3 years ago, the company didn't even build cars. GM has had nearly 100 years experience. Chinese cars are coming, and it seems to me that a plug-in like this could be the beachhead that they need to gain acceptance among US consumers. And strike fear in the hearts of the big 3. Remember, Toyota and Honda started building cheap economy cars, as kid Kia and Hyundai. All have proven to be forces in the market. BYD could be next, and it's interesting to note the Warren Buffet has invested.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/12/byd-f3dm-electric-plug-in-hybrid-china.php

Ocean fertilization may cause changes in marine ecosystem structure and biodiversity, and may have other undesirable effects.

While controlled iron fertilization experiments have shown an increase in phytoplankton growth, and a temporary increase in drawdown of atmospheric CO2, it is uncertain whether this would increase carbon transfer into the deep ocean over the longer-term.

I've posted before about geo-engineering, and it's potentials, and my fears about it getting out of control. Turns out many others feel the same way.

That really puts the risk in context. We're talking about altering ecosystems of planetary scale for a benefit that won't actually relieve us from dealing with all the other issues, such as conservation or alternative energy generation.

Good article over at Treehugger

As an environmentalist and a car guy, I love any excuse to post about cars here. I don't think the Tesla will ever make a meaningful impact on the global environmental situation. For $100K, someone that really cares about the environment could by 5 Honda Fits. One to drive and 4 to give to 4 drivers less fortunate than them, to use in place of the old, polluting cars they drive currently.

That said, it's a seriously cool piece of automobile, and I would love to drive one. And technology does have a way of trickling down. At one point, cars like Corvettes introduced fuel injection, and now there isn't a car sold in the US without it. The Tesla may prove to be useful as a platform for technology development, and for that, it is cool.

And Top Gear is the best car show ever. Seriously.


Tesla apparently has issues with some things in the report, check out the AutoBlogGreen report on that.

Fascinating. I'm very leery of bio-engineering like this. How many well intended introductions have had disastrous long term consequences? (Nutria, Kudzu, etc, etc. ) But I can clearly see the economic and environmental benefits of creating trees that grow quickly, are disease resistant, and create high quality wood. Hmm.

"Vancouver-based CellFor said it raised $10 million to expand the types and quantities of its specialty tree seedlings that increase timberland yields by more than 50 percent an acre.

The seedlings are developed by cross-breeding the seeds of the fastest-growing trees and using somatic embryogenesis to produce large numbers."

CellFor grabs $10M for improved tree seedlings | Cleantech Group:

It will provide Wal-Mart with 226 million KWh of power annually, and will offset 139,000 metric tons of carbon — the equivalent of what 25,000 cars would emit.

Hard to find fault with this. Whatever their motives, Wal-Mart moving towards green has the potential to be a real force in the evolving green-tech and alternative energy world.

http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2008/11/20/wal-mart-signs-up-wind-power-purchase

My favorite kind of solution. Simple, elegant, and effective.

"In a paper published in the International Journal of Vehicle Design, Inchul Kim of Metacomp Technologies, in Agoura Hills, California, working with Xin Geng and Hualei Chen of the University of Michigan-Dearborn report that the aerodynamic drag and lift on a mini-van moving at 108 kph (67 mph) are reduced by 5% and more than 100%, respectively, when the new spoiler is attached to it.

With as much as 65% of the power required for ground vehicles to travel on a highway at 70 miles per hour is being consumed due to aerodynamic drag, the reductions from the spoiler could increase fuel economy by up to several miles per gallon, the researchers say."

Read the full article for a concise, but good explanation of aerodynamics and their effect on efficiency. I've often wondered how much "low hanging fruit" in the form of energy efficiency is lost due to styling and packaging considerations. Otherwise, it seems we'd all be driving identical looking cars. Of course, this is exactly Honda's explanation for why the new Insight looks so much like the Prius.

