Hybrid Future for Toyota

Toyota unveils plans for more fuel-efficient hybrids, revolutionary car battery - Forbes.com

Toyota also aims to develop a battery that significantly outperforms lithium-ion batteries,' Watanabe said.

Toyota, which has developed lithium-ion and nickel-metal hydride batteries jointly with Matsushita Electric Industrial Ltd., will be setting up a specialized research department later this month to develop its new-generation battery, he said.

Hypermilers

'Hypermilers': Squeezing Out Every Mile Per Gallon : NPR

It may seem odd that a motorhome driver would blog an article about hypermilers. The reality is that motorhome and RV drivers are among the most eco aware people I have met. They know they are driving gas hogs when they move their base of operations, the motorhome, to a new location. When they drive they are trying to squeeze out the best mileage when driving the RV because a fill up is so expensive. It is when they switch over to the "toad", the RV'ers term for the car that is towed, that their concern for mileage is really intense. Maybe I should just say that is when "we" are more concerned about mileage. Having said that, this is a good article on driving to save mileage. It is pretty simple really. Slow your top speed down to 60 mph max, accelerate and decelerate slowly, and some even coast down long hills. Hope this helps you all save a few miles without being extreme "hypermilers."

Trip to See Friends and Family

View Larger Map

Rough estimates for the trip show a total mileage of around 2,000 miles with a total fuel cost of $983.16, lodging $206, and food $227.70. That comes out to about $59 a day. We will refine the numbers and add them here. Travel is still pretty cheap using a motor home. Considering that a motel/hotel would cost a minimum of $75 a day and all meals would be eating out, it looks as though traveling this way is still economical in comparison. Just as important is the fact that we know who slept in our bed the previous night. We did.

We used the spreadsheet below for keeping track of all of our costs. We didn't include the little extras we got for ourselves and friends. A rough rule of thumb for our motor home fuel costs is 50 cents a mile. The exact number is 55 cents per mile.

Overnight Stop in Jacksonville

Our overnight stop on the way home. This is Pecan Park RV Resort north of Jacksonville, Florida. It is a nice clean park with WiFi. It is not free WiFi but we can live with it for one night. We decided to try this one instead of our usual Osprey Park primarily because of the WiFi. Overnight cost $36. Not bad for a nice place to park our home.

The photo above is more interesting than it appears at first glance. Only Geeks will appreciate this but let me explain. The photo is a panorama made from joining four images taken with my Iphone. I emailed the images to myself and used my Linux laptop to download them to my hard drive. The panorama itself was created using a Windows program called Autostitch. The Windows program runs beautifully in Linux with Wine. Wine is a Linux program that runs a lot of Windows programs without Windows having to be installed. Geekspeak off.

Can you believe this? Amazing but true.

A prisoner builds a fortune from behind bars. Something is wrong here.

A fortune built from a jail cell in Palm Beach County -- -- South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com

If the Koreans can do this why can't we?

Korean Village Runs On 100% Solar Power | MetaEfficient

Largest Wind Turbine Order by T. Boone Pickens, Texas Oilman

$2 Billion Wind Turbine Order Is Largest Ever | MetaEfficient

Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens has placed an the largest ever order for wind turbines: he ordered 667 wind turbines from GE, each costing $3 million dollars, making the total order $2 billion. Pickens plans to develop the world’s largest wind farm in the panhandle of Texas.

Scary Trend

Scary trend. All natural systems depend on biodiversity for survival. Reducing diversity primes the system for collapse. It is a helpless feeling to look at this index and see what is happening because it is the combined effect of humans reckless attack on all resources for our own survival. What is the answer? Is there a realistic one? Population control? Protection of natural systems? How do you implement these things? Very scary thinking of what future generations will have to deal with. It would be nice if we could start now but I am becoming pessimistic about humans and their direction of irresponsible consumption of resources and destruction of habitat. This is the expression of governmental and human action all over the globe.

WWF - Living Planet Index

Vacation Impact on Energy Consumption

We left for vacation on the 14th of May. Prior to our departure we configured the house for low energy consumption by unplugging all transformers, chargers, and other non-essential (to us), electronic equipment. In the office the only thing running is the modem, router, and the solar system logging machine. Our two Tivos are still busily recording our favorite shows. Our two refrigerators are running as well. TVs, VCRs, radios, and all other equipment that usually sits gobbling energy waiting for the chance for us to wake them up are unplugged. As a result, the first day away our house generated 117 percent of the energy it used. We sold 13 kwh back to the utility. You can clearly see the spike in the percent of energy generated in the chart below:

Florida Power and Light Orders Wind Turbines

Siemens Gets Large Wind Turbine Order From FPL

Our power company is moving in the right direction. As the article states they are already the biggest wind power utility in the US.

