We’ve shared with you many of General Motors’ green vehicles, including the 2009 Sierra 2-Mode Hybrid, the Saturn VUE Green Line Hybrid and the Chevy Malibu Hybrid, as well as the news that GM Made Spain a Bit Greener by opening the world’s largest solar power panel plant, but now the car company is claiming that its new electric vehicle will be the first mass-produced vehicle to achieve a triple digit mpg rating!

We’ve shared with you many of General Motors’ green vehicles, including the 2009 Sierra 2-Mode Hybrid, the Saturn VUE Green Line Hybrid and the Chevy Malibu Hybrid, as well as the news that GM Made Spain a Bit Greener by opening the world’s largest solar power panel plant, but now the car company is claiming that its new electric vehicle will be the first mass-produced vehicle to achieve a triple digit mpg rating!

The Chevrolet Volt is GM’s latest electric vehicle to amaze consumers with its 230 mpg city driving rating. No other green vehicle has been able to achieve this kind of gas mileage status, and GM hopes to keep it this way.

The Volt

The Chevy Volt is the answer to years of customers complaining that GM had failed to bring an electric vehicle to the market. Well, over a decade ago the company did produce the EV-1, but the electric vehicle failed and became the subject of the documentary “Who Killed the Electric Car?”

After the backlash of the film, GM decided to produce what many consider will be the greenest vehicle on the market. Why?

• The first 40 miles in a fully charged Volt is largely powered by the battery
• The car can extend its range to more than 300 miles with its flex fuel-powered engine-generator
• Almost no gasoline will be required

A person will have to stop to recharge the car along the way, but that’s a small price to pay for such an eco-friendly vehicle.

So, will this new electric vehicle be the hit that GM needs to pull itself out of the economic slump? We shall see.

Source: The Washington Post

A routine heavily armored equipment vehicle in the Army gets less than six miles per gallon of gas; while an Abrams tank (one of the heaviest tanks in service) burns a gallon of gas every two miles. That’s a huge carbon footprint from those vehicles.

Knowing this information, how could the Army reduce its gas consumption by 11.5 million gallons over the next six years, and save $750 less per vehicle per year…

A routine heavily armored equipment vehicle in the Army gets less than six miles per gallon of gas; while an Abrams tank (one of the heaviest tanks in service) burns a gallon of gas every two miles. That’s a huge carbon footprint from those vehicles.

Knowing this information, how could the Army reduce its gas consumption by 11.5 million gallons over the next six years, and save $750 less per vehicle per year? Well, they would lease 4,000 new electric vehicles from the General Services Administration from Chrysler LLC!

Is the Army Going Green?

It’s obvious that the huge tanks used by the Army consume huge amounts of gas. Not only is it expensive to purchase the gas, but it’s also harmful to the environment to burn the gas.

The Army realized this and decided to join the green movement by purchasing Chevy electric cars for over 40 of its U.S. military bases. These cars would be used for security and maintenance type work.

This is all part of the Army’s efforts to “create a culture of energy awareness throughout the entire Army,” as stated by the deputy assistant secretary for energy and partnerships.

Do you think the effort is working?

We think it’s a good start, and maybe all of the vehicles used by the Army will soon be green vehicles.

Source: PeakOil.com

Motorcycles have always been the epitome of cool. Just look at Evel Knievel and Che Guevara. Those guys had an adventure every time that they rode their motorcycle.

But even though they looked great they probably didn’t realize that their cycles were releasing up to 10 times more emissions than regular cars…

Motorcycles have always been the epitome of cool. Just look at Evel Knievel and Che Guevara. Those guys had an adventure every time that they rode their motorcycle. But even though they looked great they probably didn’t realize that their cycles were releasing up to 10 times more emissions than regular cars.

Today the fight to reduce our carbon footprint is going strong, and it’s not just regular cars that are switching to renewable energy sources. Green motorcycles are slowly riding their way into the hearts of people who are become increasingly more aware of their impact on the environment.

Green Motorcycle Manufacturers

So, which companies are creating green motorcycles to add to the list of green vehicles already in production today? Here are a few:

• Brammo ‘ Currently producing the Enertia Bike, an electric motorcycle that is about double the energy efficiency of regular motorcycles.
• Hayes Diversified Technologies ‘ Created a diesel-burning version of the Kawasaki KLR motorcycle that Marines have been using in combat for the last four years.
• Zero Motorcycles ‘ Company creates eco-friendly electric motorcycles that go from 0-30 in about 2 seconds.

These companies prove that motorcycles can go green. They also show us that these cycles can be a part of the Isle of Man TT, which is the world’s first high-speed zero-emissions grand prix.

So, did you ever think that you’d see electric motorcycles and eco-friendly motorcycle racing? Now that you can, what do you think is next?

We wouldn’t mind watching solar powered go-kart racing!

Source: Wired.

With the price of fuel still on the rise, many people are racking their brains to find new ways to afford to fill up their car’s gas tank.

This is especially hard for college students, who already have a hard enough time affording to pay for anything!

But mechanical engineer students at the University of Central Florida have discovered a new way to take used fryer grease from a Chick-fil-A restaurant…

With the price of fuel still on the rise, many people are racking their brains to find new ways to afford to fill up their car’s gas tank.

This is especially hard for college students, who already have a hard enough time affording to pay for anything!

