Europe to promote greener transport through eco-driving

The European Union provided a 13.7 million euro ($16.79 million) grant for a three-year research program that aims to develop and evaluate green transport technologies and applications which will deliver up to 20 percent carbon dioxide emissions reductions.

The eCoMove project aims to integrate the concept of eco-driving with eco-traffic management to help a particular vehicle achieve the theoretical least possible fuel consumption in any given trip, without compromising the quality of mobility of people and goods.

“In reality today, vehicles, drivers and traffic management systems fall short of this ideal, and much fuel is wasted leading to unnecessary [carbon dioxide] emission,” said Jean Charles Pandazis, coordinator of the project.

Road transport alone is responsible for about 70 percent of all transport greenhouse gas emissions, which in turn account for around 20 percent of global emissions. The eCoMove project intends to lessen the sector’s emissions by focusing on two main sources of avoidable fuel consumption: private vehicles and freight vehicles.

The project will apply cooperative information and communication technologies to provide real-time information. It will use vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication to integrate systems that will support eco-driving with eco-traffic management.

Almost 75% of new global PV installations were made in Europe in 2009

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Europe remained one of the most promising markets for solar energy, as 5.8 GW of the 7.4 GW of newly installed photovoltaic systems globally, were installed in that region in 2009 according to the European Commission Joint Research Center reported.

Europe also accounted for 16 GW, or 70%, of the world’s 22 GW total installed photovoltaic capacity, which consists of existing and newly installed solar facilities. One GW of photovoltaic capacity can provide enough electricity for about 250,000 European households during one year.

Germany led the European nations with 3.8 GW of new solar capacity and 9.8 GW of cumulative capacity, of which 2.3 GW were linked to the power grid by the fourth quarter of last year. Italy ranked second in terms of new installed capacity with 0.73 GW, while Spain was second in terms of cumulative installed capacity with 3.5 GW.

However, the European photovoltaic market is still in its infancy stage. The commission estimated that only 0.4% of the total supplied electricity in the European Union came from photovoltaic power in 2009 – representing a mere 0.1% in the world’s total supplied electricity.

BP And Partners: Is there someone to blame over Gulf of Mexico disaster?

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BP Plc and its Gulf of Mexico oil well partners traded blame today after an internal BP report tried to downplay the company’s role in the world’s biggest offshore spill.

The 193-page BP report offered a preview of how the British giant plans to vigorously defend itself against lawsuits and potential fines which could exceed the amount of $20 billion.

BP accepted some responsibility for the disaster but pointed the finger at what it said were major failures by Transocean Ltd, the operator of the ill-fated Deepwater Horizon oil rig, and oil services company Halliburton, which cemented the deep-sea well that ruptured on April 20.

The report drew fire from a prominent U.S. lawmaker who accused BP of trying to minimize its role in the disaster. Transocean called it a “self-serving” attempt by BP to escape responsibility for its “fatally flawed” well design, while Halliburton said the report was full with inaccuracies.

The report threatened to reignite public anger over the massive spill, which caused an environmental catastrophe along the U.S. Gulf Coast, devastated tourism and fishing in the area and damaged President Barack Obama‘s popularity.

Obama’s spokesman, Robert Gibbs, declined to comment on BP’s findings and said the government was still investigating the disaster to “find out what went wrong and hold those responsible accountable for the damage that’s been done.”

Apprentice Formation Centre by AIR in France

   

Architects:  AIR / Cyrille Hanappe & Olivier Leclercq
AIR in collaboration with Cyille Hanappe & Olivier Leclercq, hace recently finished the extension of the Apprentice Formation Center in Val-de-Marne department, near Paris. The key aim was to transform the extension in a compact and economic building. The new extension, achieves the composition of the complex of the Chambre des Métiers of the Val-de-Marne Departement, near Paris.

A New Smartphones’ Application from Tawkon Measures Exposed Radiation

Israeli start-up firm Tawkon has developed a new software that measures mobile telephone handset radiation. The goal is to help users reduce exposure to emissions without giving up their phones.

Tawkon’s (pronounced talk-on) application is already available for Research In Motion‘s BlackBerry handsets and will be launched for Google‘s Android-based phones and Nokia‘s Symbian later this year.

“We are the first solution that can be downloaded to a phone,” Tawkon co-founder and CEO Gil Friedlander told Reuters.

Until now radiation emissions were measured with an external device. In many countries handset manufacturers must disclose the maximum level of radiation emitted and similar legislation is starting to appear in the United States.

The application monitors the phone user and if radiation levels reach a certain threshold called the “red zone” an alert is emitted along with suggestions to minimize exposure.

Toyota To Build Hybrid Yaris Car In France

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Toyota Motor Corp plans to begin producing a hybrid version of the Yaris subcompact at its factory in France in the business year starting next April, the Mid-Japan Economist newspaper said.

The gasoline-electric Yaris, called Vitz in Japan, will be sold in Europe, the paper, owned partly by Toyota, reported without saying where it obtained the information.

A Toyota spokeswoman said the automaker could not comment on future product plans. A year ago, France’s La Tribune newspaper ran a similar report citing Toyota’s plans to build a small hybrid car at its Valenciennes factory, which builds the Yaris subcompact. A spokesman at the time had denied that such a plan was under consideration.

Hybrid cars have been a tough sell in Europe, which prefers diesel engines to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Toyota has said it plans to add the hybrid option across its entire lineup by around 2020, but has not announced plans for a gasoline-electric Yaris/Vitz.

Rival Honda Motor Co is about to launch a hybrid version of Jazz/Fit in the coming months, with plans to unveil the Jazz hybrid at the Paris motor show this month.