Google.org, the search kingpin's philanthropic wing, has just added another notch to its eco-friendly belt with a recent (and sizable) investment in Aptera Motors -- makers of that absurdly futuristic gas-sipper we've been following. Along with ActaCell (an electric car battery maker), Aptera received a $2.75 million infusion via Google.org's RechargeIT investment program. Hopefully, some of the cash will be put to use bringing Aptera's Typ-1 vehicle to market, where its $30,000 estimated price tag and outrageous 230+ MPG fuel economy will be a welcome relief from rising fuel costs and concerns... and our lack of a fresh ride.

[Via SMASHgods; Thanks, Jason]

While Audi is over there planning to produce an electric car within the next decade, Mercedes-Benz is hoping to be completely petro free within seven years. At least that's the word according to a recent report in The Sun. Dr. Herbert Kohler, who is responsible for Mercedes' advanced engineering, has reportedly suggested that "by 2015 motorists will have switched almost completely to alternative fuel cars." In order to make sure it's not left out, the automaker already has an electric car in the works for 2010 as well as plans to use its DiesOtto engine which will give motorists the ability to use biofuels should they choose. Still, aiming to phase petroleum completely out of its lineup by 2015 sounds overly ambitious from here, but we certainly won't complain if it achieves said goal.

[Via AutoblogGreen, thanks Dan]

Leave it to the Army to start putting garbage to good use. According to reports, a base in Baghdad known as Camp Victory has been getting some of its electricity from generators that turn waste products into sweet, succulent fuel. The device, dubbed the Tactical Garbage to Energy Refinery (or TGER, for short) can take food slop, plastic, paper, styrofoam, annoying kids, moist towelettes, or smaller, non-functioning versions of itself and mash them down to synthetic gas and hydrous ethanol. Of course the concept isn't without its shortcomings, as it pumps a hefty load of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere -- but for a place that's short of fuel and high on trash, it's a dream come true.

[Via Wired; Image courtesy US Army]

Like the beginning of every great science fiction movie, experts claim that they've discovered a cure for our fuel-dependency woes that only requires an army of genetically modified bacteria... that eat wheat straw and excrete crude oil. You read that right: scientists have created bugs which are able to snack on woodchips or sugar cane and produce waste in the form of easily malleable oil. Not only are the buggers capable of creating a byproduct which can quickly be refined into fuel for vehicles, but scientists say the process is carbon-negative -- it outputs less carbon than is required to produce it. Director of the project -- dubbed LS9 -- Greg Pal says that barrel prices could run as low as $50, and that the company plans to have a commercial facility producing the crude in 2011. And as for the potential threat of world-destroying attack from the mutant feeders? Says Pal, "We're putting these bacteria in a very isolated container: their entire universe is in that tank. When we're done with them, they're destroyed." Sure buddy -- but we're going to re-watch Them! just in case.

We get that rising gas prices are putting folks in a world of hurt, but has it really gotten so bad that we're resorting to losing our dignity riding Segways? According to a recent writeup in The Wall Street Journal, "sales at Segway Inc. have risen to an all-time high," and CEO Jim Norrod fully expects sales this quarter to "jump 50% from a year earlier." Not surprisingly, many of its new customers are universities and public service divisions who are replacing traditional vehicles with the all-electric scooters, but we still get the impression that individuals are steering clear due to its remarkably high price and laughable design. At least, that's what we'll continue to tell ourselves.

While oil prices continue to soar to new heights, the gurus at InnovaTek are peering into the future. After years of work, said company is finally testing its hand-sized microreactor that can reportedly "convert virtually any liquid fuel into hydrogen, producing a portable hydrogen stream for use in adjoining fuel-cells." In a perfect world, the technology would come built-in to vehicles, where we'd bypass the dangerous act of transporting hydrogen and instead convert biodiesel (or similar) right within the confines of the car. As it stands, the outfit has already signed a half-million dollar joint development agreement with Chevron to "pursue fuel processing technology for hydrogen refueling stations," and while this stuff isn't apt to be an option on any showroom models next year, InnovaTek is still aiming to commercially license the microreactors by 2009.

Tired of the air not doing enough for you? Well, a new project called Green Freedom -- headed up by researchers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory -- seeks to improve air's contribution to our planet. The new technology would provide a method of extracting CO2 from the air and then converting the gas into fuel for cars or airplanes -- thus creating a renewable energy source. The process uses a form of electrochemical separation to siphon juice out of the typically non-partying carbon dioxide, yet has a low environmental impact with a small waste-stream output. The plan calls for the use of existing plants, which will stem the need to build new facilities, enabling the environmental footprint to remain relatively small. Clearly, it's not being put into general practice yet, but it's a hopeful taste of things to come.

[Via Inhabitat]

We've been hearing about these highway use tax trials for years now, but apparently, a new $16.5 million Road User Charge Study will be looking for 2,700 mettlesome individuals that won't mind driving around with a tracking unit riding shotgun. The absurdly expensive initiative is purportedly seeking to figure out whether Americans "would accept the idea of paying by the mile, instead of by the gallon." North Carolina-based Innovation Management -- which will "oversee the study" in the Triangle region of NC -- proclaimed that folks who volunteer to take part in it would have their vehicle fitted with "GPS and computer hardware to track the miles they travel through each state and local government jurisdiction." Best of all, however, is the tidbit noting that these very guinea pigs will also receive "make-believe bills" each month displaying what taxes they would owe if they were indeed being taxed per mile. Anyone want to guess how much revenue they could rake in from accidental payments?

[Via The Wolf Web, image courtesy of WRAL]

Researchers from the University of Iowa Public Policy Center have developed a system for charging drivers federal taxes by the distance traveled rather than on gallons of gas purchased. The study is being conducted with 2,700 drivers from states like Maryland, Texas, Iowa and California to gauge public reactions and experiences with the system. The basis for the study is the declining tax dollars being paid for car use in the States; as fuel prices rise, cars get more efficient, and alternatives like ethanol and hybrids gain ