The debate over global warming is something that's a bit tough to wrap ones head around. There are a lot of facts, and even more opinions on the subject. While there is a general scientific consensus that the earth is warming, the reasons and the role humans play in it is the subject of near endless debate. If you think global warming is tough to understand, try to imagine what a movie that blends documentary, mockumentary and reality TV styles would be like. Now imagine that this film tries to explain global warming and you might get what Sizzle, premiering July 19 at the Outfest Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, is all about.

The film follows the quest of Randy Olson - Dr. Randy Olson - to make the film (yes, it's meta from the get-go). At first, it's a little confusing when the documentary style blends into obvious set-up jokes (i.e., we see shots of something happening that simply would not be possible with only one camera), but the blending effect of actually grew on me as the film progressed.

I'll get into some details - and you can watch the trailer - after the break.

[Source: Sizzle]

Part of the problem is speculation: individual and institutional investors betting on higher future oil prices. Another big factor is the very weak U.S. dollar. But the bulk of the reason oil and gas prices have climbed so high is that age-old Economics 101 supply/demand equation. Global demand, especially by developing countries, continues to grow, while supply does not.

Most agree that conservation is the critically important first step in altering that equation. Next comes development of alternatives, some that can propel our vehicles, others that cannot but can displace oil and natural gas now being used for energy production.

2008 Honda Element

We get a lot of interesting emails in the AutoblogGreen inbox. Some of them provide good tips or lead us to stories of people doing amazing things. Some just make us laugh. And some just ask us a question we're just not able to help (no, I can't tell you how to order ethanol in Africa. Sorry). A message we got today is a blend - part good idea for a post, part need more info. Here's the note from reader Kelsey:

I have a 2006 Honda Element. I'm trying to find any information available about how bad my SUV is for the environment, according to how much I drive and how I use it, etc. I keep finding articles that deal with the "greenest" cars, even the ones that are the worst, but not a lot about specific cars like mine. Any suggestions on where to look? Thanks for the help!

It's not hard to find sites that take SUVs to task - and with good reason. For most people, these giant rides are just overkill and a more reasonable vehicle should certainly be on their radar. Still, while we're not interested in the anti-SUV sites right now; we should also shy away from the types of stories that say a Hummer is better than a Prius. That's just not true.

In Kelsey's case, the best place to start is the Element's miles per gallon. This is one of the areas where we have the numbers available. According to the EPA, a 2006 Element with 2WD, an automatic 4 speed transmission and the 4 cyl, 2.4 L gets 19/24mpg city/highway (the manual gets 19/23 and and the 4WD versions are similar). As Kelsey writes, how much the vehicle is driven and the driving style plays a huge role in the Element's impact on the environment. But for now, let's stick to the averages. Kelsey, feel free to chime in with a comment to let us know how accurate these numbers are. Read more after the jump.

Why do so many people want to be hatin' on home electric vehicle conversions? When we featured Andrew Angellotti and his DIY Mazda pick-up truck conversion, a lot of people felt the need to criticize what this boy had done. Granted, there were some who defended him as well, but the very fact that people took the time to denegrate what he'd done was strange to me. Guess I shouldn't be surprised that something similar happened to Travis Gintz, the guy behind the eVFR (above).

It's taken quite a while to get to this stage, but Gintz wrote in to let us know that his electron-powered Honda VFR is finished. The other day, he took it to EV Awareness Day in Portland, Oregon. As Travis writes on his blog:

The first question out of everyone's mouth was "How far does it go"... to which I replied "15-20 miles on crappy used UPS batteries I got for free". I initially wanted to go with larger lead [acid batteries], but since these were free, I wanted to develop/test the mechanical first, and then upgrade to lithium in the fall. Its all working and now I can shop for alternatives to lead. Most people scoffed a little, I didn't care, Its quite a feat in a motorcycle, especially keeping it stock looking. I know what the end result will be.... LiFePo and AC will eventually find their way into that bike. It will perform well, and range will be 30-40 miles.

Compare this positivity to the negative comments some people feel the need to leave. Gintz said that the bike is now completely assembled, except for the turn signals and will be registered to be street-legal soon. We talked a bit with Travis about his project and you can read our interview after the jump.

