A double-barreled idea that could help clean up our air and give a breath of life to a gasping auto industry is being pushed by the top Democrat and Republican on the House Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee.

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Recycling older, dirtier cars can create jobs, help clean the air and generate new-car sales.
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It's not a new concept, and its execution needs to be carefully thought out to prevent it from becoming punitive to car collectors, rebuilders and hobbyists, but the congressmen's call for a "cash for clunkers" program might be the start of something worthwhile.

Reps. Rick Boucher, a Virginia Democrat who chairs the subcommittee, and Fred Upton, a Michigan Republican who serves as its ranking member, are calling on President-elect Barack Obama to set aside a portion of his economic stimulus plan to pay Americans to hand over older, dirtier cars in return for cash they could use to buy clean, fuel efficient new models.

The two haven't put a pricetag on their proposal, but in a July column in the New York Times, Princeton economics professor and former Federal Reserve vice chairman Alan S. Blinder suggested a similar plan and said it could cost about $20 billion to retire 5 million old cars by paying owners $4,000 each for them.

That's a better use of taxpayer money than giving banks $350 billion so they can salt it away in their vaults and refuse to lend it to anyone who might actually need a loan.

Bentley Motors is developing ethanol-powered versions of its large-engined models and plans to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions from its range by 40 percent within three years, according to an English newspaper.

The Telegraph reported that Bentley will unveil its first ethanol-powered model at the Geneva Auto Show next spring and that the automaker is negotiating with the British royal family over supplying ethanol-powered vehicles for state use.

While the luxury carmaker won't likely have to meet the European Union emissions requirements — they've yet to be firmed up, but companies making fewer than 10,000 cars a year are expected to be exemped — Bentley will still be subject to some demands to reduce its greenhouse-gas output.

A Bentley spokesman told Telegraph reporter Andrew English (we kid you not) that while the carmaker was focusing on ethanol in the short term, it had not ruled out fitting its automobiles with clean-diesel engines.

If you've been looking to justify spending $200,000 or more on a Bentley to your spouse, you'll soon be able to plead "But it's good for the environment!"  And good luck with that.

Gold Peak Industries North America, a subsidiary of GP Batteries International, which claims to be the largest rechargeable battery maker outside of Japan, has acquired an equity stake in Plug In Conversions Corp.

The transaction, announced today, positions the latter to sell its plug-in Toyota Prius conversion kits worldwide and produce kits for hybrids made by other manufacturers.

Under the new strategic partnership, PICC will first expand its U.S. network of certified installers — the auto dealerships or mechanics using PICC's nickel metal hydride battery kits to convert Toyota Priuses into plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.

San Diego-based PICC will then begin to sell the kits wherever GP Batteries sells its products.

"In collaboration with the battery conglomerate's engineers, PICC also plans to make conversion kits for other hybrids made by Toyota and those sold by Ford and GM," Gold Peak and PICC said in a joint statement. "These will also supply an international market."

It will be interesting to see if the partnership is able to carry out this ambitious plan or whether it proves to be so much pie in the sky.

By John O'Dell, Senior Editor

Ray LaHood will look after highway infrastructure improvements, fuel-economy efforts, vehicle safety, spending on mass transit and clean car programs, even the national speed limit as President-elect Barack Obama's Transportation secretary, but the just-retired Illinois congressman is largely a cipher on those issues.
LaHood, 63 (left), has little transportation record beyond his support for Amtrak, the national passenger train program, and his apparently friendly relationship with the Teamsters Union  and other transportation unions, which endorsed and financially supported him during his congressional career. The national Teamseters Union also has endorsed his nomination as Transportation Secretary.

Some pundits have suggested that his value is more as the Obama cabinet's lone registered Republican (retiring Defense Secretary Robert Gates considers himself a Republican but is registered as an independent) than as a transportation wiz.

"We should ask 'what's under LaHood?' " quiped David Doniger, senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council.

But for what he has done on transportation issues,  the former congressman from Peoria generally wins plaudits.

