Being interested in all things geeky, I have followed the Chevy Volt since it was first seen at the Detroit Auto show in 2007. During this time many new details have been shown and revisions made. This is the first time I have actually become truly excited about a car.

To me a car has always been a transportation device that got me from point A to point B and all the money you spent on gas just flew out the window. Sure, a fast car is fun but, the fun only lasts for a little while and until recently I viewed a car as a big chunk of metal on four wheels. I mean really, very little has changed in the past 50 years… until now. Ever since the Volt was revealed I have had hundreds of ideas about all of the cool new things that will now be possible.  And I am not just talking about the advantages for you and me but also for the car manufacturers.

With the Volt, GM is using technology to their advantage, it does not take long for electronics to shrink, become cheaper and more powerful. Just for comparisons sake take an iPod Touch and do anything on it. Now try to do that same thing on a computer from 1988. You may notice that you really don’t even want to try. Not only is that task a world of difference but the size and price delta is unbelievable. Now do the same thing with two cars that are 20 years apart. You should be able to fill up on gas, go to the grocery store, use your power windows, and adjust your seat no matter which car you are in. Technology will be a great advantage to the Volt and cars like it. Soon these cars will drop in price, electronics will shrink, and cars will become much more affordable and possibly come in form factors we can not yet imagine.

Technology really excites me but, the problem is as time has gone by and new details have been released there has been price creep. During development new issues that crop up and contribute to the additional cost of the Volt. Originally the Volt was to be priced around $30k but it will probably launch at $40k or more. Whenever GM is asked what the major contributing factor for the price the answer is always the battery which has been estimated to be about half the cost of the car. This technology affects the ability to drive gas free. When the Volt was first shown, MPG estimates were as high as 55 MPG after the initial 40 miles on pure electric. Current estimates suggest that the Volt will go 50 MPG. This statistic alone would make the Volt the most fuel efficient car on the road today and that is without any battery at all. This is where my suggestion begins.

My suggestions to GM:

The Volt is the basis for many new cars coming from GM so make sure Volt battery is easily replaced with one plug and the bolts to hold it in place. Make sure that there are not a bunch of pipes and hoses that need to be attached. The Volt battery should be a self sustaining part. With this architecture there is no end to the possibilities for the Volt.

Release longer range batteries when size and price go down. This will allow you to upgrade the car lineup to support 60 or 100 miles on a charge.

Release the Volt in 3 different flavors with the option to upgrade with the above suggestion.

1. The first option will be just enough battery to allow the car to run in a hybrid mode. This will allow the car to run on its 50-55 MPG without charging. As time goes by the owner can choose to purchase the “Battery Option” and just have it installed for the price of the battery and a minimal installation fee. This version should be price competitive with the Prius. This will help drive the Volt name and also help make people want a bigger better Volt when they can afford it. This will drive an iPod like appeal.
2. The second option will be the first “Plug-in Capable.” This version will allow you to drive 20 miles on a charge and then the extra 50-55 MPG after. This should be the mid-priced Volt.
3. The third option will be the real full blown Volt with 40 miles on a charge followed by 50-55 MPG. This will be the full priced Volt.

Good luck GM and Chevy. There high expectations but they should be attainable.

As stated in my previous article To Go Green You Must Start With The Grass I had decided to purchase a new Craftsman 48 Volt Battery Powered Mower to put my own “Green Credentials” to the test. This was a bid to unchain myself from the Energy Mafia. Now lets “Cut” to the chase (Yes, lame). 

When I first started this experiment I did not really think too much of the the lawn mower. I just figured it would be my first large step toward green. I started looking for the mower in retail stores because I needed one as soon as possible. Looking around Sears I saw a sign that said you should only get a battery powered mower if your yard is under 900 square feet and lucky for me my yard is around 700 square feet. The Craftsman mower looked like the best choice I had, it was fully loaded, a 19″ cutting deck, bag attachment, mulching capability,side shooting, single lever height adjuster… and the only battery powered mower there. Yep, it cuts grass and has a battery, that is why I chose it. 

