[Wildwell]

Looks like cars and mass transit will finally have a love affair as the advtantages of each are exploited. Commuter can arrive by say electric trains and use small instant hire electric cars to get about the rest of the way.

Electro-car public transport and a scheme to track the proper disposal of waste are two of smartest ideas for using satellite-navigation technology.

The applications have just triumphed in an international competition seeking novel ways to employ Galileo, Europe's soon-to-launch sat-nav system.

The multi-billion-euro space venture will transform the quality of location and timing data available on Earth.

And entrepreneurs are being urged to develop innovative ways to exploit it.

The transport application devised by the Vu Log company in Sophia Antipolis, France, envisages a fleet of "green" vehicles on city roads.

Commuters could use the internet or their mobile phone to find the nearest vehicle, jump in and start it with a smartcard, and then drive it to their destination.

"There would be no constraint - you could leave the car where you wanted," explained Vu Log's George Gallais.

"The service provider would come and charge the cars up every two or three days. Being used just for short distances, they wouldn't need charging every day," he told the BBC News website.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4394080.stm

[EnergySpin]

Seems like the EU-IST&ESA initiatives are delivering
But WW ... it seems that you have not heard about Peak Electron and Peak Byte .

[lorenzo]

Wow, this is absolutely definitely the future.

Simple, clean, healthy and green. The EU's target of having 25% renewables in its entire energy portfolio would easily accomodate such a service.