Hybrid owners aren't the only ones eligible for tax breaks. Buyers of Volkswagen's new diesel powered Jettas will be able to recoup $1,300 of the purchase price from our friends at the IRS. The Internal Revenue Service has decreed that the Jetta TDI qualifies for the Advanced Lean Burn Technology Motor Vehicle income tax credit. That means that a diesel Jetta will cost about $700 more than a regular gas Jetta. By now most Volkswagen dealers across North America should have a Jetta TDI demonstrator on the lot. Deliveries to customers should start around the end of August or early September. During the media drive of Mercedes' new Bluetec diesel SUVs recently, company officials expressed hope that those vehicles would also qualify for the tax credit. Thanks to Connor for the tip!

[Source: VWvortex]

The Renault-Nissan Alliance had added another locale to its roster of partnerships for spreading electric drive to the masses. This time the Franco-Japanese alliance is hooking up with its US home base, Tennessee. The state of Tennessee and the Tennessee Valley Authority will work together to promote zero-emission vehicles. Gov. Phil Bredesen has committed to exploring strategies that the state can use to promote electric vehicles including a public charging station infrastructure. For its part Nissan has committed to bringing electric vehicles to the use for fleet testing beginning in 2010 with a global mass-market introduction in 2012.


[Source: Nissan]

The United Kingdom's PM Gordon Brown is meeting car manufacturers to try to persuade them to mass-produce electric cars. The carrot he's offering is selling them with payment plans that emulate cell phone contracts, à la "Better Place." This scheme, already been taken up by Israel and Denmark (and even Portugal), sells heavily subsidised vehicles – or even gives them away – in return for contracts to buy the electricity to charge them, like cell phones. The contract would allow consumers to receive electricity either by plugging into a network of hundreds of thousands of recharge points across the country or by exchanging flat batteries for fully charged ones. The plan is so ambitious, that Mr. Brown would like to see all cars running with electrons in Britain by 2020 and, if possible, made in Britain (Good luck with that part!). Thanks to Ron for the tip.

[Source: The Independent]

In preparation for the upcoming Summer Olympic Games scheduled to begin on August 8, the city of Beijing in China has now begun limiting traffic through its busy streets. Due to the heavy smog and polluted air in Beijing, cars will be allowed to drive only on alternating days based on the license plate of the vehicle. This means that only half of the 3.3 million vehicles currently registered in the city will be allowed to drive each day, theoretically cutting emissions in half.

In addition to the automobile traffic measures, the city has begun limiting manufacturing plants to 70-percent of the emissions they had previously been allowed. These new programs are in addition to the ban on heavy trucks in the city which took place starting on July 1. To offset the problems that inhabitants would likely have with their daily transportation needs, the city has beefed up its public transportation systems by adding additional buses and subway routes. What effect, if any, these measures will have on air quality will be seen come August.

[Source: CNN]

As you may have noticed when filling your tank, the plan for a gas tax holiday put forward by presidential candidates from both party brands, never came to fruition. The idea had been suspend an 18¢ per gallon federal tax on fuel from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Of course the fact that this would have saved average drivers a whopping $28 had little if anything to do with the lack of movement on bills from both Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton and Republican Sen. John McCain. It turns out the real coup de grâce may have come from the road construction industry. The excise tax money which would have meant little to individual drivers, comes out to an aggregate $9 billion. That's money that is supposed to go toward building and maintaining roads around the country. Without that money, road construction projects would have to be put off. Canceled or delay construction projects would mean laid off construction workers, a prospect that no politician hoping to get re-elected relishes in an election year.

Rather than a tax holiday, drivers are in fact likely to see an increase soon. While high fuel prices have the benefit of pushing people to drive less, and consume less fuel, that starves the highway trust fund as well. As a result the fund is likely to be in deficit this year to the tune of $3 billion. As a result a fuel tax increase may be needed.

Looking ahead, we may need to start taxing electric bills to get funds to build roads. Even though electric cars use no petroleum, they still put wear and tear on the roads and it's only far that the drivers who use those roads should pick up the tab. Alternatively increased use of toll roads may be necessary, something proposed by Transportation Secretary Mary Peters.

