Under the said campaign, Google.org earmarked $1 million for grants to institutions which are undertaking developmental experiments on the practical use of plug-in hybrid vehicles. Aside from that, the institution also announced that they are planning to provide $10 million to fund the actual development, adoption and commercialization of plug-in hybrid vehicles as well as electric cars. According to the institution, they are willing to fund any development of vehicle-to-grid technologies.

The Brookings Institution received a $200,000 grant from Google.org which will be spent in its hosting of a conference next year. The said conference which will be held on the spring is aimed to promote the use of plug-in hybrid technology.

CalCars also received a $200,000 grant from Google.org to support its effort in educating the public on the advantages of using plug-in hybrids. The Electrical Power Research Institute also received a $200,000 grant which will be used in the development of plug-in technologies.

Google.org also awarded a $100,000 grant to Plug-in America which will be used to support the group’s public awareness in the use of plug-in hybrids. The Rocky Mountain Institute also received a grant worth $200,000. The said grant will be used by the RMI in the development of a practical plug-in hybrid vehicle which hopefully will be adopted by car manufacturers.

Dr. Larry Brilliant, the Executive Director of Google.org, has this to say at the launching of the initiative: “Clean energy technology can dramatically shift how we make and use energy for our cars and homes by charging cars through an electric grid powered by solar or other renewable energy sources, and selling power back to the electric grid when it’s needed most. This approach can quadruple the fuel efficiency of cars on the road today and improve grid stability.”

Plug-in hybrid cars are more environment-friendly than hybrid cars since its battery pack can be recharged via a common household outlet. For hybrid vehicles, the only way that the battery pack can be charged is by the use of the alternator or when the brakes are activated.

Aside from providing grants which will promote the development of environment-friendly vehicles, Google has also taken a step to make their company headquarters more environment-friendly. The company announced that they are now using solar electricity on their Mountain View, California headquarters. Google’s solar panel installation can produce as much as 1.6 megawatts - this is estimated to be the equivalent of the power needs of 1,000 average California households.

According to the company, their solar panel installation is the largest of its kind in any corporate campus in the United States.

“Google is committed to using its resources to help solve the global climate challenge,” says Dr. Brilliant. “Google.org is a hybrid philanthropy, bringing together the active engagement of the broader Google corporation, as well as investments in for-profits, traditional grants, policy work, and public information. RechargeIT brings together all of these elements to help accelerate progress on plug-ins,” he concluded.

by Anthony Fontanelle
About the Author: Anthony Fontanelle is a 35-year-old automotive buff who grew up in the Windy City. He does freelance work for an automotive magazine when he is not busy customizing cars in his shop

Buy the book: The Electric Car
Image Source: http://flickr.com/photos/ppdigital/2058130092/

I ask you to consider honoring Mother Earth everyday. We can not continue to take from our resources and never give back in return. There needs to be a balance in nature. We have moved so far away from living in harmony with nature. The foods that we eat no longer come from the local community. We drive when we can walk or bike. We make several trips when they could be minimized. We spray pesticides and bug killer like they do no harm. We consume to try to fulfill a deeper need…

Where will it stop? How much ’stuff’ do we truly need? How big do our homes need to really be? How many cars do we need? When will we begin to live in harmony with the earth that nurtures us? We in North America are perhaps spoiled and lazy and it is time to wake up and realize that you can make a difference in many ways. Be an example to your children and grandchildren.

You can help celebrate earth day every single day in so many small ways. If you will just do it. If you aren’t ready to move to the woods and live in a yurt with a composting toilet and no electricity like some of us that’s okay, but you can still make a difference! Here are a few ways to help you begin celebrating the earth each and everyday and you may just have fun doing it:

1. Join Freecycle. Freecycle can be found online at www.freecycle.org You can join your local group to give away things that you no longer need or get the items you need from others. It’s all free!

2. Shop at thrift stores. By buying second hand clothes and household goods you save the environment and help various causes. Finding a local thrift store in your community helps your local area too.

3. Bike, walk or take transit. Do you really need to drive three blocks to the market? Come on, you can use the exercise and may enjoy the moment by meeting a few folks along the way. And if it’s too far to walk or bike then try transit.

