UPI Asia -- Tokyo, Japan — In the wake of last year's soaring crude oil prices, coupled with a growing environmental awareness, the development of alternative energy sources is moving into high gear. Among next-generation energy sources, hydrogen is proving to be a favorite.

Japan started selling the world's first household hydrogen fuel cell this year, and stands on the verge of selling fuel-cell vehicles. But there are still difficult challenges involving the manufacturing, storing and transporting of hydrogen. For these reasons, some experts say the advent of the hydrogen economy might be a pipedream.  (read more)

Central Valley Business Times -- Slowly but steadily, gas prices dropped by another small amount over the past week throughout California, although prices remain about 60 cents per gallon higher than one year ago, according to price surveys Friday.

“At the moment, the biggest factor driving prices downward seems to be the seasonal dip in demand,” says Jeffrey Spring, a spokesman for the Automobile Club of Southern California. “Prices traditionally drop this time of year along with temperatures, which will be a little help for Thanksgiving travelers’ budgets.”

California’s statewide average price for a gallon of self-ser4ve regular on Nov. 20 is $2.943, third highest in the nation, surpassed only by Alaska and Hawaii.  (read more)

Popular Science -- With its annual output of over 330 million tons a year feeding animals, running cars, and decorating South Dakota tourist attractions, maize is clearly Americas most important crop. That's why the newly published complete corn genome could drastically change the food, automotive and plastic industries. Already, scientists have identified genes that could boost yield, change the cell wall to make more biofuel, or raise the nutritional value of this vital cereal.  (read more)

CBC News -- A potential strike at an automotive parts plant in Lakeshore, Ont., has put the region's auto community on edge.
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Officials and workers at Johnson Controls have been in talks over a new contract since Monday, but workers say they'll walk off the job if they don't reach a collective agreement by midnight Friday.
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If Johnson's 120 workers strike, thousands of workers at Chrysler's Windsor assembly plant and other parts suppliers could be affected.
 (read more)

The Philadelphia Enquirer -- The Associated Press -- Frankfurt -- German carmaker Volkswagen AG said Friday its supervisory board had approved certain agreement contracts for the planned merger with German sportscar builder Porsche, taking the companies one step closer to completing the deal.

The contracts set out the organizational, structural and legal details of the agreement which was first announced in May and which is hoped to be concluded in 2011.

The next step of the process will be VW shareholders approving that the company take on a 49.9 percent stake in Porsche AG through the issuance of new shares. An extraordinary VW shareholder's meeting is planned for Dec. 3 to take a vote on that issue.

"The creation of an integrated automotive group with ten strong brands follows a compelling industrial logic," VW, based in Wolfsburg, said . . .  (read more)

Wicked Local -- Natick, Mass. - As we prepare for colder temperatures, your BBB offers advice on how to keep the cost of heating your home affordable over the winter months.

“Heating your home throughout the New England winter can become costly if you aren’t careful,” said Paula Fleming, vice president of communications and marketing for BBB. “Following these few steps can go a long way in heating your home affordably, saving money better spent elsewhere this season.  (read more)

EurActiv -- Alternative fuels could bridge the transition to low-carbon road transport as electric cars remain a thing of the future, a roundtable at the European Parliament heard yesterday (18 November).

The shift from fossil fuels to a sustainble transport model for Europe's roads will take decades, MEP Vittorio Prodi (S&D, Italy) told policymakers and car-industry representatives.

"The increased presence of immediately available gaseous fuels such as LPG and natural gas can play an important role in this process, helping to cut CO2 and pollutant emissions today and forming a bridge towards other technologies that will emerge in the future," he stressed.  (read more)

Canada.com -- Ford's Fusion, already a solid entry in the mid-sized sedan segment, gets added appeal for 2010 with the introduction of a hybrid model. It should be noted that this is no token nod to pacify the greenies -- the Fusion Hybrid is the real deal and more than capable of taking on the hybrid technology leader, Toyota.

For some buyers, it's important to make a statement with their choice to go the hybrid route, hence the unique look of the Toyota Prius and the next-generation Honda Insight. Their owners have made a deliberate decision to go green, are proud of it and want the world to know.

Then there are those who prefer to be less obvious, opting for a more conventional-looking sedan with a hybrid powertrain, such as the Toyota Camry, Nissan Altima and the Fusion.  (read more)

REUTERS -- NEW YORK/HOUSTON -- By Joshua Schneyer and Bruce Nichols - Analysis -- Saudi Arabia's new method of pricing oil bound for the United States reflects the world's growing reliance on sour crude, which is harder to refine.

The sour grades of crude may eventually displace tried-and-true light, sweet crude to become a benchmark.

