50 years ago today President Kennedy had a cold, or more precisely an “upper respiratory infection.” We soon knew that wasn’t true. It was a “diplomatic cold”, an excuse to cancel engagements so he could attend to the greatest and most pressing International crisis the modern world had known. That night, October 22, 1962,… Continue reading
Posts tagged CO2
Switching the lights off from afar – are mobiles finally becoming really useful?
When will we be able to do really useful things with our mobile phones? I don’t mean check the weather, look up the train times or find an interesting restaurant nearby, although these are all valuable functions. But they can also be done on a portable computer. And even sending a text to pay for… Continue reading →
Zero carbon driving comes to the UK
The big solar energy news this week came from California, where Tesla announced a relay of solar charging stations for its electric cars throughout the state, with the promise of rapid expansion next year. The stations should be in Europe before too long. Elon Musk, co-founder of Tesla Motors, sent a powerful and persuasive message… Continue reading →
EU drives auto manufacturers to cleaner, greener cars
What makes the new Hyundai i20 CRDi Blue so special, and why should you care? And what is it about the Volvo V40 D2 ES that marks it apart from many other well-appointed, comfortable cars? Does it even matter? In the week of the Rio+20 conference, where the world is likely, once again, to fall… Continue reading →
Crystal ball gazing at the Hay Festival
The 25th Hay festival, which closed on Sunday, was in looking-ahead mood. A string of sessions under the heading “The way we live now” asked questions of personalities about life today, and where we would be in 25 years time. We attended debate number 6 (event 486). There was a frivolous question, “What makes you… Continue reading →
Oxford becomes Europe’s most electric car friendly city
Two years ago today I attended the launch of the Nissan Leaf electric car in London. It was almost a year before the car was delivered in the UK , and even then 2011 did not remotely live up to the predictions government ministers made for it is the year of the electric vehicle (EV)…. Continue reading →