4. Buy local organic food, eat wild foods or grow a garden. Buying local organic food not only helps your community farmers but saves on the transportation of food and helps you by getting fresher and healthier food into your body…putting you in sync with the area of the earth that you live on. Growing your own garden is the best for those that are willing and even better is to eat ethically harvested wild foods.

5. Recycling is so easy these days. You can recycle just about anything. Be creative.

6. Plant trees. For all the trees we cut down…lets plant a few in their place. They help us breathe.

7. Have a green baby. Come on mamas use those cloth diapers and cloth baby wipes. They are so much easier then you may think with snaps and velcro. The money you will save is amazing and they are healthier for your baby as well as Mother Earth. Try elimination communication.

8. Use the library. Instead of buying more magazines and books use the library. There is interlibrary loan if they don’t have what you are looking for in your community. Just ask and they will help you out.

9. Hang your clothes on the line. There is nothing like the smell of fresh laundry coming off the line. You can turn it in to a totally zen moment when you are outside hanging the clothes. Saving on your electricity and enjoying the simplified life is not so bad.

10. Use cloth shopping bags. So, you probably think only granola, sandal wearing folks use cloth bags to go to the market…well, yeah some of us are but come on and join us. Those plastic bags can be easily replaced with creative cloth bags. Some places are even banning the plastic.

11. Use eco friendly cleaners. There are many eco cleaners that are found in your local health food stores or even your markets. However, you can easily make your own with some simple household goods such as vinegar and baking soda. Much better for you and the earth.

12. Make your home more energy efficient. Spend the extra money for making your home more energy efficient and it will pay off in the long run. Check out your area for possible tax incentives as well.

I could go on and on with ideas as I sit here, but you get the idea. You can all do something. So, if you don’t mind please do you part. We are all in this together and the sooner that we become cooperative and live in harmony with the earth and each other..the happier and healthier we will be. Celebrate earth day everyday by making a difference…in whatever way you choose.

Author: Lisa R. Marshall
About the author: Lisa R. Marshall is the facilitator of Path to Nature….honoring life through whole health, natural living, herbal healing, sacred celebrations & journeys. Path to Nature’s vision is to help people recognize their ability to empower themselves. She is a also a mother and doula. Lisa is a facilitator to those who want to make changes in their lives. Visit http://www.Pathtonature.org for further information or to contact the author.

Image Source: http://flickr.com/photos/aussiegall/759309122/

There is another, perhaps unexpected benefit to the high gasoline prices however. Just as smoking related deaths drop in almost predictable numbers when cigarette prices increase, auto related deaths are on a swift and remarkable decline due to the rising price of gasoline. Some researchers believe that automobile related fatalities will drop by as much as one third because of gas prices.

Some of the reasons suggested for the remarkable decrease in fatalities is that the riskiest drivers (teenagers) cannot afford gasoline, the most dangerous vehicles (SUVs) are too expensive to drive and that people are simply driving more slowly to save money. Most importantly however, is that people are simply driving less. 1.4 billion fewer miles less in April alone to be precise. That may not be good news for your summer vacation but it is excellent news for the environment and approximately 12,000 lives saved every year.

Learn more at abcnews.com

This might be acceptable if the amber waves of pesticides are feeding thousands of starving people, but now it seems that massive government subsidies are in place to promote ethanol which takes more fuel to create than it produces in the end. Is ethanol an environmental nightmare?

Author: Sandra Case

What is Ethanol?
Ethanol is a colorless, volatile, flammable liquid that is the intoxicating agent in liquors and is also used as a fuel or solvent. Ethanol is also called ethyl alcohol or grain alcohol. Ethanol is the most important member of a large group of organic compounds that are called alcohol. Alcohol is an organic compound that has one or more hydroxyl (OH) groups attached to a carbon atom. Alcohol is shown as: C-O-H or C-OH.

Ethanol is a product of fermentation. Fermentation is a sequence of reactions which release energy from organic molecules in the absence of oxygen. In this application of fermentation, energy is obtained when sugar is changed to ethanol and carbon dioxide. All beverage ethanol and more than half of industrial ethanol is made by this process.

