Yesterday afternoon the Obama administration released a proposal for new CAFE standards of 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016, up from the current 27.5 MPG. Soon the average automobile may finally get significantly better mileage than the Model T. Still, under these regulations, cars sold on the American market in 2016 will consume use more gas than Chinese cars from 2005! It is worth noting though, that since Ford’s time vehicle safety has improved, and most drivers have ridiculous amounts of horsepower to spare.

The 250 grams per mile of carbon dioxide limit the proposal puts forth is not a restriction at all. This comes to 19.42 pounds per gallon for 35.5… [view entry]

A recent issue of The Energy Report, featured a story about a new Michigan factory to supply batteries for the Chevy Volt and other vehicles in GM’s fleet. The Energy Report covers Energy and Environmental policy in the United States and globally on CleanSkies.com, a relatively new webcast.

While the article touts the benefits of getting higher mileage and lower CO₂ emitting vehicles, we must keep in mind a few costs before running out to buy a new electric car (be it from GM, Daimler-Chrysler, or Tesla Motors). These costs include environmental, financial, and and the opportunity costs for using your money for other purposes.

Electric cars do have an impact on the environment, related to the extraction, manufacture, use, and disposal of the materials in their batteries; as… [view entry]

This car will be competing in October in the World Solar Challenge race across Australia. About a dozen team members are expected to go to Australia for the race, although only four will drive the solar car in the competition. By the way, the car’s name is Eleanor and when the sun shines, it will do 55 mph all day long.

A couple of weeks ago Energy 2.0 featured a story on the 2010 Chevy Volt–the car that will save GM–and the first mass market example of transport technology that might save us all in the end. But will the public buy it.

This article about the Tesla (the all electric roadster favored by environmentally-conscious celebrities such a George Clooney) demonstrates there is a market for these cars, as long as they are appropriately targeted to customers.

The most interesting part of the article examines the company’s financial arrangements with customers to replace the car’s battery, which they estimate has a lifetime of approximately 7 years or 100,000 miles. As you can imagine, you don’t simply undo the cables and hand swap them like a vehicle powered by an internal-combustion engine.… [view entry]

Framingham-based Bose Corporation has long been known for it’s innovative and high-quality sound products. The Bose Wave we have at Energy 2.0 HQ is without a doubt the best investment we have made in the last 3 years.

Now, Bose will be part of the revival of an American icon. Right after the first Chevy Volt hits the road in 2010, GM will be releasing a newer version with a Bose Energy Efficient Sound Series that uses 50% less energy than any previous car-based Bose system. This will go a long way towards achieving the Volt’s promised 40 miles operating range on electrical power only. That number is significant as it covers the daily commute of over 70% of the working population of the US.

I think we can all agree 2008 was an historic and constantly surprising year:

The folks over at Marketing Profs  also noted 2008 was the year major companies and major brands saw that terms like carbon footprints, CO² emissions, alternative energy and energy efficiency weren’t going away. OK, so Energy 2.0 is now part of the mainstream. What does that mean and where can we expect ‘green’ marketing to go in 2009.

Here are the some of the trends worth noting:

Green campaigns are being created and awarded. On the other hand, organizations who engage in ‘greenwashing’ (i.e. making false claims about their environmental record or the carbon footprint of their products) will be found out and called out by the many watchdog and activist groups using the Internet… [view entry]

Occasionally we like to give a shout out to our neighbors in Cambridge doing the right thing by the community and the environment. Zipcar, who rent cars by the hour or day, definitely fits into that category. Here’s where Zipcar explains why using one of their vehicles for your transportation around town is much better for the environment than owning your own car–you’ll probably find it’s cheaper too. If you’re not into the whole reading thing, the graphic below explains how the Zipcar works. The only thing to add is that Zipcar does expect the car back at some point…

Unlike Hertz, Avis and all the other car rental companies, Zipcar’s policy is to locate cars in the neighborhoods where their… [view entry]

2010 Toyota Prius

Not that we’re flacks for the auto industry, but when we heard they were rolling out a new Prius at this year’s Detroit Auto Show, the car fans here at Energy 2.0 got all excited. After all, here’s the car that pretty much made hybrid a household word.

When we heard words like ‘mainstream styling’ we started to worry that the Prius’ wonderfully quirky styling had become a victim of success. Have no fear, though, as you can see from the photo above the distinctive ‘slice of pie’ profile is still there. With just a little Camry styling around the lights.