diesel

Big brands shy away from online advertising. Let's blame someone.

Yesterday I suggested two things. (Well, here anyway.)

That McDonalds sometimes make better ads than bugers and that it seems display advertising online isn't quite the big money souffle you might think.

Today, I discover that a wonderful McDonalds billboard last night won a Gold Lion at the Cannes Advertising Festival.

And that the Washington Post published an article suggesting big brands are not embracing display ads online.

The article attributes the lack of hefty cash being invested online to three factors: the reluctance of big brands that have been around a long time to experiment with something new; … Read more

Solazyme's algae diesel ready to hit the road

Tiny algae is ready for some long-haul trucking.

Solazyme, a South San Francisco, Calif.-based company that creates synthetic biological products, said Wednesday that its microalgae-derived fuel is the first renewable diesel to meet the American Society for Testing and Materials' D-975 specifications.

The fuel is chemically the same as petroleum-derived diesel, Solazyme said, so it can be distributed using the existing infrastructure. But it burns cleaner than petroleum-derived diesel, with fewer particulates and sulfur levels.

A 100 percent blend of Solazyme's diesel has been road-tested in a 2005 Jeep Liberty with a diesel engine, the company said in … Read more

Photos: Production diesels

With more than half of the European market share for new cars, diesels are starting to push their way back to the United States. Faced with tough emissions standards, European and Japanese manufacturers are using a range of "clean-diesel" technologies for the new crop of production cars, which they hope will dispel the image of diesels as oil-burning smog-spewers. Check out our roundup of diesel cars from this year's auto show season that are confirmed--or strongly expected--to make it U.S. showrooms soon.

Go to the Production diesels gallery.

Green car buying guide

If you think buying a "green" car is as easy as picking the paint color, we've got news for you--there are different types of green and many different car choices. Are you trying to reduce smog and its attendant health risks, or are greenhouse gases and global climate change your biggest concern? And those aren't exclusive concerns, either. Amongst the types of cars you can choose, there are hybrids, PZEVs, SULEVs, flex fuel vehicles, natural gas vehicles, and even diesels. We also take a look at future technologies that are in heavy development and could the … Read more

A ship that floats on bubbles, and other green boats

I'd like to thank licensed ship captain and editor of the gCaptain.com blog, John A. Conrad, for this one: a ship that floats on a curtain of bubbles.

The Bubbling Ship is a concept devised by Yoshiaki Kodama, director of the Advanced Maritime Transport Technology Department at Japan's National Maritime Research Institute in Tokyo. The ship would blow bubbles from slits near the bow of the ship. The bubbles would travel along the hull, reduce friction, and hence increase gas mileage.

Is it feasible now? No, but that's what research grants are for. Ships are one … Read more

Video: Mercedes M-Class

At the 2008 New York International auto show, Brian Cooley takes a look at the newly redesigned Mercedes M-Class. It not only got a refreshed design outside, but also the inside has been updated with a richer media interface and a new voice-control system.

Click here for more 2008 New York auto show coverage.

Mercedes-Benz claims world's cleanest diesel

Mercedes-Benz showed off the BlueTEC ML320 SUV at the 2008 New York auto show. According to Mercedes-Benz, its AddBlue technology makes the ML320 the world's cleanest diesel. The ML320 BlueTEC uses a turbocharged diesel 3.2-liter V-6 engine, producing 210 horsepower and 398 foot-pounds of torque. That engine is mated to a seven speed automatic transmission, giving it wide range of gear ratios appropriate for city and freeway driving. The ML320 BlueTEC represents the first use of AddBlue technology in the U.S. AddBlue is a urea-based liquid that, when injected into the exhaust stream, converts 80 percent of … Read more

Sail-powered cargo ship test results in: It cut fuel by 20 percent

Sail power is back.

The MV Beluga SkySails, a cargo ship rigged up with a billowing 160-meter sail from SkySails, used approximately 20 percent less fuel than it would have without the sail during a two-month voyage. Put another way, that's 2.5 tons of fuel, or $1,000 a day, in operating costs. Beluga Shipping ultimately hopes to save $2,000 a day with the technology.

The ship left Bremen, Germany, on the 22nd of January, sailed to Venezuela, and then headed toward the Norwegian port of Mo-I-Rana, docking on March 13. In all, the ship sailed 11,… Read more

Transonic: the best of both diesel and gasoline?

Whereas diesel engines have made great strides in the European auto markets, here in the U.S., gasoline still dominates. Apparently, the prospect of much higher fuel mileage and lower CO2 emissions from diesels doesn't overcome the objections of U.S. environmental regulatory authorities concerned mainly about local air quality issues. I suspect that, even if (when?) these objections are overcome by continued refinement, diesels will still find it difficult to win market share in the U.S., largely because of the wider availability of gasoline.

A possible win-win solution may be forthcoming. A California firm named Transonic Combustion … Read more