The remnants of Hurricane Hanna arrived on the shores of South West England last weekend. Hanna still packed a bit of a punch, as you can see in this video that we shot at Woolacombe on Sunday:

More on Hurricane Hanna Helps Out in Our EcoDriving Video

I don't know if the Gallagher Report had any influence on their thinking, but the European Parliament's Committee on Industry, Research and Energy has decided to back the proposals put forward by Luxembourg Green MEP Claude Turmes to mandate the use of second generation biofuels as part of the overall EU targets for the adoption of biofuels.  The proposals also require that first-generation biofuels (manufactured from food crops such as corn,  sugar and rapeseed), would need to meet strict sustainability criteria in order to count towards EU targets. These include social factors such as fair pay for all workers and respect for the land rights of local communities, as well as a requirement for biofuels to reduce carbon emissions by at least 45% compared to fossil fuels,  rising to 60% in 2015.

More on European Parliament Insists on Second Generation Biofuels

The September 2008 edition of Environment Magazine contains an article entitled "The Short List: The Most Effective Actions U.S. Households Can Take to Curb Climate Change".  The article is a collaboration between two scientists who specialize in the psychological aspects of climate change; the reasons why individual citizens do not take actions that would reduce their personal energy consumption, even when such changes can be achieved at no cost or allow money to be saved.

More on How to Take Effective Action to Curb Climate Change

More on An Open Thank You Note to the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers

Dear Sirs,

I note with interest that on August 18th 2008 your trade association, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, launched a new website at http://EcoDrivingUSA.com. I applaud the basic message that citizens of the United States of America would benefit from finding out more about EcoDriving techniques, and from then implementing such techniques themselves. However I must point out that I strongly object to the apparent attempt to secure the word EcoDriving as the trademark of the Auto Alliance. We have been using that word on our website at https://econnexus.org.uk to promote that very same message for a number of months now. Other web sites have been doing the same for considerably longer. I should be grateful if you would prevail upon the Auto Alliance to remove the offending symbol from the home page of EcoDrivingUSA.com at your earliest convenience.

More on An Open Letter to the Members of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers

Dear Sirs,

I note with interest that on August 18th 2008 you launched a new website at http://EcoDrivingUSA.com. I applaud your basic message that citizens of the United States of America would benefit from finding out more about EcoDriving techniques, and from then implementing such techniques themselves. However I must point out that I strongly object to your apparent attempt to secure the word EcoDriving as your trademark. We have been using that word on our website at https://econnexus.org.uk to promote that very same message for a number of months now. Other web sites have been doing the same for considerably longer. I should be grateful if you would remove the offending symbol from the home page of EcoDrivingUSA.com at your earliest convenience.

More on An Open Letter to the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers

We've finally made some progress with our open letter to the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. I had a very frustrating few days talking to unhelpful voicemails in Washington, and helpful receptionists in both Michigan and California who nonetheless assured me that I needed to talk to someone in Washington. First of all I managed to get to speak to Candace Robinson in their communications and public affairs department, rather than just her voicemail. She passed my message on to Wade Newton, who managed to call me back successfully after a couple of false starts.

More on Progress on our Open Letter to the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers.

Hot on the heels of the Auto Alliance announcement about their new EcoDrivingUSA.com website, AAM member Ford Motor Company announced yesterday that it has been testing the effects of EcoDriving training. According to Ford the volunteers who took part in their 4 day EcoDriver training improved their fuel economy by an average of 24%. The individual improvements among the 48 drivers, which were verified by the Sports Car Club of America, ranged from just 6% up to an impressive 50% and more. The Ford news release claims that the large range was due to individual improvement depending:

More on EcoDriving Can Save You a Quarter of Your Fuel

The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers has just launched a new website, catchily entitled EcoDrivingUSA.com. Slightly disconcertingly the home page assures us that:

What's known as "EcoDriving™" provides easy tips for getting the most mileage out of your vehicle.

Over here in Europe we've been using the word for years, so I can't say I'm awfully pleased to see the AAM claim EcoDriving as their trademark. We've even been using the phrase here on econnexus.org.uk for a couple of months. I guess we'll just have to wait and see if their lawyers get in touch.

More on EcoDriving Officially Launched in the USA

Today econnexus.org.uk announced their first three projects.

To help raise funds we have started two projects. The first is our 2009 Calendar, which we will start selling from December 1st 2008. Until then we will be running a competition to select 12 works of art to be included in the calendar. If you are a visual artist and you would like to find out more about entering the competition please take a look at the entry instructions and video at the econnexus 2009 calendar project page

More on The First Three econnexus Projects