Interview

• At Wiscasset Ford they have 148 smaller cars and about 171 large (minivan, truck, SUV etc.)
• 15 vehicles (cars, trucks and d get upwards of 25 mph.
• The Ford Escape (hybrid) is the most fuel efficient SUV on the market, getting 41 mpg in the city.
• Ford has begun to make their seats with soybean foam without ruining any of the comfort or functionality.
• Their new car factories are even more efficient. The newest car factory in the United Kingdom is entirely wind powered.
• Trying to improve fuel economy by cutting energy wasted by wind drag and perfecting their new six-speed transmissions.
• Cutting down the weight of new designing-stage cars and making more plug in hybrids.
• Looking at technology like hydrogen combustion and fuel cells to introduce more energy options.
• The Lincoln MKR is a concept car that is "guilt-free". Much of its paneling is made from reengineered wood and the seats padding are special soy-foam. The seats are wrapped in "chrome-free" leather which has less impact on the environment because of something done in the tanning process.
• 
  

Article 11: Hybrid Cars Evolve in Different Directions Response

This article was a good sourse of information on new technology and how we're changing our bad ways of doing energy efficiency. The information in the article was often diluted with confusing motor engine words.

Article 11: Hybrid Cars Evolve in Different Directions

* Hybrid cars are evolving into different directions at the Detroit auto show with Honda Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Co. of Japan showing their new Prius.
* The cars run on new Lithium-ion rechargeable batteries.
* The two cars have been developed in different directions: Toyota focusing on fuel efficiency and Honda focusing on the price of the car.
* The car has 10% more power than the former car.
* The Toyota gets 50 mph and the Honda costs just as much as the current Prius.

Urban Transport System Incorporating “Roller Coaster” Principles Response

This article was REALLY cool. These things are the future of transportation, it seems. These could be major money and environment savers. I can see them in the suburbs around Boston and New York within 10-15 years. The article was very short but everything was extremely helpful. It was a very bussiness like article without any digressions. It was more like a briefing than an actual news article.

Urban Transport System Incorportating "Roller Coaster" Principles

* The Institute of Industrial Science University of Tokyo built a test of a supposedly energy-saving urban transport system in Chiba Prefecture, Japan.
* IIS (Institute of Industrial Science) specialized in constructing amusement par facilities before deciding to use their expertise to develop an energy-saving system using hight differences in rail tracks as well as a high-performance train that would be noiseless, and vibration free so the community wouldn't be bothered.
* The awesome little boxcar prototype operates mostly using hight difference of three meters and max downward slope of 7.4 degrees over the approx. 100 meter rail. The train moves at about 12 mph and generates electricity using the air resistance and the speed of the train.
* At upward slopes it will have the same lift motors as on railroad systems.
* The project has been in progress since 2006 and is aimed at making it possible to get to mass-transit sites, from which someone could take a taxi or bus to their exact destination.
* The actual project is set for completion in 2012 and will use about 1/3rd of the energy consumed by a bus.

Final focus; further research needed.

After writing my blog culmination paper, I realized that my blog was somewhat lacking in information on fuel efficient cars. This happened because I slowly began to slip into the politics of environmental efficiency. Though it is good to get some of the political side to shed light on what's happening now, I need to get more knowledge on how and why more efficient cars are being made and what kinds there are. The final focus of my last blogs needs to be getting back to the roots of the blog to help support the political portion of the blog.
The most pressing issue of my blog is and has always been where I could find a good piece of field experience to add the final part of my project. I have thought long and hard about what I could do as field experience and am personally lost. Whatever advice anyone else has would be greatly appreciated.

Reaction to Nissan Forecasts US$2.9B Loss for Fiscal Year; Cuts Planned Production by 20%

The article was rich and full of information on this unfortunate topic. The information was conveniently organized in lists of the results and it also clearly stated what had caused this in the introduction. The fact that Nissan, one of Europes largest producer and exporter of vehicles, is being lossing $2,900,000,000 shows that the crippled economy is in dire need of some kind of resuscitation.
Also, it's very telling that this article had most of its monitary facts in Yen then changed into US dollars.

