Wall Street, big oil, and American auto companies that took bailout money—you are all on notice.

The Occupy Wall Street Movement has now spread well beyond the confines of The Island of Manhattan. Occupy Movements have sprung up in just about every major city within the United States.

Admittedly, it is not easy to figure out what members of the Occupy Movement want. The Occupy Movement is practically leaderless and the reasons that the supporters have shown up are as varied as the social economic backgrounds of the supporters themselves. While there might not be a crystal clear message, the Occupy Movement does have a common theme – the 99% of people within the United States have had enough with the 1% of America who has the majority of the population’s wealth.

Additionally, there is a view within the Occupy Movements that Wall Street has had no accountably. The people who destroyed the American Dream were not prosecuted but were bailed out by tax payers with the hope that these masters of the economy would do what was right with the bailout funds. The people who are a part of the Occupy Movement feel that the people of Wall Street failed to properly spend the bailout funds and failed to make the economic system better for the average American after the 2008 economic collapse.

So what is left to do when there is seemingly nothing left to do? Go someplace; and that is what is happening. The people are going someplace and they are showing their discontent and venting their frustrations.

As the Occupy Movement spreads new causes are brought up by supporters. The foundation of the movement might be based on the misallocation of public funds by Wall Street but there are many issues being addressed – including the endless wars in the Middle East, veterans benefits, big oil companies control of the energy policy, and casting shame on American auto companies who took bailout funds.

Occupy Boston is located near the Federal Reserve Building and Boston’s South Station, locally known as the city’s financial district. The Occupy Boston Movement might not have as many supporters as the Occupy Wall Street gathering in New York, but that has not stopped big name civil rights and social activates like Cornel West from coming and marching with protestors in Boston. Most recently, over one hundred Occupy Boston protestors were arrested, sadly, bringing an end to what had been a very peaceful occupation.

While the Occupy Movement is leaderless there are people who more or less act in a managerial role; Ryan Cahill is one of those people for the Occupy Boston zone.

“Right now we have one hundred individual tent structures in the park. We have been in direct contact with he people who lease the land, the Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservatory, they have been really cool about letting use the space. They are not trying to kick us off, but their one request is that we stay in this space, there are twenty plots all the way to the North End.” Cahill said.

One of the events that spurred on the recent police action in Boston was the occupation of additional Greenway plots as more and more occupiers have shown up and set up additional tents. It should be noted that the Occupy Boston Movement is committed to replacing any of the grass that may be damaged due to the occupation of Boston’s Greenway. The other event that sparked police action was the attempt by Occupy Boston protests to occupy the Charlestown Bridge. The protestors were tuned around by police not because of any aggressive actions done by the protestors but because the Charlestown Bridge is in such poor shape the bridge itself might buckle under the weight of the all protestors. Legitimate safety concerns due to poor infrastructure; and it just so happens that protestors had planned to hang a banner from the Charlestown Bridge reading “Fix This Bridge”.

As more people show up to the occupation the message is changing, as Cahill put it,

“The message is evolving. My message would be come out and show your support, voice your own support. We want to know what the people’s message is, not just the message of the people camping here. We obviously have our message; we are against corporatism and political lobbying. We want other people to voice their concerns. There’s trouble all over the country and that is why this movement has grown so quickly. Boston‘s troubles are not necessarily New York’s troubles, are not necessarily Miami’s troubles, are not necessarily Chicago’s troubles.  I am not sure is there is ever going to be a concise and unified message from the Occupy Together Group and that is what makes it so unique. We are getting a lot of flak from the mainstream media because they are like, so you guys are just camping out and don’t have any demands?  This is not a hostage situation, we are not holding anyone hostage, this is a demonstration.”

With an evolving message it is not just Wall Street who needs to watch out, according to Mr. Cahill it is also big oil and American car industries that took federal bailout funds;

“There has been a lot of talk in our general assembles about cutting our dependency on foreign oil, we need to find alterative energy. It’s an important issue and it goes along with the corporate mentality that we are trying to get rid of. Car companies taking bailouts and yet still building these huge trucks… they have not changed their business strategy. They took our money with the assumption that they would change their business strategy and sell cars that people wanted. With gas on a roller coaster right now, it could easily go back up to $100 a barrel, what good is a big truck at 0% interest if you can’t drive it.”

Other members of the occupation echoed Mr. Cahill’s concerns about the auto industry,

“Anyone who receives federal bailout money is wrong. If a company’s leaders run it into the ground the government and tax payers should not step in and bail them out. People need to be prosecuted. You can’t do something that horrendous and walk away with millions of dollars.”

Other protestors chimed in saying,

“As far as the car industry goes, I mean, I think all the bailouts are bullshit, they made their bed and should have slept in it. I think the car industry could have done it themselves and that they took the easy way out.”

“The car companies play into the large budget crisis we have, the big 1% crisis we have. When they are shutting down factories but giving out bonuses we want to know where that tax money went. There has been some discussion about all the subsidies that the government is giving toward the wrong direction of the car companies; we want to get the lobbyists out. If we had subsidies on energy efficient cars I know everyone here would definitely switch to it if we had a more price friendly solution, I know the majority of Americans would. But unfortunately we are stuck with these small payments that we can get on these huge gas guzzles right now because they want to just get them off the lots and its not fair.”

The crowd is diverse at the Occupy Boston Movement. This is not just a group of young people shouting liberal dogma as some might think. The Tea Party was present at the occupation and welcomed with open arms at the Occupy Movement. Not long ago the Tea Party was angry at the banks, the Tea Party was angry with the Federal Government bailing out corporations that had failed in a free market society — the Tea Party’s early message was eerily the same as those in the Occupy Movement.  Members of the Baby Boomer Generation were on hand, even bankers who worked in the towering buildings surrounding the occupation zone were milling about in the crowd.

