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GM Says, Forget the Prius, We Have Big Hybrid Plans

In a series of nationwide ads, General Motors is telling consumers that it offers "Hybrid Power to the People." The ads say that the world's largest automaker is building "hybrid engines where they'll do the most good," meaning in big pickup trucks, SUVs and other large vehicles. The GM strategy should be considered carefully. If GM is right, consumers could be better off and the U.S. will lower oil imports. If wrong, GM will again damage the U.S. auto industry and trail its foreign competitors. Environmentalists already dispute much of what GM is saying. GM believes that by boosting the efficiency of the most inefficient vehicles, it will save more oil, produce less pollution and satisfy more consumers than by producing highly efficient small vehicles that might offer larger proportional improvements. "The best place for hybrid technology is larger vehicles," said Ken Stewart, GM's marketing director for new ventures, including hybrids. "We want to start big, because that is the largest benefit to society." Stewart points to GM's hybrid systems for municipal buses. A recent sale of 235 of those buses will reportedly save 750,000 gallons of fuel per year, equal to the savings of 8,000 hybrid cars. The GM […]

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Canadian Wind Atlas Released

The Canadian Wind Energy Atlas was unveiled officially by the Honourable Stphane Dion, Minister of the Environment, and the Honourable R. John Efford, Minister of Natural Resources at the Canadian Wind Energy Association Annual Conference and Tradeshow in Montreal yesterday. "An efficient, reliable supply of clean, renewable energy is an essential part of addressing climate change and respecting our Kyoto commitment, and in assuring a competitive economy for the future," said Minister Dion. "The Canadian Wind Energy Atlas is an important step in that direction, and all Canadians can be extremely proud of the Canadian scientists and researchers who have developed the exciting and valuable technology that made the Atlas possible." The just-completed Wind Energy Atlas is a massive database of high resolution wind statistics for all of Canada, making Canada the first large-area country in the world to have a comprehensive Wind Energy Atlas across its entire territory. The Wind Atlas was created with WEST – the Wind Energy Simulation Toolkit – a sophisticated computer modeling program developed by scientists with the MSC, in partnership with their colleagues at Natural Resources Canada. WEST allows planners of wind energy projects to look both backward and forward in time to generate […]

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