[Source: Detroit News]

Click above for more shots of the smart Crossblade on eBay

Mercedes shocked the motoring press when it announced back in the early 2000's that it would actually launch a production version of its crazy smart Crossblade. Equipped with the same turbocharged three cylinder engine as the regular smart fortwo was offered with, what really distinguished the Crossblade from a run-of-the-mill smart was what it was missing. Gone was the roof and normal doors, along with most of the windshield. What was left intact were the Tridion cell and the rest of the smart's safety features.

The smart Crossblade never made it across to the United States, but there are apparently a few of them over here anyway, one of which has just appeared on eBay. According to the current owner, the car was titled in Cali, though it now resides in Idaho. Unfortunately, the far-left state has now decided to nullify that original title, as the car doesn't fit their definition of an automobile. We wonder if they have the same problem with the Jeep Wrangler. In any case, the asking price is a bit steep, though the new owner would likely never see another Crossblade on the road. Thanks for the tip, Cary!


[Source: eBay Motors]

While Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain was visiting the GM Technical Center in Warren MI on Friday he reversed direction on carbon dioxide regulation. During a June campaign stop in Ohio, McCain declared that he favored national standards for carbon dioxide regulation. While McCain was in Michigan he expressed support for state level rules to limit emissions. While there is nothing wrong in general with with learning new information and adjusting a position on an issue, Republican campaigners have a history of criticizing opponents for doing precisely that including in a new ad that was revealed the same day. An aide to McCain later tried to say that McCain only supported state level standards until a federal cap and trade system for emissions credits was in place. If McCain really supports the limits that California and other states are trying to impose than he should be doing his job in the senate and introducing a similar federal standard.

[Source: Detroit News]

While it seems the public must wait until September to get a glimpse of the final production version of the Chevy Volt, GM is letting John McCain cut to the front of the line to take a good look at the architecture that the company hopes will propel them into the next decade. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee was given a tour of the GM Design Center Dome at Warren, MI today where he later held a Town Hall meeting with hundreds of GM employees. We guess they're not holding that "Some of the jobs that have left the state of Michigan are not coming back," line from the primaries against him.

McCain seems not to caved to the auto industry's wishes on national emissions standards on this visit. Though last month he told the Detroit News that he would like a national standard that would make state standards unnecessary, today he clarified his position by saying, "I guess at the end of the day, I support the states being able to do that,[set their own standards]." He also recounted his earlier ideas for helping the industry get its groove back by giving $5,000 tax credits to low-emission vehicle purchasers and, of course, his $300 million battery challenge.

[Source: Detroit Free Press / The Detroit News via GM-Volt.com]

What, an eco label not given to Toyota? Yes, the Japanese Ministry of Environment has awarded Nissan Motor Corp with the "Eco First" environmental label. This distinction is given to the Japanese marque for its commitment towards a better environment, specifically, Nissan's "Green Program 2010." Nissan's program not only aims for reducing its vehicles' emissions, but reducing other pollutants that affect waters, soil and air, a 100 percent rate of recycling in Japan, and raising environmental awareness. Nissan can now use it in advertising and promotions and it undoubtedly will. The "Eco First" program was launched to promote the recognition and encouragement of ecological actions for all types of businesses, according to the Kyoto Protocol.

[Source: Nissan via Autoplus]

A new study by the National Research Council estimates that up to 2 million hydrogen-fueled vehicles could be on American roads by 2020, with that number potentially rising to 25 million a decade later. However, getting there requires getting past a number of hurdles first. The cost of fuel cells must drop and fueling infrastructure must be put in place. That will take substantial subsidies on the part of both government and manufacturers. The study authors estimate that about $200 billion would be required over the next 15 years to make this happen with $55 billion of that coming from governments and the rest from private industry. That total includes costs for vehicle development and deployment, research and development and infrastructure deployment. In contrast, US ethanol subsidies will reach about $15 billion annually by 2020. Beyond 2023, the costs are expected to drop to the point where the lifetime cost of fuel cell vehicles the fuel to propel them would be competitive with conventional vehicles, making subsidies unnecessary.


