Carmakers race to make designs ‘viable, clean and super-efficient’
FROM 60 MG/KM TO ZERO
THE NEWS Last week was a big one for green cars: The Tesla Roadster – a zero-emissions sports car – finally started rolling off production lines in the U.S. BMW announced that it is considering launching its own battery-powered car; the company is already working jointly with Mercedes to develop high-end hybrids to rival the Toyota Prius. And at the New York International Auto Show a new prize was announced – the Automotive X Prize, a $10-million cash award for anyone who can “design viable, clean and super-efficient cars that people want to buy” (the operative word there being “want”).
THE BUZZ It’s no secret that carmakers have long been hostile to the idea of producing environmentally friendlier vehicles. But the green trend is (ahem) accelerating: The Toyota Prius is 10 years old, “hydrogen highways” are being built around the world (including in B.C.) and sports cars – some of the worst offenders – are also being brought on board.
THE BOTTOM LINE With a $100,000 price tag, the Tesla isn’t the transport solution for everyone. But with a sexy design and the ability to go from zero to 100 kilometres per hour in less than five seconds, it is rolling over public perception of eco-friendly cars as slow, clunky and ugly. So, hopefully, where high-end products go, mainstream fare will follow. It seems to be working: Every single Tesla to be built in 2008 has already been sold, and gear heads will now have to wait to reserve a 2009 model – 900 cars have been booked in total.
SEAL OF DISAPPROVAL
THE NEWS The seal hunt on Canada’s East Coast begins this week, and on the other side of the continent another hunt of pinnipeds has been approved to stop the animals from eating endangered salmon. The U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service has granted permission – after years of lobbying – to Washington State and Oregon to trap and (if a home in captivity cannot be found for them) kill up to 85 sea lions per year for five years by the Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River, where some animals go in order to feed on the salmon.
THE BUZZ Animal-rights advocates have filed a lawsuit to stop the hunt. The Humane Society claims that it is illegal (sea lions are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act) and unfairly scapegoats the animals (which probably eat less than 5 per cent of the river’s fish). But officials counter that booming sea lion populations – more than 200,000 animals on the West Coast, up from 1,000 in the 1930s – can afford to lose less than 100 of their number.
THE BOTTOM LINE Whether eliminating the sea lions will boost salmon numbers or not, one thing is certain: Overfishing and hydroelectric dams are primarily responsible for the decline of Pacific salmon.
BREATHLESS IN BEIJING
THE NEWS Ethiopian runner Haile Gebrselassie, a two-time Olympic 10,000-metre champion and current marathon world record-holder, has announced that he will not compete in the marathon this summer in the Beijing Games because the heat and pollution will make the race “the hardest in history” (he may still compete in the 10,000-metre race). International Olympic Committee medical chief Arne Ljungqvist has admitted in a report that the health of some endurance athletes could be compromised by the city’s pollution and some events may need to be postponed – the first time an IOC official has made such a concession.
THE BUZZ Beijing insists that the city’s notoriously dirty air will be cleaner by the summer. Factories and power plants are already being shut down, but the world is skeptical. Coaches are urging athletes to take pulmonary tests in order to use inhalers, the British Olympic Committee has broached the idea of providing masks and it has even been suggested that Olympians wear contact lenses to protect their eyes.
THE BOTTOM LINE The issue is of global importance: China’s industry is exploding, and with the construction of at least one coal-fired plant per week, emissions are skyrocketing. Whatever the outcome, the Games will undoubtedly put the spotlight on the environmental, as well as human-rights, record of the world’s most populous country.