The unofficial theme of the second night of the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver was the building of a green economy. In speech after speech, the Democrats pointed to Barack Obama’s plan to put 1 million plug-in hybrid electric vehicles on American roads by 2015—and to rebuild the American auto industry in the process—as the cornerstone of his plan for energy independence.
Dale Vince, CEO of the renewable energy company Ecotricity, and his enthusiastic vehicle engineer, Richard Jenkins, are camped out at Lake LeFroy, a huge salt flat in Western Australia. When weather conditions improve, Vince and Jenkins will be attempting to take back the wind-power land speed record from Bob Schumacher, whose Iron Duck has held the record at 116.7 since March 20th, 1999. But their design—dubbed "Greenbird"—may have implications beyond the Guinness Book of World Records.
General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner revealed a full-size foam model of the new Chevrolet Cruze last week. GM announced that it will invest $500 million to build the all-new global compact car that will replace the Chevy Cobalt in the United States. The automaker calls it “the first of an all-new generation of fuel-efficient small cars.”