A banker, who did not wish to disclose their name or place of business, but passed ‘tent city’ each morning said,

“First and foremost, I am excited about OWS (Occupy Wall Street). I do not think there is a centralized message, but it is starting the discussions I have been talking about for years. I do not think this is a movement against banks. It is a movement for the common man. People are frustrated and feel cheated. I do see a parallel to the Tea Party in sentiment of gripes, but not in the demands. Tea Party people want their country back and government to leave their money alone. The OWS people want our country back and assistance for the masses, aka, the 99%. It is really the same old conservative VS liberal divide. Conservatives don’t care about people they don’t know, or at least are not able to relate to, liberals care about people they have never met and are different.”

The discussions that that particular banker had been talking privately about for years are right on par with issues of importance to the members of the Occupy Movement:

- College debt is an absolutely massive problem. Education is essential to ascend the social ranks. It is virtually impossible to go to college without taking out crippling debt in the form of student loans.

- Corporate money now has no limit. Lobbyists always have had their ways in Washington DC. This is the beginning of a whole new era. Corporate responsibility is to the shareholder not the public and this will lead to structural political changes.

- Unemployment, with specific emphasis on the young and minorities.

- Underemployment. Too many people are working three service industry jobs and not developing their skills and knowledge. We are losing critical development years from a generation that will impact us decades from now.

- The American Dream is dead for many.

The American Dream is dead for many —maybe, but before a funeral is held what would the American Dream look like now? A house with a white picket fence and a shiny new American built Ford in the driveway; yes that was the American Dream for the Baby Boomers Generation, defined as people born after World War II during the post war baby boom in the 1960s and 1970s. But, sadly that is not the American Dream anymore, assuming an American Dream is still alive. For Millennials, also known as Generation Y and mostly recognized as the children of the Baby Boomers, the American Dream is surrounded by fog and filled with shattered hopes.

In order to get the house you need to have a job and the Millennials cannot just go out and get a job in these times. When a Millennial does get a job the majority of the Millennials are saddled with such high education debt, an education that is needed in order to get the job, a home in the suburbs, once seen at the heart of the American Dream, is now out of reach. Add to this the fact that the Millennials witnessed the loss of wealth of their parents, people and role models who had supposedly achieved the American Dream only to have it ripped away, and you are left with a very confused, bitter, and lost generation.

There is a growing generational divide between the Baby Boomers and the Millennials and it can be seen clearly at the Occupation Movements. Case in point, a business man in his late 50s, waiting for his wife so they could go to dinner, walked down to the Occupation in Boston site to get some answers and had some words to say,

“Answers? I can’t get any. What I did hear was that people who make money, over $250 thousand are not evil, but damn near it. I’m curious because I thought if you worked hard in America you can make it. So why are people who are young not willing to give it a shot? I worked every menial job there is, there is no shame in hard work, so why don’t people do that? Am I wrong, are people expecting to get what took twenty five years to get and get in only a few? I got where I am by working hard for years, back then I certainly wouldn’t have had the time to come, I would have looked at passing from one job to another.”

Interesting points, but it does illustrate the generational divide. Yes, at one time an American could work hard and make it, but it is harder than ever now to do that. The once admired factory jobs have all been shipped overseas and there is no such thing as corporate loyalty anymore – corporate employees are just numbers these days. The people who support the Occupation Movement are not slackers, they are people who have been working hard, they are not expecting to get high paying jobs right off the bat—but they are expecting to get some jobs and they are not.

Yes, years ago you could work three service jobs and get by, but not anymore. Food prices have increased, rent has increased, cloths are more expensive, the price of everything has gone up and the wages paid to people have not kept up. Families are losing their homes, shops are closing, and people are filing for bankruptcy. Meanwhile, the people responsible for the economic collapse, and loss of some 20% of the nation’s wealth, got a second chance in the form of a bailout footed by tax dollars. The Millennials see their future dimming while some groups within the Baby Boomers are sitting by wondering what all the commotion is about—they cannot relate because they have been outside the rat race for so long. Times have sure changed and not for the better.

A hope that is shared is that the Baby Boomer Generation will see how different things are now, how much the American dream has been lost for their children.  Let’s face it, it is the Baby Boomers who are doing most of the hiring in this nation, and if they see young people as simply not willing to work for “it” and that negative view gets reflected in the hiring process, then things are only going to get worse.

How long the Occupation Movements will last is anyone guess. The protestors in Boston have no intentions of leaving and the same can be said for New York. One interesting factor that will indeed test the strength of the Occupation Movements will be the impending winter. A Northeastern winter is nothing to mess with, especially if your only shelter is a tent. If these movements that originated on the East Coast can survive the winter in Boston, and especially in New York, than the sky is the limit as to what changes the Occupy Movement might bring.

In the meantime the protests are spreading and more and more coverage from the media is occurring. As for the overall feeling at the Occupy Boston zone one protestor, who been camping out for five days, said best,

“Compassion. I thought it was dead, I thought it was gone. I know in government it’s gone, but in Boston its kicking ass.”

Andrew Meggison was born in the state of Maine and educated in Massachusetts. Andrew earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Government and International Relations from Clark University and a Master’s Degree in Political Science from Northeastern University. Being an Eagle Scout, Andrew has a passion for all things environmental. In his free time Andrew enjoys writing, exploring the great outdoors, a good film, and a creative cocktail.

