The First Electric Car

This is COOL!

This vintage electric car is basically, the first Toyota Prius.



This is short and totally worth watching.

Al

Ethanol Refineries in the Midwest

This graphic, from Bob Veierstahler at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, is a great visual of what is happening with ethanol refineries in the Midwest U.S.

Ethanol boom - a blessing and a curse

This is a great article, from Raquel Rugledge at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. (photo by Michael Sears) It has a lot of good information in it about ethanol and ethanol plants.

First it talks about who is gaining and who is hurting from the growth in demand for ethanol.

Then it goes on to talk about how ethanol production is exploding and it doesn't show any signs of stopping in the near future.

Casey and other farmers said they haven't seen anything like it in years: corn prices so high they don't even get their government checks. Demand so high they've already sold much of their 2007 crop.

When Greg Steele considers yellow these days, he thinks about surviving the future. The soaring price of corn is putting a financial squeeze on him and other dairy farmers who count on the grain to feed their cows.

For Sarah Lloyd, it means a major headache. Corn is fueling an explosion in the production of ethanol, the 200-proof, colorless liquid that the country is counting on to help wean it from addiction to foreign oil. Ethanol plants are springing up across the state - and around the corner from Lloyd, causing her and other neighbors serious concern.

The number of ethanol plants nationwide has jumped more than 30% since 2004, from 83 to 109. And there's no sign of slowing. Today, 57 plants are under construction countrywide, including several in Wisconsin. Congress and the president are mandating ethanol. The federal Energy Policy Act of 2005 calls for a near-doubling of biofuels such as ethanol to 7.5 billion gallons by 2012.

This one is definitely worth the read.

All the best,
Al

Eco-friendly apartment

Interesting, but maybe not earth shaking - this article and photo from the Associated Press showcases a new trend in eco-friendly apartments for college students.

While these things may be eco-friendly, I am guessing a lot of college students might already be using these kinds of products, and maybe even some 'green' minded adults.

It's still worth the read.

The University of California at Berkeley recently unveiled a prototype eco-friendly "green apartment" to showcase its vision for life at college and beyond -- to show students they can reduce the damage they do to the environment without much extra expense or drastically changing their lifestyles.

Here's a little bit of what is actually eco-friendly:

But the room is also decked out with energy-saving televisions and refrigerators, water-miser showerheads, low-toxicity shampoos and detergents, non-disposable razors, aluminum water bottles, and bedsheets made from birchwood instead of chemically processed cotton.

All the best,
Al

Live in a Van Down by the River

Well, you know, I've always been intrigued by the idea of sustainable living and trimming down.

This video is a live example of living on less. It's definitely worth watching.



Let me know what you think?

All the best,
Al

10 Myths about Hybrids

Hybrid vehicles - love 'em or hate 'em they're stronger than ever in the American marketplace.

Here are 10 myths about hybrids - from hybridcars.com.

Being a history major, of course this one is my favorite...

Hybrids are a new phenomenon.
In 1900, American car companies produced steam, electric, and gasoline cars in almost equal numbers. It wasn't long before enterprising engineers figured out that multiple sources of power could be combined. In 1905 an American engineer named H. Piper filed the first patent for a gas-electric hybrid vehicle.

With the advent of the electric self-starter in 1913-making gasoline engines much easier to turn over and get started-steamers, electrics, and hybrids were almost completely wiped out. The following 80 years, characterized by cheap oil, created little incentive for auto engineers to play with alternatives.

The oil price shocks of the 1970s, and a growing awareness of environmental problems related to automobile emissions, sent engineers back to the drawing board. Research and experimentation by governments and car companies in the 1980s and 1990s led to the reemergence of hybrids in the U.S. in 2000.

For the other 9, click on the link above.

Thanks,
Al

4 Top Features of Hybrid Vehicles

Here is a great article from Ron Cogan, at automedia.com, talking about the key features and benefits of hybrid vehicles.

This is definitely a 'Worth Reading' article.

'hybrid electric vehicles get pretty incredible fuel economy. In fact, the top three vehicles in EPA fuel economy ratings these days are hybrids'

Talk soon,
Al Speer

Higher gasoline prices DO change U.S. driver habits

I was REALLY surprised to see this Reuters article.

I didn't actually believe that the average American driver would drive less due to the rising fuel prices. Not that pricing doesn't hurt our budget, but just because I didn't think the average consumer would worry about it.

But I was wrong!

That's okay though - you can check out the entire Reuters article and photo at the link.

The drop in driving was small -- the average American drove 13,657 miles per year in 2005, down from 13,711 miles in 2004 -- but it is more evidence that the market works and prices help control consumption, Boston-based Cambridge
Energy Research Associates said.

"Price matters," CERA Chairman Daniel Yergin
said.

The group's 2007 edition of "Gasoline and the American People" shows the U.S. romance with automobiles is changing, but not ending, due to tighter environmental rules, expanded fuel options, such as ethanol and biodiesel, and an aging of the population, CERA said in a news release.

The share of U.S. household budgets going to gasoline and oil has been relatively stable for decades, at 3.8 percent in 2006, compared with 3.4 to 3.6 percent in the 1960s, due to low fuel taxes and improved vehicle efficiency, the report said.

Miles driven per motorist was down partly because there are more elderly people driving, and they tend to drive less, the report said. Between 1980 and 2004, drivers under age 21 dropped from 18.8 million to 15.8 million and those over 65 almost doubled, from 15.4 million to nearly 29 million, CERA said.

Average annual miles per vehicle also declined last year, from 11,946 to 11,856. That number for cars is smaller than average miles per motorist because there are more cars than licensed drivers in the United States, 1,148 per thousand, CERA said.

All the best,
Al