clean

Study: No savings at 62 mpg

Raising federal fuel economy standards to as high as 56 mpg in the 2025 model year would yield fuel savings to consumers that more than offset higher vehicle prices, a new study found.

But lifting corporate average fuel economy to 62 mpg would result in vehicle price increases that exceed fuel savings over a five-year period, according to the nonprofit Center for Automotive Research.

The report highlights room for compromise on the Obama administration's preliminary proposal to raise CAFE to between 47 mpg and 62 mpg from the 2017 to 2025 model years.

Environmental groups have pushed for 62 … Read more

This Day in Tech: Alleged hackers arrested, Spotify inks U.S. deal

Too busy to keep up with the tech news? Here are some of the more interesting stories from CNET for Friday, June 10.

Pandora ups IPO price to $10 to $12 per share The online music service has bumped the share price up from the previously announced range of $7 to $9 per share. More

Google wading deeper into clean energy Job ads show that the tech giant is bulking up its internal renewable-energy engineering team to advance R&D and make clean energy cheaper. More

iOS 5 beta jailbreak gets broader push Days after initially jailbreaking the new … Read more

Fuzzy iPhone photos? Here's a quick fix

Lately I've noticed that the photos I've snapped with my iPhone 4 have looked less than sharp. Fuzzy, even. I tried a couple different photo apps, as well as some video recording; same result.

I checked the lens to make sure it didn't have any dust or other flotsam on it, and it seemed fine. But on closer inspection, with the light hitting it at just the right angle, I discovered the problem: a fingerprint.

Somewhere along the way (probably while pulling the phone out of my pocket), I'd managed to muck up the lens with … Read more

Report: Top 10 clean-energy states identified

Policy promoting green technology may be on the rise, but does that translate into well-developed technology--and, most importantly, more capital--for the states promoting it?

The results of an extensive study released Wednesday by consulting firm Clean Edge offers some answers.

The survey used more than 3,500 data points and 70 major indicators drawing from both municipal and private data sources to evaluate all 50 states in the U.S. for how well they did on policy, technology, and capital when it came to green tech.… Read more

Grill brush hides the cleaner

It's almost that time of year again, but that doesn't mean you can't get a head start on the action. The grilling action, that is. After all, when it comes to grilling, any time is a good time--just sometimes the weather doesn't cooperate. But with sunnier days ahead, it is time to roll out the grill. Which also means it's time to clean it.

No matter how much grime has collected on the grill over the winter, it will only get grimier with regular use. To keep your grill in tip-top shape all summer long, … Read more

Study: Electric cars, hybrids too expensive for most

Despite rising prices at the pump, many consumers are still reluctant to purchase vehicles with alternative power trains because of cost and misunderstandings about the new technologies available.

That's according to the J.D. Power and Associates "2011 U.S. Green Automotive Study," whose primary findings were released today.

The J.D. Power and Associates study was conducted in February and included interviews with over 4,000 U.S. consumers planning to buy a new vehicle within one to five years. It estimates that alternative vehicles will make up less than 10 percent of the market by … Read more

From Clean Tech to CleanWeb

Web technologies are not only letting people telecommute and cutting down on paper--thus reducing greenhouse emissions and saving trees--they're also letting us get more efficient use out of buildings, cars, and everyday objects.

That's according to Sunil Paul, founder of Spring Ventures, who spoke at the GreenNet conference yesterday about how the so-called "CleanWeb" can enable services that reduce the carbon footprint of our lifestyles.

What is the CleanWeb? It's "the idea that information technology is going to be the next big driver of clean-tech innovation and the proposition that IT is going to … Read more

Streamlining your gadget collection (video)

I remember a time not too long ago when my pockets were stuffed with my cell phone, a digital camera, and my MP3 player. Oh, and the glove box of my car housed a GPS device. No longer. Thanks to the functionality of a smartphone, I've been able to carry just one gadget for all of my chit-chatting, photo-taking, music-playing, and navigational needs. Thank goodness, because those pockets were getting bulky and it was getting expensive to continually update each device.

The accompanying video below is all about those gadgets that you no longer need to invest in--for example, … Read more

Shift fossil fuel subsidies to back clean tech: IEA

Fossil fuel subsidies worth $312 billion should be realigned to ensure the growth of renewable energy and curb the world's reliance on carbon-intensive fuels, the International Energy Agency said in a report.

Demand for fossil fuels is outstripping the deployment of cleaner technologies. Renewable energy has seen growth rates of 30 percent to 40 percent over recent years but coal has met 47 percent of global new electricity demand over the past decade, the IEA said in its "Clean Energy Progress Report" (PDF) today.

To change this, the IEA suggests realigning fossil fuel subsidies to support clean … Read more