IRU Head of Sustainable Development, Jens H�gel, stresses: "A detailed analysis of the latest economic figures show that there is a general upward trend in Europe. However, Europe remains outpaced by BRIC and TRACECA countries, which show better performances in transport volumes in 2013 and are likely to continue doing so in 2014".

BRIC and TRACECA road transport operators carried 5.1% and 3.4% more volume respectively than EU transport operators. These numbers are expected to reach 5% and 3.7% respectively in 2014, while EU transport volumes will increase by only 1.3%.

• Most of COSME, the EU programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), including Enterprise Europe Network (EEN), Your Europe Business and the European IPR Helpdesk;
• Part of Horizon 2020, the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, and in particular:
  • The SME instrument 
  • The Energy Efficiency part of the challenge 'Secure, Clean and Efficient Energy';
  • The calls for proposals in the fields of waste, water innovation and sustainable supply of raw material under the challenge 'Climate action, Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials'
  • Some areas of the 'Industrial leadership' challenge:
    • part of the Leadership in Enabling and Industrial Technologies
    • Innovation in SMEs and
    • The Sustainable Industry Low Carbon Scheme (SILC II)
• The EU programme for the Environment and Climate action (LIFE)
• Part of the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF)
• The legacy of the Intelligent Energy - Europe programme
• The legacy of the Eco-innovation initiative

The EASME also organises the EU Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW).

Its mission is to support the Commission, project promoters and stakeholders by providing expertise and high quality of programme management to infrastructure, research and innovation projects  in the fields of transport, energy and telecommunications, and to promote synergies between these activities, to benefit economic growth and EU citizens. 

INEA has officially started its activities on 01 Jan 2014 in order to implement parts of the following EU programmes:

Connecting Europe Facility (CEF)

The CEF is a key EU instrument to promote growth, jobs and competitiveness through targeted infrastructure investment at European level. It is divided into 3 sectors:

• CEF Transport 
• CEF Energy 
• CEF Digital (telecommunications)

Horizon 2020

Horizon 2020 is the EU's main programme for the research area. It implements the Innovation Union, a Europe 2020 flagship initiative aimed at securing Europe's global competitiveness. The two objectives below which are managed by INEA fall under the "Societal Challenges" part of the programme.

• Smart green and integrated transport 
• Secure, clean and efficient energy 

In total, it is expected that INEA will manage a budget of up to €37 billion for the new 2014-2020 Programmes (€30 billion from the CEF and €7 billion from H2020).

Legacy programmes (2007-2013)

• TEN-T (Transport infrastructure) 
• Marco Polo (Freight performance) 

 Volvo has been a leader in pedestrian-detection technology, introducing features like pedestrian airbags and auto-braking. Last year, it broadened its Pedestrian Detection system to include cyclists.

"Communication with cyclists around the car is a possible extension of our groundbreaking Pedestrian and Cyclist Detection technology", explains Jan Ivarsson, Senior Manager, Safety Strategy and Requirements at Volvo Cars.

"Providing the cyclist with confirmation that he or she is seen by the vehicle can make interaction between cars and cyclists smoother and safer in urban areas".  

The new face of Nissan's Taxi for London is designed to be immediately recognizable as a cab, but how well it succeeds is open to question. Based on the company's NV200 taxi as part of Nissan's global taxi program, it's very boxy and at first glance it looks more like a van than a taxi. True, it does carry over some design cues from current London cabs, but this one won't ever be mistaken for an Austin even in a bad light.

That being said, the new design does try to emulate a classic cab. Compared to the NV200, the bonnet is softer, the wings are more pronounced, and the round headlamps and remodeled grille are definite echoes of the traditional black cabs. There's also a LED-lit taxi sign and newly designed front bumper panels.

 

All of the Milton Keynes buses will be serviced by two wireless charging points, with a 10-minute charge replenishing the batteries by approximately two thirds.

With each bus logging over 56,000 miles (90,123 km) per year, it is estimated the eight vehicles will keep approximately five tonnes (5.5 tons) of particulates and noxious tailpipe emissions, and about 270 tonnes (298 tons) of CO2 from entering the atmosphere each year.

The costs of such carnage are economic as well as human. These may be as high as between 1% and 2% of GDP annually if one calculates the expected life-time earnings loss of those killed in road accidents, the earning loss of those injured, plus medical and vehicle damage costs etc.  

That is potentially as much as $79 billion for Central and Eastern Europe and $13 billion for the CIS.  Three trends emerge from road safety statistics... 

"This is a real thing", Gavin Schmidt, a climate scientists for NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, told Mashable. "It doesn't go away because it's snowing in New York today".

Schmidt said unequivocally that "the planet is warming," and scientists are nearly 100% sure its attributable to human behavior to some degree.

NOAA, in its report, noted that 2013 was the 37th consecutive year in which temperatures were above the 20th century average, and both agencies agreed that all 10 of the warmest years in the 133-year record have occurred since 1998.

The agencies use "slightly different methods" to measure, according to NASA, "but overall, their trends show close agreement." By the NOAA's measurements, the global combined land and ocean surface temperature in 2013 was 1.12 degrees above the 20th century average. NASA had it at 1.1 degrees.

As with conventional biofuel production, Global Bioenergies technology uses microӧrganisms to ferment sugars to produce fuel. But its process eliminates the second most costly part of producing biofuels-the energy-intensive distillation step.

And by making gasoline instead of making ethanol, the startup skirts a major problem hampering growth in biofuels-the fact that the market for ethanol is saturated.