Pros of Ethanol:

1. Adding ethanol to gasoline improves combustion and reduces toxic emissions
2. Ethanol helps keep fuel injectors clean and improves engine performance
3. Ethanol revives local economies with high paying jobs (thanks to the subsidies)

*source Iowacorn.org

Cons of Ethanol

1. Ethanol increases prices at the pump due to increased complexity of production
2. Ethanol requires more energy to create than the final product contains
3. Ethanol is simply converting massive amounts of energy into another form
4. Ethanol cannot be shipped via normal pipelines substantially increasing costs
5. Ethanol contains 2/3 less energy than gasoline so the same priced tank will not take you as far
6. Billions of tax dollars are being spent on ethanol subsidies
7. Corn production depletes underwater aquifers
8. Corn production causes massive soil erosion
9. Negative environmental impact of 10 million acres of corn that could be returned to forest

source: Slate.com, Igreens.org

How Ethanol is Made:
Converting corn into ethanol by fermentation takes many steps. Starch in corn must be broken down into simple sugars before fermentation can occur. In earlier times, this was done by chewing the corn. This allowed the salivary enzymes to naturally break down the starch. Today, this is achieved by cooking the corn and adding the enzymes alpha amylase and gluco amylase. These enzymes function as catalysts to speed up the chemical changes. Changing the starch in kernels of corn to sugar and changing sugar to ethanol is a complex process and requires a mix of technologies that include microbiology, chemistry and engineering.

Once a simple sugar is obtained, yeast is added. Yeast is a single-celled fungi which feeds on the sugar and causes the fermentation. As the fungi feeds on the sugar, it produces alcohol (ethanol) and carbon dioxide. In fermentation, the ethanol retains much of the energy that was originally in the sugar, and explains why ethanol is used as a fuel. Most of the ethanol production in the United States is made in 50 production facilities in 20 different states. Most of these plants are located in the Midwest.

Bottom line:
Why on earth are we going to spend billions of dollars to chemically infest 10 million acres of previously forested land that could be used to grow food for human beings but instead is used to make an incredibly inefficient fuel that is so expensive that the farmers themselves cannot use it to fuel their own ethanol production and it does nothing to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

Better alternatives? Public transportation, solar cells, electric vehicles, hybrids, bicycles, scooters and yes, your own two feet.

About the author:
This article has been written by Sandra Case, who is Vice President of Commodity Research for Absolute Futures Commodity Brokerage. For further information regarding this article or information on other commodities or trading of the commodity markets please contact Sandra Case 800-935-6494. http://www.absolute-futures.com

“Using GM’s E-Flex technology, the Flextreme can drive up to 34 miles on pure electric power from the lithium-ion battery pack before switching over to a 1.3-liter turbodiesel to drive the vehicle’s electric motors and recharge the batteries. Additional transportation options are provided by two Segways that dock in the vehicle’s cargo bay.

In addition to providing a glimpse of future GM hybrid technology, the Flextreme emphasizes the future design direction for both Saturn and Opel. Among these cues are more sculpted body surfaces, boomerang-shaped headlamps and sweeping character lines in the side graphics.

The Flextreme also highlights a new approach to rear cargo doors, with access panels that are center hinged and open upward, butterfly style, to offer access to each side of the vehicle. The vehicle features a B-pillarless design to provide ample access to the passenger cabin through suicide-style doors. The Flextreme is also equipped with an underfloor storage system that extends and retracts electronically.”

Read the full article at autos.yahoo.com

Electric vehicles are making a comeback. Auto manufacturers are rising to the challenge and the growing demand. For an extremely reasonable price, you can purchase an electric vehicle from GEM for local or neighborhood use, or you can waitlist for the sassy ZAP, the sexy, fast and very expensive Tesla Roadster or the Chevy Volt . If you do not want to wait for electric (or drive a GEM) then you can always use hybrid (which is still an emissions producing vehicle) or convert your hybrid to electric with a conversion kit.

Buy the DVD “Who Killed The Electric Car“. Also available on Unbox.

The two most eco-friendly and healthy modes of transportation are walking and bicycling. Bicycling, is of course substantially faster and usually offers the option of some sort of basket or carrying device if need be. That makes a bicycle the perfect vehicle for short distance commutes or quick errands if you are lucky enough to live close to works and shops.

