By David Sherpardson, Detroit News, July 7, 2007 WASHINGTON — Facing $3-a-gallon gasoline prices in California last year, John True decided to stop driving his Mercedes-Benz E320 and bought a Honda Civic Hybrid. Impressed by the gas-electric hybrid's advertised mileage — 49 miles per gallon in the city, 51 mpg highway — True plunked down $28,470, at least $7,000 more than for a comparable non-hybrid Civic EX. After 6,000 miles of driving, True said he averaged just 32 mpg in mixed city/highway driving. Read more about "Lawsuit challenges hybrid mileage claims"...
James A. Croce, CEO NextEnergy Originally published in the Michigan Energy Report The massive controversy surrounding CAFE standards, or Corporate Average Fuel Economy Standards, is so intense that it’s difficult to escape the hype coming from all sides. The fundamental issue is whether an increase in CAFE standards is an effective means to drive the U.S. market towards a sustainable energy future. From the pro-CAFE standards camp; American automakers are losing market share to the more fuel-efficient vehicles produced by foreign automakers and need the “tough love” only CAFE standards can provide. Read more about "Editorial: CAFE standards -- not a solution to the Detroit Three's Financial Problems"...
Thursday June 28th, 2007 Toyota Motor Corp. might postpone the launch of the third-generation Prius gas/electric hybrid model by six months -- to the spring of 2009 -- Japanese industrial daily newspaper Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun reported. According to the newspaper, Toyota is delaying the launch to ensure quality after it decided to forego replacing the nickel-metal hydride battery used in the hybrid gas/electric system with a lithium-ion battery for the first version of the upcoming model. Toyota and battery partner Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Read more about "Prius redo could be held up due to battery issues"...
Another sign of the green tech revolution sweeping the auto industry: Ford Motor Co. and the Chrysler Group have followed General Motors Corp. in joining the United States Climate Action Partnership, a coalition that wants to reduce greenhouse gases tied to global warming. The alliance of big business and environmental groups told President Bush in January that mandatory emissions caps are needed to reduce the flow of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere. Ford and Chrysler on Wednesday announced their membership in the coalition. Read more about "Ford, Chrysler join greenhouse gas group"...
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS June 23, 2007 WASHINGTON — The cars, SUVS and pickups people will buy in the years ahead are likely to use less fuel, and many will rely on ethanol or household electricity instead of gasoline. The energy legislation pushed through the Senate this week provides a road map to the future, demanding higher automobile fuel economy, mandating huge increases in ethanol as a motor fuel and supporting more research into building "plug-in" hybrid-electric vehicles. While Senate Republicans complained that the bill does nothing to increase domestic oil production, Democrats said that's because... Read more about "Energy bill promotes ethanol, electric cars"...
The Scuderi Group's award-winning DVD informational series now has a home -- a channel on YouTube. The Scuderi Group's YouTube channel name is "ScuderiGroup". The company will keep the channel current with new video as news develops. The Scuderi video channel URL is www.youtube.com/user/ScuderiGroup. Read more about "New Scuderi Group channel on YouTube "...
By Alistair Scrutton, Reuters, June 27, 2007 NEW DELHI - It may be an Indian consumer's dream -- cheap cars for $2,500-$3,000 within reach of millions of a swelling middle class. But it could also prove to be a traffic and environmental disaster. Nissan Motor Co.and Renault SA announced last week they were studying a $3,000 car to compete in India against Tata Motors Ltd.'s planned low-cost "People's Car" targeted at around $2,500 to hit the market next year. For its supporters, cheap cars like these are what the Volkswagen Beetle was to Germany or the Mini... Read more about "India's "people's cars" spur green nightmare fear"...
From TerraDaily.com THE HAGUE - Jun 19, 2007 - China for the first time spewed out more carbon-dioxide emissions last year than the United States, a Dutch government research body said Tuesday. "China's 2006 carbon dioxide emissions surpassed those of the USA by 8.0 percent," the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (MNP) said. In 2005 US emissions were up 2.0 percent compared to China. The MNP said the figures were based on its own preliminary estimates derived from recent energy and cement production data. Industrial processes and the burning of fossil fuels -- oil, gas... Read more about "Dutch data shows China surpassed the US in 2006 carbon-dioxide emissions"...
By ANGELA CHARLTON, Associated Press, June 20, 2007 LE BOURGET, France — Boeing, Airbus, and dozens of airlines that fly their jets are jumping on the environmental bandwagon, touting "green" technology at the Paris Air Show and pledging to spew less noxious fumes into the planet's skies. So far, though, growth in worldwide air travel is outpacing industry progress in reducing aircraft emissions. And it was chiefly high fuel costs and fear of government-regulated emissions cuts _ not concerns about global warming _ that inspired the sector's efforts to pollute less. Read more about "Aviation Tries to Go Green "...
By Andrea Quong, June 15, 2007 Alternatively powered cars are hot, but Nevis Engine Company isn’t ready to give up on the dowdy—and dirty—internal combustion engine. The Italian startup, which said Thursday it raised seed funding, aims to reinvent the hundred-year-old engine with new technology it claims can nearly double the fuel efficiency of conventional engines and reduce emissions ... ... [M]aking the internal combustion engine to be ultra-efficient—and thus less gas-guzzling and polluting—is Sisyphean task that no one has yet been able to accomplish. Read more about "<i>Red Herring</i>: Reinventing the engine "...