New Sporty Electric Car Breaks the Mold of EV

Telsa Company is going into production with it's new sexy electric car this month. This little sports car boasts an un-electric car look, something more like a european high performance sports car in styling. In a news release, Telsa announces it has passed all the regulatory milestones and is beginning production on this award winning electric car design in march. This roadster is 100% electric, will go from 0 - 60 mph in under 4 seconds! This is the first mainstream electric vehicle, coming from a company outside of the big carmakers.

The MPG equivalent is 135 miles per gallon and will go up to 220 miles on a single charge. These are some great numbers and is sending a message to the big car makers that it is time to provide a real alternative vehicle to the consumer. The company says they are booked for the next three years with the vehicle selling for $98,000.

This is a car to watch. I encourage you to read the CEO's blog about his use of the first Telsa Roadster in his daily commute. Good reading!

Price of Crude Tops $100

Well, Crude finally broke the 100 dollar barrier! This is actually good news for alternative fuels. If it can stay above it, then we will see some real innovation and adoption of alternative fuels result. OPEC is making the same mistake again by letting the price of oil get this high. In the late 70s, the price of oil was up to about what it is now(over $100/barrel in today's dollars) and the US reacted. We insulated our homes, we got better mpg's, we lowered our speed limit, we made more efficient appliances, and we effectively lowered our energy use. The result was an oversupply in the crude market, and eventually lower production. When OPEC lowered the price, the US didn't pull out the insulation or go back to less efficient appliances. All the energy savings that we did actually did make a difference, and OPEC had to wait for demand to ramp back up. You can see this on this graph prepared by the Department of Energy.
It did finally, especially when China and India began to come online.

This price level makes it profitable for all types of alternative fuels. It also makes 2-3 trillion barrels of harder to get to oil resources financially viable also. The good news is much of these harder to refine oil resources are in the western hemisphere, so the major source of oil will change over time if the world continues to rely on fossil fuel.

Anyway, I have added a crude oil price indicator to this blog, so you can easily see the price and see the incentive this will have for alternative fuels. Of course, the other driver for alternative fuels is our environment, I will be looking for an index that will show that as well, if I can find a viable indicator. Any thoughts on what we should watch will be appreciated.

Great Solar Panel Construction Video

Just found a great little how-to solar power video posted by Mother Earth News. The video shows making solar panels in the simplest way possible. There is some neat technology involved, and I am looking to learn more about it. But this video is promising. Check it out!