gasoline

Senator Jeff Bingaman delivers a speech on the Senate floor pointing out the flaws in the Senate Republican energy proposal and calling instead for bipartisan support of a plan to put more oil on the market.The Senate is to vote on a Republican plan that would, among other things, open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to drilling. In his speech, however, Bingaman says that there are millions of acres yet to be leased in areas poised for drilling. And, he says, millions of other acres have been leased, but no drilling has yet occurred.

Senator Nelson argues that drilling in environmentally sensitive areas is not a remedy for rising fuel prices.

General Motors announced today it would be entering into a strategic relationship with Mascoma Corp., a second-generation biofuel company with the technology to produce cellulosic ethanol from non-food sources via a single-step biochemical conversion. This is GM’s second investment in a cellulosic ethanol company, after announcing partnership with Coskata back in January.

 While the price at the pump is not expected to ease anytime soon, experts at General Motors say there are ways drivers can ease the number of trips to the gas station. Adhering to the recommended speed limits is one way to conserve fuel says experts.

Chairman Markey's closing statement at "Pumping up Prices: The Strategic Petroleum Reserve and Record Gas Prices" hearing in which he calls onPresident Bush to use oil in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to offset rising fuel prices.

Representative Ed Markey (D-MA), Chairman of the House Select Energy Independence and Global Warming Committee, discusses the solutions Democrats haveoffered for rising gasoline prices, and denounces Republican efforts to block them.

Texas Governors sides with Big Oil and Big Food to crush competition to gasoline

Anyone inclined to celebrate Big Oil's recent misfortunes had better hold off on the champagne. For however badly the Western firms may have behaved, the new global oil barons could one day leave environmental and social activists nostalgic for the bad old days of ExxonMobil.

Researchers at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst have made a potentially ground-breaking discovery in the production of biofuels from sustainable, non-food sources. By heating cellulosic plant material to between 750 and 1,100 degrees Fahrenheit in the presence of a catalyst, then quickly cooling it, the team of graduate students led by associate professor George W. Huber was able to produce a mixture of hydrocarbons identical to gasoline in less than two minutes.

Car sales to Americans have fallen well below normal this year so far. This is an anomaly for the DiTech home re-fi'ing American public. The drop in sales portends future drops in sales, since Americans no longer have easy credit or home refinancing available to drop increasingly worthless dollars on gasoline-sucking self-propelled cages.

Range Fuels Inc. announced yesterday it has secured over $100 million in Series B funding, an investment that could make it the first company to seriously commercialize cellulosic ethanol.

Porsche 912 turned out to be a sales success, outselling the 911 for the first two years they were both on the market. Ultimately, though, the faster and more expensive 911 won out and the 912 was discontinued.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory found that nighttime charging of plug-in hybrids would not increase electricity demand over baseline levels. But if owners charge their vehicles during the day, it could require the construction of 160 new power plants.

Not everyone is waiting until 2010 to get their first plug-in hybrid. As I reported previously, Hybrids Plus out of Boulder, CO, is offering conversions for the Toyota Prius and Ford Escape hybrids, turning them into 100 MPG+ superstars. Check them out...

55 MPG isn’t good enough for you? Then try adding a plug to your hybrid.

The electric-car company ZAP, in conjunction with Hybrids Plus, has announced it will offer $24,000 plug-in hybrid conversions for the Toyota Prius and the Ford Escape Hybrid.