May 29 2009

The Green Seen

Posted by: Leonard Anderson

Several items relating to the business and technology of clean energy caught our attention this week:

• Wind farm opponents in Europe are calling for a moratorium on wind power projects to examine their impacts on the environment. The European Platform Against Windfarms told the European Union that it's "unacceptable that European institutions should promote the despoiling of the European landscape...with thousands of wind farms stretching from Lapland to Gibraltar." Wind industry supporters say the group doesn't recognize the dangers of climate change and slow growth of renewable alternative energies to fossil fuels.
• Amsterdam is setting up Europe's largest battery-charging network for electric vehicles, a free two-year demonstration project. The Dutch city joins pilot charging projects previously announced by San Francisco and Chicago. Drivers will subscribe to the service through a website and get a "smart card" to charge up at any of 45 stations. The charging technology comes from Silicon Valley company Coulomb Technologies.
• Ford Motor Co. is converting plastic soda bottles into a faux suede fabric for vehicle interiors and is also working on soy-based rubber fillers and plastics that are biodegradable in 90 to 120 days, compared with 1,000 years for oil-based plastic. Ford is also applying nanotechnology to strengthen metal and plastic composites while reducing vehicle weight, improving fuel efficiency.

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