Green Car Congress: Novel Spoiler Design Reduces Fuel Consumption for Minivans, SUVs

Business Week has a good summary and analysis of Obama's stimulus plan.

http://www.businessweek.com/

And I'd like 12 classic cars in my garage in 11 years. Who knows if either will happen? But Germany has a plan, and it includes:

a large amount of funding for advanced battery development, investment in an electric car charging infrastructure, and tax credits for the adoption of electric cars and plug-in hybrids. Conceived by four separate German agencies — the departments of Economics, Transport, Environment, and Education/Research — the plan is on track to be signed into actual law at the beginning of the next German legislative session.

I'm not convinced that electrics are the best answer to the transportation problems, I personally see more promise for bio-fuels, particularly outside of urban areas. Of course, Europe is a different market from the US, with less land area, denser urban populations, and higher energy costs. And a concentrated effort to improve battery technology and find renewable power sources with the support of government could help solve some of the significant hurdles to electric car adoption.

http://gas2.org/

In October, I noted the announcement of the new Chrysler Hybrid SUV models.  

According to the NY Times:

The hybrid S.U.V.’s became available at dealerships in early October. But on Oct. 23, Chrysler announced that at the end of the year it would close the Delaware plant where they are built.
Production of the hybrid models began on Aug. 22. Even if production continues until Dec. 31, the Aspen and Durango hybrids are almost certainly the shortest-lived new models from a major manufacturer in modern times.

It's hard to fathom what Chrysler was thinking.   To spend the money to develop the vehicles, and then shutter the only plant set up to build them?   If the market conditions that would make hybrids attractive (high gas prices) are going to kill sales of SUVs, and cause you to shut down the plant that makes them, why the heck would you tool up your SUV plant to make the hybrids?

With gas prices falling, will Chrysler save the SUV plant?  But with $2 gas, will people pay the premium for a hybrid?  It seems hard to believe that both would happen. 

It's decisions like these that got the Big 3 into the mess they are in.  Any federal bailout should come with stipulations that the folks making these kinds of decisions be booted out.   Silliness.

There are many good reasons to doubt the future of corn ethanol.   (Not necessarily ethanol, but corn ethanol.)

This Washington Post article puts it in perspective.

But because of how corn ethanol currently is made, only about 20 percent of each gallon is "new" energy. That is because it takes a lot of "old" fossil energy to make it: diesel to run tractors, natural gas to make fertilizer and, of course, fuel to run the refineries that convert corn to ethanol.

If every one of the 70 million acres on which corn was grown in 2006 was used for ethanol, the amount produced would displace only 12 percent of the U.S. gasoline market. Moreover, the "new" (non-fossil) energy gained would be very small -- just 2.4 percent of the market. Car tune-ups and proper tire air pressure would save more energy.

Treehugger reports in a separate report (here) that as many as 40 Corn Ethanol plants might file for bankruptcy in 2009. And that report was when gas was still expensive. If fuel stays <$2 a gallon, it could be far more than that.

Part of me wants to think, well, good riddance.  I'm not a fan of Corn ethanol.  But failures like these will surely be lumped into the general "CleanTech" or Alternative Fuels categories, and it might make finding funding for other projects more difficult. 

Adeo Ressi has made a presentation recently that argues that the traditional VC model is broken.   I might agree that it has issues, but I think calling it dead is very premature.   Over at TechCrunch much was made of the slide I copied above, from Ressi's original presentation.  It does point out, correctly, that the line that represents the value that venture capital adds has dropped below the line that represents how much they have made, and that is disturbing.  If it continues, it could spell the end for many VCs.  Without providing more value than they cost, there would be no reason for investors to invest in the VC.   But I think the presentation and the slide are overly simplified.   The funds going into VC's today are not expected to be creating a return today.  It's expected to create a return in 5-10 years.   If I were an institutional investor, and a VC had a solid plan to attack the CleanTech markets, I might be inclined to invest in them.  What I'm saying is that the money going into VCs today is, or should be, based more on what an investor believes the markets will be like in 5-10 years, not so much the sorry state of the markets today.  Is it an optimistic view?  Perhaps.  But it also represents a belief that with the current state of the economy, the rising markets for energy around the world, the new adminstration and other factors, that the markets for GreenTech and CleanTech companies will be stronger in the future than today.

