Statistics issued to The Age show the 907,851 new cars, utes, vans and four-wheel-drives sold last year had average emissions of 218.5 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre driven.

That was a fall of 1.8 per cent from the 222.4 grams per kilometre emitted by vehicles sold in 2008, the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries reports.

The statistics show the biggest improvement was among luxury four-wheel-drives, where average emissions fell by 5.8 per cent. Other significant improvements were recorded by medium-sized four-wheel-drives and ”upper large” passenger vehicles which are increasingly using cylinder deactivation technology in their eight-cylinder engines.

But the environmental performance of the popular people-mover category was not as good, with average carbon emissions rising 1 per cent to 246.2 grams.

Vehicles contribute about one-tenth of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions and the federal government is considering introducing mandatory carbon emission standards for new cars.

- with Fairfax Newspapers

Interestingly, there is an association in Australia called the Australian Electric Vehicle Association.

The association says on its website that most of its members have or are interested in buying or converting petrol powered cars to high efficiency, zero emission electric cars.

For $130,000 you can go on a long waiting list, for a 200kmph imported car, that can accelerate from 0-100km in less than 5 seconds and travel more than 300km for less $10 . 00 of electricity.

Or, at the lower end of the scale, for approximately $15,000 you can convert a petrol powered car to an electric car that can accelerate from 0-100kmph in less than 10 seconds and travel more than 50km daily for less than $2 of electricity.

Electric cars have been around since 1837 but it hasn’t been taken too seriously until recently.

In LA, where smog is a problem, it has forced the world’s major car makers to switch to an electric option.

Electric cars produce no exhaust gases and can greatly help the noise levels of our cities. More importantly for the green fans, they use 50 to 60 per cent less energy than conventional cars.

Vehicle importer Ateco Automotive told brisbanetimes.com.au that it plans to have an electric car on sale in Australia by 2011.

The Chinese electric car looks set to go on sale in Australia by next year, likely to join Mitsubishi and Nissan in the race for emissions free motoring.

The Australian importer of Chinese brands Great Wall Motors and Chery, Ateco, says it expects to be selling an electric car here by 2011.

“I think we’ll have an electric car in 011 – I can’t comment any further,” says Ateco governing director Neville Crichton to the Brisbane Times.
“I’ll be surprised if the Chinese makers don’t come out with an electric car in a very short period of time.”

The government are looking for a family to live rent free while blogging their thoughts on this three bedroom house in Newington that comes with solar roof top panels, a fuel cell that converts natural gas into electricity, water saving appliances, state-of-the-art lighting and a worm farm.

An electric car is an added bonus.

Sydney Water and Energy Australia are asking for applications for those who wish to trial the green way of life in this smart home.

They are hoping for tenants by around mid year.

“This is a groundbreaking project that will help us see what works and what doesn’t for a real family so that we can plan for the households of the future,” Energy Minister John Robertson said in a statement.

- with AAP

The rebate program introduced by the government has been in for around four months.

While Australians want their houses to be cooler in the hot summer months, electricians warn that they are turning houses into potential death traps.

Federal environment minister Peter Garrett said that safety was a priority.

“Metallic foil is conductive and when installed incorrectly, without undertaking the mandatory risk assessments and in breach of clear program requirements, this product can be dangerous,” the minister said in a statement today.

He said there was still evidence of installers using dangerous practices, despite a ban last year on the use of metal fasteners for foil insulation.

“That is why we have taken steps today to suspend the use of foil under this program,” he said.

“Based on the outcome of these discussions I will consider what additional steps will be required if foil insulation is to remain eligible for a rebate under the Home Insulation Program,” he said.

“As I have said consistently, safety is the absolute priority under this program.”

- with theage.com.au

This year is the 20th anniversary of Clean Up Australia Day and the charity organisation is hoping to make it the biggest ever – with your help!

Sunday March 7 is Clean Up Australia Day but there are separate days for businesses and schools.

Business Clean Up Day is on Tuesday March 2 and School Clean Up Day is on Friday March 5.

Below is some information on how to get involved in this unique day.

You can help by simply picking up one or two wrappers – or by picking up countless amounts of rubbish.

Many people every year get involved to help keep our country clean.

There are also business and individual and team initiatives. Here is how to join from cleanupaustraliaday.org.au

Organising a Clean Up Site

1. Create a site
Select a site in your local area that you think needs a Clean Up. Local councils may be able to assist you to identify a potential site. Register on cleanupaustralia.com.au

Unfortunately our website doesn’t hold information on registrations from previous years, so even if you have taken past before, you will need to enter all your details to ensure your site is fully registered.

