The man who may or may not ever step up to the British throne has been keeping busy while his mother keeps his new seat warm. As wealthy people are wont to do, Britain's Prince Charles has a number of vehicles at his disposal. As a very public person, he has been trying to set an example by reducing the carbon footprint of his transportation fleet. Last year he had his Range Rover and Jaguar converted to run on biodiesel. Now he has decided to put some surplus British wine to use by having to distilled into ethanol to feed his Aston Martin. His Royal Highness has a 38 year old Aston Martin DB6 Volante that is now fueled by E100. The Aston only gets 8.3mpg (U.S.) on gas and will get less than that on ethanol. However, Charles only drives it about 300 miles a year so the overall effect is negligible at best. The vineyard that produces the wine is limited in how much it can bottle by EU quotas, so the leftovers are distilled to produce fuel.

[Source: This Is London]

Prince Charles and Camilla have appeared quite a few times on these pages due to their ongoing efforts to go green. Reducing their carbon footprint has been a big deal to the royal couple, now extending to even their vacation plans. Ecorazzi reports that the duo have rented a sail boat to tour the Caribbean as opposed to a more conventional diesel-powered yacht. Not that setting sail on the 246-foot long ship will be a drag or anything, but it would likely be quicker if they flew, so they might be making some sort of sacrifice. We just wish we could show our commitment by making such sacrifices...

Related:

• The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall have gone carbon neutral
• Prince Charlie checks out the BioPower Saab 9-3
• Prince Charley keeps Range Rover warm so biodiesel doesn't get lumpy

[Source: Ecorazzi]

The Prince of Wales visited the Ford UK facility at Dunton for its 40th anniversary which showcased the marque's projects in green developments and fuel-efficient prototypes, such as a 70 MPG (Imperial, 58 US MPG) Ford Focus with emissions lower than 100 CO2 g/km that Prince Charles could test drive.

Graham Hoare, head of Ford Dunton, said: "Ford is delighted that The Prince of Wales marked Dunton's 40th anniversary year with an official visit. His Royal Highness was among the first to champion environmental issues and we shared with him Dunton's green technologies – including engines and transmissions – that are currently available or are being engineered for future applications."

Prince Charles also planted the first of 40 trees to mark the 40th anniversary of the plant, which leads the company's development of gasoline, diesel and bioethanol-enabled engines; transmissions and commercial vehicles.



Related:

• The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall have gone carbon neutral
• Prince Charlie checks out the BioPower Saab 9-3
• Prince Charley keeps Range Rover warm so biodiesel doesn't get lumpy

[Source: Ford]

While many debate the merits of offsetting carbon in ways such as planting new trees, Prince Charles has reportedly gone carbon-neutral. We have reported a few times already on some of the methods that allowed the royal household to reduce its carbon footprint by 9 percent in the last year, and the latest report issued by the prince's Clarence House office has shown that all 3,775 tons, between April 1, 2006 and March 31 of this year have been offset.

I am not one to get involved in politics, and I honestly don't know a great deal about the structure of the Government in the U.K, so I won't spend too much time dealing with the specifics on the breakdown of the Prince and Duchess's environmentally friendly work or the income spent on it. If you want to know more about those details, why not click here to read the official press release. What I do find rather notable is the fact that their household was able to reduce their carbon emissions by 9 percent in just one year. They have also gone on the record as setting a target to further reduce their footprint by 12.5 percent by 2012. Imagine if all high ranking officials took this approach.

From the report: "The Prince of Wales's Household has a policy of reducing its carbon and wider greenhouse gas emissions to the greatest extent possible, and to the extent that reductions cannot be achieved, offsetting the emissions."

For more, follow along after the break.

[Source: The Prince of Wales]

Click on the photo for high-res images of Prince Charles checking out the new Saab

Tiring of waiting for his mum to hand over the top job in the family, Britain's Prince Charles has in recent years taken up causes like architecture and the environment. In advance of the London-to-Brighton eco-car rally which is taking place today, World Environment Day, the Prince of Wales took time to check out a new BioPower Saab recently.

The Prince drove the ethanol-fueled Saab 9-3 convertible and then chatted with Saab GB managing director Jonathan Nash about the new car. Charles had already had his Jaguars and Land Rovers set up to run on biodiesel and was very interested in the ethanol-powered ragtop Swede.



[Source: Saab]

Traditionally, before Colin Chapman introduced a Lotus 49 in colors of Gold Leaf Tobacco, racing cars were painted in colors based on the home country of the team running them. German racers were silver, Italian red, French blue and of course cars from the British Isles were always the legendary British Racing Green. Now the Jaguars and Land Rovers that ferry the future king of England (if he manages to out-live his mother, that is) will represent a new breed of green.

Prince Charles is now awaiting the delivery of the first of his fleet of chauffeur-driven (he is still a royal after all) Jags outfitted to run on B100 biodiesel. Ultimately all the vehicles he uses will run on B100, made from rapeseed oil (known in the US as canola). Starting with next year's annual accounts he will be publishing details of his household's carbon emissions and setting reduction targets. In addition to the biodiesel cars he's also taking public trains to get from his country home of Highgrove to London and switching over to sustainable sources of electricity for his residences.

[Source: All Headline News]