Wave energy seems like it holds some promise for a renewable resource.  Essentially, it is concentrated wind energy, since waves are formed by wind across large areas of water.  Capturing it has it difficulties, marine environments are tough on moving parts, tough to maintain, and frequently create energy that must then be transported somewhere.    Searaser seems to have a cool idea, but it's not immediately clear why this is better than other similar wave energy harvesting ideas.  

Via http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/19/searaser-floating-pump-will-use-the-oceans-waves-to-generate-po/

 "We want to position Connecticut as the preferred location to grow clean tech jobs,” said Governor M. Jodi Rell, who announced the fund in November."

 It seems to me that it will take a lot more than $9M to establish Connecticut "as the preferred location to grow clean tech jobs".   Don't get me wrong, it's cool that they are doing it, and that more funding is available, but $9M isn't enough to fund ONE sizable startup, let alone create a cluster or hub.  Even if you disregard the size of the fund, creating a positive environment for start-ups requires much more than money.  You need the right people around too.  Experienced entrepreneurs, VC's, Angels, customers, etc., etc.

I wish them all the luck, and would have just reported the fund, but the quote struck me as a little optimistic. 

Connecticut Clean Tech Fund Launched - Renewable Energy World: 

Solargy is announcing a 120M project in Africa.  They bill themselves as an alternative energy system integrator, but this system doesn't seem any different than conventional incinerators.  At least, it's not at all clear how it's different.   Anyone know?   They claim to integrate solar and incineration, but is the solar actually used ot make the incinerators more efficient, or are they just parralel systems?

'We share a vision of helping emerging economies meet the challenges of supplying economical green power solutions. Projections for 2009 are estimated at US $25 million from solar photovoltaic systems and expand with the introduction of hybrid systems to US $120 million in 2010.'

Publish Post

-- Carl Nurse, CEO, Solargy"

Solargy Systems Begins US $120M African Waste-to-Energy Project - Renewable Energy World: "

Biofuels, based on non-food feedstocks, are huge right now, and bound to get bigger. There are certainly not without issue, as many don't seem to be very resource efficient, but if they can be brought to a reasonable point of their net energy consumption and cost, they may prove to be one the most efficient ways to harness the sun's energy for use in applications like cars and airplanes. From the Green Car Congress Website:

"California-based Cobalt Biofuels has raised $25 million in equity to accelerate the commercialization of its cost-effective biochemical process for biobutanol production. Cobalt says that the advantages of its process are based on advances in microbial strain improvement, fermentation reaction management, and separation technology.

The Series C equity round was co-led by LSP and Pinnacle Ventures and included both new and existing investors. The Series C round had strong participation from Cobalt Biofuels’ existing institutional investors, including Pinnacle Ventures, Vantage Point Venture Partners, The Malaysian Life Sciences Capital Fund and @Ventures. New investors included LSP and Harris and Harris. Fouad Azzam, General Partner of LSP, will be joining the Board."

Green Car Congress: Cobalt Biofuels Raises $25 Million to Commercialize Biobutanol:

A powerful, if a bit optimistic, outlook on the new energy economy. A good friend and I were out kayaking the other day, and he raised the idea that after 9/11, Bush had perhaps the best opportunity ever to work on divorcing us from oil. If he had said, "We need to go after Al Qaeda, and we need to become energy independent.", he would have had nearly the whole country behind him. Of course he didn't. But now, in 2008, with the financial markets in turmoil and people in crisis, it's another chance to build the national support needed to make this switch. And if the clean tech world is going to reach it's full potential, we need to have national support for things like a more efficient grid. Now is the time to strike. We need to prove that saving money, making our country stronger, and helping the environment, all go hand in hand.