UPDATE: picture updated at Travis' request.

While we've featured many alternatively-powered cars on AutoblogGreen, this may be the first one that is fueled by the imagination. If you've been perusing the iMiEV microsite we told you about the other day you may have noticed a paper craft section. It's a special place that fans of the Mitsubishi iMiEV (other Mitsu models are also there) can go to and download a PDF file containing a magical pattern that was conjured up by Akira Mizorogi. This can then be printed out, cut out, folded and glued to become a mini version of the micro electric car. Although the cutting may be achieved with scissors, an exacto knife and cutting mat is recommended. Small, childlike fingers and a grandparent's patience may also come in handy.

Because of the inexpensive properties of paper automobiles, we were able to get our hands on three of these little beauties, instead of the usual single model, to put through their paces. The cars were pretty much identical with each having unlimited amounts of power and speed. A few runs through the cones revealed handling that was superb as long as you kept a gentle grip. One car had a little better fit and finish which was chalked up to assembly by a different team. We expect the electric versions to be more uniform and also more silent, since the vehicles we had were for some reason equipped with some sort of sound effects device that reproduced the noises of a gas-powered car.

The trio were driven across varying terrain including a redwood forest (pictured above), a grassy savanna, as well as the usual concrete and asphalt. A word of caution. It's a dangerous world out there for paper cars so beware of puddles and large furry beasts who might mistake your iMiEV for a mouse. Check out the gallery of our paper iMiEV adventures below. Many thanks to Yanquetino for the tip!


[Source: Mitsubishi]

A somewhat mysterious message arrived the other day via the ABG comments from someone calling themselves "B.T." It consisted of a link to pictures of a Toyota Corolla station wagon with an admonition to check it out, as well as the sentence, "There has to be an interesting story behind this." This seemed like a challenge so we took it up and discovered there was an entertaining bit of back story once we started uncovering the clues.

Looking at the pictures more closely revealed "Seabury Engineering" printed across the front of the car and a license plate from Hawaii. We knew the comment also originated from the island we discussed the other day as being a perfect place for electric cars like this one. Our good buddy Google soon put us on the straight and narrow path leading directly to Seabury Hall, which is a small "Blue Ribbon School" on Maui affiliated with the Episcopal Church where, among other things, they are teaching kids how to turn sinful gas burning cars into green-haloed electric ones.

A little more digging found the car conversion blog which had lots of pictures and posts by different students. It shows the class opening a highway project with Hawaii governor Linda Lingle and getting "celebrity" visits from such folks as the Tesla Motors co-founders, Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning. The exact fate of the car itself may remain a mystery. the blog was last updated in early June with a post talking about the NiMH batteries arriving. Perhaps it remains for next years class to put on the final touches and let us know what kind of performance they have achieved with their seraphic conversion. Thanks for the tip, B.T.

Left: "We can't drill our way out of this!"
Right: "We can't conserve our way out of this!"
Chorus: "We must innovate our way out of this!"

(Maybe, but how long will that take? What will it cost? Who will pay?)

Democrats: "Big Oil's fault! Confiscate their profits!"
Republicans: "Environmentalists' fault! Drill here, drill now, pay less!"
Chorus: "Speculators' fault! Pass a law!"

(So, investing in things -- stocks, bonds, collector cars, commodities such as oil -- that may, or may not, increase in value in the future should be illegal?)

The price of just about anything is mostly about supply and demand. This is Rule #1 of Economics 101 -- which they made me take, along with English, history and a few other useful things, in engineering school:

1. Demand goes up, supply doesn't: price goes up
2. Demand goes down, supply doesn't: price goes down
3. Supply goes up, demand doesn't: price goes down

Oil will bring whatever buyers are willing to pay and sellers are willing to take, and buyers are willing to pay very dearly these days. Nearly all economic activity runs on oil, and it is extremely difficult for any society to reduce its usage without cheap and plentiful alternatives.

Petroleum products are not just in transportation tanks; they are in almost all consumer products. Take off your jacket, check your watch, dial your phone, boot up your computer, plug in your iPod – these things and nearly everything else contain them as fundamental elements.

