If you're looking to avoid the carbon cost of flying this year, there are more 'green' holiday destinations than ever, right here in the UK. Conscious of the limitations placed on UK holidaymakers by the weather, many of these are laying on lots of activities to take care of rainy days, and one exciting development is the opening of Bluestone; an eco friendly holiday village set in the ancient woodland of Pembrokeshire Coast.

Due to open in July, Bluestone bills itself as a 'luxurious retreat away from it all' and will comprise of 355 sustainably-built lodges, cottages and studios for self-catering guests. The park is run according to ecologically sound principles, with energy for its attractions coming from an on-site Biomass plant.

Enjoy camping but prefer to hang on to a few home comforts on your travels? Here's some good news: caravanning is green! Or at least it can be, if you take care to keep your emissions as low as possible. I found a great site called Green Caravanning, which helps you plan your trip for maximum energy-efficiency.

The site lets you enter your size of car and caravan and journey details to calculate an approximation of your C02 emissions, then offers advice on how to make the trip greener. There's also a handy comparison tool, which you can use to work out if going by plane or train would be a greener option for the trip you're planning, and a quick play with the tool shows that touring caravan journeys appear to be relatively green in many instances. Let's hear it for the caravan!

No, that's not an unusually high-tech coffee machine you're looking at: it could in fact be your own personal biofuel maker!

If you're willing to shell out £1,750 ($3,607), that is. But think of the savings on petrol? The FuelPod2 is based on technology from a long tradition of engineering and agricultural types who've been making their own fuel for years, and turns used chip fat and other edible cooking oils into clean, green energy you can run you car on. Since you'll presumably be sourcing these oils from your own kitchen, there's no immediate worry about starvation in other parts of the world, and the C02 saving is incredible.

The FuelPod2 makes up to 50 litres of fuel a day and according to the makers, uses "external, thermostatically-controlled band heaters to pre-heat the oil, which ensures that the warming takes places prior to the addition of chemicals". I'm guess that anything else would cause a nasty accident, but the makers assure us it is "safe".

Chocolate sprinkles with that?

[Via Engadget]

A couple of days ago I was lucky enough to be one of several hundred green activists, academics and hangers on (that’ll be me then) who caught the first Eurostar train out of the new gleaming and incredibly beautiful St Pancras station.

Not only was it the first train to depart from north London as opposed to Waterloo, it also marks a new era for Eurostar in that the company claims the train was the first ever to be carbon neutral. So what does this mean in practice?

When most companies claims to be carbon-neutral there isn't really a huge amount the likes of you and I can do to check up on them. It is slightly different for Eurostar in that while much of their claim has to be taken on trust, there are a few things passengers can do to check the green creds for themselves.

Firstly the trip was really little more than a PR stunt. Eurostar has been trying to green its service for many months now. What happened on Wednesday was that it used the high profile launch of its new service to underline its current green credentials and suggest where it is going in the future.

Bikes are faster than cars if you commute in cities -- it's official, and proven to us by none other than Mr. Gas-Guzzler himself, Jeremy Clarkson. But we didn't need him to tell us that.

So what could be faster (and greener) than a bike that does half the work for you? The new Powabyke commuter bike with lithium batter is the first in a series of electric bikes we put to the test.

Today is a big day for green travel: Eurostar's first ever fully carbon-neutral journey across the to Paris has just left St Pancras station in London, and Ashley Norris is blogging the trip for us, live from the train. Read on to find out what's happening...

"The brand new station concourse is filling up, the punters are jostling towards the platform and the first Eurostar train to Paris is set to rocket out of St Pancras station in about twenty minutes time. Yet on board isn’t the usual mixture of local dignitaries, politicians in search of a photo opp and railway enthusiasts. Many of the, ahem, VIP crew for the first journey are green activists, campaigners and of course bloggers (which is where I sneaked in) here to judge for themselves the environmental credentials of Eurostar's new cross channel carbon-neutral service.

It has widely accepted for some time now that the journey between London and Paris by train produces a tenth of the carbon dioxide as one using a plane (11kg as opposed to 122 by plane). But Eurostar claims that thanks to some core changes in its service passengers can enjoy a completely carbon neutral trip."

As Eurostar moves its HQ from Waterloo to St. Pancras, and shaves off 20 minutes' journey time to the continent, another milestone is being somewhat overlooked: it's about to complete its first ever carbon neutral journey.

The greenest Eurostar trip yet will leave London for Paris on at 11.03 on Wednesday November 14th. All journey on Eurostar from then on will be carbon neutral, at no extra cost to passengers.

Stagecoach has decided to power its Scottish buses and coaches with chip fat - hot on the heels of McDonalds doing exactly the same thing with its delivery vehicles. It sounds like a strange choice for a fuel, but used chip fat makes a good biofuel because it doesn't present the same problems regarding destruction of natural habitats or interference with the food chain which other biofuels do.

I have to admit to the fact that Stagecoach, like McDonalds, is not one of my favourite companies - if you remember the scandal involving Brian Souter donating £1m to the Scottish Schools Boards Association in order to campaign to keep Section 28 in place, you'll know why. However, while I have reservations about Stagecoach as a company after Souter's actions, I have to admit that this latest initiative is a good idea.

Related: McDonalds to turn chip fat into delivery van fuel

This bike looks pretty ordinary to me, but don't be fooled; it's the latest designer fashion accessory from Chanel.