It is historically rare for so many interests to converge at one time and in one place as those now supporting the development of renewable energy resources in the United States. To begin with, shifting to renewables increases energy security simply because no one can cut off the supply of wind, solar, or geothermal energy. It also avoids the price volatility that has plagued oil and natural gas in recent decades. Once a wind farm or a solar thermal power plant is built, the price is stable since there is no fuel cost. Turning to renewables will also dramatically cut carbon emissions, moving us toward climate stability and thus avoiding the most dangerous effects of climate change.

October 15, 2008: New Energy Economy Emerging in the United States:

Referring to Shell, the article says this:

The oil titan has quadrupled its budget for renewable-energy projects this year, Bloomberg reported Thursday.

Similiar to what I posted earlier about the influence on oil, I think these guys increasing their influence could be major. Even 2-300 Million a year would be a considerable investment for this sector.

The article:
Greentech Media | Shell Boosts Renewable-Energy Spending

Here is what I wrote Friday about oil companies and Clean Tech or Green Tech:
http://www.cleantechdealflow.com/2008/10/what-you-dont-know-about-energy-can.html

Tesla makes a cool car, but a low volume 2 seat sports car that sells for 100K will never be mainstream. Getting a major manufacture to build a small but useful city car, all electric, will make a big difference. BMW is building between 500 and a 1,000 all electric Mini's. With a claimed range of 150 miles, and 0-60 times of around 8.5 seconds, it should be pretty fun to drive, certainly a reasonable city car.

Unfortunately, others have built all electric vehicles in limited numbers, that never made it to real production. Hopefully the Mini will be an exception. Look at the prices for the EV Rangers and EV Rav4 on eBay, and there certainly seems to be some demand.

Autocar - Revealed: Electric Mini

This study isn't focused on Clean Tech, but is a more general study of VCs' attitudes. It shows a drop in confidence for the third quarter, hardly a surprise given the current economic situation. Of course, the study only started 4 years ago, a pretty short time really. I personally think we are in the ultimate "disrupted market" right now. There will be big losers, but ultimately, there will be huge winners too.

In a study released Wednesday by the University of San Francisco, Mark Cannice, founder of USF’s Entrepreneurship Program, found that venture capitalists’ confidence is at its lowest level since the university began surveying venture investors in 2004. In total, San Francisco Bay Area venture capitalists’ confidence in the third quarter was measured at just 2.89 out of a scale of five, down from 3.07 in the previous quarter.

Business Technology : More Gloom in Venture-Capital Land:

Batteries are the weak point in many clean tech ideas. They tend to be heavy, inefficient, and not very environmentally friendly. But systems like electric cars and thousands of other products depend on them. To paraphrase an old saying, Build a better battery, and the world will beat a path to your door.

A group from Portugal has come up with some early new technology that might help with this. They use gelatin to make a jelly from an ionic liquid.

Read more here:
‘Ion jelly’ for better, cheaper batteries | Cleantech Group

Don Dodge writes an interesting blog post about starting a company during a downtime, it includes: "Customers are willing to try new things to save money in bad times. When things are going great they don't want to take risks on a tiny startup. If you can save them money in bad times...they are happy to deal with a startup."

I'd add to that. Companies that offer a genuine energy savings, good for the environment and good for the pocketbook, will have a big advantage. These gains are seen by customers as PR bonuses, and money savers. That said, if your business model needs 300M in capital costs, that could be much harder to raise.


Don Dodge on The Next Big Thing: Start a company in a recession? Absolutely!:

Chrysler Aspen hybrid and Dodge Durango hybrid have managed an EPA-estimated 20 MPG city and 22 MPG highway rating.

Reasonably impressive numbers. Not great, but for a big SUV, pretty good numbers. Off course, if people buy this when all they really need is a small car, there is no net gain. But for those of us in the Clean Tech world, I'm willing to bet there are some suppliers making money off this thing, and that that technology, if applied to other vehicles, will yield even bigger results.

And of course, for many startups, big companies like Chrysler might be the best option for an exit, so things like this provide evidence that they are focusing on the right things.

Dodge Durango Hybrid: Aspen, Durango Two-Mode Hybrids Hit 22 MPG Highway

Clemson University will lead a $1.2 million bioethanol research project to find the best way to produce plant-based fuels in South Carolina and the region. The US Department of Energy awarded the grant to Clemson, which will collaborate with DOE’s Savannah River National Laboratory in Aiken.