That could help producers and refiners manage risk as they deal with increasing volumes of higher-sulfur oil, and it may also cut speculators' influence on oil prices, analysts said.

Starting in January, Saudi Arabia will price U.S.-bound barrels against the Argus Sour Crude Index of three sour crudes produced in the U.S. Gulf. That will end 15 years of pricing against West Texas Intermediate, the reigning light, sweet benchmark.

The vast majority of oil futures contracts are based on WTI and Europe's Brent oil. . . .  (read more)

Houston Chronicle -- WASHINGTON — Utilities harnessing power from the wind and sun are up against a major challenge: how to store electricity so that it can be delivered to customers when the air is still and the sun has set.

“Cheap energy storage is sometimes called the ‘holy grail' of renewable energy,” observed Steven Kline, a vice president for the San Francisco-based utility PG&E. It is the key to unlocking the full potential of wind, solar and other intermittent renewable power sources.

So far, it has been an elusive goal. Companies have been searching for the best way to store massive amounts of electricity so that it can be dispensed on demand — like the energy contained in cell phone batteries, just on a vastly different scale.

Now, the federal government is aiming to spur a solution.  (read more)

Bloomberg.com -- Nov. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Auto supplier NTN Corp. knew its gasoline engine parts wouldn’t be needed in Nissan Motor Co.’s Leaf electric car. So the component maker’s engineers built a mock model to test a motor-and-brake system it developed for electric vehicles.

“If old-guard companies like us just continue along the same beaten path, things will become difficult,” Chairman Yasunobu Suzuki said. “I told our engineers to try everything.”

As Nissan and General Motors Co. prepare to introduce battery-powered cars next year, traditional auto suppliers like Osaka-based NTN are trying to adapt by creating new lines of business. Engine components account for as much as 40 percent of a typical car’s total parts, so some suppliers are scrambling to come up with new products, said Takeshi Miyao,  (read more)

nytimes.com -- Suntech Power, China’s largest solar panel manufacturer, plans to open its first American plant near Phoenix, the company announced on Monday. It would be the first time a Chinese solar company has built a manufacturing plant in the United States, experts said.

The plant will begin production in the third quarter of 2010 and will build panels from solar cells shipped from China. Those cells, in turn, contain substantial amounts of a substance called polysilicon manufactured at a factory in Texas.

Roger Efird, a managing director of Suntech, said in a telephone interview that shipping costs were an important factor in the decision to put a factory in the growing American market. Solar panels, with substantial amounts of glass and aluminum, are heavy, he said.

“As the price of solar  (read more)

AZCentral.com -- Arizona has wooed and won China's king of solar.

Zhengrong Shi, the son of dirt-poor peasant farmers who built Suntech Power into a multibillion-dollar giant in less than a decade, has chosen metro Phoenix as its first manufacturing site in the U.S.

Arizona didn't score this coup in one fell swoop; it happened through a series of right decisions and relationships nurtured over time.

"There's a big mix of stars aligning," said Rob Melnick, executive dean and professor at the Global Institute of Sustainability at Arizona State University.

Barry Broome, president and CEO of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council, credited the success to four equal factors:

• The tax incentive legislation, Senate Bill 1403.

• A policy of the Arizona Corporation Commission that requires that 15 percent  (read more)

ABS CBN News -- MANILA – A marathon that is not based on speed, breaking records and finishing first is set to kick off next year in Malaysia, Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation (PSPC) announced Wednesday.

The Shell Eco-marathon (SEM) Asia will instead declare as winner the vehicle that has traveled the farthest distance using the least amount of fuel.

The inaugural SEM will be held from July 8 to 10 at the Sepang International Circuit in Kuala Lumpur. A total of 107 teams will come from participating schools in Thailand, Indonesia, Taiwan, Pakistan, Iran, Singapore, China, Malaysia, India and the Philippines.  (read more)

CNN -- If you could use a car now and again but don't want to buy one, German automaker Daimler has a possible solution for you. At least if you live in Austin, Tex.

For now, the program involves 200 Smart ForTwos and is available only to Austin's 13,000 city employees. The program will be opened to other participants "at some point," Daimler said in a press release.

Austin city employees can rent a Smart ForTwo for cross-town trips for 35 cents a minute. When they're done, they leave the car at a parking space near their destination for someone else to use. The 35 cent-per-minute rate includes gas and insurance. The cars can be used for either work or personal trips.

Daimler, which makes the Smart car, already operates a similar program in the city of Ulm, Germany and, on Tuesday, ...  (read more)

WA Today -- Cars could soon be running on a biofuel produced from a common legume tree.

A team of experts at the University of Queensland (UQ) has been studying 20,000 pongamia pinnata (Indian beech) trees lining Brisbane's streets as a green and cost-effective alternative to dwindling fossil fuels.

