Grist | Topics | 16 Results

RESULTS		Results 1 – 16 of 16
Headline	Author	Published	Section
Tired of waiting for efficiency Our right to know about fuel-efficient tires	Eric de Place	22 Aug 2008	Gristmill
I'm always fascinated by the '1 percent solutions' to energy. It seems to me that in order to address both climate change and fossil fuel dependence, we'll need a few big structural changes, but we'll also need a lot of 1 percent solutions -- and maybe a bunch of quarter-percent solutions too. And the advantage of the 1 percent solutions is that they're often exceedingly easy; and so cheap that they actually put money in your pocket. So I enjoyed Cindy Skrzycki's co ...
Topics: Congress, energy, fuel efficiency, green living (all these topics)

High gas prices, healthy new habits Gallup shows Americans making smart choices to break the gas habit.	Anna Fahey	16 May 2008	Gristmill
It took soaring fuel prices for old habits to shift. But they're shifting alright. Just take a look at these poll results -- Gallup finds that big numbers of Americans are making changes in their daily lives to deal with higher gas prices. Here's a snapshot: Most telling, perhaps, is that 7 out of 10 poll respondents are considering a more fuel-efficient car. That's a change that'll help control energy costs for years to come, no matter what happens to the price of gasol ...
Topics: cars, energy, fuel efficiency, gas prices, green living, shopping (all these topics)

The slow car movement Easing off the gas eases gas use	Eric de Place	28 Apr 2008	Gristmill
A few weeks ago, Clark wrote about truck drivers slowing down to economize on fuel. It's a great story, but was it a real trend or just anecdotal? Photo: Pietro Izzo Well, I'm here to report that there's some truth to it. Or at least some truthiness. A recent Congressional Budget Office paper examining the effects of gas prices found this: 'Freeway motorists have adjusted to higher prices by making fewer trips and driving more slowly.' That's surprisi ...
Topics: energy, fuel efficiency, green living (all these topics)

What is the Vectrix? Electric bike zips up Berkeley hills with ease	Adam Browning	24 Apr 2008	Gristmill
An ex-girlfriend of mine placed great diagnostic weight on the following question: Would you rather have one cookie now or two cookies later? I am generally a two-cookies-later person, and she ... well, now that I think of it, she was more of a two-cookies-now kind of person, which explains ... Photo: Sonietta46 I digress. The point is that if you have been reading all the recent news about the Tesla and the Volt, and now Think is coming to America, a ...
Topics: bikes, electric vehicles, energy, fuel efficiency, green living, placemaking (all these topics)

Another urban legend is spawned Prius 'proven' to get worse gas mileage than BMW 520d	biodiversivist	27 Mar 2008	Gristmill
This story in the U.K.'s Times Online is racing around the interwebs. Google 'BMW 520d' and note how many pages deep it goes. Two goofballs journalists took a road trip, one in a Prius and the other in a BMW 520d. The BMW purportedly got about 4 percent better gas mileage than the 'gas guzzling' Prius, which amazingly only managed a dismal 40 mpg. Coincidentally, that is exactly what our Prius got on a road trip last summer, which was not only jammed with people and c ...
Topics: cars, energy, fuel efficiency, green living, Prius (all these topics)

How SUVs can save the climate When is a Tundra a better buy than a Prius?	Eric de Place	20 Dec 2007	Gristmill
This never fails to fascinate me: The chart shows how much fuel is consumed over 15,000 miles by cars of different fuel efficiencies. The curve matters a lot. It means that from the perspective of fuel conservation, it's not terribly important to trade in your Honda Civic to buy a Prius. But it's hugely important to trade in your Dodge Durango for a Toyota Tacoma. I'll use some rough numbers to illustrate. You trade in your Civic, which averages ...
Topics: green living, fuel efficiency, energy, cars, consumerism (all these topics)

Engines could easily gulp less gas MIT lab rats cook up a less wasteful gasoline engine	Elsa Mary	03 Aug 2007	Gristmill
Don't hum the requiem for the gasoline engine just yet. MIT brainiacs say it's easier than imagined to flip a car between the usual gas-guzzling state to a low-pollution, ultra-efficient mode. The researchers have tested a system that can run on a quarter less than the usual amount of gas without needing any fancy fuel. With the flick of a switch, the setup alternates between regular, spark-triggered combustion and experimental homogeneous charge compression ignitio ...
Topics: cars, energy, fuel efficiency, green living, oil, placemaking (all these topics)

