newsyc:

Dept. of Energy signs agreements to develop small nuclear generators (arstechnica.com)

discoverynews:

Fold-Up Car of the Future

A tiny revolutionary fold-up car designed in Spain’s Basque country as the answer to urban stress and pollution was unveiled Tuesday before hitting European cities in 2013.

The “Hiriko,” the Basque word for “urban,” is an electric two-seater with no doors whose motor is located in the wheels and which folds up like a child’s collapsible buggy, or stroller, for easy parking.

The car was dreamed up by Boston’s MIT-Media lab.

jtotheizzoe:

Here Comes Solar Energy - Paul Krugman

Is there a “Moore’s Law” taking over for solar energy?

These days, mention solar power and you’ll probably hear cries of “Solyndra!” Republicans have tried to make the failed solar panel company both a symbol of government waste — although claims of a major scandal are nonsense — and a stick with which to beat renewable energy.

But Solyndra’s failure was actually caused by technological success: the price of solar panels is dropping fast, and Solyndra couldn’t keep up with the competition. In fact, progress in solar panels has been so dramatic and sustained that, as a blog post at Scientific American put it, “there’s now frequent talk of a ‘Moore’s law’ in solar energy,” with prices adjusted for inflation falling around 7 percent a year.

This has already led to rapid growth in solar installations, but even more change may be just around the corner. If the downward trend continues — and if anything it seems to be accelerating — we’re just a few years from the point at which electricity from solar panels becomes cheaper than electricity generated by burning coal.

And if we priced coal-fired power right, taking into account the huge health and other costs it imposes, it’s likely that we would already have passed that tipping point.

But will our political system delay the energy transformation now within reach?

(Source: jtotheizzoe)

The Chevy Volt is a car that only appeals to preening schmoes and will fall flat on its face.

Or so says Audi of America president, Johan de Nysschen, who went off on the Chevy Volt and electric cars in general, with Lawrence Ulrich of MSN’s Exhaust Notes.

Nysschen tells Ulrich, “No one is going to pay a $15,000 premium for a car that competes with a (Toyota) Corolla…They’re for the intellectual elite who want to show what enlightened souls they are…so there are not enough idiots who will buy it.”

He thinks the Volt will fall flat, and then the government will rush to its aid with generous subsidies so as to not look like a bunch of fools.

Nysschen would rather the government supported more diesels since they produce fewer emissions than an electric car that’s charged by coal. And they’re ready today at a competitve price. He says the government is tricking the public into thinking electrics are clean. Unless the power grid gets cleaner, our electric cars will remain dirty.

In the government’s defense, it’s not solely about cleaner cars. It’s also about the reliance on oil, which causes serious economic problems for the United States. And some people think oil has something to do with some wars. So, putting aside the green arguments, there’s at least two good reasons to support electrics.

(via cnn)

Buoyed by Cash for Clunkers for the second month in a row, hybrid sales looked pretty darn good overall. Let’s look at a few numbers. The biggest winner of the month was Nissan, which posted an almost unheard of 207-percent gain last month over August of 2008. Delving a bit deeper, Nissan’s 3,164 Altima Hybrid sales were three times the 1,030 such vehicles sold in July.

As you would expect, Toyota grabbed the largest percentage of market share last month (nearly 50 percent), and the Prius was the main driver. All told, the automaker moved 18,886 Prius hybrids last month – while good, that’s actually down 1.5 percent from July. Honda was second in hybrid market share and thanks to the new Insight with 4,226 sales last month.

Ford didn’t fare particularly well in hybrid sales in August with a 12.3 percent decline in total. General Motors, on the other hand, saw its hybrid sales increase by 14.9 percent last month. Still, GM’s overall market share is tiny and none of its models broke triple digits in July. Click here for a very thorough breakdown of August’s hybrid sales figures.

(via Autoblog Green)

Nissan’s taking it to Chevy’s 230 MPG Volt “rating” with the recently-revealed Leaf EV’s 367 MPGe (“e” means “equivalent” MPG as it’s all-electric) “rating.” Which standard’s better? Nobody knows. But we so love a good automaker PR standards slap-fight!

[Autoweek]

[Jalopnik]

It’s Electric! More on the zero-emissions racebikes of the AMA TTXGP Introduction at AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days. (via It’s Electric! More on the zero-emissions racebikes of the AMA TTXGP Introduction at AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days.

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