Green Energy News | August 9, 1998

August 9, 1998 – Vol.3 No.19

ENERGIES... week of August 9,1998

SEQUESTERING CARBON DIOXIDE. Toyota Motor Cars is developing genetically engineered trees designed to remove large amounts of CO2 emitted from cars and other sources. The trees, being developed by Toyota’s Future Project Division, trap much more of the greenhouse gas than usual. Initially, the trees will be planted around company facilities worldwide.

Mazda, too, will try to sequester CO2. The company will plant five new saplings - oak, beech and chestnut - for each one of its new “Demio” cars sold in the UK. The five trees should be enough to absorb the equivalent CO2 emitted by each car in one year. (Under a typical UK driving routine.)

The trees are being planted and managed by Future Forests. Mazda hopes that Demio buyers will continue donations to the organization to cover the cost of planting trees for subsequent years of driving.

It may be impossible to eliminate CO2 from cars completely - at least in the foreseeable future. Sequestering programs will have to work along side reduced emission cars to bring greenhouse gases into balance for future generations.

AMERICANS LOVE THEIR CARS. Of sixty top consumer markets in the U.S., Salt Lake City, Utah ranks number one in the number cars per household, according to a new study by Scarborough Research. In the western city 37% of adults live in households with three or more automobiles.

Next on the list are Birmingham, Alabama; Des Moines, Iowa; Albuquerque, New Mexico; and Wichita, Kansas - more than a third of the households have at least three cars. The bottom ten on the list include major cities such as Chicago, Houston, New York and Boston. Dead last is Miami/ Fort Lauderdale, Florida - relatively car depraved. Only 13.7% have a large number of cars in the family.

Those low on the list may reflect the use of established energy efficient mass transit systems or other factors. See how car friendly your city is at KCSA Worldwide News Bureau at http://www.kcsa.com. Click KCSA Newswire for Scarborough Research. (Keep trying if not yet available.)

URBAN SPRAWL PUTS PEDESTRIANS IN DANGER. Energy efficient walking is becoming more hazardous, according to the another new study, the “Surface Transportation Policy Project.”

Far reaching suburbs are built with cars in mind, not people. Streets without sidewalks and safe crossings force people to share the same space as automobiles. Longer distances between multiple destinations and restrictive zoning codes have made walking, bicycling, and mass transit inconvenient and inefficient in terms of time lost.

Compare this study with the above? Check out the Pedestrian Danger Index for your metropolitan area, along with the rest of the study at http://www.transact.org. (Again, keep trying if not yet available.)