by ken winston caine

See the November 2007 Fast Company piece on Kansan “Johnathan Goodwin [who] can:

• “get 100 mpg out of a Lincoln Continental,

• “cut emissions by 80%, and

• “double the horsepower.

“Does the car business have the guts to follow him?” asks Fast Company in headline type.

His bio-diesel/hydrogen/electric hybrid Hummer gets 60 mpg, has double the horsepower of a stock model, and “does zero to 60 in five seconds.”

Goodwin transforms noxious polluting, gas-hog muscle cars into super-powerful clean green machines using current technology and readily available Detroit parts.

He charges $25,000 per vehicle to manage the metamorphosis. His clientele is mainly celebreties and industry titans — the ultra-rich.

Detroit IS paying attention. But how long ’til this super-low-emission, renewable-energy, power-doubling, fuel-stingy technology is available to the rest of us?

Click this link to read Fast Company’s fascinating article on this fascinating young innovator: (more…)

Not available in the U.S. yet, but a hot new Honda Accord (popular in Britain since February 2004) got 77 miles-per-gallon in a 419-mile real-world driving test and has set world speed records in its class.

(That’s 77 U.S. miles per gallon, calculated from the 92 mpg it got with Imperial gallons. … Would someone please check my math on this? I’m finding it hard to believe that European Accords get 77 mpg and U.S. ones don’t get 40.)

This spunky, full-size Accord goes from standing stop to 54 mph in a quarter mile. It looks just like the one in your neighbor’s driveway.

Oh. Did I mention that it runs on high-energy, low-polluting “clean diesel”? That’s (more…)

by Ken Winston Caine

Federal regulations require filling stations to pump low-sulfur “clean diesel” beginning in September. And a new breed of powerful, quieter, 97% cleaner diesel engine that takes full advantage of the more refined fuel will be under the hoods of cars on U.S. streets…sometime soon.

Vehicles running on “clean diesel” fuel don’t leave clouds of black soot in their wake, emit less carbon dioxide than gasoline-burning vehicles and get about 30% better mileage.

With all this, a J.D. Powers forecaster is predicting that 2008 will be the “year of the diesel” (the new diesel) in the U.S. and that clean diesel will become the new “green car” for the masses. It already is in Europe. And is moving into India big-time this year.

Mercedes, Volkswagen, BMW, Nissan and Honda are bringing “clean diesel” versions of their popular models to the U.S. market. Mercedes and VW models are expectred in showrooms this (more…)

by Ken Winston Caine

Forget hybrids, forget hydrogen. Diesel is the car of the future, predicts investment advisor Justice Litle.

Litle argues:

• The technology for quiet, clean-burning diesel engines already exists, (just hasn’t been required or implemented yet in the U.S. — but is state of the art in Europe).

• Diesel engines get better mileage than gas.

• Oil prices will not be coming down other than possibly in minor blips, and diesel fuel can be made from replenishable plant oils, recycled cooking oil and abundant coal oil shale — and all at prices comparable to today’s $3-per-gallon gas, and (more…)