The first thing I noticed was how much this battery powered mower weighs. On the Sears site it says the mower weighs 80 lbs. Now grant it when pushing it around your yard it is well balanced enough that it is hard to notice but, it feels as though it has power assist… without the actual help of power assist. I was pretty excited about my first large green purchase and the weight of the mower was probably due to the lead acid batteries. No biggie. 

Next, I un-boxed the beast. Pulling the mower out of the box I noticed that the handle already had been screwed together, all I needed to do was fold out the handle and tighten the large wing nuts. Finally, my brand new mower was un-boxed and ready to tear through the grass. 

To start the mower you need to place a “Key” into the mower. When this key is not present the mower will not start which is helpful if you need to do some cleaning or anything around the blade. Once the key is in the mower you must push an orange button with your thumb while you pull the standard safety handle and the mower starts right up. It was one of the coolest feelings to have this mower in your hands. The mower is so quiet that it sounded like a large fan. Still not whisper quiet but you could hold a casual conversation with someone across the yard while mowing. Another cool thing is that you can actually hear the blades of grass being cut which gives you a bigger sense of power over the grass. 

But all good stories must come to an end some day. The sad part is that the beginning of my good experience and the end of my good experience occurred on the same day. The first problem was required 18 hour charge before use!!! Still, I was not swayed, I told myself, “It doesn’t matter, I will just plug it in and leave it there, I only need to mow once a week, that should give it plenty of time…” So I charged the mower as instructed. 

The next day, I pulled out my new mower freshly charged and ready to go! Man was I ready for this! I put the mower on the grass and started mowing. Man the sound of the grass being cut just felt cool. Then I noticed of the four power LED’s I only had two more left! “Eh,” I said, “The battery light probably doesn’t indicate the real power left. The last two LEDs should work longer than the first two,” I was wrong. The charge is lost quicker on the last two LEDs. I got to the last square foot patch of grass in my back yard and the mower kicked and screamed and tried its darnedest to die before the grass was cut and I still needed to cut the front yard. 

Nothing to fear. I figured the batteries probably needed to be conditioned to handle the full charge and complete my yard. I plugged the mower in again and went to bed to finish the front the next day. 

When I woke up, I felt great, I was ready to mow my front yard! Pulled out the mower and got the front yard done without a hiccup. I ended the front yard with barely three green LED’s out of four. When that was done I plugged the mower back in for next weeks mow. 

Well, my third and final mow the next week was a mirror image of my first, barely making it through the entire back yard before the mowers battery died. As far as recommendations go… purchase the Craftsman 19″ battery powered mower at your own risk. I have to say that this idea has much promise, possibly if the mower used Lithium Ion batteries instead of the led acid ones it currently comes with. I recommend holding off unless you are just going to mow around your porch or would like to trim your banzi grass. 

Craftsman 19in 48 Volt Battery Powered Mower 4 out of 10 

P.S.
On a more positive note, I looked around for a different and better mower and found the Neuton, These mowers seem to be much more suited for this situation, plus they have removable batteries, so even if you ran out you could just pop in a newly charged one and finish the job. 

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Craftsman 48 Volt Battery Powered Mower
Neuton Battery Powered Mowers

While on my way to work, pausing at every red light, I came to a point of frustration rarely seen. Yes, some of that frustration had to do with people who get in a car and try to drive somewhere automatically lose 78% of their brain. OK, its not really true… it just seems that way. The real frustration came at every stop as the gas station prices kept increasing. My problem, how do I become independent of the energy Mafia. 

I came up with a solution, the only problem is that many critics will not agree with my solution. My new plan is to become energy independent. “Wow…” you say, “This is what I come here for!? I figured that is what you were trying to do all along!!!” Well the truth is, you are correct but, until now I have not really thought about it in a realistic way. I must switch everything that I possibly can to electric driven. Electricity is a universal energy and can be created in many ways including solar, wind and even good old dirty coal power plants. My plan is to convert exclusively to electricity and gradually ween myself off of the power grid. The beauty of this plan is the ability to take individual steps to achieve this goal. I do not have to go out and spend millions right away and with each step of the process I will be making myself less dependent on gasoline and other fuels. My new “Fuel” will be electricity, not Coal, not gasoline, not bio-diesel, just plain electricity. 

