Hydrogen Fuel Cell Powered Aircraft + Greenest Cars

Boeing have successfully tested a manned hydrogen fuel cell powered plane in Spain this week.

The plane uses the fuel cells to power an electric motor and was flown to over 3000ft.

Full Story: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23936802/

Lets hope this time around that hydrogen powered flight is a little safer...

From the same website I also spotted this nice little chart of the greenest cars of 2007:

Make and Model	Specifications¹	Fuel Econ. City	Fuel Econ. Highway	Green Score
Honda Civic GX	1.8L 4, auto [CNG]2	28	39	57
Toyota Prius	1.5L 4, auto CVT	60	51	55
Honda Civic Hybrid	1.3L 4, auto CVT	49	51	53
Nissan Altima Hybrid	2.5L 4, auto CVT	42	36	48
Toyota Yaris	1.5L 4, manual	34	40	47
Toyota Corolla	1.8L 4, manual	32	41	46
Toyota Camry Hybrid	2.4L 4, auto CVT	40	38	46
Honda Fit	1.5L 4, manual	33	38	45
Kia Rio	1.6L 4, manual	32	35	45
Hyundai Accent	1.6L 4, manual	32	35	45
Hyundai Elantra	2.0L 4, auto	28	36	45
Honda Civic	1.8L 4, auto	30	40	44

And just for balance they also included the least green cars. Note the impressive feat from Mercedes who have made a 3.0l diesel engine less green than a 6.5l Lambo!

Make and Model	Specifications¹	Fuel Econ. City	Fuel Econ. Highway	Green Score
Volkswagen Touareg	5.0L 10, auto stk 4wd [D]	17	22	14
Mercedes-Benz GL320 CDI	3.0L 6, auto 4wd [D]	20	25	16
Lamborghini Murcielago	6.5L 12, manual 4wd [P]	9	14	17
Jeep Grand Cherokee	3.0L 6, auto 4wd [D]	20	24	17
Bentley Arnage	6.7L 8, auto stk [P]	10	15	18
Mercedes-Benz R320 CDI	3.0L 6, auto 4wd [D]	21	28	18
Mercedes-Benz ML320 CDI	3.0L 6, auto 4wd [D]	21	27	18
Maybach 57S	6.0L 12, auto [P]	11	17	18
Bentley Azure	6.7L 8, auto stk [P]	11	16	18
Ford F-2503	5.4L 8, auto 4wd	13	17	19
Dodge Ram 2500 Mega Cab3	5.7L 8, auto 4wd	13	18	19
Lincoln Navigator3	5.4L 8, auto 4wd	13	18	20

Official: Pollution is a sin!

It's not likely to be often that Earth Dream agrees with the Catholic Church. In fact some of our favourite passtimes are probably technically sins. But over the weekend the Vatican's number 2 on the subject of sinning Archbishop Gianfranco Girotti spoke of modern evils and listed "ecological" offences including pollution.

Good stuff then, although if we know anything about religion (we don't but stick with us) this means that anyone of the Catholic faith can chuck as much litter about as they like provided they make a confession once in a while and say a few hail mary's.

Actually something else Earth Dream learned related to this story was that under the guidance of the current pope the Vatican has installed a load of solar panels to provide green energy (I mean they need light to count all that gold obviously). Now if they can just see their way to telling Africans that it is actually OK to use condoms then they might really go up in our estimation.

More on this story from Reuters.

Running is bad for your health - in China at least...

With the 2008 Olympics in Beijing mere months away world marathon record holder Haile Gebreselassie has ruled himself out of competing in the event as he fears that pollution in the city makes it too dangerous for him to run.

In fact pollution in the city is so high that spectators have been warned to only take limited exercise while visiting the city.

One wonders what the IOC were doing in the first place awarding the games and shipping the cream of the worlds athletic talent to a city that is so hazardous to health. Hardly in the olympic spirit now is it?