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George Washington University student Joe Laliberte presents an in-depth look at the future of transportation in this video, which introduces us to Ken Zweibel, director of GWU’s Institute for Analysis of Solar Energy. Zweibel talks about the importance of switching our cars and trucks from internal combustion engines, which are about 20 percent efficient, to [...]

The U.S. state of Hawaii is heavily reliant on oil imports to provide enough energy to its 1.3 million people. Hawaii spends about $7 billion annually on oil imports and a large share of the imported oil is used to fuel cars. Next to having the highest retail gasoline prices in the entire USA, the volcanic islands have lots of [...]

As the global car fleet finally frees itself from its dependence on the combustion engine - which has lasted for more than 100 years - the entire automotive industry is about to go through a far-reaching structural change. Demand for cars has simoultaneously collapsed in all important auto markets worldwide. This situation is unparalleled in history because [...]

   Generally, there’s a huge acceptance for electrically-driven mobility. More and more drivers are being convinced of the economic and environmental advantages of electric cars, however, many have voiced concerns about their limited driving range. Now the problem of limited battery capacity and long charging times appears to be solved.
Yesterday, MIT researchers unveiled a new [...]

In yesterday’s post I gave you an overview of the unparalleled challenges the auto industry is facing these days. Car makers will have to completely change their business model for car markets in industrialized countries. In emerging countries the situation is different in some degree.
On the one hand we have the BRIC countries - Brazil, [...]

Next to the housing sector and finance, the automotive industry is hit hardest by the current global recession. Now even Toyota - the world’s largest and next to Porsche, the world’s most profitable car maker until last year - seeks a loan from a Japanese state-owned bank, though Toyota executives are maintaining that it were no [...]

from http://www.earthfuture.com/econews/images/07-01c.jpg

China tries to alter its image of being the major polluter on the planet. Eco-architecture is part of that effort. Combined with China’s fondness for mammoth projects, a new flagship project is born: The Pearl River Tower - which will probably be one of the most environmentally friendly buildings in the world. Wind turbines and solar collectors should generate as [...]

Is the global economic crisis which was sparked by the U.S. housing slump the beginning of the “Post-American World” Fareed Zakaria is talking about? Are we seeing a shift of power to other parts of the world? Who’s on the rise?
These are questions that might be bothering some Americans these days, but by examining what’s [...]

Silicon Valley - the world’s center of innovation in the IT industry - is turning to smart energy technologies to save it’s competitiveness, prosperity and attractiveness. Although SV has attracted bright-minds from around the world for decades and is the place where start-ups emerged to become corporate giants, it’s not immune to the global economic [...]

Last week, the International Energy Agency (IEA) sounded the alarm bells that unless the necessary investments are made, we’ll be facing a disastrous oil supply crunch in 2013with extremely negative implications for the global economy. Evidently, the only way we can maintain our energy-intensive lifestyle is to shift to renewable energies. Christophe de Margerie, CEO [...]