Swedish govt offers cash reward to green car buyers

March 30, 2007
Associated Press

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) — Swedes who buy an environmentally friendly car will get a 10,000 kronor (euro1,100; US$1,400) cash award from the government, the environment minister said Thursday.

The offer, starting next month and lasting through 2009, is part of the government’s push to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

“The environmental advantages should be felt in the heart, but also in the wallet,” Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren said.

The government expects the move to spur the sale of so-called green cars by 10-15 percent. Those cars include gasoline-driven vehicles that release less than 120 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer, electrical cars and vehicles running on alternative fuels.

As of 2012, the European Union plans to lower emissions limits for new cars to 130 grams of CO2 per kilometer.

Sweden-based carmaker Volvo, which is owned by Ford Motor Co., criticized the government’s proposal, saying it will favor makers of smaller cars because those are typically more fuel efficient.

“It’s up to them to reach the requirements that have been set globally. But yes, small cars isn’t really their market,” government spokesman Tomas Uddin said about Volvo’s concerns.

Carlgren said the government will earmark around 250 million kronor (euro27 million; US$36 million) for the project, which needs lawmakers’ approval.

In February, the EU proposed its 2012 plan of lower emissions limits for new cars, but it also called for increased use of biofuels and cleaner fossil fuels, meant to reduce current car emission levels by 25 percent — even lower than the 130 gram limit. Voluntary emission targets that are already in place call for 140 grams per kilometer by 2008.

http://news.asiaone.com/a1news/20070330_story4_1.html

SOMETHING WORTH CONSIDERING FOR SINGAPORE. DO WE GET CASH REWARDS FOR BUYING GREEN HDB FLATS ?

S’pore MP’s comments on jealous neighbours ‘shallow’

Mar 30, 2007
The Straits Times

KUALA LUMPUR – THE recent comments by a Singapore MP that Malaysia was jealous of Singapore’s progress was a shallow view, said Foreign Ministry parliamentary secretary Ahmad Shabery Cheek yesterday.
He told Parliament that the remarks were unwarranted as Malaysia believes that the success of a neighbouring country is beneficial to Malaysia itself.

Mr Ahmad Shabery was speaking in reference to a comment by Singapore MP Ong Chit Chung earlier this month in Parliament.

Dr Ong said the claim by a Johor official that Singapore had caused floods in the state with its reclamation works was ridiculous, adding that Singapore’s neighbours were jealous of its success.

Mr Ahmad Shabery said yesterday bilateral relations were still ‘haunted’ by unsettled issues and historical ties.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak said the proposed bullet train linking Kuala Lumpur and Singapore is likely to be developed and financed by the private sector.

He said the YTL Group must do a feasibility study and submit its findings.

http://news.asiaone.com/st/st_20070330_105623.html

WOW BULLET TRAIN LINKING KL TO SINGAPORE ! THEY SHOULD CONSIDER LINKING IT TO OTHER ASIA PACIFIC COUNTRIES LIKE THAILAND AND VIETNAM TOO !

Can anybody just put your comments to the articles posted ? Let’s have an open discussion regarding all these issues regardless of whether it is oil,energy,environmental,politics,our neighbours etc…. This will encourage more people to contribute their comments. I am getting sick of just posting and posting with 0 comments !!!!!

Jimmy, I had to clarify that my blog is basically non-political theme which can easily be targeted by internal security act to close it down. I do not want this to be political discussion…these should be done in the public forums. (Not linking to any individual)

Those I feel that it’s worth placing in the main articles are mostly energy related and recently to find out Global warming is not caused mainly by human CO2…make me think twice about placing Global warming issue in the blog as well.
See: Link

The objective now is to seek not Cleaner fuel but cheap renewable fuel that does no harm to pockets and environment…

Biofuels, Ethanol, and more…please see GAO’s Report at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d07283.pdf to understand the viability of these fuels.

In short Biofuel is NOT the way to go as it’s totally not viable.

“Biodiesel is a renewable fuel that has similar properties to petroleum diesel but can be produced from vegetable oils or animal fats. It is currently used in small quantities in the United States, but it is not cost-competitive with gasoline or diesel. The cost of biodiesel feedstocks—which in the United States largely consist of soybean oil—are the largest component of production costs. The price of soybean oil is not expected to decrease significantly in the future owing to competing demands from the food industry and from soap and detergent manufacturers. These competing demands, as well as the limited land available for the production of feedstocks, also are projected to limit biodiesel’s capacity for large-volume production, according to DOE and USDA. As a result, experts believe that the total production capacity of biodiesel is ultimately limited compared with other alternative fuels.”

I disagree with you theortically on that. I feel we should have a variety of issues we can discuss here in the blog. 99% of the stuffs here are all cut and paste from various websites so if people want to shut it down, they would have complained to various papers or media to have it shut down long ago.

I feel that the discussion is open ended and we didn’t change any content in the article and all were hyperlink to the website. The comments that people made were very general and didn’t point finger at a specify person. You mention about being political, arent’t all the subjects under this category political as well? You mention about Iran, Russia, China, US… conflict among nations, the movement of oil price due to political issues around the world…are they not political as well compared to things like water price in Singapore, banning of sand, bullet train, Singapore economy ?

We should also try to make more people aware of things happening in Asia Pacific region as well as Singapore since is our country. What’s the point of a blog where every thing that were posted generates zero comments. I would like to see even 1 or 2 bad comments about stuffs that were posted rather than nothing at all.

To all the people reading this, I am not trying to pull you guys down but tell us what you feel about all the articles that were posted. Does it even mean anything to u all ? Don’t be afraid to write your comments ok, don’t be a typical Singaporean who just keep their mouth shut !

Ok, I fully understand your feelings

Here goes…my Brand New blog

http://sillypore.wordpress.com/
Singaporean’s Complain Hub
Complain all you want just avoid vulgarities and calling names!

Do come back here for more!!