It's a Swiss Army bike!

This extraordinary new electric bicycle looks sharp and folds out just like a Swiss Army knife.

The creation by Swiss brand Voltitude, has been dubbed the ultimate space saver.

Designed for city-dwellers, the compact 18.5 kilogram bike measures just under two feet in width, 2ft 7in high when folded and 3ft.6in when stretched out.
The bike can be charged by hooking it up to a standard mains socket and takes around four hours to reach full power.

It can reach speeds of around 15 miles per hour and can be ridden for 25 miles before needing to be recharged.
The bike, which is set to sell for around £2,650, is not yet in full production but it can be pre-ordered through the Voltitude website.

full article

Car-hire giants in U-turn over electric fleet

A pioneering scheme to provide cheap, "help yourself" electric cars for Parisian residents and tourists faces a last-minute legal challenge from the traditional car-rental industry.

The first 700 Autolib' cars – based on the city's successful bicycle self-hire operation, which inspired a similar scene in London – will appear in the French capital from December at a modest €5 (£4.40) for the first 30 minutes.

But a pressure group representing large car-rental firms such as Avis and Hertz has belatedly accused city hall of organising unfair and publicly subsidised competition. The administrative tribunal, which hears complaints against public authorities, must decide within weeks whether to abolish the scheme in its present form.

Manufacture of the first Autolib' cars – roughly the size of a Twingo or Mini, and with a battery life of 250 kilometres – has already begun in Turin. The Socialist Mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoë, is convinced that the scheme will be a popular and groundbreaking success like his do-it-yourself bike-hire programme, Vélib'.

The small, blue four-seater cars will be available from street or underground docking stations for €5 for the first half-hour for Parisian residents and €7 for visitors. As with the Vélib' bike scheme, long-term rentals will be more expensive. The idea is to offer a "green", cheap alternative for cross-town journeys.

Joining the scheme will cost a further €10 a day, €15 a week or €144 a year. "Autolibbeurs" will use a credit card to pick up a car from a docking station and leave it in a spare place at any other station when finished. Each car will have a radio, a GPS route-finding system and an onboard computer to direct the driver to empty docking spaces.

full article

Government subsidy cut prompts solar outrage

The Government's decision to cut subsidies for solar energy to all but the smallest projects will threaten investment and job creation in the alternative energy sector, environmental and industry groups warned yesterday.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) said the change to feed-in tariffs would maintain funding for households to put up panels by diverting them from larger projects.
But campaigners said the decision would kill off schemes planned by schools, housing associations and other community organisations.
Feed-in tariffs were launched in April last year and more than 40,000 installations have registered.

The change, trailed earlier this year, will prioritise domestic and other small solar power installations of up to 50kW, which typically cover several houses and will be unaffected.

Feed-in tariffs for bigger projects will be slashed. Installations between 50 kW and 150kW will get 19p per kilowatt-hour, down from 32.9p, and bigger installations will have their subsidies more than halved.

When the Government announced its review it said it needed to avoid large-scale solar "farms" squeezing out the domestic market. DECC said yesterday that every 5MW large-scale solar scheme would cost about £1.3m a year. That means that 20 such schemes would cost the same as installations for more than 25,000 households.

Friends of the Earth said the consultation had been "a farce" and that the results threatened the creation of thousands of new jobs in the fledgling green energy sector.

full article

Green taxes make up 20 per cent of household energy bills

Families are being forced to pay an average of £200 a year in taxes on their energy bills to fund Britain’s investment in wind and solar power.

Campaigners last night demanded greater transparency from energy companies over the levies and accused the government of hiding behind suppliers to raise revenues by the back door.

The call comes amid mounting pressure on energy companies for a fresh inquiry into price rises after the latest round of increases led to accusations of profiteering.

Dr Benny Peiser, director of the Global Warming Policy Foundation, said the rising price of fuel was partly caused by Britain’s “stubborn but wrong headed commitment to renewable energy”.

He said: “So called green stealth taxes are already adding 15 to 20 per cent to the average domestic power bill and even more to business users.”
British households spends £608 a year on gas and another £424 on electricity on average. Green taxes make up between £154 and £206 of that bill, said Dr Peiser.

“Despite the growing cost of these taxes, you won’t find any mention of them at all on your gas and electricity bills,’ he said.

“That, of course, suits the Government down to the ground. If it raised the huge sums required to encourage renewable energy and limit carbon emission through general taxation it would make the Government itself very unpopular.

“But by doing it through electricity and gas bills, the Government has cleverly ensure that it’s the power companies that take the blame.”

Under the Climate Change Act, the Government is legally bound to cut Britain’s C02 emissions by 34 per cent by 2020 and 50 per cent by 2025.

To meet its targets the Government is encouraging the building of 10,000 wind turbines. It also wants power companies to install £7 billion worth of smart meters in homes.

full article