Gecko Adventures – Kenya

Gecko Adventures offers tours in 50 countries with a Kenya holiday perhaps being the most popular. Concentrating on the younger traveller, Gecko offers fun, independent holidays with some structure but a lot of free time to go off and explore on your own. Utilizing local guides who are fluent in English, Gecko Adventures offers stops at all of the popular tourist sites but also hot spots that the locals frequent. While in Kenya, you will stay in small, locally owned guest houses.

Gecko Adventures Eco Tour

True Luxury Tours – Rajasthan, India

While on your eco-tour of Rajasthan, you will visit and stay at the Jalore Wildlife Sanctuary. The sanctuary is the only privately owned wildlife sanctuary in India and, while in the sanctuary, you will be able to view endangered wildlife that True Luxury Tours is working hard to protect. The tour groups are very small with a limit of six travellers per group. Perhaps the ultimate in eco-friendly accommodations, you will be staying in a campsite in the core of the jungle complete with bathrooms, running water and electricity. 40% of all monies received from guests are put back into the sanctuary and 2% into the village itself.

Rajasthan Wildlife Sanctuary

La Brande – France

The La Brande holiday tours are twofold: a vacation and a learning experience. While in La Brande, you will take ‘class’ each day, learning things such as permaculture, bushcraft, woodland skills and rural crafts. Located near St Gourson, La Brande is surrounded by picturesque villages, wonderful small cafes and restaurants and wineries are just a short distance away by car or train. Refreshments are provided during the day but you will be on your own for any other meals.

La Brande Eco Vacations

When booking your next holiday, do consider an eco-tour. While reducing your carbon footprint, you will also be contributing to the livelihood of local residents and business people who often depend on the tourism trade for economic stability. As eco-tours become more popular, they are becoming much easier to find; contact your local travel agent for assistance in setting up your eco-holiday.

March 10, 2011 was a special day for Toyota – it was the day the company announced that more than 3 million Toyota hybrid vehicles had been sold worldwide. Toyota started selling hybrid vehicles way back in August 1997. That first hybrid was the Coaster Hybrid bus. The soon to be best selling Toyota Prius came onto the market a short while later in December 1997. At first, sales were slow – it took nearly ten years for Toyota to sell a million hybrid vehicles. But after that, sales began to speed up. It took just two years for Toyota to reach its two million mark, and another twenty-one months to hit the third million. The sales achievement provides even more support to the prediction that gas-electric hybrid vehicles will be an important part of our environmentally sustainable future.

Toyota’s Hybrid Future

Today, Toyota’s most popular hybrid model is the Prius, – more than 70% of all the hybrids sold by Toyota are Priuses. Some of the other Toyota hybrids available include the Camry Hybrid, Highlander Hybrid, and several hybrid Lexus models. In total, Toyota offers sixteen different hybrid vehicles for sale in over eighty countries and regions. But Toyota doesn’t plan to stop there – by 2012, the company wants to have introduced another six new hybrid vehicles and four redesigned hybrids. Toyota wants to get to a point where they sell a million hybrid vehicles per year, and with their current sales figures, it looks like they might get there pretty soon.

Competitors Are Struggling to Keep Up

Last year, Toyota sold 690,000 hybrid vehicles worldwide. Honda did pretty well in the same time period but still came up short with only 610,000 vehicles. 5,790 of those hybrids sold by Toyota were in North America. In contrast, Nissan was only able to sell 1,900 in the same region and time period.

The Early Bird Gets the Worm

Toyota certainly seems to be king of the hybrid market these days – and it doesn’t look like that’s going to change anytime soon. By starting earlier than many other car companies (the Prius was the first mass produced hybrid vehicle ever), Toyota has the edge and a great reputation. Toyota has been in the hybrid car business for fourteen years, and has a pretty good idea of what consumers want and how to market that successfully. In a world where gas and oil prices are front-page headlines, hybrid vehicles are just going to keep on becoming more and more desirable.

