Comment
Image: House GOP Leader via flickr The wealthiest Americans weren’t the only ones to benefit from the tax cut bill passed on Friday. The energy industry got some breaks as well, including a subsidy for liquid coal . The subsidy, which was written in during negotiations between Obama and Senate Republicans, has a lot of people outraged, largely because the existing technology is so
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Image credit: Tejvan Pettinger , used under Creative Commons license . Even before I adopted the car-dependent lifestyle of the rural green elite , I was somewhat of a fair weather cyclist. So stories of keeping bike lanes clear in Copenhagen , of potato omelets and winter cycli… Read the full story on TreeHugger
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