Most things consume oil as they are manufactured, and all things consume it as fuel in shipment to market. And so, as we have been learning all too painfully lately, as the price of oil goes up, the price of everything follows in the same direction. So, given that the price of oil depends mostly on supply and demand, what can we do to drag it back down? Reduce demand? Increase supply? Yes, and yes! Anyone who thinks we can make enough difference by working just one end of that equation is wishfully thinking.

Continue reading after the jump.

During the course of our discussion (presented in three parts: Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3).Tesla Motors Chairman Elon Musk described how he came to be a part of Tesla Motors and how he, as "Product Architect," influenced the development of the Roadster as and what will become the WhiteStar sedan. Based on his description of the events, that sounds like a perfectly reasonable title. Even as told by Martin Eberhard, co-architect doesn't seem inaccurate, although Eberhard might have preferred it to be otherwise. One thing that isn't in doubt is that Musk is not a founder.

Some in the mainstream media over-simplify things by referring to Musk as the creator of the Roadster, and if anything Musk's sin here may be more an error of omission. By not speaking up to clarify his role in the process previously, he has at least appeared to passively take credit for more than he should. If nothing else, as with so many successful entrepreneurs, his self-assurance can certainly come across as arrogance. I don't know the man personally so I can't really comment as to what he is like on a personal level. Aside from the financial aspects his role is probably most analogous to that of Bob Lutz at GM where he makes high level decisions about design direction which are then brought to fruition by the engineers, designers and technicians. Read on after the jump for the rest of my conclusions.

In the first two parts of our discussion, Tesla Motors Chairman Elon Musk described how he came to be a part of Tesla Motors and how he influenced the development of the Roadster. It's important to note that he never described himself as the designer or creator of the Roadster. Rather he considers himself the co-architect of the sports car.

With production of the Roadster now sort of underway and the updated drivetrain hopefully coming soon, it's time to look forward. As the self-declared Product Architect, Musk is playing perhaps an even bigger role with the next product, a sedan that we've known for some time by the code name WhiteStar. We had hoped to see WhiteStar this spring but that obviously hasn't happened yet. In the conclusion of our discussion, Musk gives out some hints about what to expect and what Tesla has learned over the past five years. Read on to learn more about what's coming next.

Make sure you read Part 1 and Part 2.

Click the ML320 BLUETEC for a high res gallery

Mercedes-Benz kicked off the race to the finish line for 50-state legal, urea-injected diesels this week with a first drive in Vermont. Mercedes chose Vermont for the international media debut of its BLUETEC diesel SUVs for the scenic vistas and the fact that the Green Mountain state is one of the states that has chosen to enforce California emissions standards. Those emission standards are by far the tightest in the world, particularly when it comes to diesel engines. The Tier 2 Bin 5 standard regulates emissions of nitrogen oxides to one fifth the level of the upcoming Euro 5 emissions standards.

A whole new batch of T2B5 compliant diesel-powered vehicles are on their way to U.S. car dealers starting this summer with the VW Jetta TDI. Mercedes aims to beat BMW to market with larger diesel vehicles. The existing ML320, GL320 and R320 CDI models are only available for sale in 45 states. The CDI models are being replaced for 2009 by BlueTec models that add selective catalytic reduction (SCR) after-treatment systems to the existing particulate filter and oxidation catalyst. Mercedes is already the first manufacturer to get T2B5 certification. Read on after the jump to find out how they behave on the road.


Photos Copyright ©2008 Sam Abuelsamid / Weblogs, Inc.

Among the readers of this site, one of the cars that elicits a lot of passion is the Tesla Roadster. The battery-powered Roadster and its provenance have elicited a great deal of discussion over the past nine months, in particular since the demotion and ultimately the departure of co-founder Martin Eberhard. This is a complex tale involving passionate entrepreneurs with that all-too-common but in many ways necessary human frailty known as ego. When humans interact, they often see the same results through their own mental filters.

People can see exactly the same thing and interpret it in many different ways. Unfortunately in today's media landscape, particularly on television, but also in blogs we often see a very cut-down sound-bite version of things. Sound-bites by definition are taken out of context. In and of themselves they often lead to incorrect or at least inaccurate conclusions.

