Matthew Sparkes
Latest Stories from Matthew Sparkes - Page 2
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Investment in Cycling Could Save £521 Million
Spending money on encouraging cyclists could actually save the government money, as well as combating climate change, according to a new report. Getting more cyclists on the road could save the UK taxpayers £520 million, according to government-back
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Should All Cars be Banned from London?
The Greater London Authority (GLA) has pledged to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in London 60% by 2025. It's a massive goal, and one which many believe is unreachable using current methods. A new study shows that some radical moves might be needed
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Is 'Green Limousines' an Oxymoron?
Luxury car maker, Bentley, want to create a greener range of cars in order to get closer to tighter proposed EU limits on emissions. The head of the company, Franz-Josef Paefgen, said, "We are currently forming a view on the matter, for instance by
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Giant £40 Million Battery for the UK
UK electricity company, Eon, are planning to build a huge battery to store power from sustainable electricity sources. Because sources like wind and solar aren't constantly reliable, some kind of storage is necessary if a 100% sustainable grid is to be
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Chicago Company Offers Hybrid Conversions
Chicago based company, NetGain, create and fit plug-in hybrid conversion kits for trucks. They are also working on kits for smaller cars, which will be available in 2-3 years. NetGain employee, David Cloud, shows us how it all works in this not so
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Epoq NEV - Electric Driving on a Budget
We can't all afford a Tesla, and even some of the fairly plain electric cars are still very pricey. You can get affordable electric driving, but you do have to make some compromises. The Epoq NEV is an electric vehicle designed for short journeys and
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Devantini ES, Tesla Roadster Watch Out
The official website for this impressive car is in Swedish, so we don't have a lot of information. What we do know is that it's an electric sports car, modelled on the Shelby Cobra. It's called the Devantini ES, and it started life as a college
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23% of Brits Would Rather Drive
What Car recently conducted a survey on the travel habits of Brits, and I have to say that I'm disappointed at how lazy they seem to be. I can only assume that the survey was conducted only amongst their own readers, who will obviously be more biased
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Grass-Covered Train Station
Here in Amsterdam, most train stations are full of grass, but this is different. This is Newcastle Central Station, where a PR stunt by train operator GNER saw a platform covered in artificial grass. It was conceived to encourage people to take the
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Bottle Purifies Water with Solar Power
The solar bottle is designed to get the maximum effect from a natural phenomenon that can purify disease-ridden water. Water in transparent PET bottles, left in direct sunlight, will be purified to a certain extent, due to heat and irradiation from
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Bus Uses Real Life Horse-Power
A Dubai-based company called Fleethorse has designed several horse-powered vehicles, including the NaturBus above. The range is powered by horses running on a treadmill, supplemented with electric motors, and they claim that it's the greenest
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Citroen C-Cactus Concept Car
A new concept from Citroen uses some interesting new design ideas to minimize its environmental impact. There is as much duplication of parts as possible, in order to reduce production costs and waste - for example the front bumper and rear bumper are
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What's the Most Wasteful Thing You've Ever Found?
In case you ever wondered, this is what a dumpster of fortune cookies looks like. Two photographers, who were driving around Downtown LA looking for interesting shots, came across these several dumpsters, entirely filled with the prophetic
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Tesla Charging Stations in 3 Hyatt Hotels
Hyatt has installed Tesla charging stations in three of their hotels, so the lucky few to get their hands on one of the $100,000 Roadsters will be able to take them on a road-trip. The three hotels are Fisherman's Wharf, Sacramento and Incline Village,
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The World's Smallest Cars
Dark Roasted has compiled a gallery of some of the world's smallest cars. Some of them are cute, economical commuters, but some are a bit of joke - there is definitely a point where economical becomes just plain unsafe and scary. I'd love a bubble car
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The Green Route Back to School
The start of the school year is almost always preceded with a shopping trip. Uniforms have invariably been grown out of, or worn out, stationary is stocked up on, books are bought (and rarely read) and the current list of fads and fashions add to the
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Live in a Landfill, Win £20,000
Normally I try to avoid reality TV at all costs, but a new show in the UK has caught my attention. Dumped will appear on Channel 4 from Sunday, and will document 11 contestants trying to live for three weeks on a landfill site.
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Buy Underwear, Win a Hummer
UK department store Selfridges and Hummer have teamed up to offer the chance for one lucky underwear-purchaser to win a Hummer H3. How this seems like a wise PR move, I have no idea. I think that putting one more Hummer on London streets (yes, there
