fuel efficiency
-
Budget-strapped police forces going with green vehicles to save on fuel
Aspiring Blues Brothers may be able to get old Crown Vics cheap pretty soon — but if you’re at all eco-minded, you may not want to drive them. The iconic and soon-to-be-retired police rides only got 14 m.p.g. in the city, but the Ford Interceptor — set to be their primary replacement when they go […]
-
U.S. vehicles’ fuel economy to suck pretty much forever
This projection, based on fuel efficiency standards that are currently on the books, shows that — absent radical legislative action, or everyone in the U.S. suddenly coming over all French — American cars' fuel economy is primed to suck out loud for the foreseeable future. Anyone complaining about overly stringent regulations can therefore bite it […]
-
'Road trains' can improve fuel efficiency — and driver downtime — by turning cars into conga lines
It's 2011, where's your self-driving car? With "road train" technology, now in development by Volvo, it could be the car you already own. Road trains, or platoons, create semi-autonomous conga lines of cars following one leader vehicle with a professional driver.
-
Feeding our wood stove in winter
Our farm provides more than nutrition. We also have the land to thank for the toasty living room I now enjoy.
-
Thumb on the scale in the comparison of fuel taxes and efficiency standards?
A new review of the literature by Resources for the Future suggests that gas taxes motivate drivers to use less gasoline far more cheaply than auto efficiency standards like CAFE. There are a number of reasons to be suspicious of this conclusion.
-
Fuel economy labels for new cars
The feds are designing new fuel economy labels for cars, for the first time in 30 years, and they want help with the design. Here's my two-cents worth
-
Energy politics in the Senate: why Merkley’s oil plan matters
This morning Sen. Jeff Merkley will introduce “America Over a Barrel: Solving Our Oil Vulnerability” (PDF) [UPDATE: video below], a policy plan devoted to reducing oil use, at an event at the Center for American Progress. I think it could make a big difference in the debate. To understand why, let’s back up and have […]
-
The little black box that could save both lives and fuel
I recently took the Chevrolet Volt for a spin near San Francisco’s ballpark, checking another item off my electric-car life list. (Getting to drive pre-production EVs is one fringe benefit of covering green tech.) Then the other week, I took a drive in another car that promised to help cut greenhouse gas emissions. The car […]
-
Now is the time to transform our energy system
The BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is an unmitigated disaster. Its full consequences will not be known for decades. What we do know, however, is that BP President Tony Hayward was incredibly wrong when he stated that the spill will have “a very, very modest environmental impact.” Quite the contrary! In fact, […]