My first purchase into this new plan is a battery powered lawn mower. My current mower has had its fair share of issues starting with the unfortunate “Stump Incident.” The “Stump Incident” left the poor lawn mower trembling in fear each time I would try to cut the grass. In layman terms it bent the shaft and made the blade off center so that it beat the crap out of my hands. This spring when I decided to mow and found that the old beat up mower won’t even start. So I figured, I talk about Greener Thinking all the time, why not try to put my money where my mouth is. 

With my grass being rather tall I decided to make the purchase quickly. I began looking at Sears and found a Craftsman 19″ battery powered mower. These battery powered mowers are not really the most cost effective mowers, this one started at $479 but, because they were having a sale I was able to walk away with it for $399. I have a rather small yard so I think this lawn mower should work rather well. I was only able to use the mower once so far and due to the length of the grass, I do not think that it lasted as long as it should. I will be using this lawn mower over the next couple of months and submitting my full review on Greener Thinking so stay tuned. 

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Sears Battery Powered Mowers

With new environmentally-friendly products being developed at an amazing pace and sales of these products rising exponentially, it makes you wonder why. I mean, you would think the answer would be obvious. The planet is in dire need of any help we can give it, so people are doing their best to help out, right? Well, according to a recent poll by the New York Times, 57% of the people that buy the (arguably) environmentally-friendly Toyota Prius, buy it because it “Makes a statement about me”. In other words, they buy it because they want to advertise how environmentally-friendly they are or maybe even see it as a status symbol and want to show that they can afford the often times more expensive “green” products. Among other top responses were “Distinctive Styling” and “Other Incentives”. It’s not until the fifth most popular answer until you get to “Lower Emissions”, which I would have expected to be a close second to “Higher Fuel Economy” (which was third most popular). This poll shocked me when I first saw it, but then it dawned on me. I read somewhere that many actors and actresses, such as Julia Roberts, Cameron Diaz and Leonardo DiCaprio, have started driving hybrids to show off their greener side. Apparently, this must have started a trend where people want to associate themselves with these stars and attempt to emulate them. It’s somewhat disappointing in our society when you see the results of this poll, but whatever will inspire people to help the planet is ok with me. I just hope and will work to ensure that it’s not a just passing fad with little results. 

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New York Times Poll

It has been six months since my last article about the Tesla Roadster, so I thought it was about time for a quick follow-up. Tesla Motors has since sold out of their 2008 model due to huge demand. Among big name purchasers of the first Roadsters were Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Google Founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Tesla Motors is now keeping a waiting list for anyone hoping to get a chance to buy a 2008 Roadster if one becomes available or for anyone hoping to be a lucky owner of the 2009 model. In case you have not heard of the Tesla Roadster you can see more pictures of it here and read more about its specifications here. It is truly one amazing looking vehicle, but most importantly is what you don’t see… emissions. It is 100 percent electric with zero emissions. I know there are many people probably thinking they wish they could afford to buy one of these electric beasts and luckily for all of us that cannot afford a $100,000 car, Tesla Motors has said that next they plan to design a car with the average person in mind. We just have to hope that the trend of buying alternative fuel vehicles continues, so that the price can keep heading down so that more and more people can have the opportunity to buy them. And as the buying of these types of vehicles goes up, our negative impact on the environment as a society goes down. 

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Greener Thinking Article about Tesla Roadster 
Tesla Motors Website 
Arnold 
Waiting List 
Pictures 
Specifications

The greatest advancements in technology are when you create a product previously though impossible at a price that seems impossible all while making a profit not thought possible. These things don’t come around too often but when they do, they stick out like a sore thumb… well a happy sore thumb. 

An example of this is the Wii which allows the player to experience a game as if they are part of it, while selling at a low price point compared to its competitors and making a profit in the process. There are many of these cases that change how the game is played in that market, making it difficult for traditional companies to catch up to the new innovative ideas. 