Nissan Forecasts US$2.9B Loss for Fiscal Year; Cuts Planned Production by 20%

*Nissan lost $2,900,000,000 as a result of the failing economy in the fiscal year, ending March 31 2009
*As a result, they are "retaining" their commitments to quality and zero-emmission vehicles.
* Nissan is only making 10 new cars per year from 2009-2012.
* Still, they say they're going to make an all-electric vehicle.
* Nissan will be getting rid of 20,000 jobs
* Nissan is cutting bonus payments to the board of directors and reducing their salleries by 10%

Response to New Study Concludes Climate Changes Largely Irreversible for More Than 1,000 Years After CO2 Emissions Completely Stopped

It was very good for information, but it truely makes you think because it seems like the probolem really cant be fixed for a long time. It makes you think that we could all be in this for a very long time. It makes a lot of sence, though, because after we've fixed the probolem of producing CO2 we have to let it get back to how it was after we werent producing massive amounts of CO2.

Article 8- New Study Concludes Climate Changes Largely Irreversible for More Than 1,000 Years After CO2 Emissions Completely Stopped

* National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) scientest Susan Solomon says that temp, sea levels and rainfall wont reregulate for 1000 years
* If CO2 reaches 450-600 it will result in a decrease in the amount of rainfall that could lead to something like the Dust Bowl
* The water levels wouldn't regulate for 1,000 years because it would take time for the glaciers to reform a while after the CO2 is fixed.
* The oceans expanding was obviously the humans fault and they need to fix it, but after that's fixed ti will take 1000 years for THAT to fix everything else.

Alex Hadik- In Class Reponse

Hayden-
Your blog is extremely interesting and very well researched. I know that you have hit some bumps along the way but this blog seems to be getting along just fine. Your research seems very diverse and well noted. I especially liked how well you were able to condense your notes. They are very concise. It makes for extremely easy reading.While I did have a hard time finding your forth article, (I think I found it), maybe it would be best if your numbered your entries. This would help profusely.
Alex Hadik

What Barack Obamas inauguration means for green energy- Response

The article was a bounty of information regarding the former President-Elect and his plan to create jobs and give the people more money to spend on American objects.  Unfortunately, it was also good to teach me about some guy I don't care about and his new book . . . .  I was also very interested about how I found this in and English newspaper, which shows that people all over the world are caring about all that is going on with the US.

What Barack Obamas inauguration means for green energy

*$50 billion towards creating more environment friendly cars, jobs and lifestyles.

*$10 billion to develop biofuels and reusable energy 

*$25 billion to make public buildings like schools more energy efficient.

*Most of the many jobs Obama "Green Collar" plans to create will require more than just a high-school diploma but less than 4 years of college.  

*In the last year 9,000 jobs were made my many wind fields expanding or being developed.

*Total of $700 billion to $1 trillion will be spent on the energy crisis. 

*Creates 1 million new jobs

Aimee Response Reflection

Hayden, I like your comment about calling Obama a communist and a soviet. However, I think it was an interesting choice to involve politic in your I-search. Have you found any information about solar powered cars? Motorcycles are not cars, but are you going to include all vehicles as well now? Your notes are neat and informative, and your comments follow them. Keep it up!

I think Aimee meant to post this on your blog.

Kelsey Weber's Response to 4 5 &6

Hayden, good job on your notes they are all facts and easy to read. I didn't know that about motorcycles, that's ridiculous. Also, the article on cars running on water was really cool, just watch out in your response you used 'stuff' a few times. Other than that, you're doing swell.

Alex G's 3rd Responce

Hayden, your topic is really interesting, and i liked reading each article. Just make sure that you answer your questions, and write detailed. Like in one article you said you thought something was awesome. Well, why did you think it was awesome? Just a few things like that and you should be good to go.

Samara's response to articles 4, 5, and 6

Hayden, I feel that your focus on your topic is going well. It would be nice to see more fuel efficient cars and motorcycles and whatnot. I can only suggest that you add the hyper link to your citations and check the spelling on some of your posts. I can't believe that motorcycles emit more than a Hummer! Keep up the good work!

