It is a fact that cars produce tons of carbon dioxide which prove to be harmful to the environment. And while we know that for a fact, this is actually the reason why the push for electric or even lower emitting vehicles has been pushed.

However for some, the task is easier said than done. And while many are trying, the real measuring stick to determine the level of CO2 emitted cannot be easily measured. But it looks like there is a program being pushed right now and it is called carbon offsetting.

Put simply, carbon offsetting is based around the idea that you can pay to wipe clean the environmental damage that occurs every time you drive to the supermarket, or pick the grandchildren up from school. In return for your money, a growing number of companies will offer to invest, on your behalf, in any number of environmentally sound projects. Anything from planting trees in the Amazon, to offshore wind farms in the North Sea or solar panels for third world hospitals.

It really sounds something like the conventional tasks and efforts we see today. However, it remains that it may take more than this to really put the carbon emission issue to rest. The only good side about this proposed program is that it helps in any little way it can. And most of all, the important thing is will car owners bite?

(Source) Press

Tags: amazon, car owners, carbon dioxide, carbon emission, Cars, co2, conventional tasks, environmental damage, grandchildren, hospitals, measuring stick, money, north sea, offshore wind farms, planting trees, solar panels, sound projects, supermarket, third world

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Here’s an interesting, eco-friendly idea! Cars could power up the checkouts of a supermarket! In fact a certain supermarket in Gloucester, UK has installed kinetic plates in the parking lot. They use the weight of the car to press against a series of hydraulic pipes which in turn will drive a generator. The system will thus generate 30kw per hour, enough to power the checkouts. Pretty ingenious isn’t it? Will this idea be used by other supermarkets?

via Green Launch

Tags: Eco-friendly, Energy, Parking, supermarket

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Lidl, known for selling low-priced groceries and household goods expanded into new territory Monday by selling cars on its Web site. The German discount supermarket will reportedly offer the Opel Corsa for just under euro11,000 ($14,000) and the Volkswagen Cross Polo for euro14,000, ($17,700) — a discount of about 25 percent off the suggested retail price.

Germany’s economy is in recession and unemployment is at 8.3 percent, but Lidl believes it can turn a profit in an industry that is bucking the economic downturn. New car sales were up 21 percent in February year-on-year, largely because of a euro50 billion ($67 billion) government stimulus plan that pays citizens euro2,500 ($3,250) to replace cars at least nine years old with new ones.

But Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer, the director of the Center for Automotive Research in Gelsenkirchen, said previous efforts to sell cars online and through supermarkets have faltered.

“I think it will be very difficult for Lidl,” Dudenhoeffer said. “People don’t want to buy high-value products from a discount grocery store.”

(Source) AP

Tags: automotive research, discount grocery, groceries, new car sales, opel corsa, polo, recession, selling cars, suggested retail price, supermarket, supermarkets, volkswagen

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