Mass production has been used since the industrial revolution as a means of creating large quantities of standardized products. It has many advantages over one-at-a-time production. It reduces coast and provide interchangeable parts.  Its disadvantages are that it can over produce and it dehumanizes labor.

Mass production will often continue to build inventory in spite of an economic slump. Large inventories can lead to massive layoffs. Unemployment reduces consumption and a viscous circle ensues.

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The discovery of a tiny bowl-shaped molecule which collects carbon dioxide right out of the air has beckoned some creative solutions to global warming.

By genetically engineering microbes to manufacture the handy molecule, scientists hope to make it useful as an industrial absorbent for CO2 capture. That could help clean up smokestacks from dirty coal-fired power plants, but it’s also possible that the molecules could be used for pulling carbon dioxide right out of the ambient air.

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Editor’s Note: This is a 4-part series covering my trip to Michigan to test-drive the Chevy Volt. See also: 1. LiveBlogging from the opening of GM’s New Battery Lab and 3. Tour of GM’s New Battery Lab, 4. Video: Driving GM’s Electric Car. Disclaimer: GM flew me out for this event.

June 8, 2009- It was pouring rain when I arrived at GM’s Testing facility in Warren, Michigan. A crowd had already gathered inside the Alternative Energy Center which, among other things, is home to GM’s first electric car—the original model EV1 (#1).

The ghost of the EV1—a car designed and built 13 years ago—still haunts GM, though it’s both a symbol of lost opportunity and tangible proof that the company could pull off the same kind of engineering feat again. The billion-dollar Volt project is a major component of the company’s reinvention strategy, and it’s clear they aren’t pulling any punches this time.

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The 31st Symposium on Biotechnology for Fuels and Chemicals

One of the world’s most prestigious and established biofuels meetings, the 31st Symposium on Biotechnology for Fuels and Chemicals, is currently underway May 3-6 in San Francisco, with more than 800 scientists expected to attend sessions on topics ranging from commercialization of biofuels and their long-term sustainability to emerging technologies and turning algae into fuel.

We’re liveblogging (on Twitter) from today’s press meeting for the event.

You can also follow the author here, or just search for hashtag #biofuelsymposium.

Critics are always eager to point out that the Volt’s 40-mile electric range is significantly less than that of the only electric car on the road, the Tesla Roadster, which gets 220 miles per charge. But since batteries are the expensive part of electric vehicles, more battery capacity brings increasing cost (the Roadster is a $109,000 car and the Model S sedan, which will be released in 2011, will be $57,400). The Roadster’s battery pack holds 6,831 individual lithium-ion cells (compared to 200 in the Volt) with a total battery pack weight of 900 lbs.

In GM’s thinking, it makes more sense to use the least amount of battery possible while the technology is still new and expensive. Since 40 miles covers 80% of daily driving, keeping the battery pack minimal and supplementing it with existing and cheap(er) technology seems logical.

I’m getting ahead of myself here, but when I test-drove the Volt with Frank Weber (read his post for us), he told me the cost and weight of the Volt’s battery pack could be cut in half by version 2. If that’s true, it would support GM’s strategy to minimize battery technology now, optimize the car for 40 miles, and keep the price as low as possible.

Of course, not everyone agrees with this. Every company intending to develop and market an electric car is coming to the table from an entirely different set of assumptions. GM wants to make a car they can immediately mass market to mainstream consumers (although no one in the company would or could tell me how big they think the market for the Volt is). Tesla Motors is trying to gain a foothold in the upper echelon of car buyers and hopes to innovate the price down from there. And if you’re familiar with Shai Agassi’s Better Place, their vision is to provide a total solution to end petroleum dependence.

It doesn’t really matter where these companies are entering the market because, in the simplest of terms, the winner of this electric vehicle race will be the first company to produce an affordable electric car that meets the basic needs of consumers.

NEXT: GM’s Reinvention: Tour of New Electric Vehicle Battery lab.

Photo Credits: Clayton B. Cornell, supplemented by GM Pro. Sorry about the grainy pictures. Tell my boss to buy me a real camera.

This sort of thoughtless enthusiasm is way too common. At least no investors lost money this time, or, rather, yet.

I don’t want to insult anyone, but I think the real problem is that people don’t understand the chemistry — not even at a freshman level — that’s involved in thinking about what it would take to turn CO₂ into fuel on an industrial scale.

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