Search Results for: cars

BY RUSSELL BERMAN

THE SWEEPING energy reforms being undertaken by the new administration of US President Barack Obama include billions of dollars in funding for biofuels and other clean energy sources.

America’s biofuels industry is applauding Mr Obama’s early moves, although advocates are still awaiting regulatory directives on renewable fuel standards.…

By Alan Osborn

If the European Union (EU) wants to become the world leader in information and communication technologies (ICT), as it frequently asserts, it should not expect to do it for nothing. As a start, the 27 EU member states should at least double their investment in ICT – both public and private – over the next 10 years, says the European Commission, the EU’s executive, in launching a new ICT Research and Innovation Strategy.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL, EMMA JACKSON and ALAN OSBORN

THE NUCLEAR energy industry has always been a global business, and since the fall of communism, it has become more, not less international. As a result, the need for common standards and practices, relevant to the industry, its suppliers and its customers is becoming increasingly important.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE DEPENDENCE of the European Union (EU) on imports to meet oil supply needs will rise to 95% by 2030, a European Parliament report has claimed. This will expose the EU to strategic dangers through buying oil from unstable or potentially hostile countries in the Middle East and from Russia, it warned.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A GROUNDBREAKING starter motor-alternator, enabling cars to automatically and smoothly stop and start in congestion, has been developed by the Eureka research network. The i-StARS (NOTE – SPELLING IS CORRECT) project developed second-generation technology whose battery can power high numbers of charge/discharge cycles; and can inhibit the stop-start function or restart an engine if a charge level is too low.…

BY DAVID HAWORTH

FRESH from the gloomy prognostications of the Geneva Auto Show, European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) president Carlos Ghosn had some of his own on Wednesday saying European car output will fall by 25% this year.

Speaking after talks in Brussels with European Commission president José Manuel Barroso and European Union (EU) industry Commissioner Günter Verheugen, he told a press conference: "This forecast is not the same as the one I gave last week.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

BRITISH dealers of France-made cars can breath a sigh of relief in the knowledge that their suppliers are not going to become a swift victim of the credit crunch, with the European Commission approving a Euro 6.5 billion bail-out package drafted by the French government.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

FLEET managers could have a lot more hybrids and electric cars on offer if a new global initiative involving four international agencies, including two transport bodies, is successful. A ’50 by 50′ Global Fuel Economy Initiative has been launched by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the International Energy Agency (IEA), the International Transport Forum (ITF) and the FIA [Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile] Foundation.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

GIVEN the preoccupation of the auto industry these trying days to merely survive past the next quarter, it is refreshing to learn of an international project dealing with the environmental effects of a road transport sector actually projected to grow and grow in the long term, as the developing world gets richer and more mobile.…

BY TONY MALLETT

GIVEN that they work in a country renowned for its knee-deep bureaucracy and fervent industrial action, Belgian truckers seem a surprisingly contented bunch. At least when taken individually.

Despite recent protests about the price of fuel – which resulted in their blockade of the Brussels inner ring road and demonstrations outside the headquarters of both the European Commission and the European Parliament – the pros riding way up high in the cabs of HGVs on Belgian roads seem generally happy with their lot.…