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France, Germany at odds over EU car emissions targets
Brussels (AFP) March 3, 2008 France and Germany were at odds on Monday over EU plans to cut car emissions of carbon dioxide as the bloc's environment ministers met to discuss measures to tackle climate change. "We are now at that typical stage of differences," said French Environment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo. The row is over how to fix goals and penalties for Europe's automakers which include Germany, whose car industry tends to make bigger, and therefore more polluting cars, and France and Italy which generally produce smaller vehicles. "It is difficult to support that heavier vehicles, which are more powerful, should have an international right to emit more than others," said Borloo. Mattias Machnig, Germany's deputy environment minister, argued that "the small car segment has to do something in the coming years so that we can achieve the emission cuts in the mass market." British Environment Minister Hilary Benn urged all sides not to polarise the debate. Borloo played down the row at a press conference after the talks. "Everyone repeated their positions during the debate," he said. "We will take up the discussion with the Germans. I plan to meet up with my German counterpart Sigmar Gabriel in Paris at the end of March," he announced. Under the European Commission proposals, each automaker selling cars in Europe will have specific targets assigned to it with the aim of cutting CO2 emissions to a European average of 130 grammes per kilometre travelled for new cars. Parts and fuel-makers will be tasked with shaving a further 10 grammes off the average with improvements to gearboxes and air-conditioning systems, tyre-pressure monitoring and the use of more biofuels. The combined efforts are aimed at cutting average emissions by a quarter, to 120 grammes per kilometre on average from about 160 currently. Countries such as Germany and Sweden which make big petrol-guzzling cars have fiercely opposed the plans. Major supporters include France, Italy, Spain and Romania, whose auto industries offer smaller, more fuel-efficient cars. The average Porsche from Germany, for example, emits 282 grammes per kilometre versus just 145 grammes for a car from France's Renault or Peugeot-Citroen. The penalties for non-compliance mooted by the EU's executive arm, would start in 2012 at 20 euros (30.35 dollars) per gramme of carbon dioxide over a target and climb to 95 euros in 2015. Related Links Car Technology at SpaceMart.com
UCLA Researchers Solve Decade-Old Mystery
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Feb 29, 2008Environmentally friendly hydrogen gas fueled vehicles can dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions and lessen the country's dependence on sources of fossil fuel. Though several hydrogen vehicles exist on the market today, there is still much room for improvement in the way that hydrogen is stored on-board the vehicle. With current technologies, hydrogen gas storage tanks have to be as large as or larger than the trunk of a car to carry enough gas to travel only one to two hundred miles. |
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