For those of you who are bettin’ folks, traders on the Chicago Climate Exchange view the Democrats as more bullish on cap-and-trade systems. So if you’re betting on a Democratic victory, you’ll want to buy those contracts now, in anticipation of a price spike on Nov. 5 (Politico).
Toyota Prius sales have topped 1 million and dealers in most markets simply can’t keep them on the shelves. Toyota says domestic inventory is limited by production [...]
Hybrid cars and other vehicles with silent engines could pose a threat to visually impaired people who rely on traffic noises to judge when it’s safe to cross the street, according to the National Federation of the Blind. To address that concern, two U.S. House representatives have introduced a bill that would require the Secretary of Transportation to study ways to protect the [...]
I, for one, don’t remember the stagflation of the 1970s.
It was a time when prices were increasing at the gas pump and grocery store, and when the economy sputtered along with little or no growth. Some neighbors saw their wages flatten — or their jobs disappear altogether. Gold, often seen as a barometer of economic confidence, was at an all time high (adjusted for inflation). I was pre-teen in a comfty Detroit suburb with a father who worked at then stalwart, GM, so a roof over my head and food on the table was never a concern.
But here we are today, with Priuses outselling Suburbans. Oil and gold are at all time highs. Things seem far more perplexing, interconnected, global. First, there’s the perception of a housing crunch, even though fretting over a 15 percent decline in home values over the last year or two seems rather odd given the incredible run-up of many homes over the past decade, sometimes by over 100 percent.
Second, the sub-prime mortgage mess has snared many who agreed with greedy lenders that living beyond our means was okay. That more jobs are being outsourced overseas or replaced by fancy machines in this increasingly global marketplace isn’t helping either.
Even if the Federal Reserve or Congress and the Bush Administration do manage to convince the American people that they should keep on spending by splurging with windfall tax refund checks — thus avoiding a recession — the printing presses rolling off fresh greenbacks and mounting debt on a national level could result in the onset of stagflation. Oil, while swinging up and down with the speculator’s bets and value of the dollar, will continue on its upward trajectory reflecting the reality of “peak oil,” the period by which its extraction and refinement will get ever more expensive and difficult. Our economy, and those linked around the world, are based on this fuel and this fuel is largely denominated in US dollars. When the dollar falls in value, the price of a barrel of oil must increase.
So why will ecopreneurial businesses fare any different than all the rest if, in
An Elise it isn’t, but Lotus is going into the hybrid and electric car market with the opening of a research and design facility.
The latest concept car uses a Vauxhall Astra body, housing a three-cylinder 1.5-litre engine integrated with a hybrid drive, and a 12kw electric motor. The car utilizes the three-cylinder combustion engine in parallel to the electric motor, allowing for extra performance and fewer emissions.
Electric-powered fuel and water pumps help cut fuel [...]
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