They sent out the following items to me

It consists of a leaflet  and a catalogue of the Smart car range. Basically, the title of the leaflet says: “…we decided to, plant ourselves!”  and it explains that if you crumple the leaflet and plant it in a flowerpot it will become a plant. I will definitively try out!

The leaflet

The leaflet also explains that all the smart cars are one of the most ecological cars in the world. All the range of engines don’t need to pay the Spanish taxes for new number plates due to its low emissions.

1. Take this leaflet

2. Crumple it

3. Put it into a flowerpot

4. And it will become a flower

Rear side of the leaflet. Seeds can be seen.

Both the leaflet and the catalogue are made of recycled paper. The leaflet is “plantable” because it has some seeds in it.

Some pictures of the Catalogue follow these lines:

The Catalogue

2005 TED Prize winner Edward Burtynsky has made it his life’s work to document humanity’s impact on the planet. His riveting photographs, as beautiful as they are horrifying, capture views of the Earth altered by mankind.

In stunning large-format photographs, Edward Burtynsky follows the path of oil through modern society, from wellhead to pipeline to car engine — and then beyond to the projected peak-oil endgame. Watch the following video to see some of the images:

This video can be found in this link.

Following text extracted from TED website:

Why you should listen to him:

To describe Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky’s work in a single adjective, you have to speak French: jolie-laide. His images of scarred landscapes — from mountains of tires to rivers of bright orange waste from a nickel mine — are eerily pretty yet ugly at the same time. Burtynsky’s large-format color photographs explore the impact of humanity’s expanding footprint and the substantial ways in which we’re reshaping the surface of the planet. His images powerfully alter the way we think about the world and our place in it.

With his blessing and encouragement, WorldChanging.com and others use his work to inspire ongoing global conversations about sustainable living. Burtynsky’s photographs are included in the collections of many major museums, including Bibliotèque Nationale in Paris and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. A large-format book, 2003′s Manufactured Landscapes, collected his work, and in 2007, a documentary based on his photography, also called Manufactured Landscapes, debuted at the Toronto Film Festival before going on to screen at Sundance and elsewhere. It was released on DVD in March 2007.

When Burtynsky accepted his 2005 TED Prize, he made three wishes. One of his wishes: to build a website that will help kids think about going green. Thanks to WGBH and the TED community, the new site, Meet the Greens, debuted at TED2007. His second wish: to begin work on an Imax film — and this work is now ongoing. And his third wish, wider in scope, was simply to encourage “a massive and productive worldwide conversation about sustainable living.” Thanks to his help and the input of the TED community, the site WorldChanging.com got an infusion of energy that has helped it to grow into a leading voice in the sustainability community.

Watch the following video for a deeper explanation:

Road vehicles are responsible for a more that 20% of the total emissions of greenhouse gases. As everyone knows, the increasing concentration of those in the atmosphere is leading to climate change. The mainly emitted greenhouse gases by cars are Carbon Dioxide, Monoxide and NOx. The transport sector is the fastest growing source of greenhouse gases. There have been studies that have proved that there is a link between vehicle pollutants and human ill health. Respiratory and cardio-pulmonary disease and lung cancer are the main illnesses.

European directives have been instrumental in reducing what are known as the regulated emissions. These regulations become more and more stringent year on year. This is one of the reasons why manufacturers are investing constantly in technologies to make their cars greener. Catalytic converters, injection systems, diesel particulate filters (DPFs)… are some of the technologies manufacturers had to start applying some years ago. The change to unleaded petrol played a big role also. In fact, the reduction in emissions by cars is so dramatic that a car manufactured today pollutes 20 times less than a car produced in the 70s. Nowadays technologies like high precision direct injection, start-stop systems, last generation catalytic converters… are helping reduce even more the figures of toxic gases. All helps…

…but it not only about being green!

Everyone agrees that reducing emissions is extremely important. We only have one world, and we want to make it last. Then, does this mean that we need to end up driving extremely efficient but boring cars? I am sorry but I don’t agree. And neither do some car companies.

