Green Options

Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak may be the first mayor in the nation to drive a plug-in hybrid vehicle as his official city car.

Since he was first elected in 2002, Mayor Rybak’s official car has been a Toyota Prius. But the dramatically superior gas mileage of a plug-in hybrid vehicle prompted him to make the switch: he had his hybrid converted to a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, from which he expects to get

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Today’s tip is a safety tip cautioning readers to be aware of the "dangers" of hybrid and electric vehicles to pedestrians. Last week, I was almost hit by a Prius in a health food store parking lot. I can imagine the headline: "Environmentalist run over by a hybrid vehicle." Ironic, eh?

My near-encounter with the Prius occurred because the car was running on its electric motor, thus making the car virtually

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Trying to improve your gas mileage? Use biodiesel? Or just want to save a buck?
With all the hoopla around different fuel and vehicle choices these days, it’s easy to be confused. Hybrids? Diesels? Biofuels?
Which one of these choices is actually best for you?

For the past half a decade, the Toyota Prius has been the poster child for the world-elite, being both green and cool. A hybrid-electric vehicle, developed and manufactured by Toyota, has won car of the year in several countries over its short lifetime, and appeared in more movies than Jack Bauer’s 4×4.

But according to a study recently released and conducted between Cardiff University and Clifford Thames an automotive consultancy, the Prius

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Pacific Gas & Electric, California’s largest electricity utility and one of the largest in the nation, is showcasing a Toyota Prius that it has converted into a plug-in hybrid at the Silicon Valley Leadership Group Alternative Energy Solutions Summit in California this week. The utility may be the first in the U.S. to demonstrate that a plug-in hybrid can power a home.

Like a traditional hybrid, plug-in hybrids have both an electric motor and a gasoline

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Travelling for business is often a necessary evil. It's a little tougher to be green when we're away from home. It takes more planning, and often some sacrifice, to make our travel footprint a little lighter.

BMW and DaimlerChrysler are teaming up to develop hybrid transmission systems for rear-wheel-drive premium cars.

These transmission systems will be for so-called “mild hybrids,” which boost acceleration and can make engines work more efficiently in stop-and-go traffic, but can’t run on battery power alone and don’t offer the same fuel savings as a full hybrid (like a Toyota Prius, which connects an electric motor and batteries to a standard combustion engine.). The carmakers should have

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