Category Archives: environment

Toyota Best Global Green Brand Again

This assessment from Interbrand is not without self-interest since it makes money from its consultancy, which it boasts is the world’s leading supplier of advertising campaigns. Each brand’s perception score is determined through a consumer study covering over 10,000 respondents; over 1,000 in each of the 10 largest economies, including the US, Japan, China, Germany, France, UK, Italy, Brazil, India, and Russia. Continue reading

Posted in environment, marketing | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Lexus GS 300h debuts at Shanghai Motor Show

While this latest Lexus hybrid has fuel economy and tax advantages in global markets, particularly against German luxury cars with diesel engines, it is not clear whether Lexus needs the smaller engine GS hybrid in North America where GS sales have been softening. Lexus already sells a GS 450h here with 338 total system horsepower. Continue reading

Posted in auto news, electric vehicles, environment, new vehicle | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Dominion Energy Deal Cuts Emissions at Coal Powered Plants

The Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said that Dominion Energy has agreed to pay a $3.4 million civil penalty and spend approximately $9.8 million on environmental mitigation projects to resolve Clean Air Act (CAA) violations. Continue reading

Posted in energy, environment, fuel economy or emissions, news | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

EPA Voids Import Certificates for More Chinese Recreational Vehicles

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today that it is withdrawing approval of the import and sale of up to 74,000 gas-powered motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles from China. The agency said that it received either incomplete or falsified certification information. Continue reading

Posted in auto news, environment, fuel economy or emissions | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

EPA Proposes Stricter Emissions Standards, Lower Sulfur Fuel. Big Battle between Oil and Auto Industries Coming over Tier 3

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today proposed new standards for vehicles and fuels that are the strictest in the history of the agency. EPA said the regulations would reduce both tailpipe and evaporative emissions from passenger cars, light-duty trucks, medium-duty passenger vehicles, and some heavy-duty vehicles. Continue reading

Posted in alternative fuels, auto news, environment, fuel economy or emissions, news analysis | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

EPA Announces Membership of Great Lakes Advisory Board

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced on behalf of 16 federal agencies the membership of the first advisory board to support implementation of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative covering the largest surface freshwater system on Earth. Continue reading

Posted in economy, environment, news | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Volkswagen to use CO2 as Air Conditioning Refrigerant

The Volkswagen Group is developing air conditioning systems that use CO2 as the refrigerant. Currently automotive air conditioners, depending on age, use R12, which is banned because of global warming effects, R134a, a replacement for R12, which is also now being phased out for its role in global warming, and its replacement R1234yf, which apparently poses safety threats. Continue reading

Posted in auto news, environment, fuel economy or emissions, news analysis | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Volkswagen Group to Cut CO2 emissions to 95 g/km by 2020

In the ongoing battle of the green press releases, Volkswagen Group has restated its strategic goal of becoming the world’s most “environmentally sustainable” automaker by 2018. The announcement was originally made a year ago when VW Group undertook an ecologically oriented restructuring designed to coordinate responses to increasingly tough global regulations covering vehicles and how they are made and recycled. Continue reading

Posted in auto news, environment, fuel economy or emissions, news analysis | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Honda and JMC Nickel-Metal Hydride Recycling Yields 99% Pure Rare Earth Metals in World’s First Mass Production Process

Honda Motor and the Japan Metals & Chemicals Company last spring began extracting an oxide containing rare earth metals from used nickel-metal hydride batteries from Honda hybrid vehicles. The operation, the first in the world, is now extracting
rare earth metals with a mass-production process at a JMC recycling plant. Continue reading

Posted in aftermarket, auto news, electric vehicles, environment | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

CountryMark Refining to Install $18 Million in Pollution Controls to Resolve Clean Air Act Violations at its Indiana Refinery

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Justice announced today that CountryMark Refining and Logistics has agreed to pay a $167,000 civil penalty, perform environmental projects totaling more than $180,000, and spend $18 million on new pollution controls to resolve Clean Air Act (CAA) violations at its refinery, located in Mount Vernon, Indiana. Continue reading

Posted in environment, fuel economy or emissions, litigation, news | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

EPA Banning D-Con Mouse and Rat Poisons Because of Children

About 10,000 children a year are accidentally exposed to mouse and rat baits, and EPA has worked with companies to ensure that products are both safe to use around children and effective for consumers, EPA said in a statement. Reckitt Benckiser, the British maker of D-Con brand products, is the only producer of poisons that has refused to adopt EPA’s safety standards for all of its consumer use products. Continue reading

Posted in environment, news, safety | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Wind Turbines Headed for Honda Transmission Plant in Ohio

When the turbines begin operating later this year, the Honda plant will be the first major automotive manufacturing facility in the United States to obtain a significant amount of its electricity directly from wind turbines located on its property. Continue reading

Posted in alternative fuels, auto news, environment, manufacturing, news | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

EPA Report Shows Air Pollution Continues to Decline in the U.S.

Toxic air pollution in the U.S. dropped 8% in 2011 from a year earlier because of decreases in hazardous air pollutant emissions, according to the Environmental Protection Agency,. However EPA said that total releases of toxic chemicals increased for the second year in a row. The Agency, which is under constant attacks from Republican party members some of whom want to abolish it, publishes an annual Toxics Release Inventory or TRI report. Continue reading

Posted in environment, news, results, transportation | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Milestones – Nissan Begins Assembly of 2013 LEAF EV in Tennessee

Nissan is starting U.S. assembly of the 2013 LEAF electric car at its manufacturing plant in Smyrna, Tennessee, where it will be made along with the far more popular Altima and Maxima models. Since 2010 Leaf has been imported from Oppama, Japan. Continue reading

Posted in auto news, electric vehicles, environment, fuel economy or emissions, global warming, manufacturing, milestones, mobility company, public health | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

EPA Hydraulic Fracking Study Now Due in Late 2014

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency or EPA said in a “progress report” that the outlines for a study on hydraulic fracking, aka fracturing, are now complete. EPA emphasized though that it has not drawn conclusions about the potential impacts of controversial hydraulic fracturing on drinking water resources, which will be made in the final study. Continue reading

Posted in auto news, environment, news, news analysis, transportation | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment