Refusing to be outgreened by Honda’s announcement of three new hybrids, Toyota recently confirmed that it will be introducing two new hybrids, in addition to a plug-in version of the Prius and a new third generation Toyota Prius due out next year.
Toyota’s executive vice-president of R&D, Masatami Takimoto, confirmed the new Toyota hybrid will be larger than the Prius. In addition, Toyota’s Lexus line of vehicles will have a new hybrid only model, which is rumored to be Lexus’ new entry level vehicle. Both of these cars are expected to debut in the Detroit Auto Show.
All of this comes on top of Toyota’s announcement late last year that it will be coming out with a Toyota iQ model. It’s Toyota’s attempt to answer red hot Mini Cooper sales and the new SMART car. The iQ concept, seen here in a comparison with the sub-compact Toyota Yaris, will be over 2.5 feet shorter than the Yaris. It’s expected to be powered by a 1-liter engine and will have room to sit four people. I’m not sure if it’s just me, but this car looks tiny! If we still have all those large SUVs on the road, I’m not sure how safe I will feel in one of these.
The hybrid and sub-compact battles will only get more heated as gas prices continue their endless climb upward. It’ll be exciting to see all the innovation and new cars over the next few years. Perhaps this is finally the time we will start seeing a real move towards smaller cars with less power… whenever I go to the gas pump, less (size and power) definitely will mean more (money in my pocket)!
McKinsey’s Global Institiute released another study recently discussing what it would cost to reduce carbon emissions. As it turns out, not that much. I mean, yes, it does cost something, but according to their calculations, just 0.6-1.4% of GDP to get to managable levels, which is less than the 3.3% we pay as a society for insurance. And as they have noted before, many of the reductions can actually increase GDP! So in other words, we have no excuse for stronger leadership and more action. Money quote:
The microeconomic changes needed to increase carbon productivity at the levels required will not occur without the active leadership and collaboration of governments and businesses globally. We need new policies, regulatory frameworks, and institutions focused on four areas: creating market-based incentives to innovate and raise carbon productivity; addressing market failures that prevent abatement opportunities from being captured profitably; resolving issues of allocation and fairness, in particular between the developed and developing worlds and between industry sectors; and accelerating progress to avoid missing critical emissions targets.
Thanks to Climate Progress for pointing this out.
It was only a matter of time before this happened. Planet Green, the first and only (so far) 24-hour channel devoted to eco-friendliness just launched. Planet Green is part of the parent company that own the Discovery Channel, which I admit is one of my favorite channels. I never thought non-fiction television could be so compelling – and I’m not talking about “reality TV” folks.
Planet Green offers both television and online content focused around all things green. This includes not only tips and suggestions to help make your life more green, but also the latest green technology, how others are going green, and how you can detoxify your home and your lifestyle. As Planet Green says, it, along with TreeHugger.com, is helping to energize and move the green conversation into the spotlight.
There is a handy channel finder for you to located the channel it’s on in your area and with your particular subscriber. It’s even offered in HD quality if you want to be really blown away by green! They appear to have some great programming that I can’t wait to start watching.
When someone asks paper or plastic, what’s the right answer? A couple months ago, I wrote about the evils of plastic bags and how many cities, including Seattle and San Francisco, have legislation in place or proposed to ban them. As it turns out, plastic bag bans may not be so great after all.
If plastic bags are banned, retailers will turn to their next best (economical) alternative, which are paper bags. As luck would have it, paper bags not only kill trees (although many are manufactured from recycled paper), but they cost more to transport due to their increase weight to volume ratio, require 40 percent more energy to manufacture, and take 91 percent more energy to recycle (pound for pound) when compared with plastic bags. Paper bags contribute more to global warming than plastic bags. It turns out plastic bag bans and paper bags aren’t so great after all. Boy, this environmental and global warming stuff sure can get complex with these second the third order effects.
Should we just throw up our arms in protest and give up? Of course not! Give up is never an option at TTMYGG. If you don’t know already, the answer to my question above turns out to be neither! What we all should do is carry reusable shopping bags. There are numerous places to buy them, and many only cost a few dollars (or less!). Some supermarkets such as Whole Foods even give you a credit for bringing your own bag, meaning you can recoup the cost of the bag fairly quickly. Trader Joe’s enters customers carrying reusable shopping bags into a monthly lottery to win $50 in free groceries.
If you’re feeling particularly flush with money and want to make a reusable bag fashion statement, don’t worry, there are many options. If you really don’t want to donate this money to a good cause, you can buy designer reusable bags. Castiglioni has a folding nylon bag which retailers for $843, while Stella McCartney has an organic canvas tote for $495. Not to be outdone, Hermes sells its Silky Pop grocery bag for a mere $960, but at least it collapses into a wallet-size pouch. Trader Joe’s bags come in at a whopping $3. Decisions, decisions,…
I lived in Chicago circa 1993-2004, during which most of this time I lived near Lincoln Park (Lakeview to be exact). I worked in downtown Chicago and would hop on the 151 (bus) everyday. I had my ups and downs with the 151 - it safely brought me to 333 East Wacker and back without fail, but was crowded and downright gross in the heat of the summer (picture your face being smashed into someone’s armpit when the bus lurched to a stop.) Yum. Regardless, I loved the freedom public transportation afforded me. The fact that I only used my car on the weekends is a total 180 from my life today, where I basically drive everywhere and everyday (public transportation in Mountain View, CA is sorely lacking in comparison). Anyway, there are other things I miss about Chicago - the food, the summer festivals, Ravinia, etc. I can go on and on.
Well here’s one more reason why Chicago is a great city: Mayor Daley. Regardless of your political party affiliation, you have to admit that he’s doing a pretty good job of making Chicago one of, if not the greenest cities in the US today. Here are just a few examples:
- Chicago’s City Hall is the country’s first rooftop garden on a municipal building - Check out the Featured Projects link on this website
- The Green Alley Project where alleys are retrofitted with environmentally sustainable road-building materials (there’s a lot more interesting information about this project here)
- Museums (all of them) have been converted to partially run on solar power
- All new public buildings to achieve at least LEED Silver status
Check out this cool PDF which shares more info on some of the other big green projects Chicago has completed.
