The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently released the 2007 Fuel Economy Guide to help consumers make well-informed choices when purchasing new vehicles. This year’s Toyota Prius, Honda Civic, Toyota Camry Hybrid and Ford Escape Hybrid FWD models top the list.  Continued

02/03/07 - Over in the Netherlands, University of Eindhoven scientist John Kessels said he optimized auto engine performance by adding a piece of software to a car's computer.  

Kessels' software does its trick by dynamically switching a dynamo that charges a car's battery, from on and off.

Kessels told the news agency Reuters that a piece of software and a simple cable could allow cars to save 2.6 percent on their fuel use. The software isn't proprietary, so it can be used in any car with an engine computer, which means most modern cars.

He went on to report to Reuters that fuel saving of up to 6 percent were foreseeable if car engines were able to be switched on and off, but this would require adjustments to the car engine,

02/02/07 - Google CEO Eric Schmidt said on PBS' Nightly Business Report that, "Clean tech will be as big as biotech in Silicon Valley."

01/31/07 - The European Commission unveiled a broad strategy to cut carbon dioxide emissions from cars, proposing binding limits. Depending on your perspective, the response from automakers might be best in the bad news column. They say that the EUs action will threaten jobs and lead to big price increases for consumers. What do you think? Talk about this on our blog site.
 

02/14/07 - Daimler-Chrysler execs gathered in Detroit to announce the shutdown of two Chrysler plants and the layoff of 3000. It also appears they are looking for a way to separate the profitable German manufacturer of Mercedes-Benz vehicles from Chrysler. Analysts are keeping their eyes open for entry of a powerful "private equity" group that has been noticed buying up auto parts makers around the world.

02/05/07 - Hyundai's CEO Chung Mong-koo was convicted of embezzlement. Even more disturbing is the reason why he was doing this. It seems he was keeping a 10 million dollar slush fund to pay off lobbyists and other government figures for favors.

01/18/07 - Consumer Reports stubbed a toe of its gigantic reputation for high quality product reviews when it stated that child car seats separated from their bases at 38 mph side impacts and 35 mph frontal impacts.

On this day they retracted that claim, after retesting of their assertion by a government testing lab found that the child car seats didn't separate from their bases unless speeds were twice as high. Wait a minute, even my shaky math skill can calculate that parents with children in their vehicles should keep to the speed limits.