London Mayor Boris Johnson scrapped not only the £25 planned congestion charge for gas guzzlers (see post and comments here), but also the exemption for cleaner cars emitting less than 120g/km of CO2. Which means that everyone is going to pay the same £8. Hybrids and electric vehicles will still be congestion charge-exempt. I don't agree with Johnson's arguments, but I'm happy with the ditching of a predictable small "breath-my-particles-before-they-empoison-the-environment" diesels frenzy.
Microsoft is launching a new web-based software tool to help drivers avoid traffic jams in 72 cities in the United States. It will be freely available at Live.com.
Is it the colored man's burden to save the ruined English auto industry (see bellow)?
('Swami Vivekananda (Sanskrit: स्वामी विवेकानन्द, Svāmi Vivekānanda) (January 12, 1863 – July 4, 1902), whose pre-monastic name was Narendranath Dutta (Narendranath Dut-tta), was one of the most famous and influential spiritual leaders of the philosophies of Vedanta and Yoga. He was the chief disciple of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and the founder of Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission. He is a major figure in the history of the Hindu reform movements.'
- in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swami_Vivekananda.
'Vivekananda's main agenda was Hinduization or Vedantization of the Christian West, a sort of muted counter conversion of the people whose missionaries had been evangelizing and Christianizing the Hindu Orient. "India must conquer the world," the "cyclonic Hindu" announced in the West. (...) "I was born for this, and it was left for me to do!" This indeed was an audacious challenge from a colonial native to the imperial West--a powerful response to the Western "civilizing mission" in the colonial world - a dramatic reversal of the concept of the "white man's burden" into that of the "colored man's burden." '
- in http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-155781996.html)
From the Wort: "Luxemburger sind höfliche Autofahrer". I agree that it's not easy to find an agressive driver in Luxembourg. But "polite", "courteous"? "Höflich" can also be translated has "unrude", which is more appropriate in this case. A tree is unrude. A stone wall is unrude. Luxembourgish drivers (or Luxembourg drivers) are not rude, they drive peacefully and respect traffic rules (when they're aware of them...). But this is not being polite: being polite is to adequate your speed near a junction to let someone turn left in front of you, even if you have the right of way. Being polite is to aknowledge the existence of other drivers and don't wait half a minute before moving so that you don't limit the number of cars that make it through before the light turns red again.
Robert A. Heinlein once said that politeness is a sine qua non of civilization. I totally agree with him.
"The European Commission says the wide variation in rates of diesel (officially known as gas oil) taxes creates distortions in the road haulage market – and also increases environmental damage by encouraging “fuel tourism” by hauliers (i.e. making special journeys or using longer routes in order to fill up in a country with low taxes). Also, since diesel and petrol have similar impacts, especially from the point of view of CO2 emissions, there is no environmental reason for the two minimum rates to differ. The Commission is therefore proposing to raise the minimum rate on diesel up to the minimum rate on petrol."
"TH!NK city demands very little of you. In fact, not much more than a mobile phone. Just an overnight power top-up, and it’s ready to go in the morning. It can travel up to 200 kilometres (124 miles) in city driving on a fully charged battery, with a top speed of 100km/h. It is fun, clean and simple."
As you might recall from one of my previous posts, I have serious doubts about the so-called environment-friendly diesel cars. For example, Fiat is launching a new 1.6 diesel engine for the Bravo range, in 103 or 118bhp variants, both Euro 5 compliant, thanks to a new particle filter. AND a third “Eco” model, with the same motor, 103bhp and CO2 emissions of just 119g/km, which is not Euro 5 compliant because removing the particle filter was the only trick Fiat could find to keep CO2 emissions bellow the 120 g/km threshold. The dirty trick will not work in Luxembourg, because the 750 euros reduction from the governmental scheme for cleaner cars can only be granted for a diesel car equipped with a particle filter: “Pour les voitures équipées d’un moteur à carburant diesel, l’aide financière [750 euros] n’est accordée que si les émissions de particules fines sont inférieures ou égales à 5 mg/km, un filtre à particules est dès lors indispensable" (in car-e.lu) .
(I know I'm a lazy bastard, taking advantage of every comment to publish a new post, but I can't help it. It's not a bad thing and it gives the right visibility to those of my few readers who care to comment my posts.)
Just to make things clear: my last post was less about CO2 emissions and more about attitude. Therefore, handsome 40 year old cars are exempt of any environmental concern (I know, I have a lot of soft spots).
Is it a Vitesse, GG?
"New German-made cars sold in Europe in 2006 had higher carbon dioxide emissions on average than they did in 2005, according to a new study." (http://news.bbc.co.uk/)
BMW reduced new cars emissions, but Mercedes and Volkswagen (+ Audis, specially the black ones, Seats and Skoda, that use the same motors) didn't. I think everyone of us as one or two special words to designate Mercedes drivers (and no, I don't mean "handsome", Mr. CLS500); we can keep on using them, freely.
"It is ironic that the country that did so much to get a European consensus on new climate targets earlier this year is also home to the carmakers that are holding back progress on one of the most important ways of achieving them, said Jos Dings, director of T&E.
The failure to cut the weight of cars is one of the principal reasons why CO2 emissions and fuel consumption are not going down, he added."