Motorcycles Finally Go Green Responce

Being extremely interested in motorcycles myself, I liked this article and was surprised to find that most motorcycles get more than 70 mpg but create 10 times more emissions. I was always surprised to learn that they virtually hadn't been altered mechanically since they were invented. I'm surprised that less people (espicialy in urban areas) dont drive motorcycle's seeing as the main problem with them with most people is how heavy they are.

Motorcycles Finally Go Green

* Although they have excellent fuel efficiency, most motorcycles put out emissions that are worse than a Hummer's.
* Even though they haven't changed mechanically since their invention, motorcycles are now being altered to be much better.
* Zero Motorcycles and Brammo already have electric motorcycles that someone can buy right now and are looking at fuel-cell bikes.
* People are still against electric bikes because the electric engine ways a lot more ad because they dont have the long term use efficiency that gas has.

Responce to "Fueled by H20"?

The article was very helpful with how stuff actually works in the cars. It was interesting actually hear how the stuff works (or is supposed to work). I think that the idea of this article, like the using of hydrogen into fuel, is awesome and could be more processed so we use it more in our lives.

Fueled by H20?

* Rob Juliano thinks he can make a car run purely on Hydrogen taken from water.
* Car companies are looking for ways to run cars on water but can't find one that only needs water.
* Juliano uses foot long canister's to seperate water into Hydrogen and Oxygen using only the power from a car battery.
* Combustive Hydrogen can be funneled into the engine and used to move the pistons.
* The hydrogen, which fuels the engine, which powers the battery, which then converts water into hydrogen which works pistons in the engine creates perpetual motion which is impossible.

Second Blog Response by Liam

Hayden, I think that our topics are similar in some ways. With my topic I mentioned alternative energy sources but I like how you are tying fuel efficiency into the economy and politics. Like Katie mentioned, you included articles with contrasting viewpoints and this made your blog stronger because it is important to have both sides of the debate. I think it is also important that you brought up the safety of small cars as this can be a deciding factor for people considering more fuel-efficient cars. People won't by fuel-efficient cars if they do not think that they are safe.

Katie's second post

Hayden, it is very interesting to see how Obama is striving to boost America's fuel efficiency. It's good also, that you had two rather biased articles it seemed, each from a different viewpoint, so you were not just getting one side of the story. I was surprised that small car sales are only up 1.2%- I could expect it to be much more, because I figured no one wants a gas guzzler anymore. What was the time period for that? It was up 1.2% from where? For an interview or field experience, you could visit some of the area's car dealerships, and see what cars they're carrying, if they're more fuel efficient. Or you could just talk with a knowledgeable salesman about his views on the matter and what progress he thinks is being made. Also, the popularity of the stick-shift could be brought back. They save gas more than automatic transmissions. Are more people buying foreign cars with manuals, or is the economy too bad to allow them to do that?

Jeanette's Response #2

Hayden, I like the facts you found about going greener within the next 10 years or so. Interesting that Obama has big plans fora greener America... Anyway, you might want to check out solar power cars and idealbite.com. Solar power cars would be interesting because you could find out whether or not they are as good as they seem. Idealbite.com is a cite that sends daily emails to people about how to be more Eco-friendly. You could check out the transportation section under the tip library and probably find some interesting stuff, (stats, % amounts, etc.). It is a really great cite.

Everett Second Response

I think that this a very interesting issue, and that you are doining a good job researching it. I think that this could be an interesting blog because the topics that you could touch on could go from politics to the state of the economy and how it affects the investment in fuel efficient cars. I see that many auto makers are trying to make hybrid SUVs like Cadillac's Hybrid Escalade, which looks so good, but how much more efficiency are you really getting out of it? Hybrids aren't the answer are they?

Good work.

EM

The story I read was short but full of information. Unfortunately, it concentrated more on small cars safety than their energy efficiency, but thats okay. I was looking for something that was more of why some cars aren't legal in America and how that can be remedied. The idea of small cars going up compared to the strong down for cars overall is good. It means that people are buying small cars a lot more than larger cars.

Smaller car safety in crashes improves

* Small Cars notoriously good fuel efficiency comes at the price of less safety.

* The most recent tests show that small cars have been getting safer. More than half of the most recent tests had good results.