The purpose of the grant is to assess the potential of switchgrass and sweet sorghum as feedstocks.

Green Car Congress: Clemson University to Lead $1.2M Cellulosic Ethanol Project:

Regulation can drive business, or stifle it. California has set ambitious new climate change plan, and being as that California is the center for Clean Tech in the U.S., companies here or hoping to sell here are going to be affected by it.

California published a radical climate change plan this week, outlining its intention to have its wide-ranging policy proposals formally approved by the end of the year and up and running by 2012.

California sets out green vision - 17 Oct 2008 - BusinessGreen

Neal Dikeman is a partner at Jane Capital Partners and CEO of Carbonflow. He makes an impassioned and very reasonable argument that Silicon Valley investors and start ups should be looking out for, learning from, and respecting the oil companies.

Oil companies have tons of money, and tons of experience selling energy. I've said before, and firmly believe, that when oil companies refocus on providing energy, not oil, they will be the force to be reckoned with. Of course, Neal seems to make this a warning to clean tech companies. I think it's more of an opportunity.

For the last 5-7 years, web start ups seemed to have their biggest exits when companies like Google or Ebay bought them. I think that's the model for energy related start-ups. A cellulosic ethanol company shouldn't really think of themselves as being a competitor to Chevron, they should make themselves so profitable and interesting that Chevron would want to buy them. At which point they gain access to all the Chevron gas stations. That is the future. Cleantech won't be putting the Chevrons and Exxon-Mobils out of business, but it has the possibility of making them many times cleaner.

And that the big fortunes made in cleantech investing todate have not been made on high risk early stage technology bets, but on 10 or 20 year old technologies who were in the right place at the right time when the policies came in. Or the low cost manufacturers of mature known technologies (think corn ethanol or wind developers and Chinese solar manufacturers) who moved fast when policies moved, making hordes of 'that's not a venture' bets. Disruptive technology has never been the winner.....

....
So while you fight the good fight to develop technology to change the world, don't forget, be humble, learn what can be learned, build what can be built, and walk softly, because the elephant in this room floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee, and he has yet to take the field.

Cleantech Blog: Cleantech Venture Capitalists Beware - What You Don't Know About Energy Can Kill You:

So who is going to be the first Silicon Valley VC to fund a kangaroo farm, and sell the offsets?

Professor Ross Garnaut was recently commissioned by the Australian government to produce a 600-page study on global warming, in which he stated that the agriculture industry should be required to buy permits for exceeding the recommended amount of greenhouse gas emissions. The resulting higher costs of raising cattle and sheep could potentially prompt farmers to turn to farming kangaroos instead, as they release much less methane due to different workings in their digestive system.

Eating Kangaroo Could Reduce Global Warming Effects- Environmental Graffiti:

Meanwhile, according to at least some analysts, neither the rising price of oil nor the financial crisis has taken much steam out of investments in 'clean tech,' which attracted $2.2 billion in investments in the first half of 2008 and is expected to account for 11% of total investments. And investing in energy efficiency programs, and renewable energy technology research and development, is increasingly being seen as the best hope for a new industrial revolution that would create millions of jobs and reverse the economic slide.

With Oil Under $70 Again, What's It Mean for Green? - thedailygreen.com:

Congratulations to these guys. I met Zach and some of the rest of the team when we were competing in the California Clean Tech Open against them a few years ago. I thought at the time it was a strong product, good timing, and a good plan. Plus, genuinely nice people. Happy to see them getting along well.

Adura Brightens With $5M for Lighting Management � Earth2Tech:

SolarWorld has opened one of North America's largest solar cell manufacturing facilities. The new plant is located in Hillsboro, Oregon and is expected to reach a capacity of 500 megawatts (MW) by 2011.

