By Fireball Tim

Movie Car Design Master

Cruisin’ up Pacific Coast Highway today I spotted some wild buses. At first, I noticed that the paint scheme of one of them was pretty sweet, then after stopping, I got a closer look. Owners Steve Hopkins and Johnny Martinez were sportin’ BIOBUSES. Vegetable Oil as fuel, these sweet cruisers head all over the state doing events and promoting green goodness.

It’s one thing to paint up a bus like the Partridge Family, but to do something with a purpose and promote all things positive is cool. We need more of that in this country right now. They’ll be doing tons of green mods soon, but for now, it’s off to Vons for some Wesson. More pics after the jump!

Continue reading "Bio Buses Spotted on PCH" »

By Ron Honig

WaytooFurious

Muscle car and Bentley are not usually two phrases that you would see in the same sentence. However that is all going to change with the release of the Extreme Bentley at the 2009 International Geneva Motor Show. Running on Bentley’s new Flex Fuel Technology, it will be able to run on biofuel or gasoline. According to Bentley this is going to be the world’s fastest production car. Personally, I can’t wait to see it. Check it out.

Entwerfer des Audis over at VWVortex has come up with an excellent alternative to our dependence on foreign oil. I’ll let his words and design sketch speak for themselves.

Our addiction to oil has gotten completely out of control, and ethanol and biodiesel require growing things to produce. Hydrogen is good, but we have to use lots of water and energy to produce it, so we should combine it with something else to use it more efficiently. Batteries are nice, but they’re very heavy and expensive, and they’re not as durable as many of us would like.

My proposal is this: Think about how much raw sewage we waste when it burns so well. Why not power cars with feces? Use a fuel cell to produce water, which can be used to move fecal matter away from the vehicle’s occupants and allow it to sit in a U-bend to keep odors out of the interior of the car. The feces are carried to a burn chamber and incinerated, and the heat produced is used to convert water to steam, which is then run through a turbine and used to generate electricity. The energy lost from the steam when travelling through the turbine cools it and returns it to a liquid state, allowing it to be run through the system again. These are the driving ideas behind the Turdbiodiesel!® Hydrogen Sh*t Hybrid†.

†Turdbiodiesel® Hydrogen Sh*t Hybrid is a registered trademark of DoubleNaught, Turbiodiesel!, and Entwerfer des Audis. Note: The seats feature large side bolsters for use in case of constipation. Turdbiodiesel® S will include the standard vehicle, ten 50-lb. sacks of Dipstick County pinto beans, and ten gallons of green chiles.

With gas prices going through the roof, it makes sense that you’d have to start worrying about getting your gas siphoned by thieves. But it looks like fast food restaurants are going to start finding their tanks empty as well. David Richardson, an employee of Restaurant Oils of America, was caught pumping out the storage tank of a Burger King with which his company didn’t have an account. His 5000-gallon tanker truck was half full of cooking oil, so it’s unclear how many other unauthorized siphonings he did. He then transported the oil to a recycling center in California that pays more per gallon than recyclers in Nevada. Restaurant owners normally have to pay to have their old grease hauled away, so it’s the company Richardson works for that’s actually taking the hit here.

Remember the VW Jetta TDI Cup Series we told you about not too long ago? You know, the one where VW is looking for 40 drivers (30 drivers, 10 backup) between the ages of 16-26 to participate in the series? The one where the winner will walk away with $1500, and the Series Point Champion will naba cool hundred grand? And then we mentioned that if the Series Champ is selected for a professional Motorsport series within six months, theprize is upped to $250,000? Starting to sound familiar? No? Huh…. I could have sworn we mentioned it.
Well, it’s an incredible opportunity. If you like to drive, and really like to drive fast, and want to do it in a professional environment in a specially equipped factory race car, you might want to head over to VW’s website and sign up. The deadline is fast approaching – February 29th! You can check out the full press release after the jump.

Continue reading "Time's Running Out: Jetta TDI Cup Registration Is Almost Up!" »

Two studies published recently in the prestigious journal Science concluded that biofuels make greenhouse gases worse. Though many groups have touted the environmental benefits of biofuel, these two studies
took a close look at the total global environmental impact of producing these so-called "green" fuels.

"Corn-based ethanol almost doubles greenhouse-gas output over 30 years when the land-use changes to grow corn are considered. Cellulosic ethanol made in the U.S. from switchgrass, a fuel that has been singled out by President Bush as a way to reduce the country’s dependence on oil, produces 50 percent more emissions than gasoline does, the study said."

Read the full article in The Seattle Times.

Nissan and Chrysler are talking about cooperating to make cars. If I were Nissan, I might wait for Chrysler to sort out its turnaround a little better first:

• I’m all about making cars run on biofuels. It makes sense. I’m not sure I can get behind racing a biofueled boat around the world. Don’t they have sails for that? I also don’t care that it is also a great way to lose weight (you really just have to read the whole article): Autoblog Green 
• Jaguar and Land Rover will soon be owned by the company that also makes the $2,500 car. Now I just need to find a Tata emblem to affix to John’s Jag: Motor Authority 
• I know the EPA doesn’t think it can just rule that California can’t set its own emissions standards and expect that the freakin’ Terminator isn’t going to come after them: Leftlane News

After stalling major overhauls of fuel-economy standards for over two decades, and being dragged kicking and screaming into an agreement on new mileage requirements, the auto industry seems content that the compromise reached Saturday is basically a fair deal. Under this agreement, automakers will be required to increase average fleet mileage to 35 mpg by 2020, representing a 40% increase over the current standards of 27.5 for cars and 22.2 for trucks. General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner said that while the new standard would "pose a significant technical and economic challenge to the industry," GM was up to the task. Toyota took it a step further, claiming it would beat the government to the punch instead of waiting for the standards to take effect. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, the hike will reduce oil imports by 1.1 million barrels a day, "or roughly half of the daily U.S. daily oil gulp from the Persian Gulf." More details at freep and Detroit News.

Generally, algae is considered a pesky, ugly problem—but interest in bio-fuels has scientists working to turn this slimy green negative into a big fat positive. While corn has long been associated with alternative fuels, researchers are saying properly farmed algae might be able to produce 750 times as much fuel per acre. And while it might be years before a cost effective method of extracting it is found, it’s a pretty exciting possibility. Head over to MSNBC for more info.

One of the complaints we’ve had about Koenigseggs is that the base models just don’t have enough power. That’s why everyone at CarDomain will be glad to see the release of the CCX and CCXR versions. Finally, the company is going to deliver some cars with a little bit of pep! In all seriousness, I thought it was interesting that the biofuel-powered CCXR bests its more conventional sister’s 245MPH top speed. Sure, it’s by only five MPH, but that’s still pretty cool. CNet has more details.