cars
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… especially at an auto show
Possibly in an attempt to convince attendees that a green auto show actually can be sexy, the UK's Eden Project named their eco-car fiesta -- wait for it -- "the Sexy Green Auto Show."
Luckily it seems to be living up to its moniker with an abundance of tempting auto treats, from a Volkswagen that gets 72 mpg to a racing car that can run on a 50 percent blend of jatropha nut biodiesel.
And god bless 'em, I saw zero scantily clad babes in the show's program -- just a whole lot of carbon fiber and flex-fuel engines. Now that's sexy.
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Read his cranky email to a consumer
A reader wrote in to share this email exchange. This is the email she sent to GM — as I understand, it’s a form letter you can sign and send from the Plugin America website. Dear Sir, I am tired of being held by the throat by oil companies and I want to buy a […]
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Way to channel that consumerism!
Jane Austen. Monty Python. Ricky Gervais. My Anglophilia runs amok, people.
And it just spiked again.
According to easier.com, 25 percent of British motorists are planning on buying a car in the coming year -- and a full one-fifth of them have made buying a "green" car their priority. That's three times more green-thusiasm than a year ago.
'Course the number of drivers looking to buy cars in the first place could use a little help -- one-quarter seems a tad steep. Still, a big pip-pip to the British isles for at least channeling their rampant consumerism in the proper direction.
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Seems like a dead end
Last week, Erik Hoffner posted about H2CAR, a process developed at Purdue University that would allegedly dramatically improve the productivity of coal or biomass gasification by adding hydrogen to the mix.
I was intrigued by the idea, and read the article. Unfortunately, I think this is a dead end.
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Judge refuses request for a closed courtroom in global warming case
You may have heard about efforts by the motor vehicle industry to invalidate state laws restricting greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks. California crafted a rule, other states adopted it, and the industry filed suit.
It's a legal argument that stretches back to 2005. And with three active cases -- in California, Rhode Island, and Vermont -- it's not going away soon.
In a dramatic new twist, the industry asked the court in the Vermont case to hold most of the trial in secret.
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A bad pap
Yet another reason for your bile to rise when you hear the word "paparazzi": their choice in vehicles.
Check out this impressive (or should I say unimpressive?) lineup of pap-owned SUVs parked in front of Britney Spears' house last week.
Couldn't a couple of you chase the starlets around in a Civic or something?
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Lawyers instead of engineers
As a warm-up for suing California over fuel-economy standards, automakers are … suing Vermont over fuel-economy standards.
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A must-read
Let me most enthusiastically recommend this article in American Scientist on plug-in hybrids. It’s by an engineer named Andrew Frank that’s been working on hybrids in various incarnations since the early ’70s. You green techno-geeks will love it. It’s one of the most accessible pieces I’ve ever read on the history, technology, and challenges of […]
