According to Autocar in the UK, Jaguar Land Rover is still hard at work on series hybrid vehicles. Similar to the stance General Motors has taken with the 2011 Chevrolet Volt, Jaguar believes that the only real way electric vehicles can be made compatible with everyday life is to add a small range-extending gasoline-powered engine that's capable of keeping the batteries charged on the go.

Unlike GM, though, Jaguar has seen fit to contract its small engine work out to Lotus, which makes sense given the two British company's differing product specialties. Lotus has reportedly delivered a 1.2-liter three-cylinder engine that generates 35kW of power, which is carried – with a little help from a UK government grant or two – inside a new 2011 XJ sedan with a lithium ion battery pack.

Motive force comes courtesy of what Autocar believes is a 145kW (194 horsepower) electric motor with 295 pound-feet of torque. Performance specifications sound pretty good – though not quite as impressive as we might have imagined – assuming all of this is accurate, with a range of 600 miles combined fuel economy of 47 miles per gallon (57 mpg UK) and carbon emissions of under 120 g/km. Top speed would reportedly come in at 112 miles per hour.

An unnamed source at Jaguar tells Autocar that the electric XJ handles quite well "because of the bulk that's removed from car when you strip out the conventional drivetrain." Future Range Rover models are also rumored to get a similar drivetrain.

[Source: Autocar]

Whether you're a tea drinker yourself or just like to have it on hand to offer friends and family, this Loose Leaf and Blooming Teas gift box from VivaTerra is a beautiful and elegant way to store and serve hot tea. The box is made of sustainable wood and comes filled with six varieties (two of each makes twelve) of tea, with some herbal tea blends and some handwoven blooming teas that open into pretty flowers when placed in hot water to steep. All the teas are all stored in individual cleartop tins and refills are available. $69

Powerhouse Chinese motorcycle manufacturer Zonghshen has signaled its intent to invest in California-based Mission Motors. At this point, nothing more than a letter of intent has been signed, but the deal would give Zongshen access to Mission's proprietary electric drivetrain technology as well as allow Mission access into the Asian markets and give the startup a fresh injection of cash.

Before any deal takes place, Zongshen has requested a full three-year business plan from Mission, due before the end of the month. If all goes well – which is still a very large 'if' at this point – some sort of deal could be completed by June of this year.



[Source: China Knowledge]

Actress Emma Watson may model for Burberry but she also has been doing a bit of designing too. The Harry Potter star has created a line of fair trade clothing for People Tree, an ethical fashion company. The People Tree, Love Emma line includes jackets, t-shirts, accessories and more for both men and women. The items are fair trade and use organic cotton. People Tree works with 50 fair trade groups in 15 countries and all clothes are dyed using safe and natural dyes. Products are available online and in a variety of stockists around London.

[via Vogue UK]

Thankfully just because a person wants to be green and support recycling doesn't mean they have to compromise on style and quality. This Italian Carafe and set of wine glasses is a great example of having the best of both worlds. Handmade of recycled glass in Portland, this set is processed in an electric furnace that's powered 100% by eco-friendly wind power. No two pieces are the same but they all have the beautiful foggy white color variations and charming, slightly misshapen organic appeal. Get the carafe alone for $174, or with a set of 4 glasses for $370.

According to Inside Line, which is quoting an unnamed "senior BMW authority out of Munich," the German automaker will indeed build a production version of the Vision EfficientDynamics concept that debuted last year at the Frankfurt Motor Show. BMW is reportedly planning for a model run of between 5,000 and 10,000 units for 2013. We'll get to the details in a moment, but here's the best news: "That name that the marketing people forced on us [is] going to change for sure." Phew.

Apparently, BMW has no plans to ditch the radical plug-in hybrid powertrain, which put out 356 horsepower and an impressive 590 pound-feet of torque in the concept. That means we'll get something similar to the turbocharged three-cylinder diesel range extender and twin electric motors powered by a lithium polymer battery pack that was featured in Frankfurt. Sounds great so far, and BMW claims the performance will be even better than the 4.8-second 0 to 60 run quoted for the concept.

Naturally, some of the Vision's more outlandish exterior bits will go the way of the Dodo, but IL reports BMW's target of weight is still under 3,000 pounds, meaning that high-tech composites and construction techniques are a veritable lock. Price for this next-gen eco-friendly supercar? Nothing announced – but if you have to ask... well, you know the rest.



[Source: Inside Line]

Parisian haven at the corner of the Champs Elysées and Avenue George V, Hotel Fouquet's Barrière, has a new VIP package -- but this time, VIP stands for Very Important Planet.

