Archive for April, 2010
« Previous EntriesKelley Blue Book’s top ten green cars for 2010
Monday, April 26th, 2010The Kelley Blue Book has just come out with their listing of the Top Ten Green Cars for 2010. You can read the full description of these cars right at the Kelley Blue Book site . The list is not just based on fuel mileage – they include many other factors in their ratings.
“While it [...]
DailyFinance.com – Five technologies that could help save the planet
Saturday, April 24th, 2010Nothing really new in this Daily Finance article, which was published on Earth Day 2010, but it’s a nice overall assessment of the 5 primary technologies in alternative energy (solar, wind, nuclear, grid storage, and energy efficient buildings). Included is a listing of a number of companies that have either raised a significant amount of [...]
Hybrid sales up 15% in March, but decline in overall percentage of new sales
Friday, April 23rd, 2010Hybrid car sales showed a healthy increase in March 2010 over last year, but compared to overall sales of new cars, the percentage of new cars being sold that are hybrids dropped slightly. Overall, hybrid car sales increased 15% in March 2010 compared to March 2009, with 23,000 hybrids being sold in March compared [...]
Will we see the 3 wheeled electric Aptera in 2011?
Sunday, April 18th, 2010 2011 Aptera 2e
The Aptera 2e, a 3 wheeled futuristic looking 2 seater electric car that has seen several design changes since it was first announced in 2007, may finally be coming close to actual production. The company has lately been showing off what they say is the Aptera’s final design, and if they get the [...]
FloDesign’s wind turbine is more efficient, company gets funds to expand in Massachusetts
Sunday, April 18th, 2010FloDesign’s unique wind turbine design borrows from jet engine technology to produce more energy from less wind speed. Their turbine uses shorter blades that are contained in a shroud that funnels fast and slow air into the turbine, and the mix of different air speeds creates a vortex that’s used to turn the blades. [...]
Plug in Prius: First test drives
Saturday, April 17th, 2010Green Car Reports has gotten their hands on a prototype of the 2012 Prius Plug-in Hybrid and has taken it for a test drive. But there’s not much to report – according to them, it’s just like driving a standard Prius Hybrid. They did find that the new plug-in version runs in electric [...]
Former CIA Director James Woolsey on how to end America’s Addiction to Oil
Wednesday, April 14th, 2010R. James Woolsey, former Under Secretary of the Navy and Director of Central Intelligence has always considered the amount of oil that America imports to be a security issue for the country. In an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal, Mr. Woolsey lays out his plan to finally end America’s addition to foreign oil. [...]
Hybrid scorecard from Union of Concerned Scientists
Tuesday, April 13th, 2010The Hybrid Scorecard is a project from the Union of Concerned Scientists. The Scorecard allows you to compare all the different varieties of hybrid cars that are currently available – ranking them in the following categories – Environmental score, Hybrid value, and Forced Features.
Here’s the definitions:
Wind power shows large increase in US – now 39% of all new electrical generation
Sunday, April 11th, 2010Total US wind power increased sharply in 2009 – 10,010 megawatts (10 gigawatts) of new wind capacity was installed in the US in 2009, according to a new report issued by the American Wind Energy Association. Total US wind power capacity is now more than 35,000 megawatts (35 gigawatts), so that means that almost 1/3 [...]
NREL develops green LEDs to help improve the quality of LED lighting
Tuesday, April 6th, 2010 NREL lasers used to analyze light emitting properties gallium indium phospate alloys
One day, LED lights will be common throughout your house. But right now they’re not only far too expensive, the quality of the light they give off basically stinks. NREL (the National Renewable Energy Laboratory) is working to change that. They’ve [...]