Service lets drivers dial up alternative fuel

It's not easy saving the world. Take it from drivers who have opted to change from gasoline to ethanol, but find themselves struggling to find alternative-fuel locations. It seems like an arduous task when a Shell and a Chevron are located at practically every corner, but less than 1 percent of all U.S. gas stations offer e85, according to a survey by Pavillion Technogies.

(Credit: Earthcomber)

A new service from wireless mobile information network Earthcomber helps drivers find alternative fuel by letting them search for ethanol, biodiesel, hydrogen and other alternative-fuel fill-up locations from their mobile phones, BlackBerrys, PDAs and computers at no charge. All they have to do is visit Earthcomber's URL (http://mobile.earthcomber.com) from their mobile Web browsers, go to the Transport list and type in their location. A list of potential stations will pop up.

Although this sounds like a clever and valuable service, the reality remains that there really aren't that many alternative fuel stations out there to find. Also, not every cell phone user has Internet access, which is necessary to use Earthcomber's service. I'd rather just Google "alternative fuel stations near San Francisco" on my laptop, or, better yet, rely on word of mouth to find the few applicable stations close to where I live. But maybe that's just me.

[Christopher Hall]

Saving the world?

How does using ethanol save the world, exactly?

"Ethanol may create worse smog than gasoline" @ EarthSky.org
http://www.earthsky.org/radioshows/51280/smoggy-ethanol

"Ethanol: Energy Panacea or False Promise?" @ LiveScience.com
http://www.livescience.com/environment/070418_ethanol_main.html

[jridder]

Link doesn't work

At least for me it didn't. Sure this isn't service provider specific?

[MRooneySTV]

Correct link: www.mobile.earthcomber.com

I think Earthcomber's free for anyone w Internet access--cell phone or PDA.

Which I believe, is most of us...

[Leslie Katz]

Fixed in blog too...

Thanks.

[Jimbochicago]

Re-corrected link - no W's

Easiest to put in phone browser: mobile.earthcomber.com

and then click to "Use Mobile Web", then "Try It". (That's where you'd bookmark.)

If you want to go straight there, the link is:
http://mobile.earthcomber.com/phone/comber/getLooklists.do

[Jimbochicago]

Wait...Think it through...

Let's say you actually left San Francisco, set out on a trip, covering unfamiliar territory.

Now, is it really just "clever" to be able to spot alternative fuel around you on a mobile device? Or would it make more sense to do as you suggest: Pull over. Open up your laptop. Somehow find a connection. Use Google.

Does that sound practical? Would it work at all?

Here are the actual results doing the search you suggested on Google:

Three links:

Link 1: Mapquest Lowest Fuel Prices. (I clicked on biodiesel and got three results: McCrory Arkansas, Spartanburg SC, and Virginia Beach VA.)
Link 2: GM FlexFuel Vehicles. A corporate page.
Link 3: your blog about Earthcomber, zoomed to "I'd rather just Google 'alternative fuel stations near San Francisco' "

That's it! No more hits. Google suggests removing the quotes. When you do, you get:

Same three above, plus:
Link 4: All Things Biodiesel newsletter to SF Gas Stations
Link 5: news article, circa April, about city's first Biodiesel station to be coming soon
Link 6: sfenvironment.com article that Electric Car may join city's growing fleet...
Link 7: Daily Bruin "UCLA Must pave the way for alternative fueled vehicles..."
Link 8: AFDC News (article)
Link 9: Honda Alt Fuel Vehicles (pdf)
Link 10: energy.ca.gov Resource Guide:
Infrastructure for Alternative Fuel Vehicles (how to order the report)
Link 11: alternative engergy blog..update on some non-profit group progress

END OF PAGE - 1,800,000 more Google hits, but not one so far has showed me anywhere I can fill or charge up.

Now I'm opening up Earthcomber on a Nokia, setting myself in SF. OK, clicking on Alternative Fuels list. In less than 2 seconds, the summary shows the closest: compressed natural gas (CNG) (1.1 miles) and Electric (less than 1 mile). Clicking on Electric, it took 3 seconds and shows 10 places, again ordered by proximity to my exact position. Civic Center Garage is the closest. Click. 1 second to display address, hours, details (chargers are on Levels 1 & 2) and links to get turn-by-turn directions.
So, less than 30 seconds, I have full, real-world location info via Earthcomber. The all-powerful Goog? plenty of research and info, but I'm sitting out here in the dark with my needle getting near empty, still don't know where I can fill/charge up.

This microcosm illustrates the gulf between general Internet web search and applied mobile intelligence. There is a world of conditions in which mobile information really has to be immediate to you, your surroundings, your situation.
All that is considered and accounted for with Earthcomber: it looks for ALL of your agenda around you in one shot; it's geared for the small screen; results are not web pages but tight, concise interactive location info. Because everybody carries a phone, not a laptop.
More philosophically, results are listed by proximity to where you are - not by who paid for top placement in your zip code.

When you think through this whole picture objectively, one can begin to see that some information is indeed best found and viewed on big screen, big keyboard, in a stationary setting. But other informational needs demand to be served in context, on the spot, in the moment, via something you can reasonably carry with you, in your pocket. Situations like when you're looking for fuel!

You raise a conceptual challenge with your question, How many alternative fuel stations *are* there, really? (FTR: 10s of thousands registered with the US D.O.E., tho that is indeed small compared to gasoline.) Still, it is scarcity and obscurity that demand effective location search&discovery. Nobody needs hi-tech gear to spot a Starbucks. But to discover your exact needs, personal passions, niche businesses, serendipitous events as you actually go through the real world, our expectation of tech has to be higher than box-search queries. We have to re-groom technology and information delivery to do the magic for us, not let it sit there smugly like Comic Book Guy waiting for us to ask questions that get algorithmed into somebody else's agenda or a pile of info that has nothing to do with me, here, now.

Think how much more user experience you'd have if you eliminate STEP 1: Research, and went straight to STEP 2: Go out and carpe diem!