Renault launches sustainable mobility website
The Renault-Nissan alliance is pushing forward perhaps harder than any other established automaker with its electric vehicle efforts. Between the French and Japanese, brands they plan to have as many as eight different battery electric vehicles in production in the next few years. In order to make sure that there is a demand for these zero emissions vehicles, the companies are actively involved in promotional and educational programs for the environment and more friendly vehicles.
The latest product of that is the new sustainable-mobility.org web-site. The site is dedicated to teaching drivers about a variety of ways that they can reduce their carbon footprint from car sharing, driving EVs and other behavioral changes. Renault will be producing a series of feature stories and documentaries focusing on different aspects of sustainability. Right now the front page features an interview with Jean-Yves Le Coz, the director of sustainable mobility for Renault.
[Source: Renault]
press release
RENAULT LAUNCHES ITS NEW WEBSITE ON SUSTAINABLE MOBILITY
Following the founding of the Renault ParisTech Sustainable Mobility Institute last September, Renault is underlining its commitment in this area with a new website: www.sustainable- mobility.org. Featuring web press reviews, interviews with sustainable mobility players and an interactive map showing good practices worldwide, the site is a means for Renault to reach web users interested in sustainable development.
Renault has developed a website to promote sustainable development and educate the public on its various facets. The site looks at new concepts such as car-sharing, multi-modality, new behaviours, and "soft" mobility. The aim of www.sustainable-mobility.org is to offer a complete panorama of the studies and initiatives undertaken worldwide on the mobility of the future.
The site features news pages, with a news feed, reviews of articles published on the web, and interviews with experts (researchers, heads of associations, scientists, public sector players, entrepreneurs, etc.). It also includes pages with a documentary focus such as "Issue of the Month", which takes an in-depth look at one particular topic. In the near future, the site will gain a "documentary resources" page, a sort of bibliography of sustainable mobility, that users will be able to add to. Last, the "Zero Emission Magazine" page gives visitors the latest news on electric vehicles at Renault.
All visitors are invited to contribute to an interactive map on "Worldwide Initiatives", which aims to gather information on the best sustainable development practices worldwide. At the same time, www.sustainable-mobility.org will naturally provide regular news on the ParisTech Sustainable Mobility Institute.
In order to reach a broader web audience, www.sustainable-mobility.org is also available in French on www.mobilite-durable.org as well as via Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
About the Sustainable Mobility Institute:
Last September, Renault, the Renault Foundation and ParisTech decided to found the Sustainable Mobility Institute, at the start of the 2009 university year. The aims of the cooperation between Renault engineers and teacher-researchers and students from ParisTech are to : - promote research into the design of innovative mobility systems, particularly those based on electric vehicles, - train top executives and scientists who, through their number and their skills, will be able to meet the needs of manufacturers in the transportation sector and rise to the scientific and technological challenges involved in developing sustainable transportation systems for the long term.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Alcoholocaust 2:30PM (11/10/2009)
"The site is dedicated to teaching drivers about a variety of ways that they can reduce their carbon footprint from car sharing, driving EVs and other behavioral changes. Renault will be producing a series of feature stories and documentaries focusing on different aspects of sustainability."
I have a simple suggestion for the people at the Sustainable Mobility institute: stop producing cars and start riding bicycles. That's a quick and easy way to preserve your mobility while saving the planet.
How is burning coal to produce electricity to recharge batteries any friendlier than pumping dino juice of the ground to burn in internal combustion engines? The hypocrites would like us to believe that we are "saving the earth" but the real motivation probably has more to do with the reality of peak oil than carbon emissions.
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ZE Mobility 2:54PM (11/10/2009)
Yes, most of our energy is produced from burning coal, but that doesn't mean that electric vehicles aren't a HUGE step in the right direction. Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither will a zero emission society. More and more energy is being produced by wind and solar every day. At some point down the road, I see all of our energy coming from clean, sustainable sources. That is the ultimate goal, but it takes time.
Mark Kiernan 3:09PM (11/10/2009)
Ok I live 25km from my place of work. I once cycled it and was nearly killed due to the terrible traffic system. I do not have an alternative but to drive.
If you do not know that an EV has something like 70% efficiency while an ICE has less than 30% then please google it before you post. I thought this was common knowledge.
Chris M 9:05PM (11/10/2009)
A stationary coal fired power plant uses efficiency boosting devices that are too large and heavy for mobile use, as a result the efficiency is much higher than for internal combustion car engines. Combine that high efficiency with the extraordinary efficiency of the electric grid and plug-in cars, and the result is less CO2 produced per mile driven than for equivalent gassers with their fuel production and distribution systems (remember, petroleum refineries use electricity, too).
Moreover, the use of coal for power production in the US is now under 50% and falling as more renewables come online. In California, over 40% of electricity comes from zero carbon renewable sources.
lne937s 2:49PM (11/10/2009)
"How is burning coal to produce electricity to recharge batteries any friendlier than pumping dino juice of the ground to burn in internal combustion engines?"
It is more efficient because the stationary coal generator-derived electricity charged EV is still produces 50% less CO2 than a comparable internal combustion car- the process is much more efficient. If renewables are used for the majority of electricity production (like most of western Europe and some US states), the numbers only get better.
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