Clean diesel surpasses hybrids and E85
E85 is even worse than using straight gasoline
According to a cost-benefit analysis study, The Benefits and Costs of New Fuels and Engines for Cars and Light Trucks, by John Graham at the Frederick S. Pardee Rand Graduate School, diesel and even just regular gasoline, is better than E85.
The author looks from the consumer's perspective, taking into account technology cost, fuel savings, mobility, and performance and finds that advanced diesel technology offers the most value for the three types of vehicles examined (passenger cars, sport utility vehicles, and pickup trucks).
The study assumes fuel prices of $2.50 per gallon for gasoline, $2.59 per gallon for diesel fuel (state taxes vary), and $2.04 per gallon for E85 (including tax credit). In York, there is currently a 50 cent difference between the price of regular and diesel. The report also examines scenarios where fuel costs are much higher and much lower.
E85 does not generate net societal benefits unless a breakthrough reduces ethanol production costs or gas prices stay near their current high levels for a sustained period of time. And doesn't take into account Cellulosic ethanol (not corn based, if technology evolves) (from press release on study)
Advanced diesel technology has captured about 50% of the new light-duty market in Europe, but diesel offerings in the United States are currently limited to 2% of the light duty vehicle market.
This is about to change.
U.S. auto manufacturers and politicians have been in love with corn based ethanol. It is a profitable, marketable oozing Band-aid for the public relations nightmare of global warming and our national energy dependence on foreign oil.

Over 230 years of renewable, tax free, profit and pollution free energy captured and harnessed in York County by a machine made out of wood, stone and iron.
I am always marveled by these early accomplishments of self-sufficiency that harnessed renewable energy. It reminds me that historically, "renewable energy" wasn't a future, high-tech technology that seems untouchable by consumers today, but once was fueled by the freedom to harness creativity in an immature economic/political environment.
vehicle through the tail pipe. In turn, the fuel cell stack powers an electric motor, which drives the front wheels. There is also an auxiliary lithium ion battery to store extra juice created by the stack, the motor (which behaves like a generator when decelerating) and additional energy gathered from the regenerative braking system. The battery is used during start-up or to assist the engine if the demands of the right foot exceed the power output of the stack. 


A mini-split heat pump allows several separately zoned, usually 2-4 individual room units, to run off one compressor unit. The LG system actually scales the work of the compressor outside to match the current demands of each thermostat. Only a 1 1/2 inch hole is needed through a wall to pass refrigerant lines from inside to out.
There is a new/old color for the Christmas tree. We have come a long way from the red eye LED lights of the 1980's. Soft white has joined the ranks of the dazzling array of LED colors that have up until now not provided a light soft enough to be a replacement for a classic warm filament bulb.
The sales pitch is that the bulb will pay for itself in a few years because it uses about 88% less power than a traditional filament bulb and lasts over 10 times longer making up for the price surcharge which can be 5 times a filament set. This is indeed great news for reducing energy consumption. They are also more sturdy than glass tubes.
, the hybrid version is only a couple miles better than their gas-only version (24/32) for a hefty surcharge.
As gasoline prices quietly scrolled past $3 a gallon locally this week and a barrel of crude nears $100 there wasn't much to say here at greenmesh, though it's an oozing fissure in the dome of the volcanic energy crisis. 

