FORD leading the way in eco-friendly power systems for the cars of tomorrow. This engine is getting great reviews and showing good signs of being reliable and strong.

In an industry first, General Motors‘ Chevy brand has created a green label for its cars and will roll out the sticker bearing environmental data next month starting with the 2012 Chevy Sonic.
The Ecologic label (pictured below) will be affixed to the driver’s side rear window of Sonic sedans and hatchbacks in the U.S. market by the end of February, GM and Chevy announced today. The automaker also said it will place Ecologic stickers on all cars under the Chevrolet nameplate for the 2013 model year.
“We’ve taken an environment leadership role (with the Chevy Volt electric car) and we thought this was the next evolutionary step,” said Chevy Brand Marketing Manager Bill Devine.
“From a sustainability point of view what this signals, I think, is that we’re trying to provide consumers with relevant information that we know they’re very interested in,” said Mike Robinson, General Motor’s vice president of sustainability and regulatory affairs.

 Devine and Robinson talked to me this morning about the auto company’s latest green initiative, which it undertook with the Two Tomorrows group as the validator of environmental claims.
The Ecologic sticker is the first voluntary and third-party certified label of its kind for autos, although environmental product labeling is becoming more prevalent in the U.S. for building materials.
Federal regulators, which require car companies to disclose fuel consumption data and other vehicle information on new cars sold in the United States, revamped their labeling last year to make it even more explicit. And in California and New York, new cars also must display a global warming scorecard.
Supplementing the mandated information, the sticker devised by Chevy tells prospective buyers about the environmental measures taken at manufacturing and assembly facilites, fuel-saving technology in the car, and the percentage by weight of material in the car that can be recycled.
The idea is to convey what Chevy has done to ease the environmental impacts of its cars during its lifecycle — or “before the road, on the road and after the road,” as Devine put it.

Although the sticker is about 7 by 14 inches, there’s not enough room to display other key environmental information about the cars, Devine said, so Chevy is launching a microsite that will provide further details: www.chevrolet.com/ecologic.
The site is expected to have expanded green data on the Sonics by the end of February and for now lays out why Chevy developed the label.
GM uses recycled content in car parts and interiors, but that info, as yet, isn’t included. Robinson said the Ecologic label will develop further as the firm collects and verifies more environmental data and refines how to communicate the information. “We view this as we view the larger sustainability efforts in the company, this is a journey, it never ends and it will evolve over time,” he said. “This is not a static, once-and-done type of thing.”
The company focused on Sonic for the green sticker in part because it is still a new addition in the Chevy line, and because it is the only car of its class made in the U.S. — a factor that resonates among car shoppers who want to buy American and makes it easier for the company to track the attributes included on the Ecologic label.

The initiative is part of a broader effort by GM to reduce the environmental impacts of its operations and products, curb energy consumption and carbon emissions, and save money.
GM’s green commitments include a goal to achieve zero-waste-to-landfill status at its facilities worldwide and a pledge to invest some $40 million projects that will reduce the company’s carbon emissions by 8 million metric tons.
The company also is increasing its public profile in emergency environmental efforts. GM made news when it promised to recycle the booms used to clean up the BP oil spill for making parts for the Volt. Then GM captured headlines again when the project turned out to be more successful than expected, diverting more than 212,000 pounds of waste from landfill.
The announcement of the Ecologic label came on the eve the Washington Auto Show and follows two earlier green developments by the company this month — the release of its latest sustainability report and plans for a special California edition of the Volt that will qualify for a $1,500 state rebate and a carpool lane sticker.
Asked if there are further projects in the offing, Robinson said: “You can expect a pretty consistent drumbeat of things coming from GM on the sustainability front.”
Images courtesy of General Motors and Chevrolet

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By Dan Roth RSS feed

Posted Oct 2nd 2011 10:01AM
Comments52

The Buick Grand National is a bona fide classic. Out of the emissions-strangled Seventies arose an engine that turned the plain G-body Buick into a fire-breather capable of running with exotics of its era. Pony cars were accustomed to viewing it from behind. Slathered in monochromatic black paint, the Grand National is one of few true legends to emerge from the beleaguered domestic auto industry during the 1980s. That’s why Andrew Filippone Jr’s “Black Air” documentary will be thrilling to anyone whose heart beats in some kind of firing order.

In many ways, the Grand National is the last gasp of the muscle car era that started nearly a generation before it. Built on the last rear-wheel drive General Motors intermediate platform, the A/G body, the chassis details of the Grand National weren’t vastly different than those underpinning Skylarks 10-15 years prior.

The Grand National’s engine, however, was a different story. Fuel injected, turbocharged and snorting out horsepower and torque numbers that shamed Corvettes, the Grand National’s 3.8-liter cast-iron fist hit the jaw of car enthusiast lore hard enough to establish itself as a force to be reckoned with. And that was before it was ushered off the showroom floor with one last gasp of ultimate awe, the GNX.

Filippone has taken the time to interview auto-journalism luminaries and insiders involved with the Grand National’s development to weave the enthralling story through firsthand accounts. People we’ve read, like Csaba Csere and Don Sherman feature in the story, as do Bill Porter, Tony Assenza and Martyn Schorr. Their well-rounded narrative further cements the the sinister black Buick’s historical importance.

Watch the trailer after the jump. You can follow Black Air on Twitter, and there’s also a Facebook page where you can keep up. Or try to, anyway.

Black Air – “Misfit” Teaser from Andrew Filippone Jr. on Vimeo.

Why is it that a Black Man can create a tiny piece called a filament (electric light – Lewis Latimer) that allows people to see in the dark?

But can’t be seen fit to lead a country to the true light.

Why is it that a Black Man can create an instrument (clock – Benjamin Banneker) that all people use to tell time?

But people don’t think it is time for him to run a country.

Why is it that a Black Man can design a place for the high authorities to meet in and a place for the president to live in (The Capital and the White House Phillip Reid (a slave) and Pierre L’Enfant)?

But not good enough to lead these meetings or live in himself.

Why is it that a Black Man was brilliant enough to do the first open heart surgery (Dr. Dan iel Hale Williams) and show the world how to get and preserve plasma (Dr. Charles Drew)?

But not good enough to put a program in place where everyone can afford this surgery.

Why is it that a Black Man was creative enough to design an instrument (traffic light – Garrett Morgan) to bring multiple people (traffic) to a halt?

But not seen creative enough to design a plan to bring all this unnecessary and worthless fighting between countries, to an end.

Why is it that a Black Man could create the soles (shoes – Jan Matzeliger) that people walk on every day?

But not seen good enough to fill the shoes of a bad president.

Why is it that a Black Man was smart enough and brave enough to teach himself (Fredrick Douglas and Thomas Fuller - both slaves) and others how to read, write and/or calculate math?

But not seen smart enough and bold enough to calculate a platform to be President to a country that sure needs another first by us.

So you see my Brothers and Sisters, what I am saying is, let us not forgot our past which led us to our present and can definitely be the backbone to our future. We were good enough, smart enough, creative enough, and bold enough then, so let us all give Obama the chance to show that we are still these things and more. We all are as strong as our weakest link, so do not be that weak link that denies our people that chance to show we still can OVERCOME AND BE THE FIRST!

THE PRESIDENT OF THESE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA !

LET US ALL CONTINUE PRAYING THAT THIS PRESIDENT WILL ADHERE TO AND BE LED BY FAITH.
PASS THIS ON!

Expos are a good way for small business and startups to get the information and contacts they need to get started and move forward. Maybe they should have even had the booth in the exhibit. It gives them the ideas and seminars that might be what they need to fill in the gaps between just opening the business doing the work and managing what is going on.