Luxury travel is starting 2010 off on the right foot, with a bevy of eco-friendly options for savvy, conscientious travelers. One of these options is the five-star Hotel Fouquet's Barrière's VIP package, which includes:

• Luxury accommodations
• Special "Fitness Breakfast" for two (includes freshly squeezed fruit or vegetable juice, an egg white omelet, multi-grain bread and a blend of pumpkin, linseed, sunflower and sesame seeds)
• One 50-minute natural oil treatment at the hotel's U Spa, per person
• Organic lunch for two at the hotel's Joy Gallery
• A bottle of eco-friendly Pop Earth Champagne in-room upon arrival
• Carbon offsetting through the non-profit organization "Action Carbone"

Though carbon offsetting has been skewered by critics for functioning as a sort of "indulgences" payment for the wealthy, it's better to offset than not to offset (and the wealthy are going to travel anyway). This package is part of the hotel's "Dignified Luxury" plan, one which implies that environmental responsibility is noble and honorable. The hotel also decorates with fair trade flowers and participates whenever possible in events which benefit environmental organizations, such as Neoplanet and GOODPLANET Association.

Further amenities can include pickup in a hybrid limousine, organic meals at La Diane, electric E-solex bikes for exploring Paris and, of course, room upgrades for an additional cost. The VIP package starts at €990 (approximately US$1,436), based on double occupancy, and is available through December 28, 2010.

News of an impending hybrid from Ferrari are nothing new, but now we appear to have an actual date when the Italian supercar manufacturer plans to show such a vehicle in an official setting. And it's coming soon, during the first week in March at the Geneva Motor Show, says Ferrari CEO Luca di Montezemolo.

The announcement came during the unveiling of Ferrari's new F10 Formula One car, which seems appropriate as it was during the 2009 F1 season when Ferrari first began using its Kinetic Energy Recovery System – a kind of hybrid technology that captures energy normally lost to braking in a flywheel – in actual competition... with mixed results, of course.

We can't say for sure what kind of hybrid setup Ferrari will show off in its 599 supercar, but something similar in principle to the race-bred KERS seems like a distinct possibility, and we know the automaker has been dabbling in all-wheel drive hybrids as well. In any case, Ferrari promises a production hybrid vehicle in the near future. Stay tuned.



[Source: Axis of Oversteer]

Mikhail Prokhorov, also known as the Richest Man in Russia and hopeful new owner of the New Jersey Nets NBA franchise, is reportedly planning to launch a new city car through his Onexim Group. Reports coming out of Russia are saying that the vehicle will sport some kind of "advanced technology," which many are taking to mean either a hybrid or fully electric drivetrain.

The car will be built in the Yarovit Motors plant in Russia, and in order to get the new city car into production, Onexim is putting in an estimated $141 million investment. That's an amazingly small amount of money to get a new project such as this off the ground, leading many to suggest that it will never happen unless the government gets itself involved somehow.

In any case, the goal is to put the small eco-friendly vehicle on the road for about $12,500. At that price, the machine would be going up against such well-known and formidable competitors as Volkswagen and General Motors. We'll just have to wait and see how this one plays out.

[Source: Inside Line]

How much horsepower is enough? While we're fairly certain some might be answering that rhetorical question with raised eyebrows (too much is never enough?), Lamborghini is seemingly content with a number just shy of 700 raging horses bulls. That doesn't mean that the Italian supercar manufacturer won't continue its unabated push towards ever-quicker acceleration – though top speeds higher than 211 miles per hour sound unlikely – but there's clearly more than one way to skin a cat Prancing Horse.

Why not just build a bigger engine? Simple, as company CEO Stephan Winkelmann correctly observes, "It has come to the point where acceleration equals consumption. More consumption means increased CO2 emissions." Apparently, the answer to the power conundrum will be less weight. "We will use composite materials in the right place, when it also has the right cost, stiffness and mechanical characteristics," explains R&D chief Maurizio Reggiani.

Expect aluminum in the place of heavier steel along with improved aerodynamics and stop/start technology to reduce fuel consumption and carbon emissions. We've also heard repeated rumblings of full hybrid powertrains, though those seem more likely to come at the tail end of the decade. Whatever the case, it should be interesting to see how all the world's supercar manufacturers – Lamborghini included – grapple with the push to be green while also upholding their performance traditions.



[Source: AutoWeek]

California's wineries have been on the green trail for a while but now they have a new official certification program. Certified California Sustainable Winegrowing is a certification program that provides third-party verification of a winery or vineyard's commitment to a "process of continuous improvement" in the adoption of sustainable winegrowing practices.

While wines are certified organic, the other aspects of green (solar power, water conversation etc.) have largely been a question of wineries opting to police themselves. Wineries could declare themselves to be green minded but for consumers it was mostly a matter of trust.

The California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance which had handled self-assessments, is behind the new initiative. The comprehensive self-test quiz looks at 227 winery practices and provides a good starting point for wineries taking a closer look at steps toward sustainability.

What is particularly interesting about the new certification is that, at least for now, it's not being pushed to consumers. In a comprehensive article in the San Francisco Chronicle, Chris Savage, director of environmental affairs for E&J Gallo Winery, says that the program isn't "about putting a label on the bottle yet."

Auditors haven't been chosen yet but once they are in place they will perform on-site visits at wineries and follow up with online audits. Major winemakers including Gallo, Diageo and Constellation have signed up. Some critics say the current standards are too modest and too vague but the planners say that the certifications will evolve over time. It's at least a good place to start.