Phony drug trial studies

Did you think those so called "scientific" studies of drugs are good science? Think again. This article is a must read. I think there is an unholy alliance between the drug companies, crooked doctors, and worst of all the media. How many people are influence by those phony ads like the one starring Sally Fields claiming benefits and showing her bogus "family?" I have even seen lunches for the staff catered by the drug companies at my doctors office. If I did that while working it would have been called a conflict of interest and I would have been fired.

Invention Of the Year: The iPhone - The Best Inventions Of The Year - TIME

Invention Of the Year: The iPhone - The Best Inventions Of The Year - TIME

I have had this phone since the beginning of the year. I have hesitated to blog about it because there has been so much hype associated with the device. But, after using the thing for months it is time to let you know that the hype is not hype. Yes, it is expensive but it is much, much more than a phone. As the article states Apple took their proven computer operating system, OSX, and used it as the foundation of this device. I keep using the term device because phone is inadequate to describe it. Yes, it is a phone and probably the best I have ever used because of the simple easy to use interface. But, it is also a computer with a full fledged web browser, Safari. It is also a video player that, with the AV cable from Apple, plays beautiful video on your TV. Of course, it also plays them on the device itself which brings me to the display. Wow, it is the brightest, clearest display I have ever seen on a hand held device. Videos on this thing are breath taking in their clarity. And, of course, it is an Ipod. I currently have about 600 songs on my Iphone. Again, play them through your stereo and you can just forget ever having to fiddle with CDs again. The Iphone does much, much more including functioning as a very nice and easy to use camera with email capability. It will be hard for me to own any other phone/computer/camera/music player. I am convinced that Apple does it right. Some day I will probably switch my computers to Apple machines. They just do it right with elegance, ease of use, and style. I challenge you to try the Iphone in an ATT store near you and be less than impressed.

Psychology of the Prius

This is a rather interesting analysis of the success of the Prius. I found it interesting that this author attributes much of its success to the fact that it does not look like other cars. It is so distinctive that you would think it would put people off but it seems to do the opposite.

"Our respondents are lying through their teeth," Peterson said.


"The dramatically different look of the Prius is something that's
appealing," he said. "The Ford Escape and Toyota Camry hybrid have not
been as successful because they don't look as different."

FEATURE-U.S. car makers try to repeat green halo of Prius | Reuters

Most Expensive Zip Codes: 33404, Estate of the Day - Luxist

Most Expensive Zip Codes: 33404, Estate of the Day - Luxist

Oh my gosh. This is on an area north of us and on the ocean. Even though it is nearby it sure does not mean that we live in a neighborhood like this. Palm Beach County is very diverse with areas ranging from very poor to mega rich. Interestingly, the wealthiest neighborhoods are on the oceanfront properties. That is good because they can best afford the risk of damage from hurricanes. Historically, Palm Beach, the barrier island on the ocean was the home of the wealthy industrialists from the north who found the cool ocean breezes and exotic vegetation to their tastes. Henry Flagler developed the island in the early days and the West Palm Beach area where we live was the home of the people who worked on the island. When the area was first settled there were no bridges so the service personnel rode a ferry out to the island to work during the day. Now there are many automobile bridges to the island and a driving tour is a fun way to see the homes of the mega rich. Another great way is to take a narrated boat tour along the intracoastal waterway to see the homes of the rich and famous.

If that zip code is not ritzy enough for you then check out this one. This is on the island of Palm Beach where Mr. Rush Limbaugh lives. I guess the gift of gab is really a golden gift.

Prius Evaluation Last Day

This morning we returned our Prius to Hertz after driving 220 miles and getting an average of 45.6 mpg over that distance. Before turning it in we performed what we call the "glider test" which involves Bob testing the accessibility and usability of the cargo space by loading his radio controlled model gliders. As you can see above there was no problem and the cargo space was larger and easier to access than our PT Cruiser. With the two back seats folded down the cargo area is actually quite large.

Back in our PT Cruiser. The seats in the PT are not as comfortable as those in the Prius. It is much noisier than the Prius and of course only gets 20 mpg as compared to the mid 40s on the Prius. Since the PT is a manual transmission there is not the smoothness of the Prius which has a continuously variable drive system that has no shift points. If we had to make a choice on the spot between the PT and the Prius the Prius would win hands down on many points. Towing with the RV would be an area where the PT would win for ease of hook up. The PT is hooked to the tow bars and put in neutral. The Prius would require the purchase and use of a front wheel dolly system. It cannot be towed with all four tires on the ground. I think we would still choose the Prius due to its economy, ease of use, smoothness, and quiet ride in spite of the dolly requirement.

