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Many on the right view the Toyota Prius as a tree-hugger's feel-good car. They are much more expensive than non-tree-hugger cars of the same size, and while the mileage is better, the added cost of the vehicle will never equal the gas savings over the life of the car. But the enviro-buyers don't really care about the cost savings (if they did, why would they overpay for the car?). It is really only about one thing: showing the world that they care more about saving the planet than you or I do. To those of us in the global warming...

  Cryonics. Neural implants. Designer babies. Welcome to the future of transhumanism. This energetic movement, comprising thousands of adherents, actively promotes the enhancement of humans via cybernetics, genetics, medicine, surgery, nanotechnology, and a full panoply of other scientific advancements. This enhancement would, according to Nick Bostrom's "Transhumanist Declaration," seek to advocate "the moral right for those who wish to do so to extend their mental and physical (including reproductive) capacities and to improve their control over their own lives. [They] seek personal growth beyond [their] current biological limitations" (see www.transhumanism.org).   This may sound like science fiction, but the...

"It sounds yucky, but it may be well worth doing if it's going to lead to a cure for something horrible," said Robin Lovell-Badge, a stem cell expert at Britain's National Institute for Medical Research, and a member of the group conducting the study. At a media briefing in London, Lovell-Badge said there were two main types of experiments: altering an animal's genes by adding human DNA or replacing a specific animal sequence with its human counterpart. Several years ago, human genes were added to a mouse to create a model of Down's syndrome for scientists to study how the...

(See all these news nuggets and more by clicking the excerpt link below): 1. BBC News: “Darwin Teaching ‘Divides Opinion’” Darwinism is a controversial topic, and many believe creation should be taught in the classroom. But why is that news? 2. ScienceDaily: “Junk DNA Mechanism that Prevents Two Species from Reproducing Discovered” Has the U.S. government finally supported creationist research? Alas, no, but the results of a National Institutes of Health study fit squarely within the young-earth creation framework. 3. PhysOrg: “Charles Darwin Really Did Have Advanced Ideas about the Origin of Life” Charles Darwin was convinced that life’s origin...

Green Car of the Year Finalists Announced Posted: Oct. 08, 2009 10:10 a.m. Steady gas prices have made Kermit's words come true: It's not easy being green. Still, despite American car buyers not exactly being red-hot for green cars, automakers are rolling them out, determined to meet government deadlines for fuel economy standards and emissions -- as well as being prepared for the next time gas prices spike and car shoppers start clamoring for the latest in alternative fuel and ultra-efficient cars. The L.A.Times says "diesels and hybrids dominate the roster of finalists for the 2010 Green Car of the...

Gore-Backed Car Firm Gets Large U.S. Loan By JOSH MITCHELL and STEPHEN POWER WASHINGTON -- A tiny car company backed by former Vice President Al Gore has just gotten a $529 million U.S. government loan to help build a hybrid sports car in Finland that will sell for about $89,000. The award this week to California startup Fisker Automotive Inc. follows a $465 million government loan to Tesla Motors Inc., purveyors of a $109,000 British-built electric Roadster. Tesla, like Fisker, is a California startup focusing on high-end hybrids, with a number of celebrity endorsements that is backed by investors that...

America, are you ready for Rush Limbaugh in an electric car? The conservative talk show host has agreed to take Jay Leno's "Green Car Challenge." In the segment airing next Thursday on NBC's "Jay Leno Show," Limbaugh will race an electric Ford Focus around a custom-built track beside Leno's studio, the show's representative confirmed. The "Green Car Challenge" segment makes its debut on the primetime show tomorrow night. Celebrities who participate drive two times around the twisty track, which takes a little less than a minute to complete. By the time Rush gets behind the wheel of the zero-emission vehicle,...

Van Jones, former Green Job commissar for the Obama Administration, was tossed under a green hybrid bus, the President's spokesman said today. The hybrid bus runs on a mixture of hydrogen and hype. The two substances are then converted into energy, which is then distributed to the wheels, which are guided by the media. "We didn't just want to chuck Van under any old carbon-spewing bus," said Robert Barry Gibbs. "We wanted to make sure that it would suit his environmental awareness." Jones, a communist and professional rioter, was tossed under the bus after revealing the Obama administration's actual intent...

