If residents in several cities in Clark County, Washington want to get their cars clean, they could soon be forced to do it at retail car washes. According to an employee at the Washington state Department of Ecology, the state wants "people to make the connection of 'what goes on the street goes into the creek.'" And soapy car wash residue is something they don't want in the creek. The state wants the cities to come up with a way to keep any water that isn't rain water from getting into the environment without being treated. The cities, about a dozen in all, say that's crazy, and have threatened to sue the state for trying to enact measures that exceed federal Clean Water Act. The state suggests that if people still want to clean their cars, that they don't use soap with phosphorus, and wash their cars on gravel or grass where the water will be filtered by the soil. That's ironic, because part of the state's measure also requires sprinkler water to be captured and treated. Residents could always try the state's other option: don't use soap at all.
Now that making cars cleaner and more efficient is a mainstream proposition, the only questions are how each carmaker plans to do it. BMW's Efficient Dynamics has allowed it to lower it's CO2 emissions more than any other automaker. In a show of how seriously all automakers are taking the issue, The Economist revealed a study of fourteen automakers from GM to Suzuki found that only Honda posted an emissions increase from 2006-2007. Essentially, the automakers are trying to figure out how to please the government and the public at a cost that allows them to stay in business. Competing -- and expensive -- technologies are all in the race now, although everyone seems to have agreed that ultimately, electric cars will be the norm. Luxury carmakers can pad prices to cover or subsidize the tab of frugal technology. When the mid- and low-price automakers are making cars that get 80 mpg that the average couple can afford, then the landscape will be much more clear. No matter what, none of this spells the end of the internal combustion engine: said VW's head of group research, "It is important to recognize that there is not a single solution, and that the internal-combustion engine will continue to dominate for at least 20 years." Follow the link to read the full piece, and you might want to start stocking up on multi-plug outlets...
Environmentally-friendly California is putting an end to lead balancing weights on wheels and tires. The heavy metal neurotoxin is polluting the state's ground water supplies, according to the Center for Environmental Health. The group claims that more than 500,000 pounds of lead weights are inadvertently flung off wheels each year, making it the state's leading cause of environmental lead contamination. Under a court settlement approved this week, Chrysler and the three largest lead weight wheel manufacturers will all phase out lead in wheel weights by the end of 2009. While California is taking the initiative in this country, we are still years behind the European Union, which banned lead weights in 2005. With lead on the chopping block, future wheel weights will be made from either steel or zinc alloy. Those metal weights are larger and more expensive to produce than lead, but much safer for Mother Earth.
Margo Oge, EPA director-office of transportation and air quality, has made a plea to the auto industry to end the current horsepower wars that have produced such vehicles as the 620-hp Corvette ZR1. Instead, she hopes the industry, specifically domestic automakers, will start a new war, a green war, to create the "most affordable and desirable, low carbon-vehicle each year." Such a challenge, she claims, could help spark economic growth and see the transportation sector "reclaim the mantle of the country's economic growth over the next decade."
Her arguments, which can be read in more detail at Ward's Auto, are well reasoned, and while automakers can hardly deny their part in an arms race for more horsepower, many are also on the front lines of a battle to make green vehicles that are more desirable than their competitors. One need only look at the squabbling that goes back and forth between GM and Toyota over which is better, a series hybrid like the Volt or a parallel hybrid like the Prius. The latter two automakers, being the largest full-line automakers in the world, are forced to deal with the dissonance of producing desirable, high-horsepower sports cars and full-size trucks while at the same time being on the cutting edge of new green technology. It's not hypocrisy, it's the reality of offering many different types of vehicles to the widest range of customers.
And despite Oge's plea, automakers are keenly aware of what needs to be done in order to meet new, stricter CAFE standards by 2020. GM has already cancelled plans for a new V8 and Ford has practically committed itself to replacing eight-cylinder engines with more efficient turbocharged, direct-inject V6 powerplants. The rub is that any progress made by an automaker to make its vehicles more green cannot happen at the expense of performance, reliability and comfort. We want our new cars to be as good as they were last year in every way, with better fuel economy and cleaner emissions. It's a tall order, but don't worry Margo. Both federal regulations and consumer pressure guarantee they're working hard on it.
The European Parliament has called for Formula One to adopt more environmentally-friendly engine alternatives, and the FIA seems to be all for it.
The CARS 21 report, passed with 607 EU legislators in favor, 76 against and 14 abstentions, praised the FIA's actions to make F1 greener, but called on the sanctioning body to do more. The report concluded by calling on the FIA to revise its formula to include "environmentally friendly technologies like bio-fuels, four-cylinder engines or hybrid". FIA president Max Mosley, who has been vocal in his desire to make F1 greener, subsequently issued a statement supporting the EU report.
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A1GP has announced that its upcoming race in New Zealand will mark the inauguration of the series' switch to E30 Hiperflo ethanol-gasoline blend, which, as organizers point out, cuts CO2 emissions by 21% and, of course, reduces the use of fossil fuels. The mixture is specially made for use in A1GP and consists of 30% ethanol and 70% gasoline. While IndyCars and Champ Cars have run on methanol since the '60s, both series are based in the US and have to ship their fuel to fewer races abroad than A1GP.
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