“Based on talks with actual engineers that work at Ford and GM. These two companies have actively discouraged any improvements in fuel efficiencies. Engineers would be threatened if they were caught tinkering with the computer systems or searching for ways to make the car engines run more efficiently.”
By Jerry Hirsch / Los Angeles Times Published: February 17. 2012 LOS ANGELES – Electric car company Tesla Motors Inc. announced a deal to provide the powertrain for a new Mercedes-Benz vehicle, even as it moves closer to manufacturing its own vehicles later this year. The Palo Alto, Calif., automaker also said Wednesday that...
By Eoghan Macguire, for CNN, February 16, 2012 (CNN) — Pay-as-you-go products may be synonymous with mobile phones but a solar energy service in Africa is harnessing the popular business model to bring affordable electricity to the continent’s remotest communities. IndiGo solar enables rural households far removed from their country’s electrical grid to generate...
A 2010 study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences surveyed more than 1,300 most cited and published climate scientists and found that 97 percent of them said climate change was a human-made problem. Dr. David Wojick, a coal-industry consultant, is developing the curriculum for $100,000 a year. Wojick is not a...
By Mark J. Palmer and Timothy Feder, Earth Island Institute Plans are underway to gut the international whaling moratorium first approved in 1982 by the International Whaling Commission (IWC). The secret IWC deal, originally negotiated by the Bush administration, would allow Japan, Norway and Iceland to continue their slaughter of whales despite the existing...
Scientists Develop World’s Lightest Metal, 100x Lighter than Styrofoam by Brit Liggett, 11/20/11 This, we assure you, is a real photograph. Researchers at the University of California Irvine have developed a metal micro-lattice that is as strong as solid metal yet 100 times lighter than Styrofoam. The material is constructed from a micro-lattice of...
By Elizabeth Weise, USA TODAY 12/21/2011 The Environmental Protection Agency released far-reaching air pollution regulations Wednesday, 21 years after they were first mandated by Congress and six days after they were signed by the agency. The rules require coal- and oil-fired power plants to lower emissions of 84 different toxic chemicals to levels no...
Americans must once again stand up for their right to clean air and clean water. Los Angeles Times, Lisa P. Jackson, Oct. 21 2011 Since the beginning of this year, Republicans in the House have averaged roughly a vote every day the chamber has been in session to undermine the Environmental Protection Agency and...
the devastating economic costs and mounting humanitarian crisis related to reckless mountaintop removal operations Jeff Biggers, September 26, 2011; alternet.org 2009 North American Goldman Prize Winner Maria Gunnoe testified. “Jobs in surface mining are dependent on blowing up the next mountain and burying the next stream. When are we going to say enough is...
Daimler subsidiary Smart is releasing performance details of its latest electric vehicle concept called the Forvision in preparation for the Frankfurt Motor Show 2011. We’ve covered other of Smart’s electric vehicles, including the Forspeed that was unveiled earlier this year at the Geneva Auto Show, and the manufacturer’s Fortwo models that have only recently...
LA Times, September 1, 2011 General Motors said that it sold only 300 of its Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid sedans in August, bringing its total for the year to 3,172. Meanwhile, Nissan North America said it sold 1,362 of its battery-electric Leaf in August and 6,187 since its December launch. Nissan said its Leaf...
August 31st, 2011 After the damage caused by the Fukushima disaster, it only makes sense that Japan turn its resources to trying to find another efficient form of clean energy besides nuclear. Research into wind turbine development may have lead to a solution with stunning potential. Wind lenses, rings that go around the outside...
Ideas & Discoveries, Oct. 2011, 8-20-2011 Today oil co’s deny global warming despite all the undeniable, overwhelming, evidence, and Ins. co’s fight health care reform at their own peril. Recent wars have been fought more for oil profits than for human rights so why are we so surprised to learn that even the Am....
August 12, 2011 Detroit, Michigan – General Motors has awarded a production contract to A123 Systems, a developer and manufacturer of advanced Nanophosphate lithium-ion batteries and systems, for batteries that will be used in future GM electric vehicles for select global markets. The specific vehicles and brands will be announced at a later date....
Buckeye Bullet : The Fastest Electric Car Ohio State’s 400 MPH Buckeye Bullet 3 to Attempt Electric Vehicle Speed Record 08/11/11 Last year Ohio State’s streamlined Buckeye Bullet supercar made headlines as it shattered the world speed record for an electric vehicle by clocking in a blistering 291 miles per hour. As if that...
55% of British motorists will purchase a more fuel efficient vehicle the next time they are looking for a new car according to research by UK based price comparison website MoneySupermarket.com. Remarkably 5% of motorists admitted that rising running costs could actually force them to give up their vehicle altogether. It is believed that...
West Philly Hybrid X Team Wins Green Grand Prix Factory Five’s Facebook page (Copied and pasted from Facebook for those without) You may remember Simon Hauger and his team of high school kids from West Philly High School from last year’s Progressive Insurance X-Prize Competition where they were one of only twenty-two finalists. The...
Sad, things are getting worse. Could have been a great fun car. Aptera refunds deposits, future unclear By: Julie Alvin on 8/15/2011 The Carlsbad, Calif.-based company is returning all deposits made by customers who signed up to buy the Aptera 2e all-electric car or the 2h hybrid model. The vehicle was said to be...
June 21, 2011 12:08 AM (CBS News) The threats of over-fishing and to the world’s fragile coral reefs have long been well documented, but now a panel of scientists say the threats to marine life are far worse than previously imagined. Dr. Alex Rogers, scientific director of IPSO, said in a press release: “The...
June 16th, 2011 EcoMotors struck a parntership with Generac (NYSE: GNRC) this week to jointly develop fuel-efficient, backup power generators. “We’re going to work with Generac to qualify the EcoMotors opoc engine for applications in gen sets, or the power generation area. We’d expect to begin to see on...
Many are experiencing serious physical and mental health problems. … … problems faced by Gulf Coast residents aren’t resonating in Washington… all persons tested showed significant amounts of oil related toxins in their systems. Residents at Feinberg meeting: “LIE! LIE! You are such a lying piece of s**t” while talking about health problems Kids...
History of safety concerns and alleged stifling of whistle-blowers raises questions about plant that’s just five miles from an earthquake fault (CBS News) “Japan is an exact, perfect example of what can happen. We are less than two miles away, and we’re scared.” said resident Dagmar Foy. The crisis unfolding in Japan has put...
from www.going-electric.org/news/ major carmakers unveiled a total of more than 40 new alternative and ecologically-powered vehicles and concepts. The trend toward electric cars is more present than ever with major carmakers displaying new models, either commercial versions that have not yet been unveiled, such as the Opel Ampera or Volvo V60 plug-in hybrid, or...
Tell Pres. Obama we still want the changes he promised, not capitulation, not wishy-washy excuses.