* Although car sales are down 16.3%, small cars are up 1.2%, most likely because of their fuel efficiency.

* Small cars are much less safe because there is less room for safety features and because an oncoming driver would hit you at head hight.

Interesting info . . .citations?

Hayden - Some interesting info, especially the political ties. Think about where this might lead you in your topic quest; or you might stick to the science of fuel efficiency without the politics - many choices! Change your David Lindsay citation so that it is correct; where is the citation for A Closer Look at Obama's Energy Plan?

Interesting info . . .citations?

I liked the information that was included in the article, but much of it was clearly anti-Obama, which veiled the real information. Much of the information it gave was criticized and it often made comments claiming Obama was a communist and a soviet. Besides that, it was still and gave a lot of information on the things Obama has said he is going to do.

Obama's Plan for Energy and the Environment

* Obama plans to tax oil companies to try to make them focus more on more energy efficiency.
* He plans to give the American family $1000 that was from the oil companies.
* He plans to make it more dificult for the oil companies to make more money by closing loopholes in the Commodity Futures Trading Commission
* Obama says he will cut off oil from the Middle East and Venezuela within 10 years
* Obama is going to creat 5 million new green jobs
* Obama is goig to make companies per ton for how much carbon emmisions they produce.

I really liked the article because it was as much about Obama as it was about fuel efficient cars.  It talked about the President-elect and how he planned to make America much more energy efficient and his plan talked specifically about making charged electric hybrid cars which is really cool because they get the euilivent of 150 mpg.

A closer look at Obama's energy plan

- Obama plans to tax the oil companies and give that money back to the Americans.

- Obama made a 30 point plan to help America be more fuel efficient.

  - He wants to put 1 million plug in electric hybrid cars by 2015 (which get 150 mpg)

  - He wants to have 10% of Americas electricity come from renewable source

- Most of Obamas plan is in efficiency to cut down how much we use

Although I liked most of the article and what it was about, I didn't find it extremely helpful as far as energy efficiency in cars was concerned.  I thought that the fact that it was cutting energy efficiency by 3% was a bit meager and that more work needs to be done to see real results.  Overall the article wasn't extremely helpful.  Still, it was helpful to know what could be going on with energy efficiency besides cars, like making it easier to get more energy efficient appliances.  In the article it seemed like the idea to get more energy efficient cars was to ride a bike or walk wherever you have to go.

National Energy Efficiency Action Plain aims for three per cent consumption cut by 2010

-National Energy Efficiency Action Plan wants to cut energy use 3% by 2010 and 9% by 2016

-Plan will give rebates on energy efficient appliances/solar heaters.

-The government will develop more cycling lanes and racks.

-People who work from home will be given a leg up.

-Government workers will be given green travel plans to increase walking, biking and public transportation.

-It will also provide people with a better mode of travel.

Since you are most interested in the topic of fuel efficiency and cars I would advise you to go for that because you need a topic that is going to interest you for several months. Also, you mentioned earlier in your topics essay that you might want to research the presidential elections. This would be very easy to tie into fuel efficiency and cars since that is a very current topic.
While I agree with Morgan in that you might find repeated information on the topic of health care, once a president is elected you could trace what is being done about it and what was promised to be done. So this also ties into the presidential election.
However, I stick with my first point that you need a topic that will keep you interested for the period of time needed to research so therefore I suggest you pick fuel efficiency.

I think your isearch on the economy crisis would be quite engaging if you compared the situations now to what happend in the 20s. There is definitely an abundanceof information on fuel efficiency, and cars are a significant factor in everyday life so that would also be important knowledge to have. Both subjects are fairly current, and you have two good topics to choose from.