“A practical artificial leaf has been one of the Holy Grails of science for decades,” said Daniel Nocera, Ph.D., who led the research team. “We believe we have done it. The artificial leaf shows particular promise as an inexpensive source of electricity for homes of the poor in developing countries. Our goal is to make each home its own power station,” he said. “One can envision villages in India and Africa not long from now purchasing an affordable basic power system based on this technology.”

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The device bears no resemblance to Mother Nature’s counterparts on oaks, maples and other green plants, which scientists have used as the model for their efforts to develop this new genre of solar cells. About the shape of a poker card but thinner, the device is fashioned from silicon, electronics and catalysts, substances that accelerate chemical reactions that otherwise would not occur, or would run slowly. Placed in a single gallon of water in a bright sunlight, the device could produce enough electricity to supply a house in a developing country with electricity for a day, Nocera said. It does so by splitting water into its two components, hydrogen and oxygen.

The hydrogen and oxygen gases would be stored in a fuel cell, which uses those two materials to produce electricity, located either on top of the house or beside it.

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Nocera, who is with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, points out that the “artificial leaf” is not a new concept. The first artificial leaf was developed more than a decade ago by John Turner of the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Boulder, Colorado. Although highly efficient at carrying out photosynthesis, Turner’s device was impractical for wider use, as it was composed of rare, expensive metals and was highly unstable — with a lifespan of barely one day.

Nocera’s new leaf overcomes these problems. It is made of inexpensive materials that are widely available, works under simple conditions and is highly stable. In laboratory studies, he showed that an artificial leaf prototype could operate continuously for at least 45 hours without a drop in activity.

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The key to this breakthrough is Nocera’s recent discovery of several powerful new, inexpensive catalysts, made of nickel and cobalt, that are capable of efficiently splitting water into its two components, hydrogen and oxygen, under simple conditions. Right now, Nocera’s leaf is about 10 times more efficient at carrying out photosynthesis than a natural leaf. However, he is optimistic that he can boost the efficiency of the artificial leaf much higher in the future.

“Nature is powered by photosynthesis, and I think that the future world will be powered by photosynthesis as well in the form of this artificial leaf,” said Nocera, a chemist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass.

Fiskers Karma sexy Euro edge!

“The Paris Motor Show is the perfect venue to unveil the striking images of the Karma shot by avant-garde photographer Miles Aldridge. The Karma proves environmentally responsible vehicles do not have to sacrifice design,” said CEO Henrik Fisker.

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The “Pure Driving Passion” campaign was born from the compelling Fisker design philosophy that the auto industry can only be elevated by refusing to compromise. Fisker Automotives unyielding pursuit of pure design has led to one of the most sustainable and accountable vehicles in automotive history and the campaign reflects these impassioned principles.

“Pure Driving Passion” is a celebration of how the Karma redefines the automotive industry through the seamless blend of eco-minded luxury, exhilarating performance, the sensuality of superior comforts and unparalleled sustainability.

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A major objective of the campaign is to educate the public on how eco-consciousness can be sexy. To graphically communicate the sensuality of the Fisker Karma’s sustainable designs, world renowned photographer Miles Aldridge captured beautiful images that express the brand’s captivating, sexy essence. The campaign imagery reflects how Fisker Automotive is dramatically changing the industry with an unrestrained passion for pure design.

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“We wanted people to feel the emotion and sensuality of the Karma through the imagery while at the same time discovering the unique features such as the solar roof and plug-in technology that contribute to a design rooted in environmental consciousness,” said Marti Eulberg, Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing.

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The website, www.FiskerAutomotive.com, includes all the images shot by Miles Aldridge and also a live action film, “Melting Ice,” shot by the Academy Award-nominated cinematographer of Inception, The Dark Knight and The Italian Job, Wally Pfister.

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The thrilling vignette showcases the sensuality and exhilaration of introducing the world to a pure driving experience with no inhibitions.

For developing the campaign and overall brand identity, Fisker sought the help of Southern California global branding experts Lambesis (Tacori, Gruppo Campari’s SKYY Vodka, LVMH’s Grand Marnier, Coca-Cola’s DASANI).

Sources also reported that the Norwegian embassy was evacuating personnel as wind predictions put Tokyo downwind of radiation and rain contaminated with caesium and radioactive iodine were predicted to hit the metropolis, said a Norwegian diplomat. The embassy is moving its staff to Kobe, Japan, 500 kilometres west of Tokyo.

“Much remains to be done before we can breathe a sigh of relief,” said Bellona physicist Nils Bøhmer.

“To say how long crews will have to work very hard to regain control is terribly difficult. It may well take weeks,” he said

An ex-government official who spoke confidentially with Bellona Web from Tokyo reported that no warnings had been issued for the capital’s general population, pointing to yet another apparent disconnect between information possessed by higher echelons of government and what is being released to the Japanese people – despite promised from Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano and Prime Minister Naoto Kan that they would be more open as the crisis persists.

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Four reactors remained in a coolant crisis and their coolant systems may altogether be destroyed, and despite recent restorations of electricity at other reactors, it remained in question whether electrical power would operate the quake and explosion battered cooling systems of the remaining reactors at all.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) said it had briefly evacuated its workers after the smoke was spotted at the southeast of the No. 3 reactor building above a pool storing spent nuclear fuel, though a blast was not heard.

The Tokyo Fire Department, which has been called in for efforts to inundate possibly exposed fuel rods with water,  stopped spraying for the day after the smoke rose from the No. 3 reactor building, Kyodo said

It will suspend the operation until safety at the site is confirmed, Kyodo said, adding whether it will resume on Tuesday remains undecided at present.

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The government’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said no injuries were confirmed in the incidents and that there have been no major changes in the radiation levels at the site.

