Alternative Fuel Choice

Archive for July, 2008

VICTORIA’S peak motoring body has backed a plan for discounted registration fees for buyers of green cars.

It comes as new figures reveal city residents have embraced greener cars, but big petrol guzzlers remain popular in the outer suburbs.

An analysis of Australian Bureau of Statistics data reveals East Melbourne, South Melbourne and the inner city, as well as Kew and Southbank, have the most Toyota Priuses – a hybrid given a five-star green rating in a state government audit.

Outer eastern suburbs Ferntree Gully and Lysterfield followed by Dandenong and Frankston have the most Nissan Patrols – a four-wheel-drive that has a poor rating for fuel use and emissions.

But inner suburban motorists lose the green high ground when it comes to expensive petrol guzzlers.

Ferraris and Bentleys occupy the lowest nine rungs on the Federal Government’s green vehicle guide for greenhouse emissions.

Those vehicles are most popular in Brighton, Toorak, Hawksburn and inner Melbourne.

James Bond’s car, the Aston Martin – most popular in Brighton, Cotham, Kew, Hawksburn and Toorak – also fares badly on the green test.

Mineral water salesman Joe Garofalo, of Brunswick, bought a pair of the Toyota hybrids and has no regrets.

“We were running Commodores, which I was purchasing for $30,000. The Prius cost me $37,000. I knew that in the long run I’d do well to the environment and do well to my pocket,” Mr Garofalo said.

The RACV favours a long-term scheme where fuel excise would be replaced with a road user charge paid for at the pump.

But chief Brian Negus said the club supported, as an interim scheme, cheaper registration for greener cars as long as other vehicles’ registrations were not made dearer.

A Brumby Government spokeswoman said there were no plans to charge for emissions through the registration process.

Source: News.com

I am going bananas with these gas prices.  Surely this was why Bush went to Iraq wasn’t it?

I saw this image and it deserved a run.

Image courtesy of Tanaue

With the price of gasoline now more expensive than ever and with no sign of any relief in sight people are now paying almost double what they were just two short years ago.

Many people are obviously concerned and unsure about what they should do in the future.  People can’t afford to continue paying these prices and higher as well as the direct cost it also has on goods in the supermarket.  Most people, especially those with families, still need a vehicle for regular day to day tasks and if not that, even just for emergencies.

Many people are showing an interest in alternative fuel, alternative fuel vehicles as well as more fuel efficient vehicles that can get you where you need to go with less gas being used but still retaining many of the features that we have come to expect in a vehicle these days.

Technology is coming along at a rapid rate. Can you believe that you are even able to make your own biodiesel at home…and it works..  More and more people are looking at these options in their quest to find a viable alternative fuel.

There are a number of options when it comes to fuel efficient vehicles and a number of different variables when it comes to environmental effect of some of the alternative fuel choices.

Understanding the origins of each of the main alternative fuels and what the plans are to improve on them and the potential for mass production will help you decide in the future which option is right for you.

So i have put together this FREE Report that explains some of the most viable alternative fuel options.

There are no strings to download this free report, just click on the link below or right click and select “Save As” to save it to your hard drive.

Please make sure to send it on to anyone else who you think might be interested in this information.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FREE REPORT ON ALTERNATIVE FUEL NOW

Cheers

Brett

P.S. Make sure you visit the website at http://www.AlternativeFuelChoice.com for some other additional information on your alternative fuel choices.

Website Domestic Fuel has reported that CNN are taking a 1978 International Harvester Scout and kicked off a two-week trip going from San Francisco to Atlanta.

They will be blogging about their adventure live on CNN.com and will be a great promotion for biodiesel and alternative fuels.

Click Here To Read The Full Story

News.com have reported that Mitsubishi Australia have confirmed that the i MiEV will be released into showrooms by the end of 2009 with a starting price of only $30,000.

Mitsubishi are skipping the development of hybrid phase alternative fuel cars and are moving straight to the plug-in electric car model.

Although currently only a concept car until recently, the i MiEV plug in electric car won’t go into production into 2009 and the quantity delivered to Australia will depend on the interest from governemtn agencies and major fleets.

The car contains an aluminium frame and has an on-board power pack that uses lithium-ion batteries with three motors. These three motors eact turn the two front wheels and one motor turning the rear. The power pack is in the rear of the car creating maximum cabin space despite the car being only 3.4m long.

Other manufactures are also on the alternative fuel path with BMW also scheduled to release their first alternative fuel hybrid car that uses a traditional petrol engine combined with an electric motor due for release in 2009 and Renault has vowed to be the first manufacturer with a full-scale rollout and is aiming for several European countries in 2011.

Click Here to read the full story

Industry recognised Market Watch has posted a ‘cut to the bone’ assessment of the options when it comes to our alternative fuel choices in the future.

“You’ll find the solutions will come from lots of different places, but there’s not a silver bullet to this,” said Andrew Oram, vice president and senior credit officer at Moody’s Investors Service.

It doesn’t matter if it is electric batteries, flexible fuels, alcohol based fuels or even natural gas, none have the volume to generate the economies of scale which would allow it to overtake the oil supply.

It has been suggested that there is an additional issue holding back the development of ethanol based solutions and that is that the fuel still creates considerable emissions into the air.

Presidential hopeful John McCain is pledging to get automakers to make a more rapid switch to flexible fuel vehicles with a commitment by the majors to make half of their cars flex-fuel capable by 2012.

Click Here To Read The Full Article From Market Watch