The 'ergonomically designed' 8-speed bicycle, which incorporates the label's signature quilting and 'double-c' logo has been created as part of Chanel's spring/summer 2008 collection. It's sure to appeal to the ultra-chic 'green is the new black' set, who'll be trading in their Vogue Land Rovers for the brand new it-bikes next spring (here's hoping).

The Chanel bike hits the boutiques in time for Christmas, and will cost around £6,200.

There's nothing I'd like better than a spot of cycling right now (though possibly not in this morning's drizzle), but unfortunately my shiny new electric bike *still* hasn't arrived from Urban Mover. I ordered it in the summer time, but it's still not here, and it's probably safe to say that the summer is now well and truly over. Personal bike gripes aside, those of you lucky enough to own a bike will probably be turning your thoughts to the imminent clock change on the 28th October.

ECOutlet has done a nice post on its company blog to advertise its range of eco-friendly bike lighting. First up, their new Micro Bike Lights have been designed by the supreme Trevor "wind-up" Bayliss. One minute of winding provides 90 minutes of illumination, which should be more than enough to get you home and back. .

If a country merely considering green its national colour doesn't make it green enough for you to want to visit it, then you may like to look at the GreenBox website. The Greenbox region is Ireland's first ecotourism destination - a beautiful, unspoilt landscape boasting unique ecosystems and areas of high conservation value - and Responsible Tourism Ltd (trading as Greenbox Ltd) is an organisation which was created in order to further develop ecotourism in the area. All the companies which offer retreats and tours in the Greenbox region must adhere to a standard known as the The European Eco-label for tourist accommodation services and camp site services (The EU Flower).

Ireland Ecotours runs two particularly interesting looking day-long tours. The Green Scene tour transports passengers round the region in an eco-friendly bio-bus powered with Pure Plant Oil, stopping on the way to teach them about the solar panels, windmills and micro hydro power used in the area. The Two Forests Mountain Biking Tour is a comprehensive tour of the region which also focuses on teaching cyclists how to adopt the most environmentally friendly practises possible whilst out biking. Cyclists are taught not to disturb wildlife, spread seeds, or churn up areas of marsh and wetland, and given a code of practise to take away with them. Alternatively, if you fancy a more spiritual approach, and err more towards the 'retreat' side of things than the 'tour' side, you might wish to investigate the breaks offered by Wilderness Therapy Sessions, The Ard Nahoo Eco Retreat Experience, or Blaney Spa and Yoga Centre.

Love it or hate it - we all have to travel sometime. But now Multimap has joined forces with carbon-reducers Carbon Clear to help us keep our travel carbon footprints to a minimum.

By looking at things like mode of transport and engine size, Multimap will provide information how much CO2 each journey will use up. Travellers will also be able to compare their carbon foot print if they were to take other modes of transport.

Multimap's founder Sean Phelan, said, "We all know that driving has a negative effect on the environment. We've partnered with Carbon Clear to help raise users' awareness of the impact of driving, and also to make it easier to offset the carbon emissions of those journeys."

If you’re booking your winter holiday, why not travel to the Continent by train with Rail Europe? They’re the specialist in online French and European rail travel and the UK’s largest distributor of European rail travel, with over 100 years of experience and a wide range of travel options available.

Rail is the eco way to travel to Europe. The network of 300 km/h services will carry you swiftly and comfortably to literally hundreds of destinations. Rail Europe can book travel on Eurostar, on the entire French network including the high speed TGV, overnight trains including the Elipsos hoteltrain from Paris to Barcelona or Madrid, the Motorail service from Calais to the South of France and the Snow Train, to the French Alps. According to the French Environmental Institute, domestic flights have a carbon footprint of 180g per kilometre for each passenger, whereas trains have a mere 5.7g – choo choo I say.

Related stories: Virgin trains to eco chug on biodiesel | Poll: Train vs. Plane – Which is greener?

If you’re booking your winter holiday, why not travel to the Continent by train with Rail Europe? They’re the specialist in online French and European rail travel and the UK’s largest distributor of European rail travel, with over 100 years of experience and a wide range of travel options available.

Rail is the eco way to travel to Europe. The network of 300 km/h services will carry you swiftly and comfortably to literally hundreds of destinations. Rail Europe can book travel on Eurostar, on the entire French network including the high speed TGV, overnight trains including the Elipsos hoteltrain from Paris to Barcelona or Madrid, the Motorail service from Calais to the South of France and the Snow Train, to the French Alps. According to the French Environmental Institute, domestic flights have a carbon footprint of 180g per kilometre for each passenger, whereas trains have a mere 5.7g – choo choo I say.

Related stories: Virgin trains to eco chug on biodiesel | Poll: Train vs. Plane – Which is greener?

ecobookers.com is a new booking engine for eco-friendly accommodation around the world. Search for accommodation by destination or take a look at one of the lifestyle sections for inspiration, such as eco luxury, eco families or eco on a budget. You can book securely and easily online. I picked a nice country manor in Sao Pedro do Sul in Portugal to keep down my flying footprint. The manor is set in certified organic farmland.

My impression is that it’s a new website and they need to increase the number of destinations available. For example, there was only one in the entire USA. But it’s a nice idea, and one which hopefully will take off and give the average person the choice to book an eco holiday.

Related stories: Organic places to stay in the UK | Ecoescape green travel guide