The Evolution of the Prius

Check out our photo gallery showing how the Prius has evolved from one its earliest models in 1998 to last years 2010 model;

This guest post was written by Lewis from Car Rental Express where you can rent specialty vehicles including a range of Hybrids;

1.       Environment

This is a biggie.  The main reason most consumers look into eco-friendly vehicles is because of a growing concern about the damage we are doing to the environment by continuing to burn fossil fuels for transportation.  You might not even realize the many ways in which this pollution is affecting you.  The big picture is global warming, which has caused extreme weather patterns to emerge over the last couple of decades (hurricanes, blizzards, El Niño, oh my!).  On a smaller scale, asthma (and other respiratory disorders), allergies, and the occurrence of cancers are on the rise, and no one can deny that hydrocarbons emitted in exhaust are at least partially to blame.  Think about that while you idle in gridlock.

2.       Cost

Because of the rise in demand for hybrid vehicles, there are now options available in almost every price range (although electric vehicles still tend to be on the pricy side).  But what is more relevant is how much money they can save you at the pump.  Even if you shell out a little more initially to buy the hybrid version of a vehicle, you are going to get that money back (and then some) every time you don’t have to put gas in your car.  Although opponents argue that you spend just as much on electricity, that certainly isn’t true for hybrid vehicles (which get their charge from excess energy produced during braking), and according to a 2007 study by the non-profit Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), the electricity needed to charge a vehicle is equivalent to $0.75 per gallon at the pump, so you’re saving quite a bit.

3.       Features

The real worry amongst consumers looking at eco-friendly vehicles is a loss of certain features, mainly acceleration and speed.  But with new advances cropping up almost daily, modern hybrid and electric cars are largely on par with their gasoline counterparts, to the point that most drivers wouldn’t notice any difference.

4.       Innovation

One of the best reasons to buy a green automobile has to do with speaking through your consumer dollars.  Right now, the biggest innovations in the automotive industry are happening with hybrid vehicles, and by purchasing one, you are saying that you want these advances to continue.  Take for example the solar roof panels that have been developed to run a fan that keeps a car’s interior cool even while the vehicle is off.  This innovation likely would not have come about without consumer support for green vehicles.

5.       Future

There is very real concern about our ability to live on this planet in the future if we continue to pollute at the rate we have been.  For this reason, it is important to do your part to protect the Earth.  You’ll not only be doing a favor for future generations, but for your own health, today and down the road.

Sarah Danielson writes for car insurance comparison where you can find cheap car insurance rates that will suit your needs.

If you saw a big shiny SUV on the streets of, let’s say Los Angeles, or any other North American or European city 25 years ago you would definitely turn your head to the expensive extravaganza that these heavy, four wheel drive vehicles then posed in a dense metropolitan traffic consisting of light sedans and minivans. Nowadays, the eye-catchers are a regular part of the traffic throughout most of the western civilization. These routinely three ton monsters often don’t drive a single unpaved road their whole lifetime, serving their drivers as a one person commute vehicle.

SUVs Are No Longer Tolerated For the Single Person Commute

These huge SUVs are classified as “trucks” by the U.S. authorities, and when used commercially, they classify for a big federal tax break and you can write them off instantly. They may also get a state tax break and are actually too big for the federal gas guzzler tax and exempt from other passenger car standards. Besides these obvious advantages of having a real “truck” at home, almost nobody seems to notice that these cars are actually in most cases heavier than 6,000 pounds, which makes them illegal to drive on thousands of miles of roads within residential areas and across many small bridges. One of the most glaring examples are L.A.’s famous neighbourhoods of Santa Monica, Beverly Hills and Pasadena, which are full of “6,000 pound limit” signs and also luxurious SUVs.

It all began in 1992 when California’s ex-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger convinced then-producer AM General to sell a consumer version of the Humvee military vehicle as The Hummer. Maybe only a symptom of the beginning craze, this behemoth was bought by an army of celebrities and SUVs started to be a trendy show-off for the horsepower-hungry middle to high class population. Too bad for the pedestrians, roads, parking lots and the environment.

