Redundant Ethanol Subsidies

The proposed farm bill just sent to President Bush (and expected to be vetoed) contains several ethanol provisions. One is to cut the corn ethanol subsidy from $0.51/gal to $0.45/gal. Forbes explains: Ethanol For Everyone! […]

Nissan Enters the Electric Arena

I am feeling more and more optimistic that we are going to soon have a decent choice of viable plug-in hybrids (PHEVs). Nissan has now announced that they will have an offering in the U.S. […]

Replacing Gasoline with Solar Power

Executive Summary If you don’t want to run through the calculations, here is the summary. I attempted a thought experiment in which I calculated whether it would be feasible to use solar power to generate […]

News on a Lazy Sunday

First up, Vinod Khosla: On the Record: Vinod Khosla On biofuels: I have no question that in 10 years, there’s no way oil will be able to compete with biofuels. Even in five years. Now […]

SUV for Sale: Cheap!

Some of the consequences of very high oil prices are pretty predictable. Homes way out in the suburbs are likely to lose value. Prices will rise across the board for goods and services. Airlines will […]

Stop Filling the SPR?

To me, some of the most humorous ideas for relieving high oil prices are the perpetual calls to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). Note what the SPR is actually for: The Strategic […]

Automotive X Prize

Following on the heels of the $10 million Ansari X Prize, which had the following requirements: The Ansari X Prize is a $10 million purse for the first privately built vehicle that could safely haul […]