Electric Car- GM will reveal the new Chevy Volt this morning and with it, perhaps its own future. The Volt, which is a bit of a hybrid-electric car can travel 40 miles on only an electric charge. The Volt’s design, at least in concept form, was receiving many accolades. Unauthorized pictures of the production version however, have been very disappointing, showing a boxy typically ugly American sedan. GM claims this unauthorized photos are not the actual production version of Volt. Another concern is pricing with rumors this car will cost upwards of $40,000. Why can Honda price the new Insight hybrid at under $20,000 and American manufacturers need to price their model at twice as much? New picture of production version just posted. Have to say it actually looks kind of cool.
RGGI- The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative is to launch in less than 10 days. Ten states from Maryland to Maine in the Northeast are members in this program to tackle climate change by putting limits on carbon emissions of utilities and making them pay for each ton of pollutants. 233 plants will fall under this program that in a sense rewards them financially to reduce such emissions. The shear number of states participating, ten, indicates this is most ambitious attempt at capping these emissions in the U.S. It will also create a carbon cap and trade market that will auction off carbon futures. Emissions in the Northeast have already seen somewhat of a decline, but RGGI will be am interesting experiment in trying to reward cleaner energy production.
Source: New York Times
Oh, the French- According to Le Figaro, France is considering taxing any non-recyclable throwaway plates and cutlery, in a move to encourage consumers to purchase more environmentally favorable products. Le Figaro also announced a list of other products the government was considering adding to this program including; refrigerators, washing machines, televisions, batteries and wooden furniture. Viva Le France!
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