Whether the reason for the smoke around reactor No. 3 were the reactor itself, from which TEPCO had planned a release of radioactive steam, or the fuel pond, remained unclear throughout the day in Japan, said the Russian environmental group Ecodefence in its ongoing blog on the crisis.

Hidehiko Nishiyama, a spokesman for the nuclear safety agency, confirmed this, telling Kyodo that the causes of the at reactors No. 2 and No. 3 remain unknown and that work to resuscitate power and cooling systems at the troubled reactors will be delayed by one day.

TEPCO said that some of the smoke was rising from a crack in roof of the building that houses reactor No 2, but believed it was steam rather than smoke arising from the spent fuel storage pond, though could not confirm that.

TEPCO reported that the smoke from reactor No 3 ceased at around 6 pm, but that the smoke from reactor No 2 was first noticed at 6:20 local time, Kyodo reported.

Dangers from the overheating spent nuclear fuel storage ponds – of which there are seven at Fukushima Daiichi, on for each reactor and a common pond – is as threatening if not more threatening than radioactivity emerging from the apparently ruptured cores of reactor Nos 1 and 3.

The primary danger is that spent nuclear fuel rods in the absence of cooling water would reach criticality – a chain reaction – in the open, a situation that occurs inside nuclear reactors that are shielded from spreading radioactivity. There are some 1760 tons of spent and fresh fuel filling the plant’s ponds in conditions of intentional overcrowding by TEPCO, as part of a plan to plan to transfer the fuel rods to interim storage offsite.

At present, coolant water is being pumped into the three reactors and the pools for spent nuclear fuel rods at reactors No 3 and No 4. The roofs and upper walls of the buildings that house the No. 1, No. 3 and No. 4 reactors have been blown off by hydrogen explosions, reported Kyodo.

Citing reports, Bellona’s Bøhmer said that reactor Nos 1,2,5 and 6 no longer seem to pose the threat they have in the past days, and that the most  critical issues remain at reactor Nos 3 and 4.

Bellona’s Bøhmer said there were two critical points remaining unresolved on Monday. The first is that reactor No 3, which has been extensively damaged, has to be stabilized.

Reactor No 3 operates on mixed uranium and plutonium oxide, or MOX fuel. Compared to uranium, which is the industry wide standard for power production reactors, plutonium poses far higher risks of harmful radioactive emissions.

The second critical point confronting Fukushima Daiichi as the day ended was the problem cooling the spent nuclear fuel storage ponds, and this will remain the case even if meltdowns are averted.

The work of replenishing the fuel ponds’ water supplies, noted Bøhmer, has been arduous, as workers have had to drop water, with questionable accuracy, from helicopters and douse them with fire hoses at ground level.

Manu reports have emerged about attempts to fill the ponds with water, but there has so far been no way to ascertain how much, if any, water the pools have taken on.

Bøhmer zeroed in on the particularly drastic situation with getting water into the spent fuel pond at reactor No 3.

“We know that the pond at the reactor No. 3 has little water, said Bøhmer.  He said he suspected that the pond must have a leak in it.

“I see simply no other reason why so much water should be lost,” said Bøhmer.

continued

“This project started last year and the current phase of research should be finished by the end of the year… We will (then) have clearer information about the feasibility of the project,” Landsvirkjun spokeswoman Ragna Sara Jonsdottir told AFP, adding that a final decision on the project would likely come within four to five years.

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After taking a hit when its Eyjafjoell volcano last year paralysed European skies for weeks with a massive cloud of volcanic ash, Iceland is seeking to instead draw benefits from its geology with the cable, which would allow it to sell energy extracted from geothermal sources like volcanoes and geysers.

“Among things being studied is the destination country. Potential countries include Britain, Norway, Holland and Germany,” Jonsdottir said.

Depending on the destination country, the cable would be between 1,200 and 1,900 kilometres (745-1,180 miles) long, making it “the longest sub-sea cable in the world.”

The project aims for the exportation of some five terawatt-hours (or five billion kilowatt-hours) each year, Jonsdottir said.

At current power prices in Europe, that corresponds to between 250 and 320 million euros ($350-448 million) in exports annually, and is enough to cover the average annual consumption of 1.25 million European households.

continued

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The process, deployed by CoolPlanetBiofuels, also produces a byproduct that can capture carbon and also be added to soil to improve crop yields, leading to what Google Ventures described as a “negative carbon fuel.”

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“While we have made significant progress over the past couple of years, this new infusion of capital, coupled with the expertise of the Google Ventures team, enables our team to scale even faster,” Mike Cheiky, chief executive of Camarillo, California-based CoolPlanet, said in a statement on Thursday.

continued

Alberta’s tar sands have been called “the dirtiest oil in the world” by Greenpeace and National Geographic, and “mining” these fields means high carbon emissions and serious pollution of natural water supplies. So why are Canadians afraid of electric vehicles?

Canada’s own government agents claim that the area’s boreal forests “could be gone within a generation.”  Canadians in Alberta, of course, are very interested in the progress of EVs, battery technology, and alternative fuels programs …

… they’re interested, because they’re scared to death of them.

“The entire country has evolved into a petro-dollar economy,” says Canadian news source CTV News.  “Canada’s fortunes – and its currency – are now more closely tethered to oil than any other industry.”  So, while the rest of the world looks to EVs and new technology to safeguard resources and global environmental health, Canadian newspapers like the St. Albert Gazette worry that EVs “could put some Albertans out of work.”

Think this is a short-term problem for Canada’s environment?  Think again.  CTV reports that “economic power is shifting, and the trend will continue and gather momentum as oil sands production increases over the next couple of decades.”

