Ecofest BOP
Email: info@ecofest.org.nz
www.ecofest.org.nz

Toyota’s latest environmentally friendly invention is coming to Tauranga as part of Environment Bay of Plenty’s EcoFest 2004. The Toyota Prius Hybrid car is the world’s most advanced mass-produced hybrid vehicle and due to overwhelming world demand, only 20 of these vehicles have been available to date for sale in New Zealand.

So what makes this car an eco-friendly addition to the world of petrol emission fumes and pollution?

A relatively new edition to the market, the Prius is powered by the Toyota Hybrid Synergy Drive system (HSD) and can run on its highly efficient low-emission 1.5-litre petrol engine, its electric motor, or a combination of both. This equates to a vehicle that has near-zero exhaust emissions, zero evaporative emissions and offering mileage of around 20km per litre of petrol!

Under certain driving conditions the Prius petrol engine shuts down and the electric motor takes over. When the car is stopped in traffic the engine automatically cuts out to eliminate excess petrol consumption and exhaust emissions. As a result, in many high-density traffic situations when the car is stationary, Prius is totally emission-free!

Imagine sitting at a set of traffic lights, with your window down and not having to tolerate smelly petrol fumes?

The HSD system is an impressive step for Toyota and could lead other car manufacturers in the same direction with their hybrid engine technology.

Come and experience the Prius at EcoFest Day, Saturday 8 March at the Tauranga Racecourse. EcoFest Day is an event for the whole family showcasing environmentally friendly products and services and educating the community on contributing to a more sustainable environment.
Admission is free and the event will run from 10 – 5pm.

This is the third EcoFest BOP sponsored by Environment Bay of Plenty, Carter Holt Harvey and Norske Skog.

For more information on EcoFest 2004 please phone 0800 ECO FEST www.ecofest.org.nz

For more information on the Toyota PRIUS please phone 0800 TOYOTA, visit www.toyota.co.nz or contact your local Toyota dealer.

Ends

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>