Global Cooling

Long term, fuel cells and hydrogen can provide a much more sustainable way of getting us from A to B. Short term, more and more experts are predicting that we have 10 years before our global climate becomes irreversibly unstable. The recently launched Global Cool initiative is a refreshing approach to encouraging everyone to do their bit.

At www.global-cool.com you won't find cliches or sermons. What you will find are witty tips on driving, personal opinion from A-list celebs and an easy way to work out your own carbon footprint. You can even consider donating a tonne of cool! Global Cool Foundation promises to use your donation to fund things like alternative energy... the kind of energy needed to extract the hydrogen and build the fuel cells that will power future transport.

How cool are they amongst the Technorati?
This dynamic chart indicates how much people have been blogging about "Global Cool" per day for the last 30 days.

Four Wheels Good, Three Wheels Better?

Apparently, we tend to under-estimate our car journeys. Experts suggest adding 20 -25% onto the time we think it'll take. This makes sense because a recent study carried out on behalf of the BBC revealed that Brits are actually spending on average 20 minutes longer in getting to work than they did 10 years ago.

Conceived as a more rational commuter vehicle, could Vandenbrink's Carver One finally exorcise the demons of three-wheeled mobility and seduce us away from the idea that bigger is better . At present the Carver One, is petrol-powered with a claimed fuel-consumption figure of 45mpg. Vandenbrink state that they are willing to consider a fuel cell option as soon as they feel the technology is ready.

If you're not ready to swap your people-carrier just yet, consider joining a car-sharing scheme.

How clean is your neighbourhood?
What effect is all this congestion having on air quality? The London Air Quality Network provides a dynamic map showing the latest pollution levels as recorded at pollution monitoring sites across Greater London. Enter your postcode to check your own neighbourhood.

SUV : Sadly Under-utilised Vehicle

Local councils are unwittingly encouraging the use of 4x4s by installing more and more speed-bumps. I am sympathetic to traffic calming, but accelerating between each speed-bump doesn't calm anything, it just increases fuel consumption and blood-pressure. I urge all resident's associations and Home Zone campaigners to advocate the replacement of speed-bumps with 'pinch spots' thereby dissuading wide vehicles like 4x4s. If you believe in e-petitions, you can join one against road-humps here.

If you're part of the 70-85% of the British public who support measures to deter the use of urban 4x4s then you can do something about it here.

"4x4s to be Priced off the Road"
Read the Telegraph.co.uk article and reader's heated comments here

Of course, large 4x4s are often essential in rural areas. But the fact remains that their un-aerodynamic shape, heavy structure and fat, nobbly tyres make them unavoidably thirsty on fuel. Having said this, their large wheelbase makes them good candidates for fuel cell power and zero emissions at the point of use... i.e. in a desert or on a farm.

Of course, you could argue that campaigners for better air-quality actually started the urban 4x4 craze in the first place. Car companies got around California's strict emissions-standards through a loophole in the legislation. Certain utility vehicles were exempt and thus, the SUV (or Seductive Utility Vehicle) was born!

Read more about the consultation /

Read the leaflet (12 A4 pages) /

Go straight to the public questionnaire
(20 multiple choice questions /

Detailed maps of the zone