Kids in Napa won't hear the usual "clackety clack" of a diesel engine when district bus HY-2 lumbers up to their stop next month. In fact, when the bus is sitting still, they won't hear anything at all. Within a week or two, Napa Valley Unified School District will premiere one of the first small hybrid buses in the nation, thanks to state grants aimed at curbing school bus emissions and a transportation manager's aggressive campaign to green his fleet. "I just got tired of seeing the commercials with the big puff of black smoke coming out of the tailpipe...

Audi President: Chevy Volt Is a “Car for Idiots… the Intellectual Elite Who Want to Show What Enlightened Souls They Are.” Few consumers will be willing to pay $40,000 base price for a car that competes with $25,000 hybrids... “So there are not enough idiots who will buy it.” The Audi of America president ended with a bold prediction: The Volt will fall flat. And the federal government, having publicly forced GM to develop electric cars, will subsidize the Volt to save face and boost sales. CNET recently reported GM’s astronomical claim of the Volt’s 230 mpg are false, and...

Conservation: The Chevy Volt is said to be able to get 230 miles per gallon. That's if it's continually plugged into a fragile and overburdened power grid. Where will you be when the lights go out? Since most U.S. electricity generation is not carbon-free, the Congressional Research Service agrees. The "widespread adoption of plug-in hybrid vehicles through 2030 may have only a small effect on, and might actually increase, carbon emissions," it observes. "If you are using coal-fired power plants and half the country's electricity comes from coal powered plants, are you just trading one greenhouse gas emitter for another?"...

The push for conversion to plug-in electric cars will do nothing to stop carbon emissions, a report by the GAO warns, throwing cold water on a push by Democrats to get more plug-ins on the road. In fact, the problem could be made worse as demand goes up at coal-fired electrical plants. Plus, the need for batteries may just have the US changing the dictators to which we’re chained, as IBD reports...

Alternative Energy: A government report says reliance on electric cars will do little to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and may merely shift our dependence on foreign sources from one set of dictators to another..."If you are using coal-fired power plants, and half the country's electricity comes from coal-powered plants, are you just trading one greenhouse gas emitter for another?" asks Mark Gaffigan, co-author of the GAO report. The report itself notes: "Reductions in CO2 emissions depend on generating electricity used to charge the vehicles from lower-emission sources of energy."

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Sen. John McCain officially got the keys to his 2010 Ford Fusion hybrid on Tuesday, and promptly took it for a spin around the Russell Senate office building in Washington — but not before accidentially tripping the car alarm. Before jumping in, McCain was overheard remarking that his new ride features a voice-activated navigation system and Sirius satellite radio. Riding shotgun was McCain's buddy Lindsey Graham, who joked as he got into the passenger seat: "I hope I live to tell about this."

You worry a lot about the environment and do everything you can to reduce your carbon footprint -- the emissions of greenhouse gases that drive dangerous climate change. So you always prefer to take the train or the bus rather than a plane, and avoid using a car whenever you can, faithful to the belief that this inflicts less harm to the planet. Well, there could be a nasty surprise in store for you, for taking public transport may not be as green as you automatically think, says a new US study. SNIP These are hidden or displaced emissions that...

I'm thinking that Bob Lutz, truthteller, is not long for the payroll of General Motors. After all, he is a Global Warming Denier, who, if this were the time of Henry VIII, would be burned at the stake as a heretic. But for now, it is nice to see at least one auto executive call BS on the Enviro-kooks.

UYUNI, Bolivia: In the rush to build the next generation of hybrid or electric cars, a sobering fact confronts both automakers and governments seeking to lower their reliance on foreign oil: almost half of the world's lithium, the mineral needed to power the vehicles, is found here in Bolivia - a country that may not be willing to surrender it so easily. Japanese and European companies are busily trying to strike deals to tap the resource, but a nationalist sentiment is building quickly in the government of President Evo Morales, an ardent critic of the United States who has already...

