green living, smart spending
California B&Bs have gone green with a variety of innovative and eco-friendly practices, including using solar power and geothermal energy systems to reduce electric costs, and providing electric car charging stations for guests arriving in plug-in hybrid and pure electric vehicles such as the Chevrolet Volt, Nissan Leaf and Mini E. In Santa Cruz, The
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For the eleventh year in a row, Honda is the most green, most fuel efficient car company in the world. That’s the word from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), which rates five Honda models as among the “greenest vehicles of 2011” . The greenest, most fuel efficient of them all is the
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Despite all the promising year-end headlines about the Chevrolet Volt, Nissan Leaf and other new models, 2010 will be remembered as the year Detroit killed off four car brands and sold off several others. It was the end of the road for Hummer, Pontiac and Saturn, killed off by General Motors as it trimmed its
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The 2011 Nissan LEAF has been named the 2011 European Car of the Year, the first electric car to win the prestigious award. The Nissan LEAF award comes just two weeks after its top competitor for world headlines, the Chevrolet Volt, won the important Green Car of the Year award at the Los Angeles Auto
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Green hybrid and electric cars are the big news at the Los Angeles Auto Show, which opens to the press on Wednesday, November 17th and to the public two days later. You’ve been hearing a lot about the extended-range plug-in hybrid-electric Chevrolet Volt, and all-electric Nissan Leaf. They are the headliners, for sure. But several
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The long-awaited Chevrolet Volt goes on sale Fall 2010. A real problem for owners of electric cars and plug-in hybrids is that recharging stations are still limited. General Motors and its partners will reduce what’s called range anxiety by making 15,000 charging stations available to Chevy Volt buyers. These are heavy-duty 240-volt charging stations, which
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Car sales are a great indicator of the state of the economy. when car sales are down, so is the economy. In April 2010, car sales were up 20% over April 2009. That’s a good sign that the economy is turning around. Of course, some brands did better than others. Nissan had the largest increase
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Who says Germans don’t have a sense of humor? Audi ads on the XLIV Super Bowl are a funny serious look at saving fuel and saving our natural resources. Green police go after the bag guys — the ones who use styrofoam cups and paper plates, and the ones who do not drive fuel efficient
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Talk about sustainable energy — recharge your electric car with solar power. There are a handful of solar-powered charging stations around the world where drivers can juice up their EV vehicles, and one of them has just opened in New York City. Solar power to recharge EV cars could be a game-changer, and especially this concept design,
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The Audi brand is in the fast-lane, for sure. Audi models have been sweeping awards at recent auto shows. Let’s start with the 2010 Detroit Auto Show, now underway. The all-new 2011 Audi A8 luxury performance sedan took top honors in the prestigious EyesOn Design awards, which recognizes — you guessed it — design. The A8 is a
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