Almost all brands achieve lower consumptions through the same means: engine downsizing, increasing the fuel efficiency, decreasing the weight and minifying the air drag and road resistance. In some companies like Smart, Seat, Ford and Volkswagen this means poor acceleration times and low top speed and therefore a boring driving experience. Other brands like BMW, Audi or Mercedes go further, they achieve amazingly low consumption figures but their cars still have a lively feel, proper acceleration times and high top speeds.

This is because they invest in new technologies, and then apply these in the production cars. They don not limit themselves to reducing power output and weight. They achievements are admirable! Some of the technologies they apply are: deeply engineered, tuned and refined engines; electric power steering, only consumes power when used; brake energy regeneration; lighter body construction…

Take for instance the BMW 320d with efficient dynamics package. It produces 163hp and 380Nm of torque. It consumes only 4.1 l/100km and emits 109 grCO2/100km. It accelerates from stand still to 60km/h in 8.2 seconds and has a max speed of 220Km/h. AMAZING!!! Just amazing!

I have no words, the figures speak for themselves… I have to finish saying that if BMW, for instance, achieves that with a 1500Kg car what other brands are doing is nothing. They seriously need to catch up…

A table comparing the various cars could have been done. I recommend you visiting the various manufacturers websites and reading these previous posts:

BMW Efficient Dynamics

Audi Driving Efficiently

MERCEDES Blue Efficiency

VOLKSWAGEN BlueMotion

Driving Efficiently

Note: On these article, only IC engines have been taken into discussion. Other technologies like hydrogen, hybrids, fuel cells and fully electrics may be treated in future posts.

References

http://www.whatgreencar.com/index.php

http://www.autocar.co.uk/CarReviews/FirstDrives/BMW-3-Series-320d-EfficientDynamics/242759/

The various car manufacturers websites

The smell of petrol likes to lots of people, there is something that gives its distinctive odour that some of us love. However, don’t spend too much time sniffing petrol since it is  highly toxic. It is composed of benzene, ethylbenzene, xylene, toluene and other hydrocarbons. All those chemicals are hazardous for your health. Intoxicating yourself through the inhalation of petrol can cause severe physical, cognitive, and psychological impairment, particularly due to the role it plays in the selective degeneration of deep white matter and cerebellar structures.

Going back to the question, so why some people love the smell of petrol?

After having done some research I haven’t found any consistent fact. The only thing that can be said is that is a matter of taste. Some people love it, some people hate it. And the same happens with other things like cauliflower, broccoli… If any of you have a better conclusion, don’t hesitate to contact me, we’ll post it here.

An interesting fact: Men prefer smell of bacon to babies, according to the Telegraph.

Information from:

Yahoo answers

Ask metafilter

The Telegraph

The influence of hunger on perception of the smell of petrol

www.petrolsmell.com wants to be a technical but at the same time interesting automotive blog. We will not be covering the news in the automotive world, there are plenty of other bloggers who do that. Our challenge is to learn, yes LEARN.

This blog was developed by Marc Espolet with the aim of learning through reading, finding more information and then posting it. We we’ll feel proud of www.petrolsmell.com if you, the reader, also learns. We will put all our effort to make quality posts, trying not to fall in the same market as other blogs are in. Our car blog has a big and clear categories bar in the main page, that is to make easier for the user to find older but still interesting posts. In a future there is a plan to make a forum adjoined to this automotive blog. Some of the categories of this blog include car manufacturers, industry, the things that happen behind the scenes, technology reviews, some news, motorshows, motorsport, funny, challenges, makers, office, reviews and test drives, simulators, historical cars, green technology, future…

We are people that like getting deeper knowledge of the automobile world, if you share this love, and ever would like to write in this blogger community (It could be from once to weekly… you decide) feel free to contact us and show us true love and passion for the auto propelled motor world.

