gas

I was reading an Associated Press article recently about all the soon-to-be-defunct product lines produced by General Motors: Pontiac, Saab, and Saturn. But another brand that's been on the way out for a while now was making headlines again, as GM looks all set in its selling off the Hummer brand to China-based Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Corporation. While it's not official yet, unless something goes awry it looks to be a done deal and GM will have washed their hands of the tanking SUV line.

With General Motors metaphorically taking its Hummer brand out to the … Read more

I've focused this week's blogs on the newest hybrid vehicles on the market for the 2010 automotive year, and today is no exception. Today's Web clip features the 2010 Mercedes-Benz ML 450 Hybrid; but fear not, as there are no boring narrators or bad techno music on this video to pull attention away from the car. In fact, the only sounds you'll hear are those of the vehicle against the wind.

The M-class rocks a 3.5-liter V-6 engine that produces 335 horsepower and starts about $55,000. The 450 ML gets about 22.5 miles … Read more

I was doing research for last week's blog about the gas guzzlin' class of 2010 automobiles, and along the way I had read some not-so-positive notes about the 2010 Porsche Cayenne GTS and its rather low gas to mileage ratio. That's too bad; it looks nice on the outside.

Also along the way I began picking up some articles about the 2010 Porsche Panamera, which reportedly marks the German auto maker's first stab at designing and manufacturing a sedan. But if you're thinking that Porsche has traded in horsepower for childproof locks and wood panels, you … Read more

This week, we've been taking a look at some of 2010's biggest gas-guzzlers. Not surprisingly, this list has been chock full of utility vehicles, and today's blog chalks up yet another entry for Land Rover. Yesterday, we got a look-see at the 2010 LR4, and our newest inductee into the Low Mileage Hall of Fame is the Land Rover Range Rover Sport (which also wins another award for the most redundant vehicle name ever). The LRRRS boasts average gas mileage of 12 mpg in the city and 17 mpg on the highway--not god awful, but certainly nothing … Read more

So here we go with another Web video clip of a Class A gas guzzler for the year 2010, the Land Rover LR4, which by all accounts is supposed to take the place of the LR3. This 2010 SUV with a 5-liter V8 engine averages 14 mpg between city and highway driving and sells for nearly 50 grand.

This video is a little different than what I've been presenting here lately; it demonstrates how the surround-vision (my own terminology, thank you very much) cameras in the LR4 can aid the driver of this big ol' SUV. It shows all … Read more

Carbon nanotech has been applied to everything from boat construction to windshields and now, with a licensing agreement from Livermore Lab, a Hayward, Calif., company will apply it to water desalination and removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

The National Nuclear Security Administration's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has licensed a new carbon nanotube technology to its spinoff company Porifera. The company will develop permeable membranes for CO2 sequestration, water desalination, and other liquid-based separations based on discoveries made at Livermore.

The technology integrates carbon nanotubes into polymer membranes, increasing the flux of carbon dioxide capture by two orders of … Read more

A couple of weeks ago, Lexus made headlines with the unveiling of its first official "supercar" at the 2009 SEMA show in Las Vegas. The Lexus LFA that debuted at SEMA is a performance vehicle that the automaker thinks will set the standard for sports and performance cars that have a high luxury quotient. Lexus has also updated its LX 570 utility vehicle for the 2010 market, and it has bells and whistles galore. It's a good thing you get so many extras with this LX, because you definitely won't get what you bargain for in … Read more

Not too long ago I delivered a few blog posts featuring some big-ol' gas guzzling SUVs like the Hummer and the Dartz Kombat. Well, I was sitting here stumped on what to write a blog about and I thought to myself that I hadn't done a full-fledged theme week with this video blog in a while, and from there I brainstormed what to do: this week's video blog posts are going to take a look at some of the worst new and ongoing offenders in gas mileage. And I figured since I was giving Hummer some air time … Read more

Trash collection giant Waste Management and the Linde Group petroleum engineering firm have partnered to create a plant that makes liquefied natural gas (LNG) from landfill gas, both companies announced this week.

Linde designed and operates the plant which is located close to Waste Management's Altamont Landfill near Livermore, Calif.

"The opening of the world's largest landfill-gas-to-LNG plant right here in California is a milestone and a testament to our commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Now that the technology has been proven, we look forward to seeing its adoption spread so more vehicles can run on … Read more