Archive for March, 2009

Planet Forward: debating America’s energy future with Frank Sesno

Wednesday, March 18th, 2009

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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 [...]

Hawaii shifting to electric cars

Monday, March 16th, 2009

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 [...]

Auto industry in transition III

Saturday, March 14th, 2009

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 [...]

The Battery Breakthrough

Thursday, March 12th, 2009

   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 [...]

Auto Industry in Transition II

Monday, March 9th, 2009

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, [...]