Toyota to introduce new hybrid system in 2008

greencarcongress.com -> asahi.com, channelnewsasia.com :

Toyota Motor Corp. in 2008 will put into practical use its third-generation hybrid-system (HS) engine, which will cut prices for eco-friendly vehicles, reduce fuel costs and slash production expenses, company sources said. The smaller, third-generation HS can be installed on many models. Most of the automaker's midsize and larger models will be equipped with the new engine.

Toyota put its first-generation HS into practical use in 1997 with the Prius model, and the second-generation in 2003, which generated 1.5 times more electric power than its predecessor, and was the world's top HS in terms of fuel-cost efficiency at 35.5 kilometers per liter of gasoline. The third-generation HS will be even more powerful. The batteries will be lighter than the ones for the second-generation HS, but have a higher performance.

Toyota currently produces more than 300,000 second-generation HS engines a year. The automaker plans to double that output for the third-generation HS. The increased production is expected to halve the difference in manufacturing costs needed for HS and gasoline engines.

All Your Base Are Belong to Google

Google Base just went live. Not quite sure what to make of it yet. To mess around with it, sign in with your Gmail account.

(2005-11-16 17:42:41 SGT) [Tech] Permalink

China-Kazakhstan oil pipeline connected

wtrg.com -> xinhuanet.com :

As technicians of Sinopec finished their last welding work in Alataw Pass, the oil pipeline linking China and Kazakhstan joined ends after 18 months of unremitting efforts, accomplishing the first phase of the 1000-km oil pipeline project. 700 million US dollars were invested to build the 813-millimeter (32-inch) pipeline with a capacity of 20 million tons [146 million barrels] yearly.

The Chinese and Kazakh governments signed an agreement in June 2003 to study the feasibility of the joint investment in a transnational oil pipeline. In May, 2004, a framework agreement was signed on overall cooperation in the fields of oil and gas.

(2005-11-16 17:27:50 SGT) [Energy] Permalink

Peak Oil on Newsweek

peakoil.com -> msnbc.msn.com :

When all is said and done, 2005 may be remembered as the year America caught a serious case of energy agita. In the past year, oil has blown by $50 a barrel and peaked briefly at $70 altitudes, sending prices at the gas pump temporarily into the psychologically jarring territory north of $3 a gallon.

At the same time, confronted with hurricanes, vanishing Arctic ice and other bizarre weather phenomena, many global-warming skeptics finally acknowledged that the greenhouse gases produced by burning fossil fuels are altering the Earth's climate.

Add to that the fierce ongoing debate about "peak oil" and the declining viability of the Earth's oil supply, the plunge in sales of gas-guzzling SUVs and, finally, the double whammy of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which ravaged the Gulf Coast energy infrastructure and closed a third of the country's oil and gas production.

GM shares fall to 23-year low

news.yahoo.com -> reuters.com :

Shares of General Motors Corp. fell to a new 23-year low on Tuesday as news of a new incentive program spread amid concerns about a possible bankruptcy filing at the world's largest automaker. Shares of GM, which has lost nearly $4 billion this year, fell by as much as $1.23 to $22.51, their lowest point in 23 years. Shares have fallen almost 46 percent this year.

GM on Monday announced a "red-tag" sale, and new profit-eroding discounts, that will allow anyone in the United States to buy vehicles at the same price employees of GM's auto suppliers pay. The new red-tag sale comes as GM, the world's largest automaker, grapples with high health-care and commodities costs, stalled sales of big sport-utility vehicles - its longtime cash cows that have now lost popularity due to high gasoline prices - and the loss of U.S. market share to foreign rivals.

Sun Microsystems launches "eco-processor"

energybulletin.net -> worldchanging.com :

Add Scott McNealy to GE's Jeff Immelt among business leaders trying to turn sustainability into a big business opportunity. With great fanfare, McNealy, the CEO of Sun Microsystems, announced the introduction of a new energy-efficient processor that will debut by the end of the year. The company is calling the chip "the world's first Eco-responsible processor." Its research shows that its UltraSPARC T1 processor "could eliminate the number of Web servers in the world by half, slashing power requirements and having the same effect in reducing carbon dioxide emissions as planting one million acres of trees."

This is no small matter. While a great deal of focus has been on reducing the energy use of consumer electronics, such as PCs and TVs, far less has gone into the energy impacts of server farms - facilities housing massive computing storage and routing wizardry used by Google, eBay, Yahoo, and just about any other Web site. Server farms require energy to operate all that electronic equipment, and gobs more to keep the equipment cool. A typical data center can consume nearly 4,000 watts per square foot - roughly 15 times what they consumed in the early 1990s.

The major server manufacturers - Sun, HP, IBM, Dell, and others - have been vying to improve server energy efficiency for years; the 2000-2001 energy crisis in California, where roughly one in five servers lives, was a giant impetus. But Sun seems to have ratcheted up the competition a notch or two.

(2005-11-16 13:16:19 SGT) [Tech] Permalink

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