More than three million Latin American immigrants in the United States, responding to the economic downturn and new uncertainties about their future, have stopped sending money home to their families in the last two years, according to a survey released on Wednesday by the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington. Only 50 percent of some 18.9 million Latino immigrants in this country now send money regularly to relatives in their home countries, compared with 73 percent two years ago, the survey found. The drop in the number of people sending remittances, as the money transfers are known, is a sign of pressures on Latino immigrants as a result of the slump in the low-wage job market and of the Bush administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration, the survey shows. Of the immigrants interviewed, 47 percent said they did not have legal status. The others were American citizens and legal immigrants. But while the number of immigrant senders declined, the total amount of remittances actually rose slightly between 2006 and this year, the study reported. It estimated total remittances to Latin America at $45.9 billion in 2008, an increase of $500 million over 2006. The amount did not decrease more […]
NEW YORK — Drivers have long known that slowing down on the highway means getting more miles to the gallon. Now airlines are trying it, too – adding a few minutes to flights to save millions on fuel. Southwest Airlines started flying slower about two months ago, and projects it will save $42 million in fuel this year by extending each flight by one to three minutes. On one Northwest Airlines flight from Paris to Minneapolis earlier this week alone, flying slower saved 162 gallons of fuel, saving the airline $535. It added eight minutes to the flight, extending it to eight hours, 58 minutes. That meant flying at an average speed of 532 mph, down from the usual 542 mph. ‘It’s not a dramatic change,’ said Dave Fuller, director of flight operations at JetBlue, which began flying slower two years ago. But the savings add up. JetBlue adds an average of just under two minutes to each flight, and saves about $13.6 million a year in jet fuel. Adding just four minutes to its flights to and from Hawaii saves Northwest Airlines $600,000 a year on those flights alone. United Airlines has invested […]
Last week, Ford laid out its plan to ensure a sustainable transportation future and a cleaner environment. The plan involves three steps. The near-term runs from present day to 2012, the mid-term extends to 2020 and the long-term takes care of 2020 and beyond. It is an all-encompassing vision that touches all emerging technologies. The assertion by Greg Franette, chief engineer for Ford’s fuel cell and hybrid vehicle programs, that the greening of the company’s portfolio would continue unabated despite Ford’s precarious financial position is an important one for the planet. One of the statistics used during Franette’s presentation proved to be eye-opening: According to a 2006 report by Environment Canada, passenger cars and light trucks account for 12.5% of the growing greenhouse gas (GHG) problem, not the 25% so regularly touted. Industries, by comparison, account for a staggering 42%, yet it somehow manages to escape close scrutiny whenever the GHG situation rears its ugly head. In the near term, Ford will begin to roll out its EcoBoost range of four-and six-cylinder engines. The adoption of gasoline direct injection and turbocharging improves fuel economy by 20% or more while dropping CO2 emissions by 20% without diminishing overall performance. […]
Car makers are preparing to introduce plug-in electric cars in 2010, but their success will depend on players beyond their control: the electric utilities. The plug-ins are a new generation of hybrid cars that can run 10 to 40 miles on electric batteries before they have to tap their gasoline engines. This gives them, on a tank of gas, a driving range of as much as 600 miles without recharges to potentially thousands of miles with recharges. [Photo] The Edison SmartConnect meter, above, knows when an electric car’s battery is charged. Utilities would prefer charging at night. To recharge the battery, drivers will plug it into a standard electric wall outlet at a cost of a dollar or two. As a result, the car companies are betting that the plug-ins will succeed where previous electric cars have failed, lifting their industry from the doldrums and slashing oil consumption. But the cars will need ready access to inexpensive, plentiful electricity. That means the new vehicles ‘will make utilities more important than the oil companies’ to many drivers, says General Motors Corp. spokesman Robert Peterson. If utilities discourage the cars’ proliferation by charging more for their electricity, the push […]
As many as one billion people could lose their homes by 2050 because of the devastating impact of global warming, scientists and political leaders will be warned today. They will hear that the steady rise in temperatures across the planet could trigger mass migration on unprecedented levels. Hundreds of millions could be forced to go on the move because of water shortages and crop failures in most of Africa, as well as in central and southern Asia and South America, the conference in London will be told. There could also be an effect on levels of starvation and on food prices as agriculture struggles to cope with growing demand in increasingly arid conditions. Rising sea levels could also cause havoc, with coastal communities in southern Asia, the Far East, the south Pacific islands and the Caribbean seeing their homes submerged. North and west Africans could head towards Europe, while the southern border of the United States could come under renewed pressure from Central America. The conference will hear a warning from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) that the developed world should start preparing for a huge movement of people caused by climate change. […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