"While his environmental record is mixed, LaHood has proven himself as an ally of public transportation, consistently voting to support mass transit and intercity rail, systems which need vast investment to move America to the greener, cleaner infrastructure proposed by President-elect Barack Obama," said Rob McCulloch, transportation issues advocate for Environment America.

LaHood also has a record of supporting federal fuel economy increases, votiong for corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) hikes in 1993, 1995 and 2007, said Ann Mesnikoff, the Sierra Club's Washington, D.C., representative. "That at least means he understands the policy and the need to raise standards," she said.

LaHood, who built a friendship with fellow prairie stater Obama despite their political differences, does seem to be valued by the incoming president for his prowess at building bridges - but bridges between Democrats and Republicans, not the kind that carry traffic over rivers and canyons.

LaHood is best known as a consensus builder who has helped bring congressional Democrats and Republicans to the bargaining table on a number of issues.

That will be a critical role in moving spending bills through congress for Obama's huge infrastructure-based  jobs program for jump starting the economy.

His consensus-building prowess could be strained, though, in an administration rapidly filing up with former Bill Clinton-era Democrats: La Hood will stand out as the congressman who presided over Clinton's impeachment.

But he's considered very much a moderate and was one of just three GOP representatives who refused to sign then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich's "Contract with America," which turned the party' sharply to the right.

Part of his job will include overseeing the auto industry as it struggles to comply with the federally mandated task of achieving an average fuel economy of 35 miles per gallon for new cars and trucks by 2020.

Honda boss Takeo Fukui announced this week that the Japanese company will bring a battery-powered motorcycle to market in "about two years."

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Honda's fuel-cell scooter was never available.
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The announcement was made as part of his annual December state-of-Honda speech and comes only a couple of months after reports circulated that Yamaha intends to offer an electric motorcycle in 2010.

"Honda is currently developing a battery-powered electric motorcycle which emits no CO2 during operation, because the characteristics of a battery can be better utilized in the area of motorcycles, which are often used for short distance travel," Fukui said. "Honda is aiming to introduce this electric motorcycle to the market about two years from now."

He added that "Honda's toughness in meeting changes in the business environment comes from the global business foundation built around the three axes of motorcycles, automobiles and power products."

History shows that motorcycles remain strong in a difficult market environment and have always supported Honda in difficult times, he said.

By Scott Doggett and John O'Dell

During weeks leading up to today's bailout decision, Detroit's automakers insisted that short of a complete collapse they were continuing with their major green initiatives because they finally understand that increased fuel efficiency, clean emissions and sustainability are critical to their long-term survival.

However, General Motors and Chrysler — both of which today received approval for federal bridge loans, while Ford continues to await a decision on a request for a line of credit — have delayed specific programs as they prepare to battle for survival during the global economic slump.

For GM, that included delaying construction of a factory in Flint, Michigan, where the engine for the upcoming Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid sedan is to be made.

And Chrysler, which has promised to field a battery-electric car in 2010 and says it is also developing plug-in hybrids, was close to financial meltdown, putting those plans in jeopardy.

Ten months after Enterprise Rent-A-Car got in the hourly car-sharing business, arch rival Hertz Corp. this week entered the market.

Available initially in New York and Hertz's hometown of Park Ridge, New Jersey, as well as London and Paris, Connect by Hertz allows customers who pay an annual fee to rent cars by the hour, with hourly rates starting at $8.50.

Like all car-sharing services, Connect by Hertz provides a number of vehicles, parked at convenient locations, that registered members of the sharing service can reserve via an online booking service (free) or by phone (for $3.50), by the hour or by day.

Enterprise and now Hertz join Zipcar in vying for a slice of the national car-sharing segment. Smaller, regional players include U Car Share, a unit of U Haul; Austin Car Share, in Austin, Texas; City Car Share, in San Francisco, and Chicago's I-Go.

In a nod to Zipcar's success in signing up young drivers, the Toyota Prius and the Mini Cooper will be among the first 35 cars that Connect by Hertz will offer in New York.

Connect by Hertz vehicles will have unique features, including a button that drivers can hit to call a customer service operator, not unlike the Onstar service. Cars will also have Bluetooth, E-ZPass, iPod docking stations and a GPS system called Hertz NeverLost.

