Continue reading Most likely, you'll determine the fuel for the car of the future

Most likely, you'll determine the fuel for the car of the future originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading A good news, bad news saga regarding auto companies and fuel efficiency

A good news, bad news saga regarding auto companies and fuel efficiency originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 18 Aug 2008 13:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Earlier this month, Green Progress News reported that Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) was teaming up with the city of Rialto, California, in the construction of a system to take the greasy waste water and sludge generated by restaurants and transform it into a usable energy source. The team is using the impending necessity of waste-water treatment facility expansion for Rialto to take advantage of construction expense outlays that would have been expected anyway.

Fats, oils, and grease that are routinely sent out as waste from restaurants, and that currently go directly to landfills will instead be deposited at the Chevron/Rialto facility, which shall be the recipient of the waste hauler's "tipping fees" also. Tipping fees are simply the haulers' cost for emptying their loads. Typically, all that restaurant waste, and the potential trapped within it, ferments in our landfills, creating methane gas, most of which ends up in our atmosphere unless it's burned off immediately. The Rialto/Chevron project will instead process these wastes utilizing an organic matter "digester," producing methane for conversion into hydrogen, which can then be used to generate electricity.

The financial angles on this project will present some noticeable impact both in expenditure and returns. It is estimated it shall cost a bit over $15 million to build the system and bring it to operational status. When completed, the project will become eligible for a $4.05 million rebate on the fuel-cell plant cost from California's Self-Generation Incentive Program. The balance of the costs will reportedly be recovered through energy cost savings, and there are no expected taxpayer costs. Additionally, the system will be utilizing a bit less than 1,000 kilowatts of generating capacity to provide baseload power, which should assist in keeping consumer electricity costs stable. Grace Vargas, Rialto's mayor, has stated: "It's a 'win' for multiple stakeholders -- our city taxpayers, restaurants, grease haulers, and the environment."

Chevron sticks a spatula under the restaurant trade originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 20 May 2007 18:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Please pardon me while I get a bit whimsical here. I get a prose bug from time to time. You must forgive me if this is light duty reading for such a well read crowd but I'm just having fun!
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If I had bet upon the game and chance did let me win, let's say my take was twenty grand and now let us begin. I'd take ten grand right off the top and invest in GE (General Electric Company (NYSE:GE)). A stalwart and diverse keystone is paramount to me.

I'd next place 4k in the hands of Limited Brands (NYSE: LTD) for care. It's hard to take a loss, my friend, in sexy underwear. And candles bright and fragrances and things the ladies like, assure me that our LTD is on an upward hike.

Two grand I'd sure send Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.'s (NYSE:WMT) way, though kicked around a lot. I just can't seem to shake the truth they'd be a safer spot.

Continue reading If I had won $20 grand on the Super Bowl . . .

If I had won $20 grand on the Super Bowl . . . originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 05 Feb 2007 11:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

It's probably old news already to most of you but it bears repeating that Mazda, a division of Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F), has announced that it shall completely scrap all 4,703 vehicles which were on board the ill fated Cougar Ace freighter that ran into trouble off the coast of Alaska on July 23, 2006. Initially, Mazda had announced that the vehicles would not be sold as new but left the matter open for discussion pending investigation by corporate engineers and others.

While this scrapping of vehicles is certainly a kick in the pants to Mazda and its insurers, it shows me that Mazda and its parent company, Ford, don't consider short-term profit to be paramount to long-term company image and consumer perception. It's possible that Mazda could have marketed all those 4,703 vehicles as "not like new" and never had a problem, but it's equally likely that such a move could have come back to bite them in a major way. I applaud this decision. Kudos to Mazda and Ford.

On a different note, Mazda has just made delivery of its first two gasoline / hydrogen rotary powered automobiles. These RX-8 Hydrogen RE cars allow the driver to choose between the two fuels "on the fly." The rotary power plants have long been a staple of Mazda engineering and from what I read in the blogosphere, Mazda enthusiasts are quite pleased with them. The vehicles have been leased to corporate fleet customers in Japan and will be closely monitored as a part of the Japan Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Demonstration Project. Both the manufacturers and the recipients are very pleased with this accomplishment.

Read more about this Mazda accomplishment at www.autoblog.com

Mazda is making some big, bold and responsible moves originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 18 Dec 2006 14:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.