The People's Eco-Rally 2008

In 2007 we showed what the motor industry is doing to kick the carbon habit. This year, you're in the driving seat!

Are you already a part of the ‘green’ transport revolution and want to compare your lifestyle with others? Join Revolve on 21st June and find out what eco-pioneers are already doing and how you can cut your car’s carbon emissions now without costing the earth.

Inspired by World Environment Day and the LoveLondon sustainability festival, Revolve is challenging eco-motorists to prove you are really kicking the carbon habit. As a sequel to their inaugural event last year, Revolve is inviting members of the public to drive from Brighton to London in the greenest way you can.

With an emphasis on personal stories, this year’s event will offer a tangible demonstration of what we can all do right now to 'kick the carbon habit' without having to invest in a new car or wait for new infrastructure.

Lowering emissions is only part of the story, so Revolve has teamed with isanyonegoingto.com and invited all the major car-clubs to promote car-sharing (i.e. using a shared car and car-pooling). If you need a lift to any destination on the Eco-Rally route then register with isanyonegoingto.com today and you can catch a ride!

If you've like to show off your lean green machine on the day or would like to volunteer as a marshall contact us now. We're giving away the latest widescreen Navman S90i and eco-friendly cleaning products from AquaNought (as seen on BBC Dragon's Den) as prizes.

Revolve Photo Competition :: Win a fuel cell-powered H-Racer

The Revolve Eco-Rally gets big business, small innovative firms and government together to share their vision of low emission mobility.
Share your own vision of sustainable transport with us and win one of 10 fuel cell-powered model racing-cars. A limited supply of these H-Racers are also available at a special offer price of £79 from our associates Keen2learn.

Share / Discuss / Discover
Share your ideas about better journeys with the global Flickr community. Plus, the 16 most recent photos will be posted on our gallery page.

Competition Summary
1. Take photos of your vision of sustainable transport.
2. Upload your photos to our Flickr pool
3. Tag the photo “revolve050607”
4. Show us where you took the photo by adding it to the world map.

Terms and Conditions apply

The Prize
The H Racer is the working miniature version of what is being developed in real-size cars of the future. You also get an on board hydrogen storage tank, a fuel cell system connected to the car's electric motor, and a hydrogen refuelling system.

Special Offer
Keen 2 Learn in conjunction with Edu-Lab have kindly supplied 10 of the world's best selling fuel cell products as prizes. They are also offering a limited supply of the H-Racers at a big discount for the duration of the Revolve Photo Competition.

Can't afford to own a green car? Hire one instead!

The fast-expanding, pay-by-the-hour car club already operates in 10 cities in the UK including London and Brighton, and Revolve is proud to promote WhizzGo’s services, especially as it provides a greener drive for its customers. WhizzGo has kindly agreed to chauffeur our celebrities and provide logistical support for our rally and fringe events. Look out for their low-emission cars which will be accompanying the rally on 05.06.07.

Spread the word and you could drive for free! WhizzGo will credit both your account and your friend's account with £10 for each and every friend you recommend who joins WhizzGo. Find out more about WhizzGo at www.whizzgo.co.uk

Tesla Roadster at Revolve 2008?

Many of our supporters have asked about the much anticipated Tesla Roadster. Developed with the help of Lotus Engineering, it will easily out-accelerate the BMW Hydrogen 7 and Saab Biopower taking part. But driven more sensibly, the Roadster could do the Brighton to London rally 4 times over (320km+ per charge). It is the 'web 2.0' of the electric car world and seemingly everyone wants one. Given the hype, we thought we'd post their response to our invitation to take part in the Revolve 05.06.07 event.

"While [we] do appreciate the invite, we will have to respectfully decline. Right now we are heads-down trying to get our vehicle to production, and all of our resources are focused on that effort. We would certainly entertain this event as a possibility in next year’s schedule. Best regards and thank you for your consideration.
-Tesla Motors"

Here's to next year!

Most Dangerous Roads In The World?

Have you ever got home after a regular commute and realised that you don't really remember the journey? I do it all the time and I ride a bike through central London. Statistically, the most dangerous roads are whichever ones happen to be within a 5 mile radius of your house, i.e. the most familiar ones. These roads on the other hand are probably safe in the same way as fitting a dagger to your steering wheel and pointed at your heart is probably be a safer option than seatbelts, airbags and bike-helmets...

clipped from linkinn.com

Top 5 most dangerous roads of the world

#1: “Road of Death” - Bolivia

#2: Guoliang Tunnel in Taihang mountains (China)

#3: Most Dangerous Tourist Hiking Trail (China)

#4: Russian Siberian Road to Yakutsk

#5: Taroko Gorge Road in Taiwan

Greenfleet: Specialists in “Eco-Driving” at Revolve 05.06.07

Revolve is drawing on the expertise of GreenFleet to ensure that you get the most out of World Environment Day at Trafalgar Square. Hydrogen fuel cell cars may be out of our reach for the time being, but GreenFleet can help you make the right choices, lower your carbon-footprint and save money now.

In association with the Institute of Advanced Motorists, GreenFleet will be at Trafalgar Square from 9.00am until 5.30pm, presenting information on how to save fuel through defensive driving techniques on the big screen. Click on the banner below for a flavour of what they do.

Pay-As-You-Go Road-Pricing: For or Against?