Rental car companies have been hurt by the downturn in travel and the woes affecting the auto industry, so it is natural that they would take aim at Zipcar, which has attracted 260,000 members since it began in 2000.

The U.S. will miss by a wide mark its self-imposed, year-old biofuels mandate, according to the government's top energy forecasting agency.

The country will only blend about 30 billion gallons of fuels such as corn-based ethanol into gasoline by 2022. That's about 17 percent short of the U.S. mandate of 36 billion gallons by that year, the Energy Information Administration said this week.

The U.S. enacted the mandate, known as the Renewable Fuels Standard, late last year in an effort to provide jobs and begin to wean the country off foreign oil.

The mandate calls for corn ethanol, but also an increasing amount cellulosic ethanol made from fast-growing grasses and trees, and biodiesel made from non-food sources. Cellulosic is not yet made commercially.

Howard Gruenspecht, the Energy Information Administration's acting director, said the "key risk factor is rate of development of cellulosic biofuels technology." The near-term growth of cellulosic "is certainly a question mark," he said.

This year's oil price collapse and the credit crunch have hurt many biofuel companies financially and cut the amount of fuel some of them are making.

Loopholes in the mandate that allow regulators to waive the requirements, if needed, could also result in lower blending, Gruenspecht, said.

If his majesty gets what his majesty wants, Mitsubishi may have made a sale.

The Japanese automaker took a preproduction model of its battery-electric car, the i-MiEV, to Monaco recently to show it off to various government agencies, utility companies and what not.

Among those who took the tiny car for a spin was His Serene Highness Albert II, Sovereign Prince of Monaco. 

The 50-year-old ruler of the tiny principality is considered an environmentalist with a special attachment to programs aimed at cleaning up the marine environment.

In a statement released this week by Mitsubishi, the prince is quoted as saying that the i-MiEV is the kind of car that represents "the future, and I am happy that your company is going forward in this direction."

He further commented, according to the statement, that the i-MiEV seemed "ready for practical use in a city area" and closed his comment with the kind of remark that usually gets results when uttered by a monarch:

"I would like to see this kind of zero-emission vehicle in Monaco in the near future."

We imagine Mitsubishi would, too.

The company currently is field testing the car in Japan, New Zealand, Europe and the U.S. and has said it intends to market it in Japan in 2009 and in Europe — depending on the outcome of the ongoing feasibility study — "sometime after" 2010.

Mitsubishi has been working on electric propulsion since the 1970s, and introduced its first test model electric car publicly in 1993.

The i-MiEV — which stands for i-Mitsubishi innovative Electric Vehicle (the i in front is the designation of the gasoline-fueled "i" car on which it was based), was introduced in 2006 and has been in testing ever since.

John O'Dell, Senior Editor 

At the height of the violence in Iraq, the most dangerous thing for an American soldier to do in the lawless province of Anbar was drive in a fuel convoy.

There were urgent requests for vehicles with better armor to withstand improvised explosive devices (IED), but what if soldiers from supply units never had to travel on a road laden with IEDs in the first place?

Dan Nolan realized that if the military could reduce its fuel consumption, fewer convoys would be exposed to possible ambush in Iraq, and lives would be saved, according to a report published today by Climate Wire (subscription required).

As an adviser to Army General Tommy Franks at the U.S. Central Command and chief of the power task force at the Fort Belvoir, Virginia-based Rapid Equipping Force — a think tank for military innovation — the 26-year Army veteran knew what he had to do. He set out to make American bases in Iraq more energy efficient.

The idea grew into a program to markedly cut the amount of fuel the military burns in diesel generators powering air-conditioners in Iraq's smoldering heat by spraying insulating foam on tents and barracks in forward operating bases. Eventually, all U.S. military bases at home and abroad will become energy independent through the use of renewable energy and highly efficient insulated tents and buildings, Nolan hopes.

A program that was started to minimize battlefield casualties may end up boosting the role of renewables in society as a whole, changing the country's energy model and helping to shrink the military's vast carbon footprint.