VANOC, the organizing committee for the 2010 Olympic Winter and Paralympic Games, has placed a high priority on sustainability to make these the ‘greenest Olympic Games ever.’ Efforts to reduce the 2010 Games’ carbon footprint ranges from heating the Athletes’ Village with waste heat from municipal wastewater to using the heat produced by an ice rink’s refrigeration plant to heat an aquatics pool.

Vancouver is home to fuel cell manufacturer Ballard Power Systems and also the northern terminus of the Hydrogen Highway running up North America’s West Coast. Thus, the games are also being used as a venue to demonstrate hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and technology.

A fleet of 20 fuel cell buses is being operated by BC Transit in Whistler, the site of many Olympic events. These fuel cell buses are built by New Flyer Industries of Winnipeg and operate on fuel cells provided by Ballard Power Systems, with hydrogen storage provided by Dynetek Industries in Calgary. The hybrid drive system came from ISE Corp. in San Diego, California. Each low floor bus can carry 60 people and has a top speed of about 55 mph. The buses are twice as efficient as diesel powered counterparts and have zero tailpipe emissions.

B.C. Transit’s new $89.5 million Whistler Transit Centre offers…. (more…)

The much anticipated 2011 Ford Fiesta is full of pleasant surprises, not the least of which is best-in-class fuel economy. At its official North American unveiling at the recent Los Angeles Auto Show, Ford announced a projected highway fuel economy of 40 mpg and 30 mpg in the city cycle. For comparison, that’s 4 mpg better than the Kia Rio and Hyundai Accent, 5 mpg better than the Honda Fit, and 6 mpg better than the Nissan Versa. All these are competitive “B” Class subcompacts.

Ford last sold the feisty first-generation Fiesta here in 1980 after introducing it in 1978 as an economical solution to the 1970s oil woes. Unfortunately, Ford stopped importing the Fiesta when it launched its new ‘world car’ – the 1981 Ford Escort. After a 30 year hiatus the Ford Fiesta is finally back…and the 2011 model was worth the wait. The new sixth-generation model destined for North American buyers will be built at Ford’s Cuautitlán, Mexico assembly plant.

The new Fiesta will be offered in two body styles…… (more…)

At the 2010 Chicago Auto Show today Ford revealed its 2011 Edge crossover. In addition to a facelift and some new interior technology, Ford’s next iteration of the popular Edge will get one green tweak that is beginning to spread across all of Ford’s lineup: an EcoBoost engine.

Ford only just started its rollout of EcoBoost engine technology last year on four vehicles—the Ford Taurus SHO, Ford Flex, Lincoln MKS, and Lincoln MKT—but that was just the beginning. The company has set its sights on making EcoBoost available in 90% of its vehicles by 2013.

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