ECOLOGY

COLLEGE STUDENTS DESIGN CAR THAT GETS 31,45 MPG

PHYSORG - A team of engineering students from The University of British
Columbia has built a vehicle so efficient that it could travel from
Vancouver to Halifax on a gallon of gasoline. The futuristic-looking,
single-occupancy vehicle won top prize at a recent international
competition, marking the UBC team's fourth win in as many years. The
Society of Automotive Engineers Super-mileage Competition took place
June 9 in Marshall, Michigan. Forty teams from Canada, the U.S. and
India competed in designing and building the most fuel-efficient
vehicle. "We achieved this level of efficiency by optimizing many
aspects of the vehicle design, including: aerodynamics, light-weight
construction, a small displacement engine, and conservative driving
habits," says Team Captain Kevin Li.
The UBC design, which required the driver to lie down while navigating
it, achieved 3,145 miles per US gallon - equivalent of Vancouver to
Halifax on a gallon of gas -- costing less than $5 at the pump. . .
Universite Laval took second place this year with a score of 1,823 mpg.

http://www.physorg.com/news70040977.html

CHECK OUT THE WINNERS, which include five high school teams that got
better than 200 mpg.

http://www.sae.org/students/sm2006results.pdf

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COST OF SAVING THE PLANET: A YEAR'S GROWTH

ASHLEY SEAGER, GUARDIAN - The world would have to give up only one
year's economic growth over the next four decades to reduce carbon
emissions sufficiently to stave off the threat of global warming, a
report says today. Consultants at Price Waterhouse Coopers offer a
"green growth plus" strategy, combining energy efficiency, greater use
of renewables and carbon capture to cut emissions by 60% by 2050 from
the level reached by doing nothing. Nuclear energy, it says, can play a
role, but it is not crucial.

This scenario, which involves little real sacrifice in terms of economic
growth, could be achieved only if embarked upon without delay, the
report warns. "If countries adopt a 'business as usual' approach, the
result could be a more than doubling of global carbon emissions by
2050," said John Hawksworth, head of macroeconomics at PwC.

http://business.guardian.co.uk/Environment/climatechange/story/0,,1883753,00.html


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Dirty Movies
Hollywood spews excess pollution along with its blockbusters

Hollywood is facing an inconvenient truth: it's a dirty industry. A UCLA report says TV and film productions pollute more than four other local industries, including aerospace and semiconductor manufacturing (but likely less than oil refineries, so that's a comfort). Set construction, special effects, and other excesses emit 140,000 tons of ozone and particulate pollution a year, adding to L.A.'s notorious smog. While the report singles out a few films -- including The Day After Tomorrow, which offset its carbon emissions, and two of The Matrix movies, which recycled 97 percent of their set materials -- it says Tinseltown's "structure and culture hamper the pace of improvements." Reps for the industry, which employs 252,000 in the L.A. area, were quick to defend their eco-cred, but not everyone is buying it. "They're not green at all except when they're forced to be," said Ted Reiff of ReUse People of America, which dismantled the Matrix sets. He'll never work in that town again.

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straight to the source: The Guardian, Dan Glaister, 15 Nov 2006

straight to the source: Los Angeles Times, Janet Wilson, 14 Nov 2006

straight to the source: L.A. Daily News, Associated Press, Noaki Schwartz, 13 Nov 2006

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Rank and Vile
U.S. ranks low on climate-change list topped by European countries

Two groups have ranked the climate-change successes of the 56 countries responsible for 90 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions, and concluded that they all suck. "We don't have any winners, we only have countries that are better compared to others," says Matthias Duwe of the Climate Action Network. "We don't have big shining stars." Among the least shiny was the United States, which ranked fourth from the bottom, just above China, Malaysia, and Saudi Arabia. China's third-to-suckiest rating was a prodigious drop; on last year's list, it ranked 29th. The top three spots this year went to Sweden (which uses renewables for about one-quarter of its energy consumption), Britain, and Denmark. CAN's co-ranker, Germanwatch -- which apparently watches more than just Germans -- made the calculations based on emissions levels in the past year, emissions trends over the past five years, and climate policy. Causing the U.S. to scratch its head and ask, "Climate policy? What's that?"

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straight to the source: The Mercury News, Associated Press, Elizabeth A. Kennedy, 14 Nov 2006

straight to the source: Terra Daily, Agence France-Presse, 13 Nov 2006

straight to the source: International Herald Tribune, Associated Press, 13 Nov 2006

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