Eco Friendly Cars



Are you familiar with the Toyota Prius?  How about the Tesla Roadster?  These automobiles are known around the world because they are friendly and green alternatives to the cars running around our cities today.

The concept of an electric car is not a new one.  When Henry Ford first ventured into automobile making one of his earlier models was a steam powered automobile.  Porsche even had an electric car in the early 1900’s that won the Exelberg Rally in 1901.

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Palm Oil Causes Deforestation



Palm oil is heavily in demand these days and the palm oil industry is certainly booming, ensuring good income for many years to come. Palm oil is a major component to common necessities such as shampoos, soaps and candles. And because palm oil is edible oil, it can also be used in foods like chocolates and margarine making it a very lucrative business to many farmers experiencing difficulties in farming.

Due to these ever increasing demands, huge palm oil plantations are replacing large portions of forests in Asian countries particularly in Malaysia, the leading palm oil exporter in the world. These land conversions are certainly taking their toll to the biodiversity within the area, threatening many animals living in these forests to extinction.

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Algae Biofuel – the Dream of Green Oil Production



If humans may be called the microcosm of the universe, algae can be considered as the microcosm of environment-friendly energy coming from existing biological sources – the new green biofuel. Wile global scale production of oil from algae still needs to overcome certain practical challenges, the homework on producing an eco-friendly form of biofuel from algae has been completed and various environmental-friendly fuel companies are looking forward to cash this immensely valuable natural source of energy that is barely visible to the general attention of our species.

The history of algae biofuel dates back to 1978 when the Aquatic Species Program (launched in the US) started research on energy production from high-lipid algae that were grown in ponds. Trying, at first, to get hydrogen from algal population, the program later focused on oil production, especially biodiesel. In the mid 90s, the research program came to an end and the publications from the program came out by early 2001. It concluded that the green biofuel from algae would only be economical if oil prices would double than the existing (1998) ones. Today, that limit has been far exceeded and hence the increased interest in algae biofuel for large-scale energy production.

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Auriga Leader – World’s First Green Ship



Green cars are not the only focus of pro-environmental transport projects in the world; the shipping industry is now part of the green movement and the latest achievement comes from none else than the techno-savvy Japanese. Last week, Japan’s freighter Auriga Leader was launched into the sea as the world’s first green ship, partly propelled by solar energy. The news is an eye-catcher in the world of environmental-friendly transport.

Developed by the most renowned Japanese shipping company Nippon Yusen, Auriga Leader is a colossal cargo ship, 200 meters long and weighing 60 213 tons, with a carriage capacity of about 6400 cars. The propulsion system of the ship is powered by 328 solar panels that can produce 40 kilowatts of power – about 0.2 percent of the propulsion energy consumed by the ship. However, the manufacturers mean to raise this share of solar power in future. For the time being, Auriga Leader has appeared on the scene of environmental-friendly shipping as the first large ship in which the use of solar power is not limited to lighting or minor functions in the crew’s quarters.

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