Consider this:

“Mile for mile, [short car trips] are…the most polluting. Engines running cold produce four times the carbon monoxide and twice the volatile organic compounds of engines running hot. And smog-forming (and carcinogenic) VOCs continue to evaporate from an engine until it cools off, whether the engine’s been running for five minutes or five hours.” - Sierra Club - The Green Life

Even if you live in a suburban environment where cars rarely if ever see a bike on the road, you can often find city bike paths or rails to trails that can take you to a friends house or just out for some fresh air.

So let’s start fresh with spring. Trade at least one short car trip for a lovely bicycle ride. All the better if you can make it a new eco-friendly, healthy habit.

Buy the Book: Critical Mass; Bicycling’s Defiant Celebration

Author: Gary Fumeaux

Paying more attention to your driving techniques you will find is an easy way to save gas.

1. Drive Consistently
Speeding, rapid acceleration and hard braking can decrease your gas mileage by up to 3 percent at highway speeds and by 5 percent at metropolitan speeds. Save gas by predicting traffic so your vehicle can coast to a stop.

2. Combine trips
Try to combine as many purposes into one trip as you can for the following reasons:

· You’ll save time and money by combining the number of errands and stops that you make in one trip.

· When you make several smaller trips, especially in cold weather, you will use up to twice as much gas than if you were taking a multipurpose trip.

· Save gas by avoiding cold starts for your car as it uses up gas and is also harder on vehicle maintenance.

Did you know that….” -The average family car generates 11,800 pounds of carbon dioxide per year costing more than $2500. Walk, bike, carpool, and save 1.3 lbs of greenhouse gases for every gallon of gas you don’t use!” Source: Tips to Fight Global Warming

3. Avoid fast getaways at the stoplight
Accelerate slowly when the light turns green. Make sure you start at the stoplight slow and save gas while you are going from a stopped position into a driving mode.

4. Turn off your car
Studies show that you save more gas if turn off your car rather than letting it idle for much longer than about 10 seconds. If you are in a long line up at the ferry, waiting for someone outside the store, or waiting for an accident up ahead to clear you can turn off your car engine and save gas and money.

You can also turn off your car if you are waiting to pick up your kids, pulled over to take a cell phone call, in a slow drive through lane. Remember the ten second rule or visualize the burning fossil fuels pumping toxins and pollutants out the bank end of your car.

5. Accelerate before hills
If you are approaching a hill try to accelerate before you reach the hill. This will help you save gas while you are climbing the hill in your car. Remember to accelerate in a safe manner.

6. Avoid fast driving in lower gear
If you drive at fast speeds using the wrong and often lower gears, you will reduce your fuel economy by as much as 40 percent. If you are driving a standard vehicle make sure that you know how to properly operate the gears and know when to shift. This is one of the common mistakes that many drivers make.

7. Avoid running your gas tank too close to empty
Try not to drive your car when the gas gauge is on empty. You may think that you are using very little gas when your car is on empty, but you are in fact using more gas because your vehicle is running less efficiently as it tries to accelerate and decelerate in a normal fashion. Keep your gas level above the quarter tank mark if at all possible.

8. Refrain from unwarranted idling.
Newer automobiles don’t need to warm up before driving, and idling wastes fuel and pollutes the air. When possible, avoid traffic congestion. If you’re not stuck in traffic and you’ll be idle for more than a minute, turn off your vehicle to save gas.

The pure waste that results from needless voluntary idling is most easily seen on a cumulative basis. On a daily basis, Americans as a whole may be burning as much as 3.8 million gallons of gasoline from voluntary idling, which, in turn, results in producing about 40,000 tons of carbon dioxide. Annually, the cumulative effect is staggering, as we may be uselessly burning 1.4 billion gallons of gasoline and emitting 13 million tons of carbon dioxide as a result. Source — Anti-Idling Primer, http://thehcf.org

Buy the Book: How to Live a Low Carbon Life

About the author:
Gary Fumeaux is a leading cost-cutting specialist with over 7 years experience in helping businesses and the public with huge cost savings.

Source: www.cheap-gas-now.com. For more gas tips and ways to cut what you spend at the petrol pump, visit www.cheap-gas-now.com