With all of that in mind I was recently contacted by Tesla Motors Chairman Elon Musk. Musk wanted to discuss his role at Tesla, and hopefully fill in some of the gaps in the story. What follows after the jump is the phone conversion that I had with Musk recently as well as some comments from Martin Eberhard via e-mail exchanges. Eberhard's version of events is italicized.

Update: Just to be clear Elon Musk contacted me immediately after a previous article where I called into question his role in the development of the Roadster. He wanted to clear up what he felt were misconceptions of his role rather than to pitch a story idea about him.

Looking for a new "green" car but find it ironic you have to drive all over Timbuktu just to check out what's available? Perhaps you also want to talk with a lender about getting a special deal for choosing a hybrid over a Hummer. Veronica Rojas of the Tallahassee, Florida-based Envision credit union had her green thinking cap on and dreamt up the idea of hosting an exhibition of the top fuel-sipping vehicular choices from dealerships around the area to publicize the institution's special APR discount program (3.65%!) for vehicles getting over 30 mpg. Her boss liked the idea as well and so the Envision Go Green Car Show was born.

Over the weekend, gas misers such as the Prius, Smart and Fit (see the gallery below) are gathered in one place so folks could see what choices are available in the metal and ask questions of dealership staff on hand. There are no worries about being pressured to buy as the event is strictly a show & tell affair. As well as cars, the all-electric Vectrix motorcycle and Piaggio 250ie MP3 on display and available to try out if you happen to have a motorcycle endorsement on your license.

Like any good car show there are drawings to enter and free hotdogs to eat. Prizes on offer include oil changes and several denominations of gas cards as well as a shot at a later drawing for a Vectrix. The brass on hand looked happy to see lots of people turning up early on Saturday. Credit Union President/CEO, Ray E. Cromer Jr. said, "Everyone is feeling the effects of high gas prices so we thought it would be helpful to give customers an opportunity to look at fuel efficient options."


[Source: Envision]

My friend Dennis in Washington decided one day to make his Mazda truck really green. But instead of installing a revolutionary and complex powertrain, he decided to go modest and install the simplest carbon capture device on the cargo bed: he grows plants on it. Literally. I believe this even adds some kind of poetry to the simple act of driving.

Let him tell us the story of this project: "I started with it in March of 2007. I installed a plastic liner, which I filled with a mixture of light potting soil and chicken manure, then seeded with a large packet of Short Meadow mix. Then I just waited for it to grow. All the flowers this year reseeded naturally from last year's crop. It always gets lots of attention! The neighbors love it, too. By the way, I can't really take the truck on the freeway with the flowers so high, so I'll take the car instead."



Thanks to Dennis!

Sport Utility Vehicles may be the anti-poster-child for the green movement, but there may not be a better choice for certain types of families. As a class of vehicle, the SUV has been around since the 1950s, and while sales may have peaked a few years ago, the tall wagon with good ground clearance and towing capability will always find a few buyers.

Fortunately, the SUV has gotten a little green lovin' in the form of hybrid drivetrains from major manufacturers, including the undisputed heavywight champion of the hybrid world, Toyota. Likewise, the Detroit 3 have gotten in on the hybrid SUV game, and the combatants come in all shapes, sizes and of course, prices. We decided to take a look at the top five hybrid SUVs to see what the fuss is all about. Read on past the break to find out what we found out. Note: if mileage figures are quoted, they are 2008 EPA numbers.

Which one is the best for you? Let's find out!!

For the last couple of months there has been an ongoing discussion on various sites (including our own) about the status of Martin Eberhard's Tesla Roadster. For those just now tuning in to this little saga, Eberhard was the co-Founder of Tesla Motors, and was supposed to get production car #2 but at least three other cars have now been delivered ahead of his car. Since we last discussed the topic several weeks ago, things have been pretty quiet on this front, but we now have some new information.

During a recent call with Tesla Marketing VP Darryl Siry, I asked about the status of Eberhard's car, given that at least two and perhaps three other cars have now been delivered. It turns out that the car is here in the U.S. and was due to be delivered to Eberhard several weeks ago. Unfortunately, on the appointed day while a technician was doing a final checkout drive to make sure everything was working properly, there was an accident and the back front end of the car sustained significant damage. Continue after the jump for more.