That’s right, people.  Canada is pushing for increased oil output over the next.  Few.  DECADES.  (!?)  Kind of makes your Monday morning, doesn’t it?

It’s not like the Canadian government isn’t aware of the environmental impact of the tar sand oil extraction, either.  Preston McEachern, who works for Alberta Environment (a government agency in the province) says that (beyond the greenhouse emissions) the tailings ponds are his top concern.  According to McEachern, the mines dump waste­water in the ponds “because they need to reuse the water.  As the thick, brown slurry gushes from the discharge pipes, the sand quickly settles out, building the dike that retains the pond; the residual bitumen floats to the top. The fine clay and silt particles, though, take several years to settle, and when they do, they produce a yogurt-like goop—the technical term is ‘mature fine tailings’—that is contaminated with toxic chemicals such as naphthenic acid and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and would take centuries to dry out on its own.” (from National Geographic)

Defenders of the oil-recovery effort are quick to point out that, under the terms of their license, mining companies are required to reclaim these chemicals.  However, these companies have been missing their deadlines and still have not fully reclaimed a single pond.

Are you horrified yet?

Even decidedly pro-big-block blogs like The Truth About Cars are pointing out the seemingly backwards stance the Canadian government is taking on the matter, reporting that, as Canadians are “reading the papers about the success of EVs, Albertans are worried about a bust cycle. People did what people do when they don’t know what to do: They assembled a panel of experts.  The panel will first meet next Tuesday in Edmonton.”

The proceedings of the panel’s meetings will be available at www.abctech.ca, and I (for one) hope someone organizes an EV / alt-fuel rally to meet these guys at the gates.

Sources:  National Geographic, CTV, TTAC, etc. (links, above).

Photos:  National Geographic (full, maddening photo gallery AVAILABLE HERE).

With hybrid sales declining across America, Honda has introduced a new, low-content Honda Insight model that begs the question:  how many speakers do you really need?

Even with the overall hybrid market in decline, sales of Honda’s Insight have fallen way short of early expectations, and the company sells significantly fewer Insights than cross-town rivals Toyota sell Priuses (Prii?), and – with new, 40 mpg competition coming form Ford, Chevy, and Hyundai on the way (or already here, depending on where you live) – Honda pretty much had to do something to try and rejuvenate interest in its Insight.

What Honda chose to do, in my opinion, stinks of desperation:  they introduced a new, stripped-down Insight, featuring a single-CD audio system with 2 speakers, no cruise control, no USB audio interface (in 2011), and no floormats priced at “just” $18,200 (plus a $750 “destination and handling” charge).  Keep in mind, in comparisons to the more mainstream, much better-equipped, and hugely more powerful 2011 Ford Focus (160 hp), 2011 Chevy Cruze Eco (138 hp), and 2011 Hyundai Elantra (148 hp), Honda’s 98 hp Insight isn’t a hands-down mpg winner.  In fact, the Insight gives back just 43 miles of highway driving for each gallon of unleaded it receives, compared to 40 for each of the 3 competitors mentioned here … and each of those costs less than the stripper Insight, which has no real EV-only range to help make up the difference around town.

Where does this leave Honda?

Somehow, I’m reminded of an old Chrysler ad, where Lee Iacocca stands in front of the camera and says “You either lead, follow, or get out of the way.”  Which is to say:  if this Insight is the best Honda can do, they’d better get the Insight out of the way fast.

Honda’s official press release, below.

2011 Honda Insight Lineup Gains Standard Features and a New Entry Model

Gateway product to hybrid technology becomes even more affordable

Going on sale today, the 2011 Honda Insight hybrid gains new standard features and the addition of a value-oriented entry model that offers enhanced value, exclusive content and a Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) starting at $18,200, plus a destination and handling charge1 of $750.

The range of Insight models for 2011 now starts with a new value-oriented base model, simply designated as “Insight.” As before, the well-equipped “Insight LX” continues to be available, yet with additional features, along with the top-of-the-line “Insight EX,” which continues to be available with the Honda Satellite-Linked Navigation System™. All Insight models are equipped with Vehicle Stability Assist™ (VSA®) for 2011, which was previously exclusive to the Insight EX.

The new Insight base model includes remote entry and has exclusive content compared to the other models consisting of unique seating fabric and a basic audio system with CD player and two speakers. The Insight LX gains features for 2011, adding cruise control, a USB audio interface, center armrest storage console and floor mats. The Insight EX adds to the LX features with steering wheel-mounted audio controls (previously exclusive to the Insight EX when equipped with navigation).

The distinctively styled, five-passenger, five-door dedicated hybrid vehicle is powered by an Integrated Motor Assist™ (IMA™) system comprised of a 1.3-liter i VTEC® gasoline engine and a 10-kilowatt electric motor that together contribute to an EPA-estimated city/highway/combined fuel economy rating of 40/43/41 miles per gallon2. The Insight features the Ecological Drive Assist System (Eco Assist™), an innovation that can enhance efficient vehicle operation while providing feedback related to individual driving styles.

A sleek exterior features a highly aerodynamic side profile with a front-end design similar to the hydrogen-powered FCX Clarity, a marquee environmental vehicle for Honda. The interior offers a roomy passenger environment with a configurable rear seating and cargo area enhanced by 60/40 split fold-down seats.

Major features standard to the Insight include front, front-side and side-curtain airbags; VSA; an anti-lock braking system; a Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT); Eco Assist; automatic climate control; tilt-and-telescope steering column; manual driver’s seat height adjustment; power windows; an AM/FM audio system with CD player and two speakers; an auxiliary audio input for external digital music players; and much more.

