Two of the world’s largest auto manufacturers, Mitsubishi Motors and Toyota from Japan, along with China’s BYD Auto, will showcase their newest green car innovations this September at the annual Driving Sustainability international conference of industry experts being held for the third time in Reykjavik, Iceland. Read the full story

Biomethane, the gas created from human excrement, will soon be collected and used to power Oslo’s public transportation buses. This free and environmentally-friendly form of fuel will turn a waste disposal issue for Norway’s capital into a solution rather a problem if all goes as planned. Read the full story

In a few months, Indian carmaker Tata Motors is planning to begin selling an electric version of its hatchback car called the Indica in Norway. Working in conjunction with a Norwegian firm, the company will make the Indica widely available throughout the country in 2009 if sales go well.

Tata’s managing director, Ravi Kant, told Reuters that “this is one of the technologies that we are looking at, as you know that electric cars are almost zero emission. Right now we want to Read the full story

After a 15-year argument over who will foot the bill for a proposed bridge between Scandinavia and Europe, Germany and Denmark have finally reached a compromise and will sign an official agreement to seal the deal this week. The pending treaty will pave the way to build a massive bridge spanning the two countries by 2018, greatly expediting travel and trade.

The two nations have been at loggerheads for 15 years over who would pay for the bulk of this enormous bridge, but after a year of steady negotiations, Germany and Denmark are ready to sign an agreement. The proposed bridge will span the 19km gap between the German island of Fehmarn and the Danish island of Lolland in the Baltic Sea. The estimated cost will be EUR 5.6 billion (USD 8.2 billion).

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Sweden has unveiled a new high-speed train that will reduce energy use by 30 per cent over its existing trains. The Grona Taget (Green Train), which can hit speeds of 295km/h, is currently undergoing trials in Sweden.

The energy efficient trains produced by engineering firm Bombardier aim to become the industry leader for the next generation of high-speed trains. The Green Train meets all existing traffic and technical requirements in Sweden, meaning that it can use tracks that are already in place. Per Kyhle, the senior technical strategist at Swedish rail authority in Banverket, explains “we want to operate as fast and efficiently as possible using the present infrastructure, which often means sharing single tracks with cargo and regional trains. The tests (using the Green Train) have proven these aims are realistic.”

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