Credit Card Aims To Reduce Greenhouse Emissions

General Electric Co. began offering a credit card in July 2007 that puts aside one percent of cardholder purchases to reduce greenhouse gases from land fills and coal mines.

Considering itself an eco-friendly company, GE hopes to generate $20 billion in sales from environmentally friendly consumer products by 2010 – and this strategy fits in nicely with its desired image — while fueling its own credit lending business to boot. In the past, the corporation has been criticized for its lack of environmental responsibility.

Environmentalists believe the card is more of a marketing ploy to guilt consumers into spending on things they don’t need. Spend $100 and a whopping dollar goes toward a random eco-friendly project?

“It’s in effect trying to lure people into being bigger consumers with a promise of getting instant absolution for their sins,” said Frank O’Donnell, president of non-profit Clean Air Watch. “It’s excessive consumption that’s part of the big problem in the first place.”

But GE and power company AES feel the program establishes standards for creating and selling U.S. greenhouse gas credits. Customer reward dollars can be exchanged for these credits, or the customer can go half-and-half between credits and cash back.

“A person spending $750 a month on the card for 12 months can generate enough reward dollars to offset their direct carbon use for a year,” claims chief marketing officer for GE Money, Tom Gentile.

GE Money issues credit cards for General Electric and on behalf of retailers and other companies and has approximately 58 million cards outstanding globally, worth about $44 billion in receivables outstanding.

This is a guest post from CreditorWeb, an information resource on credit cards and personal finance.

Credit Card Companies Enforce Limits At the Pump

The rules established in an attempt to curb credit card fraud at local fuel stations are making it difficult for motorists who just want to refuel their mondo SUVs. The current limits on how much you can spend at one time with credit cards at the pump are sometimes not enough for the “gas-guzzlers.”

Credit card companies claim the rules (which have been around for a while) are in place to protect both merchants and drivers from fraudulent fill-ups as the credit card terminals at the gas stations are essentially unauthorized, no signature required. Which is one of the reasons you’re likely to find a gas station or two appearing on your credit card bill should your card fall into the wrong hands.

It’s the credit card companies themselves that are imposing these caps – $75 for MasterCard users, $50 for Visa. Other credit card issuers may vary.

Not all gas stations have to comply with these limits, and there are no limits when a customer goes inside to pay. However, until clerks begin to actually check credit card signatures, I don’t see what’s the point.

The Calgary Ecofuel Biodiesel Project

Biodiesel is gaining popularity in the province of Alberta, Calgary taking charge and adopting the use of biodiesel in their municipal fleets with the Ecofuel Biodiesel project. Supported by the Alberta Biodiesel Association, the initiative is responsible for the one million litres of biodiesel used in the City’s municipal vehicles as of April 30, 2006. Beginning with a 6 mo. pilot project fuelling one fire truck, Calgary now fuels 77 vehicles with bio diesel.

Due to Alberta’s cold temperatures in the winter months, approximately 75% of the City of Calgary’s biodiesel is B5 (95% petro-diesel, 5% biodiesel) to prevent “gelling” of the fuel. The remaining 25 % is B20 (20% biodiesel, 80% petro-diesel).

Read more about Calgary biodiesel.

Biodiesel for Beginners with Jack Lee of 4Refuel

Urban Rush is a Vancouver local cable talk show, and Jack Lee of biodiesel fuel management company 4Refuel was recently a guest. You can check out the YouTube video here:

Mentioned in this newsclip:

Biodiesel is made from recycled cooking oils. Interestingly, that dumpster behind your favorite restaurant that says “Cooking Oil Only” gets turned into a clean-burning fuel. Biodiesel is made from grains, oils and recycled cooking oils and has much less carbon in it than petroleum diesel. Some biodiesel is made from fish oil in the Atlantic (anchovies?) but mostly from soya and canola oil.

Industry (trucking) runs on diesel fuel. Biodiesel fuel can be used in any diesel engine, but colder climates may need lower concentrations of biodiesel fuel because every fuel has a “pour” point, and like bacon fat, the fats in biodiesel fuel will gel at colder temperatures. B20 can be used in the summer in colder Canadian cities, and B5 in the winter (95% regular diesel and 5% bio fuel).