Humvee, H1, Hummer, Hmmmm

Image by MSVG

Car manufacturers were happy, and so were the oil companies, which supplied gasoline for these gas-guzzlers. The film “Who Killed The Electric Car?” speaks about the alleged corrupt practices of car manufacturers, oil companies and officials who prevented California’s attempts to change the vehicle technologies for the green. Then, when The Global Economic Crisis around 2008 put an end to this trend as people started to realize the inefficiency of such a behavior and started looking for smaller, even green electric/hybrid cars for use in the city, the manufacturers started to have big trouble. The U.S. government lent $25bn to them and few noticed that it cost the already troubled federal budget another $7.5bn. Car-makers in Europe demanded a similar €40bn loan. All this for the sake of investment in new environmental technologies. And the lobbying continues to this day.

After postponing several times, the EU finally announced a CO2 emission target of 120g/km by the year 2012 compulsory for all the car manufacturers. Not surprisingly, the target was eased to 130g/km with a raised contribution of controversial bio fuels after heavy industry lobbying.

“Fortunately, low, or even zero emission cars are starting to show muscle”

Some governments, like Norway’s or Sweden’s took it so far as to actually propose laws to ban only-gas vehicles to be sold in their countries after 2015. While a heated debate continues in these pioneering countries, cities all over Europe started to fight traffic congestion in their cores with a green approach.

In Paris, older diesel cars and SUVs are targeted by a new policy, which will put restrictions on cars that are big contributors to green house gases by the year 2012. The officials say that SUVs in a city make no sense and people should replace them with city-compatible cars. Lyon, Grenoble and Aix-en-Provence are among other cities which plan to introduce similar bans.

London has already started its fight with congestion with a scheme that charges £10 (about $15.50) for the entrance into the larger city centre within working hours.  The only vehicles to pass free (except double-deckers and black taxis, obviously) are zero-emission vehicles. This regulation has started a small revolution inside London. Thousands of commuters started to buy small, slow, fibreglass and wholly-electric G-Wiz cars in 2004. While struggling with major concerns about the safety of these vehicles, this revamped version of India’s Reva was bought by many movie stars, politicians and other celebrities following a period of media sensation. The car itself is actually a neighbourhood electric vehicle with a “quadricycle” classification so it’s not required to undergo crash tests given its low top speed of 45 to 50 miles an hour.

The REVA Electric Car

The impact of this phenomenal vehicle was great, making businesses all over London set up free parking and installing charging points, which led to the setting up of UK’s first National Charging Network for electric cars. Even today it remains popular and other manufacturers are gearing up to put a competitor on the market, including Honda, Renault, Peugeot and even BMW.

If you would like to read more about electric cars available in 2011, we recommend the Clean Fleet Report on 2011 electric vehicles.

Julie Kinnear is a Toronto MLS expert, green enthusiast and occasional charity volunteer.

I now live here in North Texas and am surrounded by SUV’s and Trucks, however, the recession brought with it an influx of cost and fuel efficient vehicles from the European market.

The Ford Fiesta is now available here in America and my wonderful mother in law decided to buy one for several reasons;

• They look great, very cute appearance (especially in Lime Squeeze Metallic Green!!!)
• Although small they have lots of interior room and cargo space
• They’re fuel efficient without the higher cost of being a Hybrid technology
• High safety ratings, important for traveling with a new grandson on board!

It was with much anticipation that I waited for this new addition to the family but it arrived at our home yesterday and I proceeded to take lots of photos;

How Green is the New Ford Fiesta?

Answer: Very Green... Especially in the Lime Squeeze Metallic Color!

A Deceptively Large Cargo Space Hides Under the Hatch Back

A Large Trunk Provides Ample Cargo Space

Stylish Lines Make the Fiesta a Contender to Minis and Bugs!