SolarWorld Opens 500-MW Solar Cell Manufacturing Facility

"OwnEnergy Inc., a company that enables landowners to develop and own wind farms on their land, has completed its Series A round of financing. EnerTech Capital Partners led the round, with Contour Venture Partners and the New York City Investment Fund adding to their existing commitments to the company. The amount of financing completed was not made public."

OwnEnergy Completes Financing Round:

Pretty cool. I wonder who this includes though. Is it counting Toyota for the Prius, or just companies that are solely in business to address these issues? If it's the latter, I'd expect the real number to be many times bigger.


Cleantech >businessgreen.com

I've spoken to several Green startups that are committed to providing truly green products, but few have the cash to invest in things like Green office space, green vehicles, etc.  Especially at the earliest stage of the game.  Foundation Capital in Menlo Park puts many of it's Green start-ups in the headquarters building, which they aim to have LEED's certification for it.

Practicing what the sell, I like it.
Foundation Aims to Be LEED-Certified VC - Earth2Tech

Smart Meters make sense to me, and if I bought a new place with one, I'd be happy about it. But seriously, how hard is it to come up with a schedule for your regular thermostat?

From the article:

"Ordinary, old-style programmable thermostats, if used correctly, save homeowners about 15-20 percent of their heating or cooling bills on average," said Stuart Lombard, president and CEO of ecobee, in a statement. "But it takes a rocket scientist to figure out how to program them, so people don't use them and don't get the energy savings they could."

Really? Rocket Scientist? It took me about ten minutes to figure it out the first time, and now an adjustment takes a few minutes. I adjust mine a few times a year. Do we really need $400 touchscreen thermostats?



ecobee unveils its first smart meter | Cleantech Group

Electric cars are coming. When the worlds largest commercial vehicle manufacture get's involved, it's a sign of growth for sure.


Electrovaya, Tata Motors to make electric Indica | Cleantech Group

Anyone in or visiting the bay area with an interest in Science and Green buildings would do well to visit the California Academy of Sciences. I went a few weeks ago, and it was well worth the visit. The exhibits are good, but what really struck me was the building. It was gorgeous, and standing on the Green Roof, looking at the native California plants, and knowing that they are not only beautiful, but serve the function of helping control temperature, I was struck. It just makes sense, and it's hard for me to imagine why any commercial or public building should not be built like this.


California Academy of Sciences


Oh, and if you want just some really cute webcam action, check out the Penguin Cam.

Strategic investing is not a new concept, it's been around for years. It's generally when a corporation has an investment or incubation unit that focuses on products the parent company might need. So, for example, the IBM strategic investment units would invest in business software start-ups, but likely not in a new automotive company. Makes sense from several levels. First, if the start-up is a big success, then they make money. They can also more likely provide meaningful support and validation. And if the venture fails, there may be people, technology, or ideas that are useful to the parent company, so it decreases slightly the down-side risk.

DHL has launched a new strategic investment program, seeking to fund start-ups that posses technologies that will help DHL meet it's specific goals of reducing carbon output by 30% in 12 years. Nicely done.

http://www.businessgreen.com/

Aren't we all?

They've raise $12.5 Million in the past, have a new pilot plant coming online ina few days, and one of their founders developed the technology that helped make Evergreen Solar succeed. Seems like a strong combination if the new technology proves to work.

1336 Tech

earth2Tech has good article about the startup.

One of the big issues with Hydrogen is the misconception that it is an energy source. It's not really, there isn't much floating around in usable form, so it has to be created from some type of input. Many of us might remember the old high school experiment, where electrolysis was use to extract Hydrogen from water into a couple of upside down test tubes. This normally was dramatically displayed with a flame and a little tiny explosion.

It works, but it very energy inefficient. To do so at a commercial scale would require lots of energy, and would be very expensive. Hydrogen can also be made from natural gas, which is better, but still far from perfect. In an article on Green Car Congress, they report on a new process for making Hydrogen. It's pretty heavy on the science, but the gist of it is that they use microbes to extract hydrogen from dirty sewer water, getting a high percentage of Hydrogen recovered with a relatively low energy cost and without using expensive cathode materials.

