Tuesday 22 July 2008

Zecar - costing 2p a mile!

Are electric cars the way to go in terms of reducing humanity's impact on the environment?

An important point to consider when thinking about such things must be the break-even point i.e. the point at which the amount of carbon emissions you have saved by using electricity overtakes the amount of emissions produced in the manufacture of the vehicle.

Hopefully with an increase in green electricity production surely electric driven cars are going to be a much more sustainable solution to land travel in cars.

A car produced in my native South Wales, the Zecar, now claims to be able to run for 2p for a mile. This is substantially cheaper than that of a petrol car, especially given the current crisis in terms of rising fuel costs. The Zecar costs £15,000 and will go on sale in the UK later this year.

Another benefit of the company is that the cars are manufactured in the UK- thus cutting down on the emissions used on import.

With plans to expand into vans, taxis and limos this company could really help cut greenhouse gas emissions in the future!

Sunday 20 July 2008

Impressive results from fishing ban

It seems that evidence is now starting to be seen that maintaining no-fishing zones in British water has a significant impact on the underwater world.

The marine reserve set up by the Government off the coast of Lundy island has recently been investigated to see what effects have been seen on marine populations. Compared to the control zones it was found that lobsters are around seven times more abundant in the no-take zone.

This lends great credence to the work and motivation of the Marine Conservation Society and the 'Marine Reserves Now' campaign, aimed at bringing big steps into the Marine Bill published by Defra.

For the BBC article on the results at Lundy follow this link and the Marine Bill from here.