Cool Headlights and a Nice Grill

Wasp-Like Headlights Add to the Cute Factor!

OK, so we’ve ogled at the pretty pictures but what about facts? Under the hood of this sparkling sedan lies a Performance 1.6L Ti-VCT Duratec® I4 Engine which features twin independent variable-cam timing! So what does that mean in terms of fuel economy?

“The pint-sized engine provides a projected class-leading 40 mpg highway which comes close to some of the hybrid technologies.”

So what about safety? The new Ford Fiesta features seven standard airbags including a driver’s knee airbag. The seven standard airbags add up to more than any other car in its class.

Coming back to fuel economy, drivers have reported figures of 29 miles per gallon in the city and 40 on the highway but these could be higher with fuel conscious driving habits.

The Ford Fiesta also boasts many aerodynamic design characteristics that help minimize air resistance and increase fuel efficiency, such as the aero-shaped body-mounted mirrors and the line cut into the rear tail-lamps.

The optional Super Fuel Economy Package offers additional aerodynamic details such as under-body shields and blockers on the lower grille.

All of this adds up to make the new Ford Fiesta the most fuel economic sub-compact car according to FuelEconomy.gov

Overall we think the new Ford Fiesta is extremely green, both in looks and under the hood, so what are you waiting for? Go trade in that clunker for a new green Fiesta!

The Metallic "Lime Squeeze" Paint Sparkles in Sunlight

View Our Green Ford Fiesta Gallery;

Top 5 Eco Friendly Cars

When it comes to buying an eco-friendly car, even self-proclaimed greenies may pause at the thought of a vehicle that simply doesn’t perform like its gas-powered competitors.  There is definitely a stigma attached to cars that eschew standard petroleum locomotion and opt for electricity instead.  However, the debate over distance and acceleration seems to be coming to an end with newer models improving dramatically in areas that drivers have been complaining about for the past few years.  Of course, the savings on gas doesn’t hurt, either.  But it’s really the eco-friendly values encompassed by these cars that have people choosing them over heavy polluters.  Here are a few that may fit the bill if you’re looking to buy something with a smaller carbon tire-track.

1. Volkswagen Jetta TDI

This car is neither a hybrid nor an electric, but it does have one eco-friendly feature.  It uses a fuel-efficient diesel engine rather than regular gas, which means you will not only save some pennies at the pump, you will also spew less harmful emissions when you travel.  The mileage is conservatively estimated at 34 mpg (although some users claim up to 50 highway) and with a price tag around $23,000, it beats out the similar Audi A3 by upwards of $7,000.  Although this car is not entirely green, it’s what we call a good start.

Diesel Powered Fuel Economy in the Volkswagen Jetta TDI

2. Toyota Prius

This once-great car company has definitely taken a hit with their recent recalls, but they seem to be bounding back with a safer-than-ever lineup (and great prices meant to boost sales again).  The Prius has long been touted as one of the best hybrids on the market, and with 50 mpg and a cost of just over $20,000, you could do a lot worse than to give your patronage to a company that looks to be coming back better than ever.

Consistently A Star Performing Eco Auto - The Toyota Prius

3. Ford Fusion Hybrid

This stateside hybrid costs a bit less than the Prius (by about a grand) and gets approximately ten less miles per gallon, but what you get in exchange is something that many American drivers will appreciate: more leg room.  One of the top-selling hybrids on the market, this offering from Ford will make up for what it lacks in fuel economy (as compared to other in its class) with more comfort in the cab.

Ford Fusion Hybrid - Eco Motoring with Comfort and Space

4. Nissan Leaf

This fully electric car is one of the few affordable options on the market.  Although the latest model looks a little bug-eyed, it has a range of about 100 miles per charge (a bit less for city, a bit more for highway) and starts at around $33,000.  It’s not the best on the market in terms of range and acceleration, but it certainly boasts a fantastic price (and some nice features like Bluetooth, nav, iPod hookup, and satellite radio).

