The Last Frost

Editorial: Why the carmakers seem to be dragging their feet on batteries - AutoblogGreen

E85 Worse For Environment Than Regular Gas? - [Jalopnik]

MTV to pimp out a '65 Impala with 800hp biodiesel for Earth Day - [Autoblog]

Great news. 

Hybrid Engines Make it to 18-Wheelers - [Gizmodo]

A Green Hummer? It Runs On Biofuels - [TreeHugger]

Purdue University has developed a machine the size of a small van that can turn trash into electricity, about 90% more electricity than goes into the system. Developed for the US Military to reduce the trash "signature" of troops while at the same time reducing the need for fuel shipments. It's called the tactical refinery and takes in paper, plastic, and food waste.

Purdue University Develops Mr.Fusion, Finally - [Purdue.edu via Gizmodo]

Volvo is apparently working on a plug-in hybrid Diesel. Which is pretty sweet for our folks who are lucky enough to have access to biodiesel. No word yet on a time frame for market availability, but hey, at least they're working on it.

Volvo Working on a Diesel Hybrid C30 - [Jalopnik]

Fuel from water is not a new idea. Simply add electricity and it's easy to split water into it's elemental components, hydrogen and oxygen. Get those gases near a flame and boom, the energy you just added gets suddenly released through an explosion which turns the two gases back into nothing but water again. It's called electrolysis and you can do it in your living room if you're not afraid of a little water and electricity. 

So where does the conspiracy come in? Well, there have been several people who have claimed to have figured out a way to split water so efficiently that they get more power from the burning of the resultant gases than what was put in. Stan Meyer was just one of those people, except he actually has some evidence to back up his claims. 

Imagine powering a car from L.A. to NY on nothing but 22 gallons of water. Stan had a working prototype of a dune buggy that could do just that, or so he claimed. In fact he had plans to mass-market the invention. Too bad he was murdered in 1998 and the dune buggy and all his technology was stolen.

So again, where does the conspiracy theory come in?  Well, nowhere except that he had complained about receiving death threats from oil companies. It's an interesting story, true or not, but I'm not going to go into what I think. The evidence is out there… check it out, it definitely makes for some good reading.

Inventor Of Water Powered Car Murdered? - [Growing Growing Gone via Digg.com]

Nobel laureate Steven Chu has turned his attention to Termite guts in order to find a carbon neutral fuel source. Termites have a knack for converting cellulose into liquid ethanol. Most of the matter that makes up plants is cellulose, so this would mean we could tap nearly unlimited sources of ethanol by simply feeding a bio-reactor of some sort, rubbish plant matter. Imagine turning Fall leaves, lawn clippings, downed trees or even organic household rubbish into liquid fuel. It would be pretty revolutionary.

Chu left his current job to work for Lawrence Berkeley Livermore Labs to kick start an inquiry into the possibility.

'Termite guts can save the planet', says Nobel laureate - [Physorg.com]

Based on the BMW 7 series, the German vehicle maker has plans to release a BMW that can run on both gasoline and hydrogen.  When running in hydrogen mode, the car emits nothing but water vapor. If you can't find a hydrogen fill up station, you can switch the power mode over to regular gasoline at the touch of a button. The car can be filled with both fuels and it will use the hydrogen when it can, when it runs out, it will automatically switch to gasoline power which results in a very long range for the vehicle.

BMW plans to launch hydrogen cars in 2007 - [Turkish Daily News]