Nicholas Sarkozy, like most recent French presidents, is mindful of his legacy and accordingly launched in 2007 a call for architects’ submissions for the “Grand Paris” of the 21st century. The results of that consultation can be seen at the Cité de l’Architecture et du Patriomine: ten booths showcasing the visions of superstar architects such [...]
Archive for the ‘transport’ Category
What’s left of the Grenelle?
Posted in Grenelle, biodiversity, climate change, health, policy, renewable energy, transport on December 18, 2008 | 2 Comments »
Eighteen months after the Grenelle de l’Environnement, it’s worth taking a look at what’s left of the promises made by President Sarkozy and Jean-Louis Borloo in October 2007. At the time, the meeting was welcomed as innovative and participatory because it brought NGOs into the decision-making process.
Since then those same NGOs have been criticized for [...]
SNCF to roll out own fleet of green taxis
Posted in transport on October 7, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
French national railway company SNCF announced this week that it would soon offer its own fleet of electric taxis at train stations in Paris to slash waiting time for travellers and reinforce its image as a leader in green transportation. Anyone who has staggered out of the Eurostar or a train from the south arriving at [...]
Paris gets new electric motor-taxi service
Posted in air quality, transport on July 16, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Citybird has as just launched the first motorized taxi service using 100 pct electric vehicles, dubbed Electri-city. The electric maxi-scooters are manufactured by Vectrix. Citybird, created in 2003 by three friends, already has a fleet of low CO2 emission scooters operating in Paris – which suffers from a dearth of taxis – and hopes to [...]
Aviation deathwatch: Latest links
Posted in climate change, transport on July 9, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
courtesy of queenie13 via Flickr
Air France mulls tie-up with Veolia to cut fuel costs by shifting some routes to high-speed rail.
European Union approves deal to make airlines pay for CO2 emissions.
Paris tests commuter ferry service
Posted in transport on July 7, 2008 | 1 Comment »
courtesy of tofz4u via Flickr
Continuing in a riverine vein, Paris has inaugurated a commuter ferry service along the Seine called Voguéo, which links Gare de l’Austerlitz to Maisons-Alfort in the east of Paris. Fully integrated into the RATP Parisian public transportation network, the service provides a six-stop, half-hour journey with departures every 20 minutes during rush [...]
French supermarket giants shifting to river transport
Posted in climate change, transport on July 5, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Six giants of the French supermarket and mass retail sector – Auchan, Casino, Carrefour, Conforama, Ikea and Leroy Merlin – have signed a deal to significantly increase river transport along the Rhone-Saone axis. Over the next two years, the six firms will shift around 81,600 tonnes of merchandise from road to river transport. This represents [...]
Renault rolls out a new SUV: Greenpeace calls it a “climate WMD”
Posted in climate change, transport on June 13, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
At a time when U.S. car manufacturers like Ford and General Motors are cutting production of large SUV’s and closing down truck and SUV plants across North America, France’s Renault has just rolled out a brand new iteration of the genre called the Koleos. Greenpeace was quick to denounce the vehicle as a “weapon of mass destruction [...]
Update on the Grenelle
Posted in Grenelle, agriculture, biodiversity, renewable energy, transport on May 12, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Six months after the Grenelle de l’Environnement, its conclusions have finally been translated into a legislative bill which was unveiled in parliament on April 30. The text has been welcomed by NGOs as a more or less faithful rendition of the spirit and the letter of the Grenelle but there is concern about how to [...]