The Nissan Leaf - Next Generation Electric Car

Nissan Leaf Image by Tom Raftery

5. Tesla Roadster

The penultimate driving experience when it comes to 100% electric, the Tesla Roadster makes the competition look like chumps.  Of course, it will run you a bit over $100,000 to pick up one of these little beauties, but with 245 miles per charge, 288 horsepower, and acceleration of 0-60 in 3.7 seconds, it’s the one electric vehicle that will absolutely blow you away.

The Tesla Roadster - Style and Beuaty with Eco Friendliness Combined

Tesla Roadster image by randomduck

Sarah Danielson writes for Cheap Car Insurance where you can compare rates and the find the best deals on auto insurance.

The idea behind the technology is that the Garmin GPS unit can track how fast you accelerate / decelerate and how fast you are driving, how much fuel you have used based on your vehicle MPG rating and then it can give you feedback on how efficient your driving style is…

Garmin Eco Route

The whole idea behind the Garmin Eco Route is to promote a greener driving style and actually give the driver constant feedback on how efficiently they are driving…

I Can Now Use Eco Route for Greener Driving

The Garmin Eco Route was really easy to setup, I just had to click on the Eco Route icon and then go into the Vehicle Profile page to add my vehicles miles per gallon ratings…

The Eco Route Setup Menu - Easy to Use

The Vehicle Profile page allows the user to input the average city and highway miles per gallon for your vehicle;

The Vehicle Settings Page

The first time through the Vehicle Settings Page I had to enter the Fuel Type for my vehicle then the City fuel economy and Highway fuel economy. I have a Ford F-150 and it isn’t a very fuel efficient vehicle but I can at least modify my driving style to boost the green factor!

Once I had setup my vehicle info and dialed in the cost of unleaded gas in our area I was ready to go. I drove to and from work with the Garmin Eco Route giving me constant feedback on how “green” my driving style was. A leaf appeared on the GPS display which turned green if I was driving efficiently and then amber and red if I wasn’t driving efficiently!

My First Garmin Eco Route Report!

The report gave me some very interesting facts about my daily commute. I was surprised to see that I actually spent close to 2 hours driving and that it cost me about $7 in gas! I had never actually calculated how much I spend each day on gas each day but it did shock me. My average fuel economy was only 17.2 which is pretty bad but still better than most trucks.

My carbon footprint from just one day of commuting was 58 lbs of CO2 which again shocked me. The huge carbon footprint generated by vehicles everyday is indeed a great reason to buy a Hybrid or completely electric vehicle!

My First Eco Route Stats

So how green was my driving? You can see above that I made three separate journeys throughout the day and my best score was an 81% green rating. The Garmin gave me advice that I could maximize my score by accelerating and decelerating smoothly and by maintaining a constant speed wherever possible.

Over the next couple of weeks I will be trying to modify my driving style to beat that 81% score! Watch this space to see if I can improve and be a greener driver.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jdvolcan/ / CC BY 2.0

My Driving Is Going to be Much Greener Now

Do you have any eco driving tips? Leave us a comment with your favorite green driving style tips…

Once I realized that the red light stopping me from getting home was in fact a new super efficient traffic LED light system I suddenly didn’t mind staring at a red light!

I Love Traffic LED Lights - Red but Green!

This new breed traffic lights is made from groups of LEDs which are literally electric diodes that produce light! They are extremely energy efficient and have a very long life. LEDs are very small (smaller than your little finger tip) so in order to get the required brightness for a street light there have to be lots of them grouped closely together. The old incandescent traffic lights were typically 50 – 150 Watts which means they consumed alot of electricity! There are numerous advantages to using LED traffic lights including;

• LEDs are brighter and can be seen in bright sunlight as well as foggy conditions and through heavy rain.
• LEDs don’t have to be replaced as often as the old incandescent or halogen style bulbs.
• LEDs use far less energy saving big cities lots of electricity and money!