Much has been written about the Insight, Honda's new low-priced hybrid. So far, though, you have not been told what it's like as a car; as a tool for moving you, your friends and your things from place to place. So here it comes. It's terrible. Biblically terrible. It doesn't work. Acceleration is poor. And the sound is worse. So you're sitting there with the engine screaming its head off, and your ears bleeding, and you're doing only 23 mph and you're thinking things can't get any worse, and then they do because you run over a small piece of...

Much has been written about the Insight, Honda’s new low-priced hybrid. We’ve been told how much carbon dioxide it produces, how its dashboard encourages frugal driving by glowing green when you’re easy on the throttle and how it is the dawn of all things. The beginning of days. So far, though, you have not been told what it’s like as a car; as a tool for moving you, your friends and your things from place to place. So here goes. It’s terrible. Biblically terrible. Possibly the worst new car money can buy. It’s the first car I’ve ever considered crashing...

Much has been written about the Insight, Honda’s new low-priced hybrid. We’ve been told how much carbon dioxide it produces, how its dashboard encourages frugal driving by glowing green when you’re easy on the throttle and how it is the dawn of all things. The beginning of days. So far, though, you have not been told what it’s like as a car; as a tool for moving you, your friends and your things from place to place. So here goes. It’s terrible. Biblically terrible. Possibly the worst new car money can buy. It’s the first car I’ve ever considered crashing...

Human-Ape Hybridization: A Failed Attempt to Prove Darwinism by Jerry Bergman, Ph.D.* Ilya Ivanov (1870-1932) was an eminent biologist who achieved considerable success in the field of artificial insemination of horses and other animals. Called “one of the greatest authorities on artificial fecundation,”[1] he graduated from Kharkov University in 1896 and became a professor of zoology in 1907. His artificial insemination techniques were so successful that he was able to fertilize as many as 500 mares with the semen of a single stallion. Ivanov also pioneered the use of artificial insemination to produce various hybrids, including that of a zebra...

In a move that will help cut oil use and greenhouse gases, at least eight big automakers are gearing up to sell new types of electric cars. GM, for example, plans to sell its Volt in 2010, while China wants to become the world's largest producer of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). And a few entrepreneurs, such as Segway inventor Dean Kamen, are designing novel prototypes. Leading the charge is President Obama. He wants carmakers to put a million PHEVs on US roads by 2015. Advocates of these next-gen cars, however, often act like someone who takes for granted that...

The Energy Department could spend its billions the old-school way. Or it could try the direct approach: 2 million new hybrid drivers per year. A calculator can be the plaything of the damned. Allow me to demonstrate. Of the 12 million barrels of oil we import daily, the 6 million barrels we get from OPEC members are the most geopolitically dubious. That oil from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is refined into about 83 million gallons, or roughly one-fifth of our daily gas consumption of 390 million gallons, according to the Energy Information Administration.

Sometimes the cars accelerate on their own. Sometimes they stop dead. Drivers of the hybrid Prius have discovered they can be an unexpected adventure. Bobette Riner publishes an electricity index used to promote renewable energy, and she bought a brand-new Prius last year to shoot the bird at the oil companies. Elizabeth James says her Prius surged out of control near Lawson, Colorado, sending her plunging into a river. "I felt so smug for a while," she says. "Especially being in Houston." She had been lucky to score the car from a dealership on Houston's south side, because for nearly...

Read Full Article Here: http://www.rasertech.com/media/videos/the-electric-h3 Watch Video: http://www.rasertech.com/media/videos/electric-h3-hummer-unveiled Raser Technologies, Inc. unveiled a 100+ mpg Hummer H3 powered by Raser’s plug-in hybrid E-REV (Extended-Range Electric Vehicle) at the 2009 SAE International World Congress, Cobo Center, Detroit, MI. ...

LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- Michigan is expanding its tax incentive program for companies developing and making advanced batteries used in hybrid and electric vehicles. Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed a bill into law Monday adding $220 million to the program. Granholm earlier this year signed legislation starting the initiative with refundable tax credits worth up to $335 million. Lawmakers are hoping the incentives will help put Michigan in the forefront of battery production for the next generation of electric vehicles. Granholm says Michigan's initiative is more aggressive than any other state's plan.

DETROIT, April 1 (Reuters) - General Motors Corp (GM.N) has asked for $2.6 billion of low interest government loans to support the development of three new hybrid vehicles, according to a business plan update released on Wednesday. GM's loan request, which would help develop two spinoffs from its all-electric Chevrolet Volt, raises to $10.3 billion the aid it is seeking under a U.S. Energy Department program designed to support development of fuel-efficient vehicles. The request for low-interest taxpayer backed loans was made on Monday to the U.S. Treasury Department, GM said. It was the automaker's third request for loans under...

The Ford and Honda hybrids due out this month are among dozens planned for the coming years as automakers try to meet new fuel-efficiency standards and please politicians overseeing the industry's multibillion-dollar bailout. Unfortunately for the automakers, hybrids are a tough sell these days. Americans have cut back on buying vehicles of all types as the economy continues its slide. But the slowdown has been particularly brutal for hybrids, which use electricity and gasoline as power sources. They were the industry's darling just last summer, but sales have collapsed as consumers refuse to pay a premium for a fuel-efficient vehicle...

Hybrid car sales go from 60 to 0 at breakneck speed The gas-electric vehicles are piling up on dealers' lots as anxiety over gasoline prices evaporates. But more hybrid models are on the way. By Ken Bensinger March 17, 2009 The Ford and Honda hybrids due out this month are among dozens planned for the coming years as automakers try to meet new fuel-efficiency standards and please politicians overseeing the industry's multibillion-dollar bailout. Unfortunately for the automakers, hybrids are a tough sell these days. Sales of natural gas vehicles evaporate Americans have cut back on buying vehicles of all types...

As a candidate, Barack Obama promoted hybrid cars. As president, he'll be handed the keys to one. Sort of. Shortly after taking the oath of office, Obama will climb into the Mother of All Hybrids -- part car, part truck and, from the looks of it, part tank. In keeping with recent tradition, the Secret Service will place a brand-new presidential limousine into service January 20 to drive the new president on the 2-mile jaunt down Pennsylvania Avenue during the inaugural parade. Already, spy photos of the limo -- with patches of gray primer -- have leaked out. And already,...

I always like the transition from one month to another as that is the time all the magazines I subscribe to make their appearances. This month is no exception with the February 2009 issue of Car & Driver hitting the mailbox last night with a cover story titled, "FUEL-SIPPIN' SHOWDOWN! Can Detroit Build A Better Hybrid?"

Sharp fall in hybrid vehicles sales as US tightens belt By Bernard Simon in Toronto Published: January 1 2009 23:31 | Last updated: January 1 2009 23:31 Americans’ appetite for hybrid cars is evaporating as tumbling fuel prices and tighter household budgets trump environmental concerns. The sudden reversal in what was, until a few months ago, one of the hottest segments of the world’s biggest car market creates a new area of uncertainty for carmakers, such as Toyota, General Motors, Ford Motor and Honda, that are investing heavily in hybrids and other fuel-efficient technologies. Industry executives, including Alan Mulally, Ford’s...

City of Boulder wants 6 million in Federal fudns to convert 60 hybrid electric vehicles to Plug-in Hybrid Vehicles with Vehicle to Grid technology. The city of Boulder asked for $6 million to "...[p]rovide funding to convert 60 hybrid electric vehicles to Plug-in Hybrid Vehicles with Vehicle to Grid technology. The cars are part of the City of Boulder, Boulder County, and the University of Colorado fleets." The retrofit of each vehicle, therefore, would cost $100-thousand dollars a piece

Hopping on a streetcar to get to work has a 1930s vibe to it. While streetcars continue to ride the rails in many European cities, they have largely vanished from American cities, and they have a nostalgic aura. But in spite of this, and spurred by the current economic downturn, Americans continue to use public transportation at record levels. More than 2.8 billion trips were taken on public transportation in the third quarter of 2008 -- a surge of 6.5 percent over the third quarter of 2007 and the largest year-to-year increase in 25 years. Light rail had the highest...