As a usual blog reader I really hate when the owners of other blogs put a massive amount of adverts, and even more when they put them in the middle of the posts, so annoys me when reading. In petrolsmell.com we have placed some ads, but we tried to put them in places where they don’t disturb your reading. We don’t make that much money through ads as other blogs do, never mind. As said before, this is not an ordinary blog. If you feel willing to help keeping this blog alive, there is the possibility to make a donation. Don’t feel forced to do it, but every single donation helps, for small that it is.

Thanks for visiting this blog, we hope you enjoyed.

Have a nice day,

Petrol Smell

On the whole, automotive brands achieve lower consumptions and CO₂ emissions in their cars by:

• Reducing the weight.
• Minimizing the air and road drag.
• Designing more efficient engines.
• Not using all time components that are not needed sometimes, such as power steering on a straight.

It has to be said that the style of driving makes the biggest effect on the consumption of the car. So, if you want to improve your mileage, take those points into account:

• Start the engine without using the accelerator pedal. Then wait a few seconds before moving off.
• Use fist gear only to start moving. Shift to second in two seconds or within six meters.
• Overtaking and gear shifting:
  • Depends on the revs: Between 1500 and 2000 r/min is the optimum point
  • Depending on speed:
    • To third after 30km/h
    • To fourth after 40km/h
    • To fifth after more than 50km/h
    • Driving Speed: Maintain speed as regularly as possible. Avoid unnecessary braking, acceleration and gear shifting.
    • Deceleration: Take the foot off the acceleration pedal, leave the car running in the current gear. Brake gently and change down in gears as late as possible, being mindful when descending steep gradients.
    • Stopping: When speed and space allow it, stop the car without shifting down gears.
    • Stopped: When stopped for more than sixty seconds, turn the engine off.

Mindful of the company’s responsibility, production mature and near-production technologies and products are optimized to help reduce CO2 emissions and pollutants. Volkswagen gathers all of its eco-friendly innovations under an umbrella brand that signifies efficiency: BlueMotion Technologies – a pledge to the environment.

The “BlueMotion” suffix identifies vehicles whose entire concept focuses on fuel efficiency. They combine consumption-cutting measures with an equally efficient drive concept. BlueMotion is therefore a fitting response to rising fuel prices and a progressive technology that cuts CO2 emissions.

The CO2 efficiency of the BlueMotion models is achieved through the perfect interplay of the engine, gearbox, aerodynamics and tyres. Design measures that are both visible and – at first glance – invisible make all the difference. The result is a reduction in consumption of at least 0.5 l/100 km compared with the corresponding production model. And, correspondingly, lower CO2 emissions in g/km.

The principal BlueMotion measures are:

• Modified engine management with modified software.
• Reduced idle speed.
• Longer ratios for the higher gears.
• Recommendation on the most efficient gear to select.
• Optimized aerodynamics to minimize aerodynamic drag (Cx).
• Optimized tyres to reduce rolling resistance.
• Lower suspension settings.
• Start-stop system.

Well, I have seen that the previous post on this scheme have had good acceptance. Thanks you all for the comments. Today I am going to explain the methods Mercedes Benz uses to reduce the consumption of their cars.

“Taking less and giving more” This is Mercedes banner. Blue EFFICIENCY editions are the models designed with energy-saving in mind. Everything from the engine to the wheels is optimized for minimal fuel consumption and maximum performance. The engine, chassis, tires and equipment have all been re-developed to reduce resistance and economize on every drop of fuel. The most important advances are:

• Important reduction in weight: by using a lighter construction
• Reduced rolling and wind resistance: using low resistance tires, a lowered body…
• More efficient engine components and auxiliary systems: smaller capacity (volume) engines, energy saving power steering, auto Start-Stop…

For instance, CO2 emissions for the Blue EFFICIENCY C 180 K have been reduced to just 149 g/km, saving 18g/km and bringing substantial reductions in taxation. Fuel consumption is reduced by 11% compared to the existing C 180 KOMPRESSOR design.

Sorry for being this post so weak in amount of information. But the fact is that I could not get more info about Mercedes Blue Efficiency package.

Thanks you all for reading!