How to Spot an LED Traffic Light

So how much electricity does a new LED traffic light system save?
In a traffic light group (normally three lights) one of them is always on, 24 hours a day, 7 days week! The old 100 watt incandescent bulbs used 2.4 kilowatt-hours per day. Lets assume power costs 10 cents per kilowatt-hour, this means that one traffic signal costs about 24 cents a day to operate, or about $87 per year. There are perhaps eight signals per intersection, so that’s almost $700 per year to supply traffic lights to a single intersection!
LED bulbs might consume 15 or 20 watts instead of 100 so a big city can easily save a million dollars a year by replacing all of the bulbs with LED units.

So next time you are driving home and get caught at a red light, take a look and see whether it is made of lots of tiny red (but green) LED lights and give your city a virtual pat on the back for saving money and more importantly, energy!

If you want to learn more about LED traffic lights check out this “enlightening” video!

Step 1: Fill in your destination and use the “Get Directions” option to add your start address, for example, my wife and I recently went to Fredericksburg (which is a great little town) and here are our directions by car;

Google Walking Maps - Step 1

Step 2: Pick the “Walking” option from the drop down list and click “Get Directions” again;

Selecting the Google Walking Maps Directions

There are a few things to note, the first thing is that this is still in development and there is a note to use caution as the route may be missing some sidewalks or pedestrian paths. The second thing to note is that it would have taken us about 3 days and 1 hour to get to Fredericksburg if we had walked, but we would have saved all our gas money and been the greenest visitors around!

I looked at the new Ford Fusion hybrid and was really impressed with its design, features and most of all great fuel economy… But my practical side just kept on fighting back, we have five dogs at home and will soon have kids too, the Ford Fusion is just too small for one dog, let alone five dogs and a few kiddos! So what were my other options? I found several larger hybrids such as the Ford Escape hybrid but the starting prices for the Escape range were out of my league, even further out of reach were SUVs like the GMC Yukon hybrid. After weeks of inner turmoil I just couldn’t find a car, truck or SUV that was green, affordable and practical. It was clear that I would have to compromise somewhere.

image by Jety

My decision process was forced by the fact that I took a week off work to do some much needed yard work and I set myself a goal of getting the new vehicle before returning to work. I had to think long and hard about what would be the right vehicle for myself and for my Texas sized family! After much debate I finally decided on a new Ford truck and here are my reasons;

1. Our family does alot of DIY and a truck is awesome for hauling project materials
2. A truck with normal cloth seats and no fancy leather is ideal for taking sick dogs to the vet and catching spilled kids drinks etc.
3. In Texas a truck is a safety feature! The highways are full of people in large trucks and if you get hit by one you sure want to be in a large vehicle too!
4. It was cheap!!! The recession has hit us the same as everyone and a big part of my decision was to get my monthly truck payments down. The dealership I went to had amazing rebates and low finance rates so it just made sense. The hybrid vehicles had zero rebates or incentives available and were far more expensive.

So those are my reasons (or perhaps excuses!) for buying a truck. To offset my guilty conscience I am doing some extra things to reduce my environmental impact;

1. I have completely changed my driving habits. I now accelerate and brake far less aggressively and I have noticed a huge difference in gas usage.
2. I am going to get all the windows tinted and a sun visor to keep the truck cooler when it’s parked. In Texas those things make a huge difference and a cooler truck means less use of gas guzzling Air Conditioning.
3. I am switching off the Air Conditioning in my truck whenever possible to save gas (I hope my wife can cope with me smelling like Scarborough Fair!)
4. I am going to use my truck to take larger household items to recycling centers.

I totally respect anyone that drives a hybrid vehicle and I do hope one day to own one. If money was not a factor I would definitely own a hybrid for my daily commute to and from work. I hope our green readers can forgive me for owning a truck and I would love to hear your feedback / thoughts on the issue.

Please leave a comment, have you also struggled with the practicalities of owning a hybrid versus a truck or SUV?