Get Energy Smart! NOW!

When it comes to energy prices, gasoline has been and remains the most visceral touch point for Americans (and, well, likely drivers around the world). Few really connect the turning on of a light bulb to that monthly electricity bill while essentially everyone with a (non-electric) car has experienced the smelly hands while watching the […]

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Imagine … Growing up with and learning to drive in electric vehicles; Then taking test drive in a stick-shift gasoline car … What would shock you at that experience The resulting disdain for internal combustion engines. Tibor Blomhäll imagined … Having heard so much good about petrol cars, we decided to test drive one. They are […]

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AOL Auto News popped into my inbox and their first story headline had me clicking to read the full piece. The title in question: Car Buyers Won’t Change Habits Until Gas Hits $6.51 A Gallon Rising gas prices are changing consumers habits, but not the way you may think Pretty dramatic news,that gas prices would […]

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From the Twin Cities area comes a painful story of the damage and disruption in exurbs that grew exponentially in the past decade. Pain exacerbated by the reality of $4 gasoline facing the prospects of gasoline prices heading higher. (Peak Oil, anyone?) As the article subtitle puts it Once booming symbols of possibility, the Twin […]

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A very simple point, brought home to more Americans every day due to the disaster that British Petroleum arrogance and potential criminal negligence has wrought in the Gulf of Mexico: If we are going to move Beyond Petroleum, it is time to start bringing “externalities” into the cost of fuel. These externalities include: Paying for […]

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Two weeks ago, the Center for American Progress issued American Fuel: Developing Natural Gas for Heavy Vehicles. This misleading and error-prone report strongly supports misguided policy concepts to subsidize heavily transitioning American transportation from one fossil fuel (oil) to a slightly lower polluting alternative (natural gas). Even though political momentum exists behind this concept, it […]

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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Department of Transportation (DOT) today released proposed rules for implementating the increase in CAFE standards, beyond the Congressional mandate, as announced this past May. In short, this deal between the Obama Administration and the auto industry accelerates the improvement in light vehicle fuel efficiency across the fleet average (the […]

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This is a question that came into my inbox amid an exchange about the CARS Program: Is it worth $2000 to the country to increase the MPG of one vehicle by say 10 mpg? Of course, that is a stove piped question (and somewhat out of context one as that increased MPG, by the way, […]

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CFC, Cash For Clunkers (the Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS) Program), certainly is in the news today. Almost no one expected the massive surge of interest in the program such that, within a week, the program required more funding. Now, in the debate about how to stimulate the economy, there has been a divide between […]

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Putting fuel efficiency feedback systems on the dashboard of every American automobile (both existing and new) could well be one of the most cost effective tools for quick reduction in America’s oil dependency and, as well, to improve traffic safety (and reduce) fatalities.   These feedback systems can be as ‘simple’ as solely providing real-time miles […]

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