Another example is Nanosolar. Although Nanosolar has not started to ship their product yet, they seem to be on the right track. They have just completed their manufacturing facility and are preparing for production of their new solar panels. What makes them different you ask? Well they have gone and changed the game. They figured out a way to make solar panels cost effectively. These new solar panels are created using a similar technique to a computer printer. You start with a roll of foil and some ink and end up with a super large rolled up solar panel. 

The beauty of this new design is that it makes the creation of solar panels much much cheaper, which in turn makes them cheaper for the consumer. Also these new solar panels do not require silicon that is increasingly hard to find. This new solar panel is also so thin that it will create a new market for solar energy that never existed before. This could create markets such as solar shingles or a solar panel that could be built into the roof of your car. 

This new technology promises many things including some of our favorites. These solar panels should be cheep and allow people to get them easily while also making your electric bill go down. As with all new cool technology that has not actually gotten to the market yet, there is a possibility that it will not be all that it is said to be. This new solar technology is said to be launching late 2007 to early 2008. So lets keep our eyes pealed for this awesome new advancement. 

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Nanosolar

What would happen if there was a car that could take you to work and back without ever going to the gas station. Or if you could drive the distance of Michigan’s Lower Pennisula from Ohio to the Mackinac Bridge… and then all the way west to Wisconsin on one tank of gas. Or even better, drive from Detroit, Michigan to Daytona Beach, Florida on less than two fill-ups.

Well it sounds like a good plan to me. According to the latest information this car may be available in the year 2010 –2012. But according to the way that every product gets delayed these days it will probably be around 2013. This car is called the Chevy Volt. 

The Volt has the potential to turn the car industry around with its unique way of getting power from electricity, biodiesel, gas and E85. This will give consumers a ton of choices for alternative fuel and make everyone less dependent on fossil fuels. 

The car looks rather sporty too, so you will not stick out like a sore thumb. You will be forced to brag to your friends so that they know how much money you are saving because you are using the electricity that you have at your house. 

As much as the outlook for this new form of car looks there are still some things that will be hard to predict. The car looks nice and it promises quite a bit but will it be able to deliver? Will they still be able to hit their goals of 40 miles on pure electricity and 640 miles on one tank of gas? Will Chevy be able to make the car ready for production by 2010? Currently Chevy has not given a price but says that it will be “Priced Competitively,” but competitive to what still remains to be seen. 

As long as Chevy can deliver on most of the goals they have set out for the Volt and keep the price low the car will turn out a huge hit. I am starting a savings account for 2010, I am ready to put the regular gas station visits in my past. 

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Chevy Volt

Drifting through the infinite darkness of space, you find that everything that you know, everything that you have ever touched, and millions of people you have not even met yet are combined, smaller than your thumb. Only 12 people in human existence, as we know it, have ever set foot on the moon. Some people have conspiracy theories, but the most important people, the astronauts themselves still have the memories.

The difficult thing is to capture this somehow. Well you are in luck “In The Shadow of the Moon” is a new movie that travels through the entirety of the missions to the moon through the eyes of the astronauts. This movie shows the difficulty and concern each of the astronauts faced while trying to accomplish the impossible. 

One of the biggest impacts the movie had on me was when each pilot bared their soul and explained what they saw from space. They said even today you can see how big cities have their own atmosphere of pollution and that we have to start thinking about saving our planet. One astronaut stated after his visit to the “beautiful desert” (the moon) that we live in the “Garden of Eden” (Earth) and that it is very delicate so we must be careful.

Another interesting note is that the movie claimed in its credits that it is carbon neutral. I am not really sure how I feel about being carbon neutral, but it definitely does not hurt. Plus the awareness that this could bring is huge; the only problem is that it does not seem to be at all of the big local theaters.

If you would like to hear the tales of great adventure and strife this should definitely be on your list of movies to see. An extremely well done movie that helps to disprove the conspiracy theory and gives you new insight into how difficult the moon missions really were. I will easily give this movie a 9 out of 10. 

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conspiracy theories 
“In The Shadow of the Moon”