2017 Canadian Green Car Award Finalists Announced

Overall winner to be revealed April 7^th at the Green Living show

TORONTO, Ont. — In what is likely the tightest competitions in its five-hear history, expert judges have selected six vehicles as finalists for the 2017 Canadian Green Car Award.

The overall winner will be revealed Friday, April 7^th, at the Green Living Show, in the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

The finalists were selected after extensive testing and assessment by the judges, all leading Canadian automotive journalists, who picked the top entries in six technology and style categories.*

The finalists are:

The Canadian Green Car Award recognizes vehicles that offer impressive “green” attributes combined with strong mass-market appeal, based on the understanding that any product can have a significant environmental impact only if it sells in large numbers.

To achieve this result, the assessments combined “objective” criteria, such as fuel economy, emissions and price, with the judges’ evaluations of performance, driving experience, value, features and “green” qualities.

“The task for the Canadian Green Car Award judges gets more challenging as automakers continue to raise the bar in technology, fuel economy and quality,” says Laurie Simmonds, President and CEO of Green Living Enterprises, which operates the annual Green Living Show. “The six finalists are all outstanding ‘green’ vehicles, and the judges once again have their work cut out for them in making the ultimate choice.”

The competition began with the Award Steering Committee selecting three nominees in each of the six categories, based on meeting essential “green” criteria related to technology type and fuel economy. The judges then evaluated the nominees, including test drives, data from manufacturers and their own experience. Those scores produced the six category winners announced today.

“This year our judging panel was struck by how mainstream green cars have become,” notes Eric Novak, Co-creator of the Canadian Green Car Award. “The six finalists have demonstrated that by owning a vehicle with minimal environmental impact, one doesn’t need to feel they are making sacrifices in other areas.  Seeing green cars as normal instead of alternative is critical to achieve wide-spread acceptance among car buyers and our finalists this year go a long way towards proving that.”

This open process, in which eligibility doesn’t depend on whether a manufacturer is willing to pay a substantial entry fee, is in line with other global green car awards and makes the program a very meaningful gauge for consumers.

The overall 2017 Canadian Green Car Award winner will be revealed at 11:30 a.m., Friday, April 7, at the Green Living Show in the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, North Building.  Andrew Horsman, Executive Director of Ontario Tire Stewardship, will present the trophy. In addition to declaring the winner, Mr. Horsman will announce an exciting environmental achievement in tire recycling.

All six finalist vehicles will be on display throughout the three-day Show, last year attended by more than 35,000 visitors.

*Basic criteria for each category:

• Zero-emission: Battery electric, fuel cell or other zero-emission technology.
• Plug-in hybrid: Hybrid electric vehicle that uses rechargeable batteries, or another energy storage device, that can be recharged by plugging it in to an external source of electric power.
• Conventional hybrid-electric: Must have combined fuel economy of 6.0 litres per 100 kilometres or lower, according to the five-cycle Natural Resources Canada Fuel Consumption Rating or, if that is not yet available, the equivalent U.S. EPA rating.
• Gasoline or diesel internal combustion: Must have combined fuel economy of 7.0 litres per 100 kilometres or lower.
• Efficient Three-Row: A passenger vehicle of any propulsion technology with at least three forward-facing rows of seating, accommodating at least six occupants. If powered by gasoline or diesel internal combustion, or a conventional hybrid, it must have a combined fuel economy of 10.0 litres per 100 kilometres or lower.
• Fun car: Any passenger vehicle of any propulsion technology that accelerates from zero to 100 kilometres per hour in 7.5 seconds or faster. If powered by gasoline or diesel internal combustion, or a conventional hybrid, it must have a combined fuel economy of 8.1 litres per 100 kilometres or lower.

For more details on the 2017 Canadian Green Car Award, including the list of all vehicle nominees and the judges who assessed them, visit www.canadiangreencaraward.ca.

The Green Living Show takes place April 7^th to 9^th at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. For more information on living a healthier more sustainable lifestyle, please visit greenlivingshow.ca. Join the conversation on Facebook, follow the Green Living Show on Twitter and Instagram @GreenLivingPage.

About Green Living Enterprises 

Green Living Enterprises is Canada’s leading cause-marketing agency focused on social and environmental program development. Our team is led by award-winning industry experts in the fields of brand and program development; custom content; advertising, marketing and communications; and event management. Green Living Enterprises also includes Greenlivingonline.com and The Green Living Show, Canada’s largest consumer show, dedicated to simple solutions for leading a healthy and sustainable lifestyle.

About the Green Living Show

The Green Living Show is Canada’s largest consumer show dedicated to simple solutions for leading a healthy and sustainable lifestyle. This three-day event offers inspiration for all ages and features influential speakers; innovative products; eco home and garden design; local and organic food and wine tastings; health, wellness and yoga pavilions; eco fashion and green beauty makeovers; electric car test drives; nature exhibits and fun activities for the entire family.

(SAN FRANCISCO, CA) November 17, 2016 – Each year, between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, the roads become increasingly congested with distracted, stressed, rushed, and often aggressive drivers. The good news is that there are now steps you can actively take to protect yourself and your passengers with nothing more than a short investment of time on your computer, tablet, or phone.

Numerous studies show that a relatively small amount of time spent using certain brain-training exercises can actually improve focus and reaction time – improvements that lead to safer driving and fewer accidents. In fact, a recent field trial from AAA of Southern California has shown that the resulting cognitive improvements directly translate to fewer collisions on the road.

With funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the research that led to these brain exercises began in the 1980s in an effort to explain why older drivers, who are generally more careful about safety than their younger counterparts, still have more crashes per mile driven. The researchers discovered that improving the brain’s processing speed and attention has a far more significant impact on driving safety than simply re-learning and observing the rules of the road.

On average, in every decade after your 20s, the brain slows down – typically by fractions of a second. Because it cannot process as quickly, the brain compensates by taking in less information. The amount of information that can be processed visually with a glance typically shrinks as people age or become distracted. The brain also needs more time to process and react to information.

Fortunately, leading researchers have shown that certain types of brain exercises can effectively engage the brain’s plasticity – that is, its inherent ability to change, make new connections, and rewire itself – to ultimately speed up processing and improve attention. Over the past 20 years, numerous NIH-funded studies have published showing that these “visual speed of processing” exercises can improve driving performance, with findings of:

• More than doubling visual speed of processing;
• Increasing reaction time to provide an additional 22 feet of stopping distance, while traveling at 55 mph;
• Reducing dangerous driving maneuvers by 36%;
• Decreasing the rate of driving cessation by 55%;
• Maintaining ability to drive, as measured by frequency, distance, and challenging driving conditions; and
• Cutting at-fault crash incidence nearly in half (by 48%).

Recently, AAA of Southern California announced results from its own five-year field trial of these unique exercises, involving more than 35,000 drivers insured by AAA, in which they found a 30% decrease in collision claims among people training with these visual speed of processing exercises. The insurer now offers premium discounts to drivers who complete the training.

The exercises used in all these studies are commercially available from Posit Science, as part of its online BrainHQ subscription service at brainhq.com.

“Time and again, studies have shown that these visual training exercises help participants see more and see things more quickly,” said Dr. Henry Mahncke, CEO of Posit Science, creator of the BrainHQ exercises. “Split seconds can really matter when you are traveling at 55 or even 30 miles per hour. Remaining focused is particularly important during the holidays when you and other drivers have a lot of things on your mind.”