Is the Chevy Volt just more GM greenwashing? Sure looks that way	Joseph Romm	29 Jul 2007	Gristmill
Back in May, I was seduced by GM's seeming sincerity in developing a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, the Chevy Volt. We must always remember, however, that GM is a master greenwasher. An article in Edmunds, 'Chevrolet Volt Goes to Washington To Underline GM's Anti-CAFE-Increase Argument,' suggests GM is using the Volt the same way it used fuel cell cars to kill the electric car in California (as the movie explains): General Motors' North American operations chief, ...
Topics: business, cars, electric vehicles, energy, fuel efficiency, green living, greenwashing, hybrids (all these topics)

Everyone's a critic A quick review of Project Phin	Adam Browning	27 Jul 2007	Gristmill
By my lights, the world's best movie critic is Janet Maslin, hands down. She has a simple formula: she lets you know if the movie sucks or not, she doesn't give away the ending, and she is funny. Take her review of The Bridges of Madison County. The second 'graph begins like this: 'Arguably the world's longest greeting card ... ' Beautiful. Someday I hope to be able to slide a metaphoric shiv with such economy. Anyway, the NYT has Maslin off movies and on the boo ...
Topics: energy, fuel efficiency, green living, movies (all these topics)

Plug-in hybrids rule; PHEV Hypercars rule even more Let's go all the way	Gar Lipow	26 Jul 2007	Gristmill
When David pointed out that plug-in electric hybrids (PHEVs) can reduce carbon emissions in all possible futures, two main arguments were raised in opposition -- practicality, and the possibility that they will provide too low a reduction, while blocking the path to something better. The way commercial plug-ins look to be implemented within the next five years is that normal hybrids will be built with large batteries and the ability to plug into a socket in your d ...
Topics: cars, electric vehicles, energy, fuel efficiency, green living, hybrids, placemaking, tech (all these topics)

Go Get 'Em, Plugger Plug-in hybrids would reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, says new study		23 Jul 2007	Daily Grist
Go Get 'Em, Plugger Plug-in hybrids would reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, says new study Plug-in hybrid vehicles, long extolled here at Grist HQ, seem always to elicit one question from doubters: Wouldn't running cars on electricity just mean more emissions from power plants? Answer: No! According to a ne ...
Topics: cars, climate, electric vehicles, electricity grid, energy, fuel efficiency, green living, greenhouse-gas emissions, hybrids, news, placemaking (all these topics)

CAFE news; Obama's speech The logjam is breaking	David Roberts	07 May 2007	Gristmill
It appears that after a long period of haggling -- involving the bizarre tableau of Republican Ted Stevens pushing for tougher regulations -- the Senate Commerce Committee is ready to cough up a bill that would raise CAFE standards to 35mpg by 2019 (35mpg across the fleet, including light trucks). The committee is expected to vote through the proposal tomorrow; that would lead to the first floor vote on CAFE since 2002, and if passed, the first fuel-economy boost in ...
Topics: Barack Obama, cars, energy, ethanol, fuel efficiency, green living, politics (all these topics)

Lawyers instead of engineers	David Roberts	23 Mar 2007	Gristmill
As a warm-up for suing California over fuel-economy standards, automakers are ... suing Vermont over fuel-economy standards.
Topics: cars, energy, fuel efficiency, green living (all these topics)

Gnarly Davidson On motorcycles	Umbra Fisk	28 May 2003	Ask Umbra
Dear Umbra, I recently read a claim that "motorcycles produce far more pollution per mile than your typical car, truck, or SUV." Is that true? I've got a friend who's currently making her (bad-ass) way across country on a Harley -- 60 mpg, baby -- and we are both curious about the environmental impacts compared with a car. Billy Brooklyn, N.Y. Dearest Billy, Bad news for your friend and her bad behind. If she's getting 60 miles ...
Topics: advice, air pollution, Ask Umbra, cars, energy, fuel efficiency, green living, placemaking (all these topics)

Vantastic On minivans	Umbra Fisk	28 May 2003	Ask Umbra
Dear Umbra, We have a six-year-old daughter, a three-year-old daughter, and -- surprise! (well, not completely) -- a new baby girl due in the next two months. Our fuel-efficient car cannot fit two car seats and a booster across the back seat, and according to Washington state law ("six-years-old and 60 pounds"), my petite six-year-old will remain in her booster for some time. I've been looking into minivans but am discouraged by their poo ...
Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, cars, energy, fuel efficiency, green living, placemaking (all these topics)

Car Talk On hybrid cars	Umbra Fisk	04 Jun 2002	Ask Umbra
Umbra, hi, With Honda having just released its gas-electric hybrid Civic in the U.S., many enviros are scrambling to buy one. But one question that hasn't been answered to my knowledge is whether the total amount of energy, pollution, mining, etc. involved in making a new car -- even a hybrid -- constitutes a greater overall environmental impact than the added emissions and fossil-fuel consumption of a huge old second-hand clunker that would cost ...
Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, cars, energy, fuel efficiency, green living, placemaking (all these topics)

Stories About: energy AND fuel efficiency AND green living