[Source: National Research Council, via Green Fuels Forecast]

Halfway through Al Gore's challenge today calling for a 100% renewable electric grid within ten years is a call for plug-in electric cars. This represents a big change in his thinking, and will hopefully quickly push political and environmental leadership to coalesce around policies to push plug-in cars into the market as quickly as possible. The unfounded fear that large numbers of plug-in cars will overwhelm the grid and increase the use of coal and reinvigorate the nuclear industry to produce electricity has kept major environmental organizations from looking at plug-in cars with clear and objective eyes.

"We could further increase the value and efficiency of a Unified National Grid by helping our struggling auto giants switch to the manufacture of plug-in electric cars. An electric vehicle fleet would sharply reduce the cost of driving a car, reduce pollution, and increase the flexibility of our electricity grid."

[Source: NY Times]

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]

There has been a US ban on offshore oil drilling for the past 27 years, and George Bush Sr. signed off on an executive order echoing the ban in 1990. Originally, the ban was agreed upon to protect the beaches and tourism economies of coastal towns, and now global warming has been added into the mix.

With one stroke of the mighty pen, George Jr. has undone his father's order by lifting the ban on offshore drilling, but the move means nothing unless Congress also lifts its separate ban. The Bush Administration is trying to put pressure on Congress to throw out its ban, but so far the Democrat-controlled Congress isn't budging. Sen. Barbara Boxer called the move "something you'd expect from an oil company CEO, not the president of the United States."

President Bush has made no bones about his desire to drill for the billions of barrels of oil believed to be hidden beneath our coastlines, and with gas prices at $4.25 per gallon, much of America is on his side. The price of gas is now right up there with the war in Iraq and the economy as the top concern of Americans, so the Congress could be in a similar spot as the Republican controlled Congress was when it backed the Iraq war back in 2006. Many non-coastal Americans are more concerned about being able to afford fuel than they are about terrific views off the coast of Maine or beaches in south Florida. Instead our environment will have to be the rationale for Congress to uphold the ban. Will the Congress bow to public and political pressure and allow drilling, or will they risk re-election and do the right thing for the environment? Only time will tell.

[Source: Detroit News]

Friends of the Earth, Ecologistas en Acción, Greenpeace, Jóvenes Verdes and WWF/Adena have launched an online campaign demanding a drastic reduction of CO₂ emission limits in Europe. The EU is set to establish limits next fall and these associations are lobbying in for stricter ones. According to figures managed by these organizations, 70 percent of all oil used in Europe is used for transport and, among this, 50 percent is used for cars and light freight transport. The statement by these organizations also says that the moment is now, because of high oil prices and because transport is offsetting progress made by other sectors to curb global emissions.

The proposal includes average car emissions for 2012 in the 120 g/km of CO₂ limit, but 80 g/km by 2020 and 60 g/km by 2025. These levels should not take in consideration the car's weight and should be achieved by additional and not substitute innovations (like adding plug-in capabilities to all hybrids).

[Source: Ecologistas en Acción]

When the time comes for government departments like the Environmental Protection Agency to produce new regulations, they have to do a cost-benefit analysis as part of the overall process. If the cost of implementing a new regulation exceeds potential benefits, the agency generally won't move forward. Over the last several years the EPA has twice lowered the value it places on a human life in its analysis. As recently as 2003, it used a figure of $7.8 million, but it now uses $6.9 million. While it's comforting to know that the EPA thinks I'm a Six Million Dollar Man (and then some), the lowered value effectively means that more lives would potentially have to be saved by new rules in order to justify their implementation.

The EPA's monetary value for life is still higher than what most other agencies place on it, and the calculations are based on estimaties of the amount of money people are willing to pay to avoid certain risks. There's no evidence yet that EPA has specifically adjusted the numbers in order to duck new regulations such as carbon dioxide emissions limits. That said, the Bush administration has never been particularly fond of new environmental rules. Unfortunately, statistical analysis like this is anything but an exact science and is, in fact, very much a judgment call. As such, it's easy for biases to creep in, intentionally or otherwise.

[Source: MSNBC]