Filed under: EV/Plug-in

At the Plug-In 2008 conference in San Jose CA Coulomb Technologies has announced its new Smartlet charging stations and ChargePoint network system. The plan is for the company to sell the Smartlet stations to municipal governments and parking lot owners and then provide the ChargePoint network to provide a subscription based public charging system for consumers. The Smartlets are equipped with electrical metering and wireless communications capabilities. Drivers would get a subscription through ChargePoint and then when they park their plug-in vehicles, the Smartlet would authenticate and then allow them to start charging. Parking lot owners and cities would take a cut of the revenue while a car is being charged. Coulomb plans to make the Smartlets and the network available later this year and San Jose wants to be the first city to install it. New ABGer Shannon is on hand in San Jose for the conference and will put some more info later.

[Source: Coulomb Technologies]

Continue reading Coulomb Technologies announces "Smartlet" public charging stations

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Covering Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni for four years as the Reuters correspondent in Kampala was seldom dull.

When he was in a good mood, the former rebel would banter with journalists long after his aides wanted him to leave. In a bad mood, he would scowl and growl back answers in return.

He was often charismatic and regularly very funny.

At one meeting with then International Monetary Fund boss Rodrigo Rato in August 2004, he had participants in stitches as he described a panel of portly finance ministry officials as “not typical Ugandans”.

“These ones are eating for others,” Museveni joked as the civil servants squirmed.

The cattle herd boy turned guerrilla commander portrays himself as a tough but humble man with simple tastes.

Reporters in the scenic capital Kampala soon learned that one way to cheer him up was to ask about his extensive cattle herds, or better still, anything to do with the armed forces.

More than once, he called for a whiteboard and marker pens so he could explain Uganda’s military structure in detail to “criminally ignorant” journalists.

At the weekend, state media confirmed that the 64-year-old — who has already ruled the country for 22 years — would be running for re-election at polls in 2011.

The news cheered investors who like his record of steady economic growth and are hungry for opportunities in emerging markets.

But it will frustrate critics, including some Western donors, who have criticised his increasingly autocratic leadership style.

What do you think? Is economic stability or political change more important in a fast growing nation like Uganda? Has one of the biggest characters of African politics overstayed his welcome already?

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Hybrid, Land Rover, UK

Land Rover is showing off its future green technology in the form of its Electric Rear Axle Drive. While this hybrid system has been included in concepts like the Concept Truck of the Year prize-winning LRX, the production version is still being designed and is undergoing testing fitted to some British Freelanders (that's the LR2 in the states). Landie got some government help in paying for this technology development and has hired on quite a number of extra staffers to be sure it gets it right. Still, expect a good long wait before actually seeing a system such as this one in production from Land Rover. According to product development director Phil Hodgkinson, "This isn't something that can transplanted into an existing model at a mid-life face-lift. It's for the next generation of Land Rovers, but we're not putting a date on that." What's more, the tech won't come without compromises, including an increased price and a sizable reduction in cargo capacity. For these reasons, Rover is planning on making the system optional on some models as opposed to making it standard on specialized hybrid vehicles.

[Source: Auto Express]

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A quick nugget of audio from our conversation with Ed Gildea, CEO of Converted Organics, doing some large-scale municipal sized composting.

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Speaking before an enthusiastic crowd at a sold-out DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., former Vice President Al Gore issued a challenge to "repower America." Gore's challenge is undoubtedly ambitious: he wants the entire U.S. electricity sector to shift to zero-carbon sources like wind, solar, and geothermal in the next 10 years.

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Filed under: Hybrid, MPG, Ford, USA

Every automaker currently selling cars in America is now doing all that they can do to increase fuel efficiency. Even on models which were already launched, redesign time is the perfect opportunity to make another attempt at raising fuel mileage. Such is the case at Ford, as product chief Derrick Kuzak's new mandate for his engineers is to make every new or redesigned Ford the most fuel efficient vehicle in its class, starting with the revised Fusion due for 2010. Currently, the base 2.3 liter four cylinder engine is mated to a five speed automatic transmission. That combo is able to offer up 20 miles per gallon in the city and 28 on the highway. While that is decent, it's not class leading. So, we are expecting a significant bump when the next Fusion appears with both a hybrid model and an enlarged 2.5 liter engine with six speed automatic. We got the chance to sample this powertrain in the 2009 Escape and found that it both increased performance and decreased fuel consumption. Sounds like a winner.

[Source: Automotive News - sub. req'd]

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Eco-Libris green books series present you this week a with a book that is a fascinating journey to the heart of global paper industry. 'Paper Trails' by Mandy Haggith is connecting the dots between the paper in your printer and the destruction of forests all over the world.

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Filed under: MPG, Chevrolet, USA

Chevrolet apparently has a hit on its hands in the form of the new XFE model of its Cobalt compact car. Relatively easy tricks such as revised gearing, low rolling-resistance tires and some computer reprogramming was enough to boost the XFE to 36 miles per gallon on the highway, up from the standard model's 33 mpg. GM says it took just eighteen months to make this new version a reality, and rumors indicate there could be more XFEs on the way.

Nancy Libby, a spokeswoman for Chevrolet, says that demand for the car surprised the automaker, as it had estimated that the XFE would make up just two to three percent of Cobalt sales. In actuality, the XFE model accounts for eight percent of sales and sits on the lot for just eighteen days on average -- lowest of any Cobalt model. Perhaps the best news of all is that other automakers are observing the success Chevy has had with the XFE, and the concept is spreading across from GM to both Ford and Chrysler.

[Source: Automotive News - sub. req'd]

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Chances are you could get by with an electric car.

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Filed under: Celebrities

In case you spent the last couple months on some incommunicado spiritual retreat off in mountains, you probably caught wind of Miley Cyrus' racy Vanity Fair cover shoot. (You know, the "nude" one.) At first it was art, then it was an evil plot by Anne Lebovitz (the photographer) to trick Miley into child porn, and now it seems that shoot was like a nakedness gateway drug.

The actress is reportedly cast as the lead in Undiscovered Gyrl, a role that will almost definitely require nude scenes. But, while it may be tempting to dismiss this as a Britney-esque fall from professed virginity to uncomfortably-overt sexual awakening, I figure this is all part of Miley's move to go green (because, as we've discussed before, the first step to going green is getting naked).

After all, the pop tart is releasing a new album this week, which -- unlike previous albums -- contains songs with, like, important messages and stuff. Take the eco-themed "Wake Up America," for instance. You can listen to this gem in its entirety in the video clip above, or check out my favorite lyrics:

I know that you don't want to hear it
Especially coming from someone so young
But in the back seat yeah they want to hear it (they want to hear it)

Everything I read, global warming, going green
I don't know what all this means...

It's true, Miley. Clearly you have no idea what the hell you're talking about. But that aside, at least Miley is promoting the green message to the younger generation. Kind of.

 

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