INDIANAPOLIS -- Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard says choosing hybrid cars to fill out the city's fleet is an effort to be green and to save green, but one local dealer doesn't see it that way. Penske Chevrolet had the lowest bid for 85 new vehicles, but the $2 million contract went to rival Andy Mohr Toyota and its Toyota Camry hybrid, 6News' Jack Rinehart reported. Officials with Andy Mohr -- which had the second-highest of nine bids -- said the choice will help the city save money in the long run. "This vehicle that the city is replacing averages 14-...

The buzzword out of Detroit these days seems to be "hybrid." As the Big Three automaker CEOs return to Washington today -- arriving by hybrid vehicles instead of private jets -- they will try to sell Congress on turnaround plans focusing on an aggressive new line of fuel-efficient cars. Lawmakers might buy the plans from Ford, General Motors and Chrysler, but it is going to be a lot harder to sell American drivers on the hybrid cars. The key may be gas prices. Maryann Keller, who runs an automotive consulting company, said that people lined up to buy more-efficient cars...

Always eager to shove their agenda into a seemingly unrelated policy discussion, the green movement has joined the debate over bailing out the Big Three automakers. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wants to tie federal assistance to a requirement that Detroit make more fuel-efficient, eco-friendly cars. “Any car company that gets taxpayer money must demonstrate a plan for transforming every vehicle in its fleet to a hybrid-electric engine with flex-fuel capability, so its entire fleet can also run on next generation cellulosic ethanol,” demands New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman. Writing in The Washington Post, Columbia University economist Jeffrey Sachs calls...

We gave you all the details on the 2010 Ford Fusion, Fusion Sport, and 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid at the break of day and now we've got the live reveal from the floor of the LA Auto Show. The trio of Fusionistas made their debut moments ago to bombastic loads of PR praise. If the improvements Ford is touting stand up to scrutiny, the Fusion stands to make some serious waves in the C/D sedan segment. We approve pretty solidly of the styling changes, the six speed manual and auto on the regular Fusion and the well thought out hybrid...

Confirmed: Chrysler's hybrid 'utes DOA Posted at 8:04AM by Well, that didn't last long, did it? We wondered about the fate of the Chrysler Aspen hybrid and its sibling, the Dodge Durango hybrid after the automaker announced its plans to close its Newark, DE assembly plant, where the hybrid 'utes are built. We didn't need to wonder long, as a report on Green Car Advisor confirms the demise of the two hybrid SUVs. Oddly, it was just two months ago that the two vehicles were first introduced, and we found that the two large vehicles actually performed rather well when...

London, Oct 24, 2008 / 04:45 am (CNA).- In what one pro-life leader called a “deadly day in the history of Britain,” the House of Commons on Wednesday approved legislation allowing scientists to create animal-human hybrids for medical research. The bill also allows the creation of “savior siblings” genetically matched to sick siblings and eases access to in-vitro fertilization (IVF) for lesbians and single women by eliminating requirements for clinics to consider a child’s need for a father.The Human Embryology and Fertilization Bill passed by 355 votes to 129, Agence France Presse reports. The bill now heads to the House...

What if there was a hybrid vehicle technology that could at least double the gas mileage of passenger cars, SUVs and light trucks? What if it could slash emissions by 50 percent or more? And what if it could challenge our usual mileage expectations by offering better fuel consumption in the city than on the highway? Even better from an engineering and manufacturing standpoint, what if this hybrid technology didn’t rely on expensive, heavy, bulky battery technologies that aren’t really ready for prime time and instead used a time-tested energy storage method? Well, there is just such a hybrid-vehicle technology,...

