Filed under: Biodiesel, Ethanol, EV/Plug-in, Flex-Fuel, Hydrogen, Volkswagen

Click above on the Ego concept for more images of VW's 2028 concepts

Apparently, Volkswagen thinks its time for another weird and wacky look into the future. This time, the German automaker is gazing just twenty years ahead. The results of its future look are three virtual concept cars. Yes, all three are capable of driving themselves, as you would likely imagine. As would be expected of any self-respecting gaze into the future, petroleum is not part of the picture. In its place are biofuels for those who simply must have liquid fuels and, of course, electricity. We feel pretty confident that these projections are possible, but that's right about where any semblance to reality ends.

After taking a leisurely stroll through the über clean park, a father and his son are reminded that it is time to leave by a hologram. What car to have delivered? The VW One wouldn't do, as it only seats a single occupant. The VW Room is overkill, as it is intended for an entire family. So, the son chooses to summon an Ego, a two-seater sportscar concept complete with user-defined green flames.

[Source: Volkswagen 2028]

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Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, Chevrolet, GM, On Two Wheels, Green Daily, USA

The first installment of Transformers pushed some serious gas guzzling on movie audiences by way of the upcoming Chevy Camaro (with V8 power, naturally) and a Hummer. Our esteemed Mr. Blanco was less than impressed by the movie's lack of green credentials. After all, being nothing more than a movie, a perfect opportunity presented itself to introduce the movie-going world to clean transportation. It now sounds as if Mr. Bay and General Motors have seen the green-tinted light, as rumors now suggest that GM's upcoming green poster-child will indeed make an appearance in the highly-anticipated Transformers sequel. We anxiously look forward to seeing the Chevy Volt in production form in the next Transformers movie, and it would be some serious icing on the cake if we witnessed it transform into some kind of awesome gas-guzzling-robot butt-kicker along the way.

Remember too that GM will be showcasing another gas-saving vehicle in the upcoming flick in the form of the Chevy Beat. For our two-wheeled fans in the reading audience, Mr. Bay will also be featuring a female robot in the form of a Pepto-pink Buell.

[Source: Reuters]

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Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Manufacturing/Plants

Until a couple of months ago, Mike Donoughe was a vice president at Chrysler and had been put in charge of the crash program to redesign the automaker's mid-sized sedans. Donoughe left Auburn Hills after 24 years and is now heading west to join Tesla Motors as Executive Vice President for vehicle development and manufacturing. In his new role Donoughe will be responsible for ongoing development and production of the Roadster as well as bringing the new Model S sedan to fruition sooner rather than later. Tesla has learned from the experience of trying to build the Roadster that while the fresh eyes of Silicon Valley may be helpful in creating new innovations, some experienced hands can be helpful with the more traditional parts of the process like dealing with suppliers and figuring out how to manufacture the all the bits and pieces and bolt them together. During our recent interview with Tesla Chairman Elon Musk, he indicated that several industry veterans would be coming aboard in the near future and Donoughe is just the first. The Tesla press release is after the jump.

[Source: Tesla Motors]

Continue reading Former Chrysler VP joins Tesla to lead engineering effort

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Filed under: Etc., Legislation and Policy, Green Daily, USA

I'm not familiar with Richard Viguerie, but he's a proud conservative and more than willing to engage in some "attack the liberals" maneuvers to complain about high gas prices. Since I get a bit of flack from our readers about airing my leftwing views, I thought I'd highlight Viguerie's argument - don't worry, I'll get back to my standard Republican bashing in a post later today :)

In any case, Viguerie's point is that some on the left see high gas prices as a good thing, and so therefore we're totally responsible for the high prices. He does hate on corn ethanol for a bit, and polishes Reagan's memory. He goes through the standard talking points about driling in ANWR and letting the market run rampant decide what the price of energy should be, then says this: "Liberals raised taxes on gasoline so high that the government makes roughly four times as much on each gallon as the oil companies do."

Look, I'm willing to let conservatives have their say, but this just seems slippery as all get out to me. If I remember correctly, the federal gas tax is around 18 cents a gallon, right? In 2007, Exxon earned $1,300 per second. I know that not all of Exxon's profits come from gasoline sales, but come on. I'm sure that in some technical way Viguerie could be right, but saying that our cash-starved governments are somehow riding high compared to the Exxons of the world is amazing. Simply amazing.