The Insight LX adds or replaces to the Insight with cruise control (new to LX), a four-speaker audio system, USB audio interface (new to LX), armrest console (new to LX), floor mats (new to LX) and a security system.

The Insight EX adds or replaces to the Insight LX features with alloy wheels; steering wheel-mounted paddle shifters; an audio system with six speakers; heated side mirrors with integrated turn signals; and much more. Exclusively available on the Insight EX, the Honda Satellite-Linked Navigation System3 (6.5-inch screen) with voice recognition provides routing and guidance to individual addresses and more than 7 million points of interest within the continental United States. Models equipped with the navigation system also include Bluetooth® HandsFreeLink® for hands-free operation of compatible mobile telephones, along with related steering wheel-mounted controls for voice activation of the navigation and hands-free telephone systems.

A 1.3-liter, 4-cylinder engine with Intelligent Variable Valve Timing and Lift Electronic Control (i-VTEC) and a DC brushless electric motor forms the foundation of the IMA hybrid system. The electric motor, positioned in-line between the engine and the transmission, adds power during acceleration and in certain cruising situations, and recaptures energy from the vehicle’s forward momentum during braking (regenerative braking).

The Insight’s IMA system has the capability to operate exclusively on electric power in certain low- to mid-speed cruising conditions. It can also provide cylinder deactivation during deceleration and an idle-stop feature when the vehicle is stationary. With a 10.6-gallon fuel tank, the Insight delivers an estimated maximum driving range exceeding 400 miles. Models for sale in California and states that have adopted the California Air Resources Board (CARB) ZEV standards receive an Advanced Technology Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle (AT-PZEV) emissions rating.

The Insight uses Eco Assist to help drivers improve fuel efficiency, both by altering vehicle functionality and providing driver feedback, with fuel-economy dependent on their given set of driving conditions. Pressing the ECON button can further enhance the efficiency of multiple vehicle systems: throttle control, CVT operation, idle-stop duration, air conditioning and cruise-control operation (if equipped). Eco Assist also provides feedback about driving style via a 3D-appearing background within the speedometer. The background changes colors from green to blue to reflect how efficiently or inefficiently the driver is accelerating or braking (green = efficient). The driver’s results are continuously tracked as fuel efficiency ratings are shown per drive cycle and on a lifetime basis in the form of plant-leaf graphics that appear in the Multi-Information Display (MID). Up to five leaves can be ‘earned’ as the driver demonstrates a fuel-efficient driving style. A real-time score is shown in the Eco Guide MID screen.

Standard safety features on all Insights include dual-stage, multiple-threshold front airbags; front-side airbags with a passenger-side Occupant Position Detection System (OPDS); side-curtain airbag system; anti-lock brakes with electronic brake distribution (EBD); driver’s and front-passenger’s active head restraints; and a front body designed to mitigate pedestrian injuries. All new Insights also feature Honda’s Advanced Compatibility Engineering™ (ACE™) body structure, which provides improved occupant protection and crash compatibility between vehicles of different sizes and ride heights in frontal crashes.

Honda is a leader in developing cleaner, more fuel-efficient vehicle technologies, including the original Honda Insight, introduced as America’s first mass-produced hybrid car in December 1999. Honda is also a leader in the development of advanced alternatives to gasoline, including the zero-emission, hydrogen-powered FCX Clarity fuel-cell electric car, the world’s most-advanced production fuel cell automobile.

Honda’s diverse lineup of environmental vehicles also includes the Civic GX compressed natural gas-powered (CNG) sedan, the only retail CNG vehicle currently available from any automaker in the U.S., and three distinct gasoline-electric hybrid models: Civic Hybrid, CR-Z sport hybrid and Insight hybrid.

Honda was recently named America’s “Greenest Automaker” for the fifth consecutive time by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). The award is earned by the company with the lowest combined score of its smog-forming and greenhouse gas emissions (primarily CO2) in its U.S. automobile fleet. Honda has led the UCS rankings of overall vehicle environmental performance since the first UCS study in 2000, marking a decade of Honda leadership in reduced vehicle emissions. Honda earned the recognition this year with an industry-best score based on model year 2008 data, the latest available for analysis.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ranks the 2011 Honda Insight as the third-best vehicle in the United States for fuel economy, tied with the Civic Hybrid, among all currently available 2011 model year vehicles evaluated by the agency.

Source:  Honda.

Actually, it has been the song “Another Day, Another Dollar”, for the 2011 VW Jetta, a car I never cared for until now. Why? Well beyond the sharp new looks, VW is going to give the new Jetta a sporty hybrid system that boosts performance and fuel economy.

This is exactly what Volkswagen needs to do for hybrids. Yes I know, there is the Honda CR-Z, but in terms of both fuel economy and performance, the Honda falls short. VW has an opportunity to make hybrids seem fun by taking the Jetta (hopefully a turbo-diesel) and adding a hybrid system that can boost power on the fly when needed, or just hang back and add a few MPG’s to your driving, though we might not get booth. Michael Hinz, project manager of the new Jetta, said ““Are hybrids really fuel efficient? Not really, as you are adding more weight. Yes, we could do a power hybrid. We’re certainly not going to do both. You must decide to go with one or the other.” Way to crap on my party, Hinz.

The VW New Compact Coupe concept from earlier this year

Yet I hold out hope that VW will figure out a way to boost MPG’s and power with a hybrid system. VW already previewed such a system earlier this year with the New Compact Coupe, which debuted almost a year ago at the Detroit Auto Show. The twin-charged 1.4 liter engine made 148 horsepower and 177 ft-lbs of torque initially, but an electric motor integrated into the gearbox can boost power to 175 horsepower and 280 ft-lbs of torque. That is a lot of torque for such a tiny engine (for comparison, the 2011 Mustang 3.7 liter V6 makes 280 ft-lbs of torque and displaces 2.5 times more volume.)

