There is plenty of good observation abound.....
Hybrids cars continue to pervade the American automotive landscape. Nissan has made a solid entry with its Altima and Chevy has introducted a hybrid version of its full size Tahoe SUV which can deliver 21 mpg in the city. More and more electric hybrid versions are entering. Annual sales of electric hybrid models are approaching the 500,000 units and further economies of scale will make future models cheaper. The hybrid premium is already lower on the price of a car. The average is now estimated at $1,500 which is lower by 50% from a couple of years ago.
While Ion Lithium batteries remain a distant target the industry appears fairly determined on reaching it and replacing the current standard of Nickel Hydrite.
Toyota is entering the hydrogen fuel cell landscape with its own experimental model pushing up some more confidence in this little understood fuel source.
Bio Diesel seems to be staying firm and I personally hear stories of people filtering used vegetable cooking oil from restaurants and using it in their engines through converter kits.
I personally was witness to a hear warming sight of a hill top house in San Diego surrounded by solar panels. And I saw solar panel installment bill boards in Central California put up there by private enterprise.
And last but not least, crude oil is looking to settle north of $90/bbl while gas prices at the pump are (on average) north of $3/gallon again. At least in this case, I am glad that my own prediction on a lower price for crude oil has fallen apart. The higher prices provides greater financial incentive in alternative fuels. OPEC need not worry. World demand will continue to rise and a great dependency on crude oil will stay for several decades. Even the government of oil-rich Dubai (the most progressive of the oil rich and wealthy Arabia fiefdoms) has entered agreements with firms to convert its taxi fleets and other government vehicles to the hybrid model.