[Source: ConservativeHQ.com]

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Filed under: Etc., Green Culture, MPG, Green Daily, USA

While we are currently paying more at the pump than ever before, many of our readers likely remember that this is not the first time the country has faced a sudden increase in gas prices and the desire for higher fuel economy. In the early seventies, both new emissions regulations and a shortage of gasoline in the U.S. turned the auto industry upside-down in just a few years. In fact, the first horsepower wars reached an apogee in 1970, with cars like the original Hemi Mopars, Chevrolet Chevelle LS6, and the GTO Judge reaching ever-higher into the horsepower stratosphere just to be knocked down a notch in '71 and again in '72. The muscle car days were officially on hiatus, and fuel economy was the new measuring stick.

Sound familiar? While cars today are producing more power than ever, fuel economy now seems to be just as important, if not even more so, than the horsepower figure. With that in mind, lets take a trip down memory lane (via the gallery below) at the advertisements immediately following the first gas crunch to see what may be in store for us in the coming years. If you have a favorite, click here to visit Oobject and vote.


[Source: Oobject]

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Filed under: Celebrities, Activism

By some accounts, the bulls are kicking our butts. One person has already been killed, and at least nine have been injured in this year's bull-running festival in Pamplona, Spain. However, it generally doesn't end well for the courageous cattle -- after they've had their chance to spear thrill-seeking lunatics on the city's cobbled streets, the bulls face off with a matador in the bullring, and are usually wind up dead.

And, as you might suspect, the annual tradition brings with it a fair amount of outcry from animal rights activists, who believe that bull-running and bull-fighting are inhumane. This year's bull defenders are led by Alaska, a popular Spanish singer, who chose to raise awareness for the cause by posing nude in a new ad campaign.

But that's not all. Even the non-famous are going naked -- sprawled in front of the bullring gates, covered in blood with fake lances in their backs. Gross.

PETA and other animal rights groups hope stunts like this will put an end to the more than 500-year-old festival -- but it seems more likely that they'll just creep people out.

 

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Filed under: Emerging Technologies, Ethanol, EV/Plug-in, Chevrolet, GM, Tesla Motors, Podcasts

The Autoblog Green Podcast has finally reached our second dozen! Sebastian and Sam kicked it just before the July 4th holiday, and touched on the Tesla sedan, fuel prices making a possible case for economical vehicles to consumers, ethanol from invasive species, and the possibility of GM dusting off the EV1. Most importantly, the new design of AutoblogGreen is discussed a little bit, too. Thanks for listening, see you again soon!

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Filed under: News, Polit-eco, Climate Change

Caught in what appears to be a moment of eco-confusion, President Bush checks to make sure he's on the right track before adding more dirt to his ceremonial planting.

This photo op (with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev) was staged after a working session during the 3-day G8 Summit. Over the course of the summit, the world's eight major industrialized nations are discussing issues including the world economy, environment and climate change as well as development in Africa.

While the summit has produced some movement on environmental issues -- such as agreements on emissions cuts, and discussions about biofuel's affect on food prices -- activists are suffering their traditional disappointments, frustrated as usual that world leaders aren't setting a more progressive agenda. And so it goes.

 

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Filed under: Health

The CDC put out an official advisory, late last month, warning about potentially high lead dust levels in some artificial turfs used on athletic fields and playgrounds. Artificial turf made from nylon or nylon/polyethylene blends may contain enough lead to pose a concern for children, who are particularly susceptible to the adverse effects of lead. The risk is highest for kids under age 6 and if the field is weathered, old and contains faded or broken fibers.

Synthetic fields made from recycled tires have also been in the news recently, for possibly exposing players to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, metals, and volatile organic compounds.

The CDC recommends the following actions after playing on a synthetic turf field:

1. Perform aggressive hand and body washing for at least 20 minutes using soap and warm water.
2. Clothes worn on the field should be taken off and turned inside out as soon as possible to avoid bringing the contaminated dust to other places.
3. Eating on the turf is discouraged.
4. When not drinking, close the containers and put them off the field.

Those are some pretty intense precautions. The CDC also recommends that field managers take dust-suppression measures and undertake possible testing of fields, depending on the material used.

[Via Healthy Child, Healthy World]

 

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Filed under: Hydrogen, Green Daily

A quick Google search is all that is required to find hundreds of stories of people who claim to have increased their fuel mileage by installing a hydrogen generator which extracts hydrogen and oxygen from water and funnels the gas into the engine. Some of the claims are pretty wild, and the Japanese company Genepax has again lit a fire under the topic of running a car on water. While the Genepax car uses a conventional fuel cell, most of the "kits" available on the Internet introduce a bit of gas into the engine which is then combusted along with the liquid gasoline.

It is, of course, natural to feel a desire to buy into the hype promis