Cars go green and online as Tokyo Motor Show opens

Honda President Takanobu Ito said the automaker planned to install large solar panels at its factories to make its entire operation free of carbon emissions—from its plants to the products they churn out—as it looked to “a society of the future where no environmental stress is imposed.”

Talk is easy Mr Ito, give us the facts and figures: how much electricity you use, the area of the solar panels you intend to install and the area of your factories, and how much electricity you think you'll get from them.

Just got back from the show and I had a good time. A lot of good exhibits there of which I probably enjoyed Nissans the most, I really enoyed looking at their concept cars. But it seems that every exhibitors stand I went to ... was really pushing the eco-friendly and fuel efficient cars, so maybe we will some different on the roads in the near future. And I met quite a few people from many different countries. At one point I was talking to guys who were Chinese and I thought by the logos on their outfits they were from China ... I was kind of wrong! They were from New York and work for some Chinese language station. Anyway, it was good to see a lot of foreign media there.

Maybe the show could be a little bigger, but at least it is closer to town this time. I think when it opens to the public on Saturday, we`ll hopefully see some big crowds there.

Yeah just back myself, lots of eco stuff but some sporty stuff too like the new Subaru BZR and Toyota's 86 (same car) also the Lexus LFA and some sporty concept cars.

Tokyo Auto Salon is by far a more exciting automobile show than the Tokyo Motor Show which is more conservative.

The electricity used to power these cars doesn't get produced by magic. Some of the news here might be good in the coming years, but I'm not convinced yet.

There was a thought provoking study conducted in the past indicating that the full-time emissions of electric cars over the lifetime could produce higher emissions than gasoline equivalents because of the energy consumed in making their batteries. Now isn't that a major contradiction? In other words a electric car would have to travel a substantial amount in miles before producing a net savings in carbon dioxide. Thus the range of the electric car is limited and you will not be able to travel that far in their lifetime therefore it is unsuitable for long trips and will not save much in carbon dioxide. The conclusion was that the so-called Green movement is a big political power grab that destroys jobs and reduces your spending power thus Al Gore didn't have it right and maybe your teacher should have corrected you for your misinformation. Some food for thought to share.