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A car that runs on air and releases no pollutants into the atmosphere at low speeds could be on sale in India as soon as this year. The three-seat fibreglass OneCAT weighs only 350kg (770lb) and is expected to be priced at about £2,500. The engine technology is backed by Tata, the Indian conglomerate that last month unveiled the world’s cheapest car, the £1,250 Nano. Refuelling involves topping up on compressed air, which is used to power the OneCAT’s piston engine. In a couple of minutes - and at a cost of as little as £1 - the vehicle is ready to travel another 200 to 300 kilometres (125 to 185 miles), its inventors said.

Almost half of the oceans have been badly damaged by humanity and no region has been left untouched, the first global map of Man’s impact on marine ecosystems has revealed. The ambitious project to chart the changing ocean environment shows that Man has exacted a much heavier toll on the seas through fishing, pollution and climate change than had been thought. The world map, which was created by dividing the oceans into kilometre squares, shows that 41 per cent have been affected strongly by 17 human activities, a much higher proportion than expected.

Like any other industry, the film business puts out its share of waste: building and taking down sets, printing and shipping film reels, even the bags and cups used at concession stands. And like many other industries today, film studios, distributors and exhibitors are taking steps to “go green,” by doing everything from installing solar panels to using disposable forks made from potatoes“Not just with theatres, but in all of our day-to-day lives, there’s always all kinds of little steps you can take,” says Nancy Gribler, VP of marketing for Sundance Cinemas.

Mobile handset leader Nokia has promised to halve the power consumption of battery chargers as well cut the company's overall energy use. In a series of carbon reduction pledges as it joined the WWF Climate Savers program, Nokia will also ensure that 50% of the electricity that powers the company's plants and offices will derive from green sources.

EnviroCAB the nation’s first all-hybrid taxicab fleet, officially opened for business in greater Washington, D.C. today(February 11,2008). The fleet of hybrid Toyota Priuses, Camrys and Highlanders and Ford Escapes guarantees passengers environmentally-friendly taxicab service at no additional cost (standard taxicab fares apply).

British Airways aircraft are to be used to gather data about the hidden impact of air travel on climate change in research that could result in much higher environmental surcharges on tickets than expected. The airline is supporting research by the University of Cambridge into the warming effects of condensation trails, nitrogen dioxide and other aircraft emissions. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has estimated that the damage done to the climate by these emissions is between twice and four times greater than the impact of carbon dioxide alone.

GREEN” plants are growing in the motor industry. Companies are investing to give their factories green credentials to complement their products, reducing emissions and using more eco-friendly materials and processes. Ford’s Dagenham diesel engine plant has wind turbines to generate energy that save 6,500 tonnes of CO2 a year from entering the atmosphere. Other eco-efficient processes at Dagenham prevent more than 12,600 tonnes of waste annually being sent to landfill sites.

A SEA change in the consumption of a resource that Americans take for granted may be in store — something cheap, plentiful, widely enjoyed and a part of daily life. And it isn’t oil.It’s meat.

Cruise ships emit three times more CO2 than airplanes, reports the Telegraph. In its annual report, Carnival, which comprises 11 cruise lines, said it emits 401 grams of CO2 per passenger, which this article claims is 36 times greater than the per passenger emission of Eurostar and more than three times that for a Boeing 747 passenger. The Passenger Shipping Association said that a ferry, on average, releases 120 grams of CO2 per passenger.

Shattering all its previous records, the U.S. wind energy industry installed 5,244 megawatts (MW) in 2007, expanding the nation's total wind power generating capacity by 45% in a single calendar year and injecting an investment of over $9 billion into the economy, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) announced recently. The new wind projects account for about 30% of the entire new power-producing capacity added nationally in 2007 and will power the equivalent of 1.5 million American households annually while strengthening U.S. energy supply with clean, homegrown electric power.

Seventy-six percent of Americans feel it’s extremely important that their electric utility offers power produced from renewable sources, according to Energy Pulse, a study from the Shelton Group, a marketing company.So important, in fact, that 56 percent agreed that utilities should charge a small fee to all of their customers to cover the cost of renewable energy generation. And while only four percent are currently enrolled in such a program, 44 percent say they would be likely to participate in their utility’s green power program if offered.

Google announced that it would spend "hundreds of millions" of dollars developing a range of green technologies including solar and wind power as part of a push into the renewable energy market. The software firm said it would spend "tens of millions" of dollars on the new initiative in 2008 alone, adding that it was optimistic a green technology that produced electricity more cheaply than coal could be produced "within years, not decades".

Climate change is so far advanced that serious damage to the environment is inevitable, scientists told a conference yesterday.(September 18, 2007)Action to limit the impact can only make the difference between moderate and severe damage rather than preventing it altogether. Scientists who a decade ago were warning that climate change would first be felt significantly by their grandchildren said they expected it to have a major impact within their own lifetimes.

A renewable energy source designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is contributing more to global warming than fossil fuels, a study suggests. Measurements of emissions from the burning of biofuels derived from rapeseed and maize have been found to produce more greenhouse gas emissions than they save.Other biofuels, especially those likely to see greater use over the next decade, performed better than fossil fuels but the study raises serious questions about some of the most commonly produced varieties.

Declaring war on the "white pollution" choking its cities, farms, and waterways, China is banning free plastic shopping bags and calling for a return to the cloth bags of old—steps largely welcomed by merchants and shoppers on Wednesday. The measure eliminates the flimsiest bags and forces stores to charge for others, making China the latest nation to target plastic bags in a bid to cut waste and conserve resources.

EQUATORIAL lands that are home to hundreds of millions of people will become uninhabitable as food and water run out due to climate change, scientists will warn this week.A report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), to be published on Friday(April 6, 2007), will warn that the temperature rises of 2-3C predicted by 2050 spell global disaster for both humanity and the environment.

Would you ever open your refrigerator, pull out 16 plates of pasta and toss them in the trash, and then eat just one plate of food?How about leveling 55 square feet of rain forest for a single meal or dumping 2,500 gallons of water down the drain?Of course you wouldn't. But if you're eating chicken, fish, turkey, pork, or beef, that's what you're doing—wasting resources and destroying our environment.Animals raised for food expend the vast majority of the calories that they are fed simply existing, just as we do. We feed more than 70 percent of the grains and cereals we grow to farmed animals, and almost all of those calories go into simply keeping the animals alive, not making them grow.Only a small fraction of the calories consumed by farmed animals are actually converted into the meat that people eat.

Walking does more than driving to cause global warming, a leading environmentalist has calculated. Food production is now so energy-intensive that more carbon is emitted providing a person with enough calories to walk to the shops than a car would emit over the same distance. The climate could benefit if people avoided exercise, ate less and became couch potatoes. Provided, of course, they remembered to switch off the TV rather than leaving it on standby.

Eleven companies are teaming up to see how they can work with thousands of their suppliers to curb greenhouse gas emissions, an environmental consultancy said on Sunday.The companies in the program, called the Supply Chain Leadership Collaboration, include giants in their sectors like Cadbury Schweppes, Dell, Nestlé, PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble and Tesco.

Everyday hazards such as inhaling polluted city air or other people’s cigarette smoke are potentially worse for your health than being exposed to the radioactive fallout of an atomic bomb, according to new research. A study of radiation exposure caused by the atomic bombs dropped on Japan in 1945 and the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant has suggested that they have posed similar or lower health risks to survivors than the more prevalent problems of air pollution, smoking and obesity.