Haydens Response

In my choising of my topics I kept in mind the amount of information available, how much of a chalenge it would be to me, the amount of reasearch I could do but most of all I concidered my own personal intrest in the subject and how up to date the information I would get was likely to be. To me, the most important would be if I would be intrest because if I lost intrest in my subject I would or wouldn't make myself research the idea. In this case, the subject is energy efficiency in cars.
I've been interested in energy efficiency since I saw the movie An Inconvenient Truth, and my entire family is extremely interested in helping the planet. I got the idea for specificaly energy efficiency in cars when my dad was looking around to get a new car to replace the minivan since all his kids were leaving and he didn't need it any more. We test drove a VW Jetta that got 50 mpg highway and I thought, how can we make this available for a reasonable price? I also thought it would be cool to check out everything about hybrid cars and how they work. So in short, I clearly have alot of interest in the subject of cars and their efficiency.
Obviously, the subject of energy and money is on everyones mind. As a result, I know that there are going to be more than enough sources of information on the internet and in the news about different types of cars available. When I looked in the news there were tons of articles written in magazines and newspapers all over the country, posted within the week. The trouble I found was finding relevent and good papers about my topic. Some of the articles I found only vaguely related to energy efficiency, and there werent many talking about how more energy efficient cars work, which is a chalenge for me since I come in to this knowint little about the cars themselves.
In my I-Search, I wont only have to have a compilation of information and what is happening with them, but I will also have to have an indepth knowlege of how the cars work and whats happening with them. I don't know what I could do to get some field experience on the subject. I will need to research some more about hybrid and electric cars. I've also heard stuff about the car companies buying the rights to car's that get much better fuel efficiency, then not developing them so their cars still look best. I could research things the car companies are doing to get more cars with better fuel efficiency and still rationalize that versus how much consumers are willing to pay for a car.

Obviously, this subject will remain a current topic and will give me plenty of sources in which to find up to date info on new cars. In my preliminary searching I got the best results from the databasses with this subject. Everyone is worried about money and by extent they worry about how far they can go without having to go through the ordeal of filling up the tank. With gas prices so high and money being so low, people are buying new more economic cars and are getting away with making money after buying a new car.

Since you're most interested in fuel efficiency and cars, I think that this could be a good topic for you. With all the gas and oil prices changing constantly, you could easy get up to date information all the time. It's also cool how you could look at all of this and it might change your mind about when you start driving or even your parents driving right now. There's also all that new technology coming out with the hybrid cars and stuff, so that'd be something interesting to look into as well.

My Three Topics

I had trouble narrowing my decisions from my longer list of decisions to my more current ideas. Originally, my list included Mac Pro, Michael Phelps, a few of my favorite bands and obsessive compulsive disorder. Most of them I found were not featured in the news as often as I was hoping for, but others I found I didn’t have as much interest in them as I thought. In the end, I decided on the presidential election, the economic crises (1929 vs. 2008), and energy efficiency, specifically in cars.
I began my search with the presidential election. I started looking around the databases and found them to be unhelpful. Most of what was there was slashing of the opposing candidate. After searching for information using the student resources center which was equally disappointing, I looked checked on google news. It was on google news that I found what I was looking for. On google news I could alter what I was looking for to find very up to date articles about what I wanted, even a lot from different viewpoints besides my own. I looked up some good articles on their cabinets they would be taking into the White House and their plans for healthcare and the economy, which brings me to my next potential I-Search.
I also looked up the subject of the Economic crisis that is indisputably going on right now. After deciding to research the current crisis, I thought it might be fun to make it into a comparison to to the 1929 stock crash, specifically their causes. I quickly found that, although there would be lots of new information on the current economic situation, I would have to maybe find some books on the 1930's problem.
My last idea was to do something like energy efficiency and new technology in that field. Initially, I found a bounty of information on energy efficiency in everything to batteries to homes, so I decided to narrow down my search. I decided to alter my decision to energy efficiency in cars. I immediately found plenty of information on the databases like ProQuest and Student Resource Center, but I had the best luck finding facts on google news.
For a few reasons including it being the subject in which I have the most interest and the wealth of info, I have the most interest in any new technology about energy efficient cars. I like this because it directly affects me and the car I might be driving in a couple of years.

You are obviously interested in health care, and I think you care about that the most. I think you should cover health care, but I worry that the information you get will be the same thing over, and over again. but you can look at the lack of health insurance in lowere income families, and how they are paying for health car.

As for the nationalization of banks that will probably be the most dynamic, especially if you look at how the banks that have been nationalized are working AND if you look at the other banks and how thy're faring.

You probably won't find any information on the Yankees because right now national intrest is on other things. (maybe you can look at how proffesional sports are being affected by the economy.)