In a press release from 03/28/07 from Renault,

The Renault-Nissan Alliance actively supports the initiative of Project Better Place, which
announced today its second deployment in Denmark.

• Renault will provide Danish customers with 100% electric vehicles at European standards in 2011, providing zero emission mobility while at the same time offering driving performance similar to a gasoline engine.
• Nissan, through its joint venture with NEC, has created an advanced lithium-ion battery pack that both meets the requirements of this electric vehicle and can be mass-produced.

In Denmark, the conditions necessary for electric vehicles to be successfully mass-marketed are being brought together. The Danish government will provide tax incentives on 100% electric vehicles, Renault will supply the electric vehicles and, Better Place Denmark will construct and operate an Electric Recharge Grid across the entire country.

This announcement follows the January 21st 2008 signature of an MOU in Jerusalem by Renault and Project Better Place for the first mass-marketed electric vehicles. This second deployment illustrates the major role played by the Renault-Nissan Alliance to bring to massmarket zero-emission cars.

Talk about a cute car – if only some of the regular or hybrid cars were this great looking! Of course, the car isn’t completely free – seems you have to sign a 6 year contract for batteries and charging. But given the cost of gas nowadays, that’s probably not such a bad deal after all, especially since the project has raised $200 million to build a huge infrastructure of battery-charging locations in Israel and Denmark, replacing about one out of six parking spaces in the countries with the charging stands for its electric cars, letting drivers charge up their batteries on the go.

Now if only the US would hop on the bandwagon with either more electric or hybrid options BEFORE we can’t see where we’re driving from all the pollution… (Or before we run out of gas, hmmmm?)

Technorati Tags: Electric Car, Enviro, Renault

According to Solar Cookers International:

“Food is easily and conveniently cooked with solar energy as the “fuel” in devices called solar cookers (or solar ovens). Solar cookers are an ideal addition to any kitchen wherever there are predictable hours of sun many days of the year. Solar cooking and baking are easy. Solar cookers are safe around children and provide a great way to learn about and use solar energy. Solar cookers are clean, convenient, non-polluting and easy on the environment. And, for millions of people living in arid, fuel-scarce regions of the world, solar cookers can literally save lives.

Solar Cookers International (SCI) spreads solar cooking awareness and skills worldwide, particularly in areas with plentiful sunshine and diminishing sources of cooking fuel. SCI has enabled 30,000 families in Africa to cook with the sun’s energy, freeing women and children from the burdens of gathering wood and carrying it for miles. Tens of thousands of individuals and organizations — from all over the world — have learned about solar cooking through SCI’s excellent publications and educational materials, and have benefited from SCI’s information exchange networks, research, technical support, and the SCI-sponsored Solar Cooking Archive, the internationally recognized Internet resource for solar cooking information.”

If you’re interested in helping SCI get the word out (and help those in need obtain their own solar cookers), please check out their website. They accept donations and are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with offices in the United States and Kenya so your help is tax-deductible in most cases. The mission of SCI is to assist communities to use the power of the sun to cook food and pasteurize water for the benefit of people and environments.

And think about adding a solar cooker to your own home as an alternative to the usual BBQ. You can either get one from SCI or check out the ones below:

Plus solar power isn’t just for cooking – it works for your home and your car, too.  Click below to check it out:

5 eBook Deal: LIVE OFF THE GRID
Includes 1. Build A Wind Generator 2. Bio Diesel 3. Install Solar Panels 4. Build Your Own Home 5. Renewable Energy Solutions For Home, Car And Business .Find Free Solar Panels, Free Off Grid Batteries

Technorati Tags: Charity, Enviro, Solar Cooking, Solar Power

I’ve been running across a lot of articles and ads lately about being able to “hybridize” and fuel a regular car, truck, SUV with water, talking about how cheap it is to convert a car to use both gas and water – especially compared to the current prices on gasoline – but the one thing that I notice they don’t mention is that “fresh” water is in just about as short supply as oil is expected to become.

While the emissions of a car hybridized to run on ‘water’ and gas are supposed to be up to 40% lower than a gas-only vehicle, there still are emissions and they aren’t “pure water” (like hydrogen-only vehicles leave behind.) That means that even though you’d be getting up to twice the “gas mileage” using the changes to your existing vehicle, you’d also be using up valuable drinking water to do it. And with the world seeming to be heading towards drought conditions in many, many areas, water may become even more valuable than oil. (After all, you can’t drink oil very well, eh?)

It seems to me that while converting a vehicle to run on water seems like a great idea for people with even a little working knowledge of mechanics (it’s only an add-on, not a totally overhaul), I don’t think I’d want it to become widespread until we find a better, more cost effective way to convert sea water into fresh water so we can have our fuel-water and drink it, too. Although, at that point, totally hydrogen “clean” vehicles may finally become more available and convenient or some other form of electric car made workable, making this upgrade technology completely obsolete.

Technorati Tags: Cars, Enviro, Fuel, Hybrid