Jack Lee answered a couple tough questions, the first regarding the controversy of using land which could be used to grow grain for food to grow grains for fuel production.
Jack pointed out that we have no shortage of land in Canada, even if we used all the available land for grain we couldn’t distribute all the grain for food, plus there is also ample fresh water available – so Canada’s resources are enough for both food and fuel production.

Not to mention that cleaner air means cleaner water and cleaner soil – improving the quality of our food!

The other question was regarding byproducts of biodiesel production. Mr. Lee mentioned that husks from grain are easily recycled for other purposes and they are also biodegradable.

Refuel with a gas credit card to save money?

It’s summertime and the gas is sky-high, so gas rebate credit cards start looking more appealing. According to market research firm Synovate, credit card companies sent out about 14 million direct mailers for gas credit cards. And the offers sound pretty tempting – but make sure you read the fine print.

What’s in the gas card offer is not always what you’ll get in the long term. For example, Chase Bank offers a Marathon Platinum MasterCard boasting 10% rebates on purchases at Marathon. But, this rate drops by 50% after the first 60 days! For the rest of the credit card’s life you’ll receive only 5% back, plus the rebate does not apply to other gas stations or stores. You’re better off looking for a card that offers 5% cash back on any brand of fuel such as Citibank’s Dividend Platinum Select, which also rewards you for drugstore and grocery purchases at 5% and all other purchases at 1%.

These types of credit cards can also change their terms and conditions on a whim, and may apply rebates only to select fueling stations. Warehouse club fueling may receive only a partial rebate, percentage points lower than the advertised rate in your direct mailer.

Worst of all, some credit card issuers require you to beg for your rebates. That’s right, they’ll hold your kickback until you ask them for it. (Citibank and Discover are examples). And, you might lose your incentive if you don’t respond within a given time period, between 6 to 12 months. SO READ THE FINE PRINT! What a bummer to sit and wait forever for your perks only to find out they expired a couple months back.

All this being said, rebates on fuel is better than no rebates on fuel. Just make sure that you consider all your credit card options, and if you typically carry a balance each month, use your other credit cards more often if they have lower interest rates or better rewards.

Other options include regular cash back rewards cards, why not just use them at the gas station? As for comparing the fine print, I recommend using a credit search engine like Creditor Web where at a glance, you can compare all different types of credit cards’ terms and conditions, they’re right up front and center, including cash back and gas credit cards.

10 Tips for saving fuel

It’s summer and the gas prices are high. Here are some green tips to reduce your gas consumption.

These handy suggestions come from our own Green Tips booklet as well as from 4Refuel, a fuel management organization specializing in onsite delivery, fuel logistics, automated fleet management and biodiesel solutions.

1. Start off slower
Being first to zoom ahead at the green light doesn’t get you there any quicker. Countless studies by universities, highway authorities and engine manufacturers prove it. Jackrabbit starts save less than three minutes over 60 minutes of driving but end up using 40 percent more fuel and increase toxic emissions by 400 percent

2. Slow down
It’s not just dangerous but speeding wastes fuel. Highway speeds over 100 km/h drastically impact fuel efficiency — cars travelling at 120 km/h instead of 100 km/h use 20 percent more fuel to cover the same distance. Trucks travelling at 120 km/h instead of 100 km/h use 50 percent more fuel. Both emit 100 percent more carbon monoxide, 50 percent more hydrocarbons and 31 percent more nitrogen oxides.

3. Tune-up!
Be sure to provide your vehicles with frequent tune-ups. A well-maintained vehicle performs better on the road, decreases maintenance costs and improves fuel efficiency.

4. Smooth move
Changing the oil regularly is another double bonus for your car and the environment: when your engine is running in top condition, it is burning fuel most efficiently. The average recommendation for oil changes is every three months or 5,000 km. Ask the mechanic to see that your old engine oil gets recycled, and check the replacement oil: the best oils for fuel efficiency are labelled “Energy Conserving” and can reduce your fuel consumption by 3 percent. Consider using a bio-based transmission oil for your car. Read more about them in Getting your engine moving with bio-based oils.