Font Size: Decrease Increase Print Page: Print Ewin Hannan | August 26, 2008 AUSTRALIA has no ability to environmentally dispose of the batteries from the Toyota Camry hybrids whose production has been championed by Kevin Rudd. Labor in Victoria, where the cars will be built, has conceded a "current hole" in the nation's recycling policies means there is no capacity to environmentally dispose of the nickel-metal hydride car batteries from the 10,000 hybrid cars to be produced by Toyota every year from the start of 2010. Victorian Environment Minister Gavin Jennings appeared to concede that the hybrid Camry batteries, which...

Electric and hybrid vehicles may be good for the environment, but a California lawmaker says they're bad news for the blind. State Sen. Alan Lowenthal, a Long Beach Democrat, is pushing a bill aimed at ensuring that the vehicles make enough noise to be heard by the blind and visually impaired when they're about to cross a street. The state Senate approved the bill Tuesday on a 23-12 vote and sent it to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has not taken a position. It would establish a committee to study the issue and recommend ways the vehicles could make more noise....

The Hybrid vehicle: The diet cola of saving the world. So I drive a H3. Yes, I know I’m an evil, evil man who should be shunned (and if some had their way, stoned or attacked with organically feed dogs). As the price of gas increases so do the unabashed looks of disgust and sneers. Little do most know that my H3 get’s (and yes I checked it) 17 in city/hwy driving and 20 on the highway (at 65-70 mph), but I digress, this isn’t about the maligned Hummer. Now I have absolutely no problem with people wanting to conserve...

TOKYO (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) will switch gears and produce the Prius hybrid instead of the less fuel-efficient Highlander sport utility vehicle at its planned Mississippi factory, the Nikkei business daily reported on Thursday. The world's biggest automaker is also likely to suspend production at one of two assembly lines at its Indiana factory, where it builds the Tundra pickup and Sequoia SUV, by year-end for at least six months, the paper said. Citing company sources, it said the move was in response to falling demand for those models and would amount to a production cut of 50,000...

DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Corp is rushing to finish the production version of its Chevy Volt and plans to unveil a showroom-ready model of the heavily touted electric car in September, people familiar with the project say.

Top-end versions of the Toyota Prius hybrid are set to receive rooftop solar panels. News agency Reuters reports that the Japanese giant intends to install solar cells in order to power the air conditioning unit. Silicon prices are currently rising, pushing up the cost of solar panels. At this stage, it is unclear how much the solar-panelled versions would cost. The third generation of Toyota Prius with a petrol-electric hybrid powertrain is due to reach the market in 2009. Over 1 million Prius cars have been sold, with the strong demand for 'green' vehicles accelerating thanks to high oil...

Toyota to Add Solar Panels to Some Prius Hybrids Reuters TOKYO Toyota Motor Corp plans to install solar panels on some Prius hybrids in its next remodeling, responding to growing demand for "green" cars amid record-high oil prices, a source briefed on the matter said on Monday. The panels, supplied by Kyocera Corp would be able to power part of the air-conditioning on high-end versions of the gasoline-electric Prius, the source said. "It's more of a symbolic gesture," said the source, who asked not to be identified. "It's very difficult to power much more than that with solar energy." Toyota...

BERLIN (AFP) - Sports car manufacturer Ferrari intends to cut its vehicles' greenhouse gas emissions by nearly half and is working on developing hybrid vehicles, the company president said Saturday. < > But he insisted that any future hybrid Ferrari would still be "fundamentally a Ferrari." < >

As U.S. gasoline prices hover above $4 per gallon and automakers race to make plug-in hybrids available in 2010, it’s no wonder that green-car enthusiasts have turned to after-market kits to convert their hybrids into plug-ins sooner. The kits include additional batteries and plugs that allow drivers to replace some fuel with electricity from a standard wall outlet, getting more than 100 miles per gallon. It’s an alluring proposition. But the road to plug-in hybrids hasn’t been easy, and now conversion companies may have run into another bump. Hybrids Plus this week said a converted Toyota Prius had caught fire,...