2. Receive your Clean Up Kit
Once you have registered we will send you a Clean Up Kit containing everything you need for your event. 

3. Promote your Clean Up site to attract volunteers
Read the site guide in your Clean Up kit for ideas on how to promote your site and download additional materials.

4. Preparation for your Clean Up event
Read the site guide in your Clean Up kit for information on how to prepare for your event and make sure conduct a site inspection beforehand, ensuring you have implemented any risk controls.

He is loving life growing dope in the backyard of his house on the northern beaches with around 500 plants.

Welcome to Australia’s first licensed industrial hemp crop to be grown in an urban area.

Friar is no dealer and told The Age directly.

“I’d prefer you didn’t publish exactly where we are,” he says.

“Even though this is no good for smoking, you can imagine what would happen if people found out.”

The Friars believe hemp can be used from food to fabrics to building materials.

They are also in the initial stages of teaching farmers how to grow hemp crops.

”In the early 1800s, Australia was twice saved from famine by eating virtually nothing but hemp seed for protein and hemp leaves for roughage,” Wendy Friar said.

“As a grandfather several times over, I am championing this now as the answer to a lot of our sustainability problems. We just have to lose the baggage we have about hemp, and approach it in a more mature way

Her Free the Bears fund is living proof of the difference that one person can make.

In just seven years the Fund has helped free 600 asian bears on the streets of India and given them a new lease of life.

At the start of it all she had the support of 130,000 other Australian animal lovers and the Fund was born with every cent of the $2000 needed to rescue each bear coming from the charity.

“I don’t really know what part of me [the story of the bears] touched, but it did move something deep within me,” Hutton told The Age ”I didn’t know this was happening. I didn’t realise bears were in farms having bile taken, I thought they were happily playing in the jungle. It annoyed me so much to think I didn’t know.”

“I had no idea about sun bears, and I asked ‘what do they do to bears in the restaurant trade?’ ” Hutton says. “When I found out they cut their paws off, I was horrified; so that’s really when it all started.”

There is also an option to pay to offset your greenhouse gas emissions if needed and this is all about the greenly way of life.

It means it is your chance to help the planet particularly if you’re a frequent flyer.

The less baggage you take on the plane means that you are helping the plane fly easier which eases the greenhouse gas emissions from the plane.

It makes life easier for the plane, the earth and yourself; although you may have to reduce your baggage.

There is a surcharge payment for those who wish to purchase baggage which helps people reduce the amount of baggage they carry on the plane.

The surcharge is generally an extra $20 on top of the flight charge.

This never used to happen and many people would carry as many kilos as they want on the plane.

Now aircrafts around the world have taken on these rules to help save the planet.

Municipal officials want to boost the number of cyclists by 25 per cent during the next five-year plan, the state media reported.

The modern passion for cars has meant that pollution has risen to an almighty high on the streets.

The Age reported that last year China overtook the US as the world’s biggest car market: about a million new vehicles a month pour on to the roads.

Since the 2008 Olympics, there have been revamped rules only to drive on certain days. But this has still failed to ease the congestion that has been an ongoing problem for years.

The Xinhua news agency said the Government hoped to improve the infrastructure for cyclists, including restored bicycle lanes and new rental programs providing 50,000 bikes for hire by 2015.

However, locals were sceptic about bicycles being the answer.

”Fewer and fewer of my friends ride bicycles, but the interesting thing is they don’t drive cars either,” Jiamin Zhao told The Age, an internet entrepreneur who still cycles his child to school each morning

This is to access the state’s new solar feed in tariff.

There are thousands of Victorians and Australians around the country that have solar panels installed.

From July, power companies must pay people the full rate of 60 cents per kilowatt hour to comply with the solar tariff legislation, the Government said.

Energy Australia, the largest distributor in NSW, said it would provide the new meters free but people would not start receiving their solar tariff money until they are installed at the customer’s expense.

”You need the gross meter to be paid under the gross system,” a spokesman, Anthony O’Brien told The Age.

”However, we don’t anticipate that anyone will be in that scenario as long as they take the right steps to talk to a licensed electrician and have the meter installed.”

“We will have meters that have been configured for the gross payment in stock from mid- to late February,” Mr O’Brien said. “As soon as customers have those meters installed we will be able to pay them 60 cents gross from that date. We’ve been working hard to whittle the transitional time down to enable the customer to get the maximum benefit.”