Montana gives grant to make great green goo from CO

Filed under: Biodiesel , Manufacturing/Plants , USA What’s green and blue, eats CO 2 , and could wind up in your gas tank? If you answered heat-loving green blue algae (or thermophilic cyanobacteria, if you want to sound all smart and stuff), then ding! ding! ding!, you are correct! A pilot algae bioreactor project was just awarded a $375,000 grant by the Montana Department of Commerce and may, if it works out as hoped, pave the way for commercialization of the process. GreenShift , a bio-fuel producing company, wants to use the CO 2 emitted from corn ethanol production plants, along with concentrated sunlight and nutrient-rich water, to help grow massive quantities of a certain type of algae.

Mercedes may pop smart fortwo clone lawsuit against the Bubble

Filed under: SMART , European Union , China , Daimler Small Chinese automakers have developed the nasty habit of cloning the design and styling of successful European automobiles and placing that bodywork atop vastly inferior hardware. Although it doesn’t seem right, there may be little that automakers like BMW and Daimler can do about it. Evidence of such can be seen in recent court cases, one of which was lost by a certain Bavarian automaker that sued to stop the European importation of a Chinese SUV with an eerie similarity to its own X5

Major Japanese Retailer Says Mitsubishi’s I-MiEV Battery-Electric Car Is Way To Go

Mitsubishi Motors has found a fan in Japan for its battery-electric i-MiEV city car.

The Lawson convenience store chain, which…

Toshiba Jumping Into Solar Power After Launching EV Battery Business

Toshiba Corp., which got into the electric-car battery business three months ago, said it now has launched a photovoltaic systems…

Daimler Says It Intends to Take On Bosch, Other Suppliers on Batteries for EVs

By Scott Doggett, Contributor

It would appear that Daimler not only views electrification of the automobile is the key to sustainable…

Congestion Pricing - Let’s Provide Alternatives Before Demonizing Autos

As concerns about global warming, energy independence and plain old traffic congestion grow and the automobile continues to be demonized,…

China’s BYD To Showcase Production Plug-In Electric Hybrid Vehicle at Detroit Show

China's BYD Auto will showcase the world's first mass-produced plug-in hybrid electric vehicle at next week's Detroit auto show, according…

Renault to unveil a Twingo-based roadster

Filed under: Renault , Frankfurt Motor Show , European Union If you think that the current generation of the Renault Twingo - a fairly low-polluting car and quite useful on crowded European cities - isn’t that much of a looker, take a look at this first image of the Twingup. I happen to like to first-gen Twingo, but can appreciate that Renault has taken some inspiration from the converted Honda CRX convertibles for its new Twingo-based roadster. The Twingup’s manually-adjusted roof can be stored in the trunk, and Renault expects that this solution will lower the price of the car so as it will compete against similar cars such as the Micra C+C , the Peugeot 207 CC and the Opel Tigra , which have electrically-operated foldable roofs

Toyota, Honda hybrid sales drop in 2008; 5 FCX Clarity models sold

Filed under: Hybrid , Hydrogen , Honda , Toyota , Green Daily Click above for more shots of the Honda FCX Clarity We’ve already taken a look at the 2,555 hybrids that GM sold in December and the 14,439 hybrid vehicles it sold in 2008, but what about the other major automakers? Not every automaker reports their sales the same way (most don’t break out hybrid numbers, for example), but we can still compare GM’s results to Honda’s and Toyota’s. Toyota reports that, for all of 2008, it sold 15,200 Lexus RX 400h luxury hybrid SUVs and 19,391 Highlander Hybrid gas-electric mid-size SUVs.

Chinese researchers develop nickel catalyst fuel cell

Filed under: Hydrogen , China Hydrogen fuel cells have a lot to recommend them.