But mechanical engineer students at the University of Central Florida have discovered a new way to take used fryer grease from a Chick-fil-A restaurant and make it into clean-burning fuel.

The Eco-Solution

In Florida the price per gallon of fuel has already reached $4.30. That was expensive enough to get a few students to build a biodiesel reactor.

The reactor is basically composed of a water heater, pipes, valves, hoses and filters.

It uses the grease and two household chemicals and magically turns them into fuel that produces significantly less carbon dioxide emissions than regular petroleum diesel fuel.

It only costs about 80 cents to make a gallon of the fuel, and as a way to help lower the school’s spending on gas, the students will donate 20% of the fuel they make to help power a wide variety of vehicles for the University of Central Florida.

That’s a dramatic decrease compared to the $12,000 a year the school usually spends on fueling its vehicles.

You can read more about this story and see a video about it here.

This is just one of the many projects that college students have been working on to contribute to the green movement.

The more alternative energy sources we pursue, the better future our college students will have to pioneer more amazing green projects like this.

The Toyota Prius is one of the best-selling hybrids on the market because it has consistently received top marks for customer satisfaction.

But did you know that Toyota goes beyond greening just its cars with other eco-friendly conservation efforts?

From creating green rooftop tiles to planting shrubs that absorb pollution, Toyota is making a name for itself in the green movement…

The Toyota Prius is one of the best-selling hybrids on the market because it has consistently received top marks for customer satisfaction.

But did you know that Toyota goes beyond greening just its cars with other eco-friendly conservation efforts?

From creating green rooftop tiles to planting shrubs that absorb pollution, Toyota is making a name for itself in the green movement.

Green Rooftops

The people at Toyota created a subsidiary of the Prius car company called Toyota Roof Gardens. The company basically makes gardens for your roof!

The products are green roof tiles that are cut into squares of 50 x 50 cm that grow a Korean grass known as korai shiba. All you have to do is lay down the tiles next to each other on your roof and you have your very own green abode!

The tiles even have a built-in irrigation system made of tubes that flow beneath the roots and water the grass.

The tiles are very lightweight and easy to carry, and they only need to be cut once a month.

The mats are $43 per tile and have to be ordered from the facility in Japan. Right now the site is in Japanese, so if you’re curious you can check it out here.

Pink Flowers

What does a car company have in common with a shrub? Well, the desire to rid the air of pollution!

And that’s exactly what the Toyota Motor Corporation has done with their new variation of a pollution-absorbing cherry shrub.

Known as Kirsch Pink, this shrub absorbs 1.3 times more nitrogen and sulfur dioxide that the regular cherry shrub, and it can last as long as the beginning of summer to the end of autumn.

Toyota hopes to market this along with its green roof tiles as a way to reduce pollution and improve air quality in cities.

You can read more about the Kirsch Pink shrub here.

New Buildings

Toyota is also planning to build an eco-friendly plant in Blue Springs, Mississippi. It is the first in four plants that will follow sustainable practices.

The plant will use:

• Solar and wind power
• Shorter conveyer lines
• Line-side recycling
• Energy-efficient lighting

It is scheduled to start production next year.

You can read more about the building here.

As you can see, Toyota is giving other car manufacturers a run for their money when it comes to green efforts.

It’s great to see car companies go beyond producing green vehicles and actually work towards improving other areas of people’s lives that affect both their health and the future of the environment.

As the fight against global warming continues to sweep across the globe, more people are buying green vehicles to help combat harmful greenhouse gases.

But not everyone can afford the latest hybrid. If you’re like me, I do what I can afford to do while practicing an eco-lifestyle, and that includes admiring green car owners from afar since I don’t own one myself…

As the fight against global warming continues to sweep across the globe, more people are buying green vehicles to help combat harmful greenhouse gases.

But not everyone can afford the latest hybrid. If you’re like me, I do what I can afford to do while practicing an eco-lifestyle, and that includes admiring green car owners from afar since I don’t own one myself.

So what if I told you that you could congratulate green vehicle owners for helping with the fight against global warming and possibly win money at the same time? It’s true, thanks to the Super-Cars Shout Out Competition sponsored by the folks at PlanetThoughts.org, a website that provides environment information for people around the world.

How it Works

Everyone loves taking photographs, so what better way to show off your picture-taking skills and your love for the environment than by capturing eco-friendly photos and sharing them with the online world.

Here are the basic steps of the competition:

1. Download one of these fliers from the website. You can click on the images below to download:
2. Find a green vehicle with an EPA rating of 40 mpg or better for highway driving.
3. Place the flier under the windshield wiper.
4. Use a camera or your cell phone to take a picture (you MUST get a clear picture of both the flier and the car together).
5. Upload the image, along with a short comment, to the PlanetThoughts.org page.

This is a great way to tell others that you appreciate what they’re doing for the environment, and it’s also a fun way to learn about the wide variety of green vehicles that are on the market!

The Prizes

Of course the best prizes are the ones that are free and make us feel good about ourselves. But I’d be lying if I didn’t say that it’s a nice little bonus to win some cash as well!

If you participate in this program you can be rewarded with both. The person who uploads the most pictures will win the $500 grand prize, but everyone will get a chance to win $50 each month through random selection by PlanetThoughts.

To learn more about this eco-friendly competition click here.

This competition is already underway, and it’s only valid until midnight on June 2, 2008, so I suggest that you join now. And don’t forget to print out the fliers on recycled paper!