Its not easy being green, as my pal Kermit once said/sang. And it’s even tougher when you are in a recession. Could this be why sales of electric cars have fallen by more than half this year, according to figures released two days after the Government’s climate change advisory body predicted a huge increase! Only 156 electric cars were sold from January to October, compared with 374 for the same period last year (there’s about 1,000 in total on British roads). And the industry has had its first casualty: Nice Car Company, one of the two main British distributors of electric cars, went into administration yesterday after sales dropped to fewer than 1 car week. The Committee on Climate Change said on Monday it expected electric and hybrid vehicles to form up to 40 % of cars on the road by 2020. Really? It seems that most of the major manufactures are holding off on the release of their version of electric cars, but I wonder if that could spark (no pun intended) the rebirth of the car industry?

Easyjet have said the same as every other airline: fuel prices are hitting the easybank balance and in their case profits could be down as much as 50% on last year. But before boss Stelios sends his brown trousers off to easydry cleaner, he wants to look at his firm’s passenger numbers – they’re up 22% on last year, and more importantly for tree-huggers, his planes are flying at a greater capacity – nearly 87%, another increase on last year. Like a pensioner with a broken thermostat, the firm expects an increase on £185m on its annual fuel bill, and its cutting flights but increasing passengers to try and slash that pain in half. Last month the firm flew over four million passengers, with numbers boosted by the acquisition of GB Airways.

Given the summer we had, the only thing most people felt like drinking was strychnine, but the dour Scots at AG Barr, bet on bad weather in their profit forecastings, and are enjoying raising a glass with shareholders with 10% rise in profits. The company is best known for producing the day-glo orange, nylon flavoured tooth corroding soft drink Irn Bru; once the only bright point in a Scottish childhood, but now 50% of sales come from outside of Scotland. AG Barr will keep letting the weather influence its future: The firm spends around £6m a year on electricity, gas and diesel and currently has no fixed-price deal in place, making it particularly vulnerable to rising energy prices. So they’ve uveiled plans to installing a wind turbine, at a cost of several million pounds at its newly-expanded Cumbernauld site.  The company also has big plans for the exotic juice company Rubicon, which it bought for nearly £60m. So if you think you can help them grow that brand outside of its favoured Indian communities, brush your teeth and get in touch.

The founder of Scotland’s biggest ice-cream company has called for 10,000 of Britain’s farmers and landowners to unite in forming the country’s biggest windpower company by “giving away their landâ€�. Dr Maitland Mackie, the chairman of Mackies of Scotland, reckons they could seize the lion’s share of a potential £270 billion renewable energy jackpot. Dr Mac knows what he’s jabbering on about: he threw £2.5 million at three wind generators that fully power his farming and ice-cream manufacturing operations. Power up!

You heard it here first: After giving our lawyers the fidgets claiming that one of India’s biggest firms, Tata, had used thugs to seize farmland for the factory to build the world’s smallest and cheapest car, the Nano, we seem the claim was not a conspiracy or flashback. In fact the opposition party in West Bengal has called for an indefinite siege of the factory building in protest. The party leader, a tough old dame called Mamata Banerjee, wants 400 acres of land returned to local farmers and is in no mood for a compromise. In such a stand you soon find out who your friends are: a number of other states in India have come forward and said they are more than happy to build the Nano. That will worry the state government here who are desperately trying to attract investors who for years have been put off by its communist policies. If Tata are forced to move, what message will that send out? The world’s cheapest car, yes. But at what cost? Hanson St Hansen-Hansan, News at Ten, Bengal.