Big Oil Wages War on Ethanol   27 Sep 2007 16:58 GMT
In case you think big oil is no more or less evil than any other industry, consider this: though its profits for the last three years have been the highest in human history, it currently collects $3.5 billion in taxpayer...
Source: wired.com

Shanghai Inspires Munich With Airport-to-City Maglev   26 Sep 2007 13:48 GMT
The maglev technology is planned to be implemented in the country that exported it. A magnetic elevation train link from Munich's Hauptbahnhof (main station) to the airport is anticipated to start service as early as 2012. The 40 kilometer route...
Source: wired.com

G.M. and Union Reach Tentative Agreement   26 Sep 2007 13:24 GMT
The key provision of the landmark agreement, which ended a two-day strike, is a health care trust that would get G.M.’s massive liability off its books.
Source: NY Times

Rail's New Competitor: Buses. Part IV: Rail Keeps Its Reputation   25 Sep 2007 22:19 GMT
This is the concluding post of the series on bus rapid transit. Read the previous posts here: I. What is Bus Rapid Transit?, II. BRT Slashes Subway Project, and III. Crowded or Not Crowded Enough Rail wins the contest for...
Source: wired.com

Separating the Vaporous from the Real in Electric Cars   25 Sep 2007 21:47 GMT
Say what you will about the grand pronouncements and publicized lab projects surrounding the electric car. No one has produced one. At least, there's no model than can truly replace the gasoline-powered four-passenger vehicles sitting in the garages of most...
Source: wired.com

Striking GM Workers Stop Building Cars,Dig Grave for U.S. Auto Industry Instead   25 Sep 2007 18:00 GMT
As 73,000 General Motors employees in thirty states walk off the job, following failed negotiations between the company and the United Auto Workers, it becomes just a little easier to envision the demise of the American automobile industry. The popularity...
Source: wired.com

Airline Passenger Revolt Finds a Feisty Leader   25 Sep 2007 17:32 GMT
She's quickly becoming the Cindy Sheehan of the airline passenger revolution: the wrong woman to ignore. Last December 29, Kate Hanni (47) and her family sat on a tarmack for nine and a half hours, toilets overflowing, only marginally potable...
Source: wired.com

Canadian Heads 'Round the World Backwards   25 Sep 2007 17:32 GMT
Just when you thought the earth had been circled in every way imaginable, 57-year-old Canadian Glenn Wakefield set off on Sunday from his home port in Victoria, British Columbia, bound and determined to become the first North American to circumnavigate...
Source: wired.com

Is It Time to Revisit the 55 MPH Speed Limit? Ha!   25 Sep 2007 16:37 GMT
It is suicide in American politics these days to talk about raising the gas tax as a way of curbing consumption. Almost as profane is the suggestion that we return to the 55 mph speed limit, which the Nixon administration...
Source: wired.com

Vectrix Plug-In Electric Scooter Brings Pizzazz, Practicality to the Masses   25 Sep 2007 15:53 GMT
Vespa means "wasp" in Italian, which denotes the angry buzz those wonderfully practical city scooters make. Imagine the same practicality without the buzz--or the emissions, for that matter. Vectrix has begun selling a plug-in electric scooter that brings a canny...
Source: wired.com