GreenCarCongress.com

A new website is coming that aims to make it easier for providers and consumers of energy efficiency products, in particular solar, to connect.

Seems like just the thing we need.

Wattbot Launches Site to Speed Up Clean Energy Adoption � Earth2Tech

From CleanTechnica, an thorough and good explanation of why "clean" coal is anything but clean.

Both Presidential canidates say they support "clean" coal, but should they?

5 Dirty Aspects of “Clean” Coal : CleanTechnica

Brilliant. Instead of changing infrastructure to accommodate ethanol or bio-diesel, why not change the fuel?

Sapphire Energy plans to use Algae to produce Gasoline.

Simple, and smart. These are the kind of things that could really be game changing.

http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/1687/70/

Earth2tech.com has a good review of cellulosic plants that are being built. I personally hold great hope for cellulosic ethanol as being a very promising technology for the future. Let's keep out fingers crossed.

This report includes plans, and some interesting notes on where the funding has come from.


http://earth2tech.com/2008/06/03/12-companies-racing-to-build-cellulosic-ethanol-plants-in-the-us/

Since 1981, the top selling car in the US has not been a car, but a truck. The Ford F150 has consistently been the top selling vehicle. In May, in a remarkable change, the Honda Civic has jumped to the top of the list.

Is this a sea change? Or a temporary bump? Clearly fuel prices are high, and that leads to changes in behavior, but will it extend to support for other greener choices?

If someone can produce ethanol for $1 a gallon, as has been claimed, will small efficient cars remain popular, or will we instantly see a return to big trucks and SUV's?

It'll be interesting to see what major manufacture is "first". First being second really. There was the GM EV1. And back in the early part of the 1900's, there were lot's of electric cars. So even the GM wasn't really first. I'm mostly giving the CNET site a bit of hard time, since they say the Nissan will be "first". Neat to see that electrics are on the horizon for a big manufacture.

CNET Car Tech

I know I'm not the best writer, but this article from Wired Magazine is pretty bad. The headline is clear:

Use of wind energy expected to grow dramatically.

Later, buried in the article:

But the report cautioned that its findings were not meant to predict that such growth would, in fact, be achieved, but only that it is technically possible. And it acknowledged "there are significant costs, challenges and impacts" associated with such rapid growth.

Huh? Expected has pretty clear connotations, and the later paragraph doesn't sound like "expected".

I have a lot of hope for wind, but I agree that there are "significant costs, challenges and impacts".

Wired News

Wired Magazine has a review of many motorcycle or motorcycle derivative products that all promise to be clean. Considering that even normal motorbikes get better MPG than any car, it seems to make sense. They also don't have to meet the safety standards that make modern cars heavy, and therefore less efficient. (I'm not saying safety is bad, but there is a correlation between safety/weight/cost. )

It's interesting to see things like the very car like Apterra get classed as Motorcycles due to being 3 wheelers. This allows them to have to deal with less regulations.

Perhaps a new class of vehicle is deserved? A lightweight, efficiency class, with different safety standards. Allow me, like a motorcycle driver, to chose my trade offs.

Wired Magazine

But if someone is looking for a high end sports car, and want's to save fuel, then this might be the way to go. I predict these will be popular in Menlo Park at all the new Green VC funds.

Of course, buying a Fit or Prius, and then buying 3 more similar cars and trading them for poor peoples beater, old, polluting cars, then getting those cars off the road, would be far, far better for the environment. Of course, that wouldn't be clear to everyone who passes them on the road, so the smug value is low.

Fisker's new hybrid car

I was talking about electric cars just yesterday. They still have many limitations, cost, range and charging times. But they are getting close. I could see my wife and I sharing an electric car and a conventional car or hybrid. Use the electric for much of the day to day stuff, the hybrid or conventional for longer trips. If there was an electric car with the room and drivability of our Honda Fit, for less than 20K, I'd strongly consider it. Venture Beat blog has a seemingly comprehensive list of electric car manufactures:
30 electric cars companies ready to take over the road » VentureBeat

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