The Transport Secretary is quoted as saying that the proposed road-pricing scheme would be scrapped unless it attracted public support, but added that doing nothing was not an option. He has accused the anti-road charging pettion of spreading 'myths' about the plans. The Daily Mail explained how so many signatures were collected: "A series of round robin e-mails - mutating as they were sent - led to thousands more signatures." The emails originated from the Association of British Drivers, which makes the following claim: "...increasingly vicious, and increasingly silly, anti-car policies at national level are 'justified' by futile attempts to avert non-existent man-made global warming."

Tony Blair is now replying to all 1.8m anti road-pricing campaigners. We submitted their e-petition to the incredible 'EnBW Spamrecycler'.

Click here to create your own art from spam.

Even highly-respected, pro-environmental motoring groups can foresee potential flaws in the scheme, calling it "the millennium-dome of transport."

Petition against road-pricing: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/traveltax/
Deadline: 20.02.07.

Petition in support of road-pricing: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/proroad-pricing/
Deadline: 17.01.08.

Economists have long advocated Road Pricing. According to the Department For Transport's feasability study: "A carefully structured road pricing scheme could potentially make a valuable contribution to promoting social inclusion and accessibility by:

• Freeing up road space to improve bus journey time and reliability.
• Minimising the impact of traffic and new infrastructure provision through better use of the existing network.
• Reducing the relatively high cost of motoring in less congested areas e.g. some rural areas.
• Using any revenue raised to provide demand-responsive transport systems and improve local amenities."

Summary of the report ¦ More case studies ¦ Road-Pricing in the Netherlands

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!

North Americans will travel less highway miles in 2010 than in 2005... Agree / Disagree?

Two men have bet a total of $400 on this prediction.

In 2005, Mr Simon predicted that the peak oil phenomomenon will result in a drastic reduction in the wasteful and inefficient use of personal motor vehicles in the US out of economic necessity.
"I am predicting that vehicle use will decline rather than grow in the next 5 years to bring attention to the imminence of the crisis."
If he wins, he'll donate the proceeds to The Post Carbon Institute.

On the other hand, Mr Raphael pointed to the short-term option of producing liquid fuels from shale and coal.
"In the long run we've got the option of making more efficient cars and/or substituting batteries and fuel cells that are recharged with power provided by gas, coal, solar, hydro, and nuclear power plants. Five years is too short to expect much change in this area - we may not even have peaked by then. But once we do peak, it won't be much of a problem."
If he wins, he'll donate the proceeds to The Property and Environment Research Center.

Vote/discuss or make your own prediction here.

New Hydrogen Centre; Sees 6 Million Hydrogen Cars in Europe by 2020

The Linde Group has officially inaugurated a new €3-million Hydrogen Centre in Germany. Linde is focusing in its research and development on the renewable production of hydrogen, especially bio-hydrogen.

"In cooperation with specialists in the field, we are advancing the development of several methods for biomass conversion into hydrogen. We are confident that soon all the hydrogen required by the Linde Hydrogen Center can be produced by sustainable production methods"

- Dr Aldo Belloni, member of the Executive Board of Linde AG.

"It would be a shame if Germany were to sleep through a trend in hydrogen technology the way we slept through hybrids.”

- Prof. Dr.-Ing. Wolfgang Reitzle, CEO of the Linde Group.

This sounds like positive news... and has sparked an entertaining hydrogen vs biofuels debate over at Green Car Congress. Check it out.

Richard Hammond, LPG and Jet-Cars

Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond has had a serious accident whilst attempting to break the UK land-speed record in a jet-powered dragster.

Former Top Gear presenter, Steve Berry said of the accident: "He is incredibly lucky to be alive ... this isn't a car, it's more like a wingless aeroplane". The machine is capable of accelerating from 0-270 mph in just 6 seconds and was travelling at +/-300mph when it suddenly veered off the track and somersaulted.

The 'Programme Prevention Department'
Ironically one of Hammond's co-presenters, Jeremy Clarkson, has regularly been outspoken about his dislike of 'Health & Safety', calling it "the cancer of a civilised society" (Sunday Times article). The HSE is currently investigating Richard Hammond's accident. Interestingly, the crash was discussed on BBC's Question Time after someone asked the question: "has reality TV gone too far?" Watch the podcast here.

"He has brought an awful lot to [Top Gear] and his indefatigable energy, the fact that he tries absolutely anything once, may have been the reason that he has overstepped the mark a bit."
- Quentin Wilson talking to the BBC


Out of respect for his family's wishes, all we know is that Hammond sustained a significant brain injury, but doctors are "reasonably optimistic that he'll make a good recovery."

Whilst the Vampire jet car consumes 7-10 gallons of fuel per mile, Richard Hammond's family car is an eleven-year-old Range Rover Vogue SE with a thirsty 3.9-litre V8 engine. Luckily (and somewhat surprisingly given his co-presenter's environmentally unfriendly stance, Hammond's Range Rover is actually LPG-powered!. We wish him a speedy recovery.

Small is Beautiful

It's not just UK motorists who are feeling the petroleum-pinch. Automotive News reports that US imports are now out-selling domestic brands for the first time. The most popular imports include manufacturers of small, fuel-efficient cars like Toyota, Suzuki and Volkswagen. In Australia, local V6 muscle-cars are also being outsold by more economical four-cylinder imports for the first time. South Africans meanwhile, have just seen the price of petrol at their local pump rise for the sixth time this year. Of course, small cars don't necessarily have to be sensible... Car Magazine South Africa reports that Audi's next mini(rival)car will be based on their recent Shooting Brake concept (pic) and will be less expensive than their current A2.