Obama eschews 'green' transport at summit

LISBON, Portugal, Nov. 19 (UPI) -- President Obama's 8-ton, diesel-fueled limousine is the odd one out at a NATO summit in Portugal awash in zero-emission electric vehicles, observers say.

As European leaders zip around Lisbon in smart electric vehicles, the president is being transported in the no-efficiency "Beast" that goes wherever in the world he goes, accompanied by a phalanx of black Secret Service vehicles and a squad of Portuguese police motorcycles, The Christian Science Monitor reported Friday.

The limousine has fascinated local Portuguese media.

Lisbon newspapers dedicate pages to cutaway drawings of "Cadillac One," with charts and boxes explaining every detail of the vehicle that the Secret Service is willing to divulge, like the Kevlar tires, the special foam in the gas tank to extinguish any fire from a direct hit, and the supply of presidential blood.

All of this is in stark contrast to the "green theme" being pushed by Portugal as host of the NATO summit.

Portugal claims to derive 45 percent of its electricity consumption from "clean" energies. Its electric mobility network, with 100 vehicle charging stations in 25 cities around the country intended to rise to 1,300 charging points by mid-2011, is considered a world leader.