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ECOtality and Nissan to get $100M from Department of Energy

Elizoebeth Jensen — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 22:27:00 +0000

The Electric Transportation Engineering Corporation (eTec), a subsidiary of ECOtality, Inc. and Nissan North America win a $99.8M grant from the Department of Energy to support the largest deployment of electrical vehicles (EVs) and charging infrastructure in U.S. history.

The project will use Nissan’s LEAF, an early stage zero-emission EV to study and develop the logistics and necessary scale behind the implementation of a national charging infrastructure, that will in turn, support large-scale EV deployment. Initial stages of the project include the deployment of 5,000 EVs and EV charging stations in Arizona, California, Oregon, Tennessee, and Washington. Don Karner, President of eTec, sums up the industry e-coup:

By studying lessons learned from electric vehicle operations and the infrastructure supporting these first 5,000 vehicles, the Project enables the streamlined deployment of the next 5,000,000 electric vehicles…Nissan and over 40 government and industry partners, will enable this Project to successfully pave the way for electric transportation nationwide.
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Johnson And Johnson’s “Big Bubblin’ Stars” Campaign Promotes Toxic Baby Products?

mcmilker — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 13:37:44 +0000

With much fanfare Johnson and Johnson has announced their “Big Bubblin’ Stars” Campaign to promote their baby bath products. And boy, are they all over the place!

The company is launching a “Big Bubblin’ Stars” contest on YouTube behind its recently launched bubble-bath product, offering a grand prize of $10,000 and a chance for the winner to become host of a channel launched in 2005. To enter the contest, moms upload three-minute videos of their kids.

They’ve recruited hundreds of Mommy bloggers through Mom Central and, included the Wal-Mart Eleven Moms to promote the campaign.

Problem is…just this month The Campaign For Safe Cosmetics released a report, “No More Toxic Tub”. Lab test conducted by EWG found both Johnsons’ Baby Shampoo and two of their Baby washes include formaldehyde or 1,4-dioxane, both ingredients linked to cancer and skin allergies.

Problem is…just this week a major supermarket, in CHINA of all places, pulled J&J products from their shelves over concerns about carcinogens and parents in China are REALLY upset!

Problem is…should J&J be going ahead with this campaign? J&J issued a carefully crafted statement to the 69.4 percent of Chinese parents who said THEY WOULD NOT BUY Johnson & Johnson baby products and 65.6 percent said they believed the products contained toxic ingredients. Yes, Johnson’s Baby Shampoo meets FDA regulations, but, well…do I need to go there?

Newsflash :: Improved 1,4-dioxane Levels In Natural/Organic Products But Should Some Still Have Cancer Warnings?

Stancie Wilson — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 00:49:32 +0000

With planning and prep a buzz for North America’s largest natural products showcase Expo West next week, the Organic Consumer Association just announced that on Friday, March 6th, they’ll announce follow-up test results to the dioxane 1,4 results they released last year. This study raised many questions about whether some products labeled “organic” and/or “natural” really are and brought to light what the OCA called “deceptive organic branding” and accused some big name brands of containing carcinogenic ingredients.

Inside Cadillac One: the Obama-Mobile. Will The Big ‘O’ Run Biodiesel?

Jo Borras — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 17:45:57 +0000

The UK’s Daily Mail recently posted this great John Lawson-penned cutaway drawing of the upcoming Cadillac One, the heavily armored limousine that President Barack Obama will be cruising home in immediately after his inauguration.

Explore Cadillac One inside and out (to varying degrees of precision) after the jump.