Gas 2.0

Titan Has Enough Propane For 23 Million Trips Around the Earth
Patent Infringement Could Halt Toyota Hybrid Imports
Americans Want More Fuel-Efficient Cars, US Hybrids Up 48%
7 Odd Food-for-Fuel Solutions

Titan Has Enough Propane For 23 Million Trips Around the Earth

Posted: 08 Sep 2009 02:06 PM PDT

New findings from the Cassini mission to Titan — Saturn’s largest moon — show that its atmosphere contains about 29 billion gallons of propane.

Given that the average new car fuel economy in the US is currently about 20 miles per gallon, and that propane-converted cars get about the same mileage as regular gas cars, there’s enough propane on Titan to take one average car more than 23 million times around the Earth’s equator.

Wow! So what you say? Even though that may sound staggering, you still aren’t convinced that it really means anything to you? What if I told you this: that’s only enough propane to satisfy the propane needs of the US for 18 months.

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Patent Infringement Could Halt Toyota Hybrid Imports

Posted: 08 Sep 2009 10:19 AM PDT

Where is the mainstream media when you need them? Probably off chasing another Micheal Jackson’s baby’s daddy. But they could do a lot more use into investigating the court case of Paice LLC vs. Toyota. In the lawsuit filed by Paice against Toyota, Paice claims that several of Toyota’s popular hybrid models infringe on patents held by Paice. Having won a similar case back in 2005, Paice is now seeking an exclusion that would keep Toyota hybrid imports from entering the U.S.

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Americans Want More Fuel-Efficient Cars, US Hybrids Up 48%

Posted: 08 Sep 2009 07:12 AM PDT

Total US hybrid sales jumped 48.6% in August from last August, buoyed up by Cash for Clunkers.

We Americans did the right patriotic thing with our clunker money last month, it turns out. We bought more American. And we bought more hybrid cars. Ford was the big winner, making a big dent in Toyota’s hybrid sales.

Consumer reports tells us that 80% would rather buy US cars and 46% of us now prefer fuel efficient cars.

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7 Odd Food-for-Fuel Solutions

Posted: 07 Sep 2009 07:11 PM PDT

Using food as a resource in biofuel production is one of the biggest mistakes our country could make. And while we all shake our heads at the idea of corn ethanol…what about using turkey innards? Or Mountain Dew for that matter.

Shaq Wants Your Leftover Beer and Wine for Making Ethanol

First, who ever has leftover alcohol except maybe these guys? The Shaq-backed MicroFueler is a 250-gallon tank for organic feedstock, such as waste wine and beer, that converts it into pure ethanol. It also doubles as a fuel pump and the only waste product is distilled water.

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