Pongamia trumped all other biofuels, including sugarcane and sorghum, the UQ's head legume researcher Professor Peter Gresshoff told energy experts at a national climate change symposium in Brisbane on Tuesday.  (read more)

Digital Journal -- Plants created the hydrocarbons which are polluting the world. Now they’re about to provide the hydrogen, without the carbons. Scientists have duplicated the photosynthetic processes of algae.

Using nanotechnology, with a platinum catalyst, they’ve produced hydrogen. Algae are the simplest plants. They reproduce in trillions on a few photovolts of sunlight. As clean energy goes, including production processes, it can’t get a lot cleaner than this.

Professor of biochemistry and cellular and molecular biology at UT Knoxville Barry Bruce successfully isolated the photosynthetic processes of various species of algae. Using the platinum catalyst, these materials can produce a “steady supply” of hydrogen.  (read more)

Electric -- It now seems that scientists have come up with a way to turn coal and waste into cleaner fuel. This would be done by trapping millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide, and thus, keeping it from entering into the Earth’s atmosphere.

Scientists have now named this new process gasification. This is something that is already used to clean up dirty materials before they are used to generate electricity or to make renewable fuels. Overall, the technique involves heating organic matter up to produce a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide called syngas.  (read more)

The Detroit Free Press -- As if we needed more proof that America's politics are poisoned beyond belief, now we have Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee, pouncing gleefully upon news of General Motors Co.'s $1.2-billion third-quarter loss, in a harebrained attempt to score political points.
 (read more)

Detroit Free Press -- Ford has successfully used the improved fuel efficiency and new look of the Fusion to win new customers.

The automatic 2010 Ford Fusion S gets a combined 27 miles per gallon, which is better than a similar model of the Toyota Camry, which gets a combined 25 m.p.g., and the Honda Accord, which gets 25 mpg
 (read more)

EV World -- Two hydrogen buses are set to hit the streets of Sunderland as part of a unique research and development programme bringing international expertise to North East England.

One North East has invested £314,000 to sponsor the ECO2Trans project, which is converting two electric Gulliver U500EUK buses into hydrogen vehicles using a fuel cell, battery and capacitor combination.

The University of Sunderland’s Institute of Automotive and Manufacturing Advanced Practice (AMAP) has joined forces with experts from Shanghai’s Shen Li High Technology and Cramlington-based AVID Vehicles to carry out the work.  (read more)

Athens Banner Herald -- Fuels derived from plants regularly get praised as an environmentally friendly way to lessen U.S. dependence on oil imports, but the jury's still out on just how "green" these so-called biofuels really are.

The federal government is spending billions in research on alternative fuels, including at the University of Georgia, one of the nation's top centers for research in biofuels development, where scientists are exploring the fuel potential of substances ranging from algae to chicken litter, peanut hulls, switchgrass and wood debris.

Although biofuels could replace imported oil, scientists don't know yet if they will reduce the emissions that cause global warming - or even if pollution from alternative fuels would pose a human health risk.  (read more)

Forbes.com -- Just because a car has low fuel efficiency doesn't mean it's the worst polluter on the road. The Chevrolet Suburban and Dodge Challenger are some of the biggest gas-gulpers available, but they don't cause quite the environmental harm other cars do.

That title is reserved for vehicles that combine their poor gas mileage with high tailpipe and greenhouse gas emissions. Think along the lines of some of the bulkiest cars on the road, like the Jeep Grand Cherokee, Chevrolet Trailblazer and Dodge Dakota.

[Tip: consider both fuel consumption & emissions.]  (read more)

News Blaze -- Shrimp and coffee have become a possibility for alternative fuel according to the website Science Daily. This is some interesting news for energy alternatives that is worth reading and looking into. Alternative energy is becoming a concern for environmentalists who want to see a big impact with a change in fuels and natural forms of energy. Staying informed gives you an edge of knowledge of what the possibilities are, and of what could be marketable in the new coming future.  (read more)

Bloomberg.com -- Nov. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Retail sales in the U.S. rebounded more than forecast as demand for autos climbed, and a regional gauge of manufacturing showed expansion for a fourth month, easing concern the recovery will cool after government incentives end.

Purchases increased 1.4 percent in October after a 2.3 percent drop in September that was larger than the previously estimated, Commerce Department figures showed today in Washington. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s general economic index, where positive readings signal growth, fell to 23.5 this month from a five-year high of 34.6 in October.

Stocks added to a global rally after the reports signaled rising demand at retailers from discount chain TJX Cos. to luxury store Saks Inc. may foreshadow a better holiday shopping season,  (read more)