Recent Comments:
We're telling you for the last time, ethanol is not biodiesel {Autoblog Green}
May 9th 2008 10:23AM Most mainstream journalists have a poor grasp of science and technology, even at the consumer level. What else is new?
Judging the Tesla Roadster and Chevy Volt by different standards {Autoblog Green}
May 9th 2008 10:21AM The kind of people that can afford a supercar (e.g. a Tesla) typically own several conventional vehicles as well. They don't depend on their shiny new toy as a daily driver. If they turn out to be reliable and practical, they might well decide to make it just that, but they can afford to take the risk that it won't be.
By contrast, Joe Average does depend on his wheels, they're not just a plaything. So, he's willing to trade performance and snob appeal for reliability. In the case of the GM Volt, a lot of people remember the EV-1 project and won't believe the hype until the Volt actually hits showrooms.
Who else thinks the Poulsen hybrid is the sleeper team to win the X Prize? {Autoblog Green}
May 7th 2008 7:08PM 2 x 7hp isn't going to do very much. It's enough for cruising at 25mph, but you'll need that ICE to get any acceleration at all. I doubt you'll get 100mpg but with gas prices these days, even a 5-10% gain in fuel economy is welcome. I'd just caution potential buyers to do their sums before investing $3000 in such a system: saving 50 gallons a year means a savings of $200. It would take you 15 years to break even, assuming that the value of your car doesn't fall the minute you install these highly visible devices.
It might be a better idea to put those $3000 toward a smaller car to replace the one you've got - or a really nice electric bicycle.
Continental announces new piezo injector that makes diesels even cleaner {Autoblog Green}
May 5th 2008 1:41PM While piezo injectors can support up to 7 injections per combustion cycle, in practical applications only 2-3 are used.
Audi chief: Electric car in 5 - 10 years {Autoblog Green}
May 5th 2008 1:37PM Audi's primary market is Europe, where diesels do not yet require expensive NOx aftertreatment systems. In that market, it makes sense to wait for the battery technologies to shake out before building an E-REV or BEV model. Also note that lead times for brand-new conventional models are on the order of 7 years in the auto industry, so 10 for something that uses a completely different drive train is not unreasonable.
However, Audi's philosophy will be a difficult sell in the US - currently very much a minor market for the company. With air quality still considered more important than fuel economy there, Detroit is all about going from gasoline to cellulosic ethanol and/or electric drive.
Does Simon Cowell own the least eco-friendly fleet of cars in the world? {Autoblog Green}
May 2nd 2008 12:52PM Owning a car that emits a lot of CO2 per mile doesn't mean that it actually gets driven a lot. I don't look to celebutards for advice on what car to buy - much less general environmental leadership - anyhow, so this article just strikes me as a backhanded way of complaining about how rich they are.
These people thrive on the oxygen publicity, so if you disapprove of their behavior, just stop publishing articles on them. Really, outside of SoCal, nobody really cares what they're up to.
Oil getting close to $120, gas prices following upward trend {Autoblog Green}
Apr 28th 2008 6:03PM The main reason the price of oil has skyrocketed in the last few months is that the Federal Reserve Bank has lowered interest rates to stave off a liquidity crisis. The financial sector is borrowing at those low rates to speculate in commodities, including food and oil. They hope that profits generated from artificial shortages in these goods will compensate for the write-offs in the wake of the subprime mortgage mess.
Remember, international accords limit banks to leverage ratios of 10 but hedge funds are unregulated - and therefore used to be more lucrative. At leverage ratios of 30 or more, every single one of them is way out on a limb right now and so are the investment banks that loaned them the money in the first place. It's a house of cards.
Meanwhile, all this additional money with no real economy to back it up is causing the dollar to fall like a rock - a secondary reason for rising oil prices (in dollar terms). Japan and China depend very heavily on exports to the US, so they grudgingly buy boatloads of US treasury bonds at lower yields than they should. They then grin and bear it when the Fed opens the spigots to reduce the value of that dollar-denominated debt.
This is nothing new, the US used the same trick in the 70s to force Europe to pay for a big chunk of the Vietnam war. Someday, America's habit of perpetually living above its means will come home to roost.
Will your green car give you cancer? {Autoblog Green}
Apr 28th 2008 5:48PM The same people that will sell their car because they're concerned about electromagnetic fields will no doubt readily submit to an MRI scan to assuage their hypochondriac fields.
This superstitious nonsense is what happens when you let the religious right neuter science and science education. Next, they'll demand that children be told all species sprang into existence fully formed. Oh, wait ...
VIDEO: Optibike OB1 lets you use the force {Autoblog Green}
Apr 28th 2008 10:14AM @ Domenick -
I've seen videos of Porsche Cayennes in Siberia as well. That doesn't mean the overcompensating men and scrawny blond trophy wives that drive them in the real world will ever actually take their precious wheels off road. Same with this bike.
It's the Governator vs. Bush on global warming rules {Autoblog Green}
Apr 28th 2008 9:59AM In theory, a coherent national policy to deal with the connected issues of global warming and energy security would be preferable to one-upmanship among the states. It makes sense to give a federal agency primacy, anything else would undermine the interstate commerce that creates economies of scale and cohesion for the nation.
In practice, Pres. Bush appears to be increasingly out of touch with the will of the people on these issues. Moreover, the DOT is beholden to the vested interests of Big Oil, Big Auto, Big Aero and Big Concrete. Congress is chock-full of campaign contribution junkies, so don't expect much from it even if the next President is a Democrat. The gulf between theory and practice in D.C. is very wide.
That's too bad, because there are eminently sensible alternatives to vehicles running on oil: electric rail & buses, (electric) two-wheelers and even plain old walking in new transit-oriented urban developments specifically designed to enable them. All are systematically undermined by DOT rulemaking. Perhaps that is more misguided effect than malicious intent, but the net result is the same.
Btw: I didn't realize Sen. Feinstein was such a hardcore trekkie. Then again, the center of that particular fictional universe *is* San Francisco.
