I want to remind folks about the fine Z-Car Forum. It is a small forum that has been slowly acquiring members over the past month or so, The main topics include Alternate Fuel Vehicles, Energy Independence, and Public Energy Policy. Please take a minute to register and leave a message. I am sure you will find some interesting thoughts and conversation.
Thanks
It looks like consumers in California will soon be seeing electric Mini’s on the street. The Mini’s are made in Oxford, England. These examples will be partially assembled alongside the normal cars, minus the engine, gearbox and fuel tank. Then they’ll go over to parent company BMW’s facility in Munich, Germany, to be fitted with all the necessary electric drivetrain components and batteries before heading west.
BMW sources told Automotive News Europe that 490 of the Minis will be leased to selected customers in California and 10 will be used as show cars.
The electric cars will have yellow roofs, and will allow BMW to meet California’s requirement that carmakers start selling zero-emission vehicles.
Too bad that they are not bring the bad-ass PML Mini QED. Those blokes created a Monster electric Mini that features four 160HP electric motors, one on each wheel. The car has been designed to run for four hours of combined urban/extra urban driving, powered only by a battery and bank of ultra capacitors. A claimed top speed of 150 mph, a 0-60 mph time of 4.5 seconds, and a reported range of 932 miles when the ICE hybrid gas motor provides additional charge for the on-board batteries. In this hybrid mode, fuel economies of up to 80mpg can be achieved.
Turn Your Garmin Nuvi Into a Powerful Red Light Camera & Speed Trap Detector For Only $9.99 !
Is this picture real? My guess is a careful PhotoChop.
I spent the morning reading a bunch of blog posts about John McCain’s Lexington Project. As I mentioned yesterday, I am very excited to see this proposal. Is it perfect, no, but it is at least a stake in the ground.
Over the next couple weeks, I plan on exploring each section of the Project in more depth, please make sure that you actually read the full document. It is more than what is generally highlighted in the mainstream media.
So, while reading the various blogs, what was the most interesting thing that caught my eye? Many blogs use Ads by Google to help generate some income. Look at the common ads that were run on sites that discussed The Lexington Project. Look interesting?
Ads by Google
Oil Industry
The Truth About Oil & Gasoline From Experts. Learn More & Get Tips Now!
EnergyTomorrow.org/OilBuy Energy Vending Route
Exclusive Locations – Energy Bites! Energy Vending Machines For Sale
EnergyVendingBusiness.com/EnergyHow can we power a planet
hungry for electricity without damaging it? Siemens answers.
www.siemens.com/answersThe Bakken Oil Formation
The New Black Gold Rush Is On. Early Profits Revealed: New Report.
EnergyAndCapital.com/Bakken_Oil_Rpt
Well, I am glad to know that no matter what happens, Google will continue to be the middle man and make their money. 
According to the Energy Department, despite persistently high oil prices, global energy demand will grow by 50 percent over the next two decades with continued heavy reliance on environmentally troublesome fossil fuels, especially coal and oil.
The projections by the Energy Department’s statistical agency said that without mandatory actions to address global warming, the amount of heat-trapping carbon dioxide flowing into the atmosphere each year from energy use will be 51 percent greater in 2030 than it was three years ago.
“Fossil fuels … are expected to continue supplying much of the energy used worldwide,” the Energy Information Administration report predicts, in spite of the growth of renewable energy sources, especial wind and biofuels.
“Global energy demand grows despite the sustained high world oil prices that are project to persist over the long term”. Oil could cost as little as $113 a barrel or as much as $186 a barrel in 2030, the analysis concluded.
This seems to be common-sense information, who would guess that energy use would not increase in the future? What seems even more obvious is that we need to start taking strong steps towards isolating the US from the rest of the world in terms of energy supply. We need our own supply of energy, preferably renewable or nuclear based, that will shield us from the volatility of the global energy market.
The Earth’s climate has changed throughout history. Just in the last 650,000 years there have been seven cycles of glacial advance and retreat, with the abrupt end of the last ice age about seven thousand years ago, marking the beginning of the modern climate era —and of human civilization. Most of these changes are attributed to the very small changes in the Earth’s orbit changing the amount of solar energy the Earth receives.
“Scientific evidence for warming of the climate system is unequivocal.”
- Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
The current warming trend is of particular significance because most of it is very likely human-induced and proceeding at a rate that is unprecedented in the past 1,300 years.
Earth-orbiting satellites and other technological advances have enabled scientists to see the big picture, collecting many different types of information about our planet and its climate on a global scale. Studying these climate data collected over many years reveal the signals of a changing climate.
Certain facts about Earth’s climate are not in dispute:
The heat-trapping nature of carbon dioxide and other gases was demonstrated in the mid-19th century. Their ability to affect the transfer of infrared energy through the atmosphere is the scientific basis of many JPL-designed instruments, such as AIRS. Increased levels of greenhouse gases must cause the Earth to warm in response.
Ice cores drawn from Greenland, Antarctica, and tropical mountain glaciers show that the Earth’s climate responds to changes in solar output, in the Earth’s orbit, and in greenhouse gas levels. They also show that in the past, large changes in climate have happened very quickly, geologically-speaking: in tens of years, not in millions or even thousands.
The evidence for abrupt climate change is compelling
read more | digg story
Hypermilers practice such unorthodox techniques as coasting for blocks with their car’s engine turned off, driving far below speed limits on the freeway, pumping up tire pressure far beyond car and tire makers’ recommendations and carefully manipulating the gas pedal to avoid fuel-burning excess.
read more | digg story