I have never really considered driving a VW until the new Jetta. Between the sharp new looks, low entry-price, and the possibility of a sporty-hybrid, I’ve got a lot to look forward to from the Dub.

Source: AutoCar

There seem to be people in government who realize this. The Natural Resources Defense Council issued a statement that the EPA and DOT plan to push through regulation that demands automakers get a fleet-wide fuel economy average of up to 62 mpg by 2025. Sounds good to me.

You might be saying “But Chris, why do we need to do that so far ahead when we haven’t even gotten to 35 mpg yet?” Well my friend, you have a valid point. 2025 is far away, and the world can (and likely will) be a very different place. Perhaps you are an optimist, and believe most of us will be buying electric cars by then. Maybe you don’t want the government mandating what cars automakers should be building.

Here’s the thing. The current CAFE standards have not budged a single mpg since 1990. For 20 years, we’ve let automakers get by without forcing them to improve their products. Look what happened. Many of the cars from the mid-to-late 90′s  were awful, especially the American-made ones. Remember, I am an American car fan too. All of my cars are American, yet none of them are newer than 1992 for a reason. We also got those lousy SUV’s everybody seemed obsessed with for far too long. We’ve gotten away with it so far, but the world is set to outpace America if we don’t start striving for better and better cars and other green technology initiatives.

Automakers are whining that 60 mpg is too high. The White House says the increase could be anywhere from 47 mpg to 62 mpg. I think 60 mpg is a nice, round number, and in 15 years it is certainly achievable. It took us about that long to put a man on the moon. Why can’t we get we bring our cars up to a higher fuel efficiency standard?

Source: Green Car Advisor | Image: Chrysler Turbine Car

Honda developed the EV-neo, an electric scooter designed to provide the durability necessary for business use, envisioning a wide range of uses by businesses such as delivery services. Equipped with a lithium-ion battery and a brushless motor, EV-neo realizes excellent environmental performance with zero CO₂ emissions in use. The battery is rechargeable using a household power source with attention given to the range per charge. Moreover, EV-neo provides performance equivalent to that of mass-market under-50cc gasoline engine motorcycles realizing a powerful ride even with cargo by leveraging the characteristics of a high-torque motor even at a low speed ride.

Under the key words of “quiet and clean” Honda held the world premier exhibition of the EV-neo concept model (under the name EVE-neo) at the 41st Tokyo Motor Show in 2009 as one of Honda’s new-generation personal mobility products which will contribute to the realization of a low-carbon society while transporting people and cargo. The mass-market model of EV-neo is currently under development.

Honda will continue providing products with excellent environmental performance to more customers in order to contribute to global CO₂ emission reduction efforts.

[ Key specifications of EV-neo Prototype ]

Except perhaps one. A Canadian study of 16 different hybrids found that just one, the Mercedes Benz S400 Hybrid, cost less to own and run than its gasoline counterpart (that would be the regular S400). How is that so?

(more…)

America, lets be honest with ourselves for a moment. When it comes to our material possessions, we tend to be a picky bunch. How else can you explain the variety of choices we have when we buy just about, well, anything. This is especially true about cars.

And oh how our tastes do change. Just a few years ago, people were buying big gaudy SUV’s and were more concerned with cup holders than fuel economy. But once again, our priorities have changed, and a new study suggests quality and fuel economy are now top concerns among new car buyers.

(more…)

Booboomobile has designed a BlackBerry theme for those of us looking to put that Bling Bling back into ours lives and at a incredibly small price for a limited period.

This has to be the Blingiest BlackBerry theme I have ever seen, it certainly brightened my BlackBerry up. My fiancée has now demanded I buy her one also. She wants the Bling and she wants it bad.

So orders is orders and I’m of the Mobihand to purchase her one or two, better get the mother in-law one!

Bling BlackBerry Theme

This has to be the Blingiest BlackBerry theme I have ever seen, it certainly brightened my BlackBerry up. My fiancée has now demanded I buy her one also. She wants the Bling and she wants it bad.

I now feel like a million dollars for what its worth, not a lot at the moment but nether the less, oh what the hell, a billion dollars that’s still worth something? right! Anyway for such a small price its well worth it, to look so cool, my BlackBerry has officially been pimped big style!

Buy one or two at Mobihand:

http://www.mobihand.com/product.asp?id=45822&n=Bling-Berry-Zen-BlackBerry-Theme

Glen Iris Elementary School was the first Birmingham City school to receive XO laptops. Credit and Larger Version

April 14, 2010

Students in Birmingham City Schools, Ala., are building their technological skills and interests while engaging in collaborative learning thanks to XO laptop computers. XO computers are rugged, low-cost, low-power laptops that have become familiar to people around the world through the One Laptop Per Child project. In Birmingham, the laptops were distributed by the local government to help reduce a “digital divide” separating Birmingham students from those in more affluent areas in terms of available technology and the opportunity to become proficient in its use.

In a study funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) through a Small Grants for Exploratory Research (SGER) grant, Shelia Cotten, associate professor of sociology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and her team are examining the educational and social impact of using XO laptops in Birmingham public schools, and the effects on student outcomes.

The XO laptop is unique because the design caters to children.  According to Cotten, the design of the laptop “is more intuitive for children and how they learn. They are also sturdier, more durable, and more interactive than many other existing laptops.”

