Some people use airport layovers to sleep, read, or get a meal. Sam and Sebastian took the opportunity to record AutoblogGreen Podcast #19. While waiting for a plane to whisk them back home from the Chicago Auto Show, we recapped a few things we saw at the show. It wasn't the greenest show we've seen, but they have the biggest building, by their own admission. A few things left impressions on us, first of which was the GMC Denali XT. The Zeta variant is the first use of GM's Two-mode hybrid system on a passenger car platform. Other exciting GM news is the announcement that ICM and Coskata will be working together to build a cellulosic ethanol plant. Ford came out with a couple of ideas aimed at truck customers that could boost CAFE numbers. The Transit Connect is a right-sized utility van, and their new Work Solutions system could be a stealthy way to improve economy. Honda has hybrids and diesels coming, and Toyota will be trying to add lightness to its fleet. Our interview this time around is with Bridgestone's Dan McDonald about their "One Team, One Planet" initiatives.

Thanks for listening!


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Biofuels are often criticized for using too much land that could otherwise be used for farming food. Turns out, one of the better sources of biofuels, acre for acre, is algae and it grows great where real estate is a steal: the sea! There are also fresh water algae fuel projects and there have been tests conducted using iron to cause algae blooms in the ocean, a wacky solution to global warming. Researcher John Munford did some number crunching and an algae farm the size of the North Sea (pictured) could produce enough fuel to replace all the fossil fuels we use today. There are real questions of how to harvest algae in the sea but whoever cracks that nut will be rich. There is simply not enough land to spare to grow biofuel crops economically. But, wiht the Earth being 70 percent ocean, I think of that moment in The Graduate: if you are a smart, young, kid not sure where to focus your research, I got two words for you: saltwater algae. That's how it went, right?

Related:

• How about mobile carbon capture to feed algae for biodiesel?
• Boeing likes algae as a source for new biofuels
• GreenFuel's algae to biofuels technology growing soon in South Africa

[Source: The Economist]

For AutoblogGreen's latest video round up we give you three interesting videos from AlwaysOn GoingGreen 2007. The video above is part of a panel discussion about electric cars with "Jessie Deeter, Producer, 'Who Killed the Electric Car?', Tom Gage, CEO, AC Propulsion, Gary Starr, Chairman, ZAP, Ian Clifford, CEO, ZENN Motor Company and Dennis Hogan, CFO, Phoenix Motorcars." Someone on the panel says a vehicle-to-grid system could earn electric car owners from $100 to $500 a month.

Below the fold are two more videos. The first is all about batteries with "Eric Wesoff, Greentech Media, David Vieau, CEO, A123 Systems, Saroj Sahu, CTO & Founder, Deeya Energy and Alan Gotcher, CEO, Altair Nanotechnologies." The second is about bio-fuels with "Peter Hanschen, Partner, Morrison & Foerster, Robert Walsh, President, LS9, Inc., Jonathan Wolfson, President & COO, Solazyme, Inc., John Melo, CEO, Amyris Biotechnologies and Steven Perricone, CEO & Co-Founder, BioFuelBox, Inc." Each video is between three and six minutes long.

[Source: YouTube]

Canada is the number one supplier of both crude oil and total petroleum products to the United States. Most of that oil originates in the western province of Alberta, which in several ways is sort of the Texas of Canada. Besides, the oil Alberta is also the spiritual home of cowboys in Canada and also the most politically conservative region in Canada. Unlike Texas, the oil in Alberta doesn't generally gush out of the ground when you poke it with a stick. Most of the oil is locked up in tar sands and is much more expensive to extract than the oil in places like the middle east. However, as crude oil prices have climbed in recent years it has become economically viable. Now the government of Alberta wants to begin preparing for a time beyond petroleum. They are committing C$239 million to developing bio-fuel production, distribution and consumption. This makes a lot of sense for Alberta. The western edge of the province rises up into the Rocky Mountains, but the majority of the land mass is flat as a board prairie much of occupied by wheat and canola fields. Alberta wants to be able to continue supplying energy to Canada and the world even after the oil sands are depleted.

[Source: GreenCarCongress.com]

The current issue of Popular Mechanics is dedicated to “The Truth about Bio Fuels” (mentioned here last week) and Instapundit put up a podcast yesterday that contains an interview with the magazine’s Jim Meigs. Meigs gets into all types of biofuels with the Instapundit gang - ethanol, methanol, biodiesel, and hydrogen – as well as the politics of oil and green energy. At one point, Instapundit Glenn Reynolds laughs quietly at the mention of running a car on French fry oil during the interview, but overall the podcast is  worth listening to. Meigs presents information that makes for a decent introduction to the wide variety of biofuels in an easy to digest format.

[Source: Instapundit, thanks to Joel A.]