If price is the yardstick, then Masa Super Premium can certainly claim to be "King of Green"– in more ways than one. Royal Blue Tea began taking reservations last month for the 36 bottles that is has pledged to make of what must be the finest green tea... ever.

To do that making, "rare" leaves are picked in the prefecture of Shizuoka, where a great deal of the world's green tea hails from. They are infused for three days in their pure, naked state, and the resulting elixir is poured into 750-ml wine bottles. The bottle is put in a wooden box and voilà, somewhere in there you ended up with ¥210,000 ($2,271 U.S.) worth of verdant, liquid health.

The tea will be shipping in February and March of this year, so get in touch with Royal Blue if you think you'd be better off with one bottle of Masa than two round trip tickets and a spa weekend at the Mandarin Oriental. If you opt for the latter, though, you might want to take along a bottle of Royal Blue's Fall In Love imperial-grade tea, which will only set you back ¥10,500 ($114 U.S.).

Once you finish your bottle of wine and toss it into the recycle bin do you ever wonder where it goes? It turns out that while in Europe wine bottles are often sterilized and reused. Here bottles, if they don't end up in a landfill, end up going through a not-so-carbon-friendly process of being melted, molded and reformed into something else. Now one company wants to make wine bottle reuse a standard for America. Sonoma-based Wine Bottle Recycling has a goal of collecting and redistributing 3 million to 5 million cases' worth of used wine bottles each year by sometime in 2010.

The company has secured a retired Del Monte fruit-canning plant in Stockton, California and plans a conveyor line with an optical sorting machine and a washing machine that can process over 70,000 bottles an hour. The sorting machine is necessary because while those 750 ml bottles may look similar there are actually around 400 different molds, differing slightly in glass thickness, nozzle length and all sorts of other tiny details that can make a big deal when bottles are being refilled and relabeled. Only around 20 of these styles make up the bulk of bottles but the machine will sort them all out. Bottles will be sterilized the day before shipment to a winery.

Getting the bottles may prove a challenge but starting in wine-friendly Northern California is a good start. According to a comprehensive article in the Bohemian the company plans drop-off "bottle shacks" around Northern California. Those dropping off wine bottles will be given a cash refund. Obviously getting restaurants, event centers and other large consumers in the mix is key. But the company promises to offer small wineries significant savings and every bottle that gets more than one use makes the world just a little greener.

French automaker Peugeot will pull the wraps off a brand-new concept vehicle called the SR1 at the next Geneva Motor Show later this year. Unlike a number of recent Peugeot cars and concepts, the SR1 isn't hallmarked by quirky, love-it-or-hate-it styling. Instead, we see a somewhat traditional long-hood, short-deck profile with some interesting details, such as the creased indentation in the doors that's echoed in both the front and rear fascias. Also note the redesigned Lion logo, which we surmise will show up on all future Peugeots from here on out.

Power for the SR1 (which, of course, has nothing at all to do with the Corvette ZR1) comes courtesy of Peugeot's HYbrid4 technology, which pairs a small 1.6-liter turbodiesel four-cylinder engine powering the front wheels with a 95-horsepower electric motor at the rear. The all-wheel drive, through-the-road hybrid system will make its production debut in 2011 inside the 3008 crossover, with other models to closely follow.

Other concept-appropriate bits and pieces include a new removable plastic roof panel using technology that's borrowed from the world of sailing, a three-seat layout with the third passenger behind the twin front seats and instrumentation that pairs futuristic crystal tubes displaying current fuel consumption and remaining range with a classic timepiece designed by Bell & Ross. Continuing the old versus new theme are black nickel and satin chrome trim with traditional wood and leather inlays.

With 313 combined horsepower, fuel mileage estimated at 57.7 mpg (European, 48 miles per gallon U.S.) and carbon emissions of just 119 grams per kilometer, the Peugeot SR1 ought to be a mean, green performer. Plus, its speed-sensitive four-wheel steering and lightweight structure should equal formidable handling prowess. Of course, we may never know for sure, as this car, though signaling Peugeot's new styling direction, is nothing more than a concept at this point.



[Source: Peugeot]

Are hybrid drivetrains befitting of a premium luxury and performance brand? Well, that depends on who you ask. According to such diverse automakers as BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, Rolls-Royce and even Ferrari and Lamborghini, the answer is 'yes'. Aston Martin CEO Dr. Ulrich Bez, though, reportedly believes otherwise. "The current hybrid technologies are not suited to the character of Aston Martin sports cars," explains Bez.

We're not so sure we agree, especially since Aston's long-planned Lagonda revival – which may or may not come wrapped in an ungainly SUV package – is rumored to be equipped with a hybrid powertrain. After all, the torque-rich nature of electric motors certainly wouldn't be a bad thing for a luxury tourer.

A few branches up on the green tree, Aston Martin's tiny Toyota iQ-based Cygnet minicar could quite possibly get a fully electric drivetrain, which would seem to make sense given that car's stated mission as an urban runabout for those times when a V12 Vanquish could be considered overkill. Beautiful, sonorous, splendid overkill...



[Source: Autotelegraaf.nl via Motor Authority]