After a few days of hard city driving we are showiing 45.1 mpg. We have intentionally not been careful in our driving accelerating hard to get on the interstate and a lot of stop and go driving. This pattern is probably typical of about ninety percent of our driving. We like the car. It is functional and easy to drive. We still find the interior of this particular model plain. It is a rental car though and they usually have the most basic models. This particular car has about 23,000 miles on it and is solid and tight.

Today is our last full day with the car so we plan on putting some more highway miles on it. We will probably take a short day trip somewhere just for fun.

Finally, we find the controls on the center console and the radio cd player easy to use. Not fancy but functional. Actually using the display console to control the AC and fan is quite easy. Much easier than the more conventional mechanical controls found on other cars. Our biggest complaint so far is the lack of tinting on the windows, an easy fix.

Hybrid Mileage Database - GreenHybrid

Hybrid Mileage Database - GreenHybrid

Here is an interesting web site where users report the mileage they have gotten with their hybrid cars. This will make a believer out of you. 122,276,536 mi · 77,553 tanks · 6,108 cars · 1 database

Prius Evaluation Day 3

We have spent the week running our normal errands around town, taking our granddaughter to her pre school, and not really trying hard for good mileage. At this point we have covered about a hundred miles of every day stop and go driving and our cumlative mileage is 45.6 mpg. We have become totally comfortable with this car and would probably be happy with a Prius except for one thing. To tow it behind our RV requires a dolly to get the front wheels off the ground. It cannot be towed with all four wheels on the ground due to the regenerative process that happens when the front wheels are turning.

The car seats we used for transporting our granddaughters are easy to install in this car. My four year old granddaughter said that it is easier to see the road when riding in this car than when riding in her daddy's car. I guess that is an interesting viewpoint that I had not thought about and relates to the massive amount of glass in the Prius. One thing that we worried about was blind spots since our PT Cruiser has some bad ones. Probably the worst view out of the car in my opinion is the rear view as it is interupted by a spoiler bar across the back hatch. I think this may have been improved in the 2008 models.

We are still having fun driving this hybrid and have a couple of more days left to enjoy it so we will keep reporting on our impressions. I did notice that Consumer Reports says that this car has the highest owner satisfaction of any they tested.

Toyota Prius Evaluation Day 2

Our weather has been fairly cool but one thing we both noticed is that there is a lot of glass on this vehicle. The windshield has a long flat aerodynamic shape but that also makes it a perfect solar collector. If we got one of these we would definitely have to opt for some serious windshield and window tinting. Either that or I will have to up my visits to my dermatologist to once a month instead of once every six months.

It is pretty easy to get comfortable with the technology in the Prius. Basically, you just turn it on and go. Nothing more complicated than that to worry about. It is all starting to seem very natural and the quiet smoothness is addictive. It is interesting that my initial impression was of confusion because of the vehicle's simplicity. That is a comment about how accustomed we are to complexity in our vehicles.

Mileage has dropped to 42 mpg today. Never thought I would say my mileage had dropped to 42 mpg. More on Day 3 in another post.

Toyota Prius Evaluation Day 1

A few days ago Barbara called me into the living room and said, "Watch this," as she rewound the Tivo and played back a Hertz commercial advertising their new "Green" rental program. In it they talk about their new fleet of low carbon impact vehicles. Since we have long been curious about the Toyota Prius I picked up the phone and reserved one for us to evaluate. We picked it up today. On the way home from the rental agency I noticed that we averaged 52.6 mpg. Not bad.

About the biggest challenge was figuring out how to make the thing go. It has no transmission as such. It has no starter. I suppose we are used to complexity because it took me a while to figure out that the big round button on the dash labeled "Power" was the trick. So, first impressions can be summed up by Barbara who after driving it said, "That is about the strangest vehicle I have ever driven."

Why so strange? The eerie silence when it starts off in electric power for one thing. Another is the unnerving shutdown of the engine when you pull to a stop. If you happen to be running on engine power, it switches seemlessly from engine to electric, the engine will just shut down when you stop. It is unnerving because being used to conventional cars the first reaction is to reach for the ignition switch but of course there is not one.

The gauges are embedded at the base of the windshield almost like a heads up display on a jet fighter. They are bright, large, and easy to read. The central display unit in energy mode does remind one of the Starship Enterprise with all of its energy arrows showing flows to and from the battery and the engine. The radio and AC controls embedded in the steering wheel hub are nice and easy to use.

The interior would be disappointing to a luxury car enthusiast. At least in our rental version the furnishings of the cabin are quite Spartan. Not sure if that is for weight savings or if it is just the version purchased by Hertz.

This is a great way to evaluate cars and just plain fun too. Some people even get paid to do this kind of thing but we figure living with various cars in this way for a week at a time is far better than a round the block demo at the dealership. We are having fun and will continue to report on our experience over the next week. Oh, and so far that 52.6 mpg average is not bad.