5. Stop idling
Letting your engine idle for more than three minutes not a good idea. Idling quickly consumes fuel and can add 50 percent to fuel costs while shortening the effectiveness of your engine oil by 75 percent. And it’s not doing anything for the longevity of your engine either. Idling runs your engine below peak temperature, which means that over time you’re actually doing damage to it. There’s also no need for that morning warm up since our cars are now electronically controlled. An engine actually warms up faster while driving.

6. Tire pressure
There’s a lot more than the environment riding on your tires. For safety reasons alone, you should make a regular habit of checking your tire pressure but do so when tires are cold, not fresh from use. In addition or under-inflated tires increase fuel consumption and cause premature wear on the tires. Transport Canada studies show that 70 percent of the tires on the road are under-inflated. Are yours part of the statistics?

7. Lighten your load
Carrying excess weight places unnecessary strain on your vehicle’s engine and greatly affects its fuel efficiency. A loaded roof rack can decrease your fuel efficiency by up to 15 percent on smaller cars and up to 5 percent on SUVs or trucks. Even driving with an empty rook rack wastes gas.

8. Cut back on your driving
Save gas by driving less. Combine several errands into a single trip, take a minute before you leave home to plan multiple errands and map out your route. Start using public transit as much as possible. Leave the car at home if you can get there by walking, cycling or taking the bus, train or metro.

9. Trade in the off-road vehicle
Sporty utility vehicles and trucks pollute over twice as much as the average new car. Do we really need that SUV on city streets, where the extra weight and friction caused by four-wheel-drive equipment guzzles up gas? SUVs use 30 percent more gas than other cars. So, opt for a lighter, two-wheel-drive vehicle — they’re easier to park anyway!

10. Buy a fuel-efficient vehicle
While the best choice by far for clean driving is a hybrid car, which runs on a combination of battery power and gasoline and uses far less gasoline. But there are also traditional vehicles with respectable fuel-efficiency ratings. A typical car produces roughly three times its weight in carbon-dioxide emissions every year, so a good general rule is the lighter your car, the better its fuel efficiency.

Original post: http://www.greenlivingonline.com/Energy/10-tips-for-saving-fuel/

Ninjas Reduce Global Warming

Ask A Ninja how to reduce global warming. Recycle swords and ninja weapons, reduce the number of boy bands and go to Ask.com, ha ha.

Wear Your Biodiesel Heart On Your Sleeve…Or Head

Biodiesel Now has a great collection of biodiesel merch including coats, decals, hats, licence plate frames and other automobile decor.

Now when you buy a sweet piece of BIODIESEL shwag from BioDieselNow’s “Pizzaman” member, George, a portion will be donated to the BioDieselNow website.

Biodiesel Tank-Fill Providers

As the demand grows for cleaner burning fuel options, so does the demand for biodiesel tank-fill providers. 4Refuel is the leader in biodiesel fuel management, offering on-site biodiesel refueling services to government, municipal and private sector fleets as well as fleet tracking software solutions in Canada, the US and the UK.

Among the advantages of on-site biodiesel refueling over card-lock stations is fleet drivers do not need to make pit stops to refuel their vehicles. Refueling is done after hours when fleets are idle.

4Refuel’s consultative approach involves walking fleet managers through a simple process, evaluating, labour, insurance, productivity and efficiency factors, to show the true cost of fuel consumption rather than just the price at the pump in addition to providing diesel and biodiesel fuel.

For more information, request a True Cost Of Fuel analysis from 4Refuel.

Home Brew Biodiesel – Interview With Vermont Biodiesel Farmer

Biodiesel : Do Not Drink

A short film by a couple of high school students. A Vermont organic farmer describes how he makes his own home-brew biodiesel for his 2 tractors and 2 diesel cars. He explains the process of making it, and that it takes him 2 hours to mix vegetable oil with methanol gas, which he gets for $0.50/gallon. The vegetable oil he gets for next to nothing.

The only downside, the farmer mentions, is that biodiesel is not as cold tolerant so it becomes unusable sooner. Other than that, it’s better for the environment, better for his engines and is a better lubricant. And the price is right, too