These laptops use a Linux operating system and a Sugar user interface, which together allow users to identify other groups and users of XOs in geographic proximity. Cotten explained that this encourages learning and collaboration because users can collaborate and work in groups easily.

Birmingham was introduced to the XO laptops in early 2008, when the city government purchased 15,000 XO laptops for the students in Birmingham City schools. Each student in grades first through fifth received a XO laptop to keep as his or her own. Cotten explained that the goal was “to decrease the digital divide in Birmingham and to provide students with the technological skills to make them effective participants in our information and technologically driven society.”

According to Cotten, the majority of the children receiving the laptops come from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds. “Free and reduced price lunch rates are greater than 70 percent in the majority of the schools,” said Cotten. ”For [the children], there was minimal hope that their families would be able to purchase computers for them.  The giving of the XOs to these children gave them hope for a brighter future and a chance to become a cyber-participant in our society.”

Both the students and their families were touched by this opportunity.  “I can tell you that the students were incredibly moved by receiving these laptops,” said Cotten. “The joy was evident on their faces, and tears were flowing among many of the children.  From what I have observed, family members were excited that their children were receiving the XO laptops. This represented an opportunity for their children and their families that they most likely would not have had otherwise.”

While teachers “appeared to be excited about having the opportunity for their students and themselves to become more involved in the cyber world … I think there was also some apprehension on their part as the XOs used a different operating system than what they are accustomed to using,” said Cotten.

Prior to distribution of the laptops in Birmingham, some members of the Birmingham City School System received training.  However, during the 2008-2009 academic year, there was limited money for training and more effort was spent preparing the XO laptops to be distributed to schools.  More extensive training was scheduled for this school year, since the Birmingham City Council approved giving the school system close to $1,000,000 to buy new XO laptops.

Further training can help explore the diverse XO applications and the possibilities in developing effective and creative lesson plans to motivate additional technological interest. “Many students don’t become aware of programming until taking a computer science course later in their educational training and by this point it is often too late to garner their interest in learning about programming,” explained Cotten. “By having them work with applications in elementary school, they may see the work they do as fun and exciting and they may not fear computer programming when they have other opportunities later in their educational career.”

The range of applications includes Internet browsers, a word processing program, an instant messaging program, a program to record audio, pictures and video, a paint program, an audio mixing and editing program, a calculator, a measure/graphing frequency program, a memorizing game, an acoustic tape measure and various programming languages tailored to children.

Lesson plans could include various creative projects, explained Cotten. Examples of activities made possible through the laptops include using the Acoustic Tape Measure to measure the distance between XO laptops in math and science classes, or using the Memorize application to create memory games to help students learn vocabulary, math concepts and other subject matter.

Preliminary results of Cotten’s study reveal the effects of technology use on students.  Technology in this case includes the XO laptop and additional non-XO computer use, plus other types of technologies and communication channels the students use to communicate with friends. Findings include:

• More frequent use of computers for research was associated with gains in personal expression, freedom and accomplishment.
• Higher grades on projects was associated with students perceiving that the XO laptops helped them communicate and work with other students in their classes.
• Entertainment use of computers was associated with lower grades when students were tested after adoption of the laptops.
• An increase in using computers for research was associated with greater odds of students reporting that they would like to take more computer classes and would like to learn more about computers.
• Students who had more favorable perceptions regarding the XO (e.g., they enjoy doing homework more when using the XO; they report that the XO helps them learn) were more likely to want to take more computer classes and learn more about computers than were students who had less favorable perceptions.
• Preliminary findings indicate that there is significant variation in the impact of teachers on XO laptop usage in the classroom. Having teachers who use the XOs more frequently and who are more skilled in this use is associated with greater use, diversity of use, and more positive attitudes of XO laptops by students.

Additional analysis is underway. “Over the next few months, we will begin to examine in-depth the relationships to be investigated per the NSF SGER grant,” said Cotten.  “In particular, we plan to further examine the importance of teacher and school level factors, as we suspect there will be important differences across teachers and classes in the outcomes to be examined.”

Cotten received another NSF grant that further examines curriculum usage with the XO laptops.

“As in the NSF SGER grant, we focus on fourth and fifth grades,” Cotten explained. “During Year 1, we have already done in-depth observations in two pilot schools to see how teachers are using and/or not using XO laptops, interviewed school administrators at the two pilot schools regarding barriers and facilitators to integrating XOs into the curriculum in their schools. We’ve also begun developing lesson plans that utilize XO laptops and link to the Alabama Course of Study objectives, which Birmingham City School (BCS) teachers use.”

Future plans in this study include conducting nominal group technique sessions with teachers from two pilot schools to get feedback on the lesson plans, which will be revised and utilized in a series of workshops for students and teachers from six additional schools in summer 2010. Workshops and professional development activities will also continue in Years 2-5. By completion of the project, approximately 200 teachers and 8,000 students in the Birmingham City School System will have been directly impacted.

Investigators
Casey Borch
Shelia Cotten
Jeffrey Gray
Michael Howell-Moroney
Catherine Nelson
David Radford
Scott Snyder
Thamar Solorio
J. Michael Wyss
Julian Daily
Shani Daily

Related Institutions/Organizations
University of Alabama at Birmingham
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Locations
Alabama

Related Programs
Discovery Research K-12

Related Awards
#0918216 Integrating Computing Across the Curriculum (ICAC): Incorporating Technology into STEM Education Using XO Laptops
#0819063 SGER: Assessing the Educational, Career, and Social Impacts of the XO Laptop Program in Birmingham, AL City Schools

Total Grants
$1,147,163

Related Websites
You Tube Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inxOg-dt6rw