article thumbnail

Looking to get in a hybrid for cheap? Used Toyota Prius 1.5 HSD 2004-2009 Review

Green Car Congress

I knew I wanted something for her that was cheap to maintain, had a reliable automatic transmission, came with cruise control, AC. On the way there, I made a pit stop at a gas station to buy a bottle of champagne as a gift, hoping to start out a conversation with a stranger on the right foot. It was time to buy our first car.

2004 409
article thumbnail

Volvo to Run Begin Field Testing Heavy-Duty Trucks Using Methane-Diesel Combination

Green Car Congress

Volvo Trucks will begin field testing in Sweden and the UK in 2010 of heavy-duty diesel trucks fuelled by a combination of methane gas and diesel. The field tests will start with a mixture containing up to 70% methane gas. Volvo expects to be able to run on up to 80-90% methane gas once the technology has been refined and tested.

Volvo 236
article thumbnail

ADB draft report says 3B Asians could become affluent by 2050; significant challenges

Green Car Congress

Fast-growing economies like the People’s Republic of China (PRC), India, Indonesia, and Viet Nam cannot afford to fall into the middle income trap when seeking to move from resource-driven growth that is dependent on cheap labor and capital to growth based on high productivity and innovation, the report cautions. Energy consumption.

Asia 186
article thumbnail

KPMG study identifies 10 sustainability “megaforces” with accelerating impacts on business; imperative of sustainability changing the automotive business radically

Green Car Congress

The advantages many companies experienced in the last two decades from “cheap labor” in developing nations are likely to be eroded by the growth and power of the global middle class. The challenge for businesses is to serve this new middle class market at a time when resources are likely to be scarcer and more price volatile. billion in 2005.

article thumbnail

Devil In The Details: Is Copenhagens 2 ºC Guardrail Obsolete?

Green Car Congress

Neil Adger and Jon Barnett lay out four “reasons for concern about adaptation” to climate change, to counter “what we perceive to be a widespread belief that adaptation will be smooth, cheap, and easy to implement.”. Barbara Ward, René Dubos, Only One Earth, UN Conference on the Human Environment, 1972. In the political arena, the 1.5

article thumbnail

Main Page - EAA-PHEV

Tony Karrer Delicious EVdriven

utilizing these ideas and instructions in an attempting to enhance national security, reduce gas consumption, vehicle "emissions", your carbon footprint, or smog, you do so at your own risk & peril. However they also retain the ability to travel long distances when utilizing the existing gas or diesel refueling infrastructure.

PHEV 49
article thumbnail

Report from the REFF-Wall Street; Themes in Renewable Energy Finance

Green Car Congress

billion in 2004 to $117 billion 2007 with the first three quarters of 2008 averaging 29% higher than 2007. In general, the sponsor’s goal is to use as much cheap debt financing and as little equity as possible to complete the deal. Dr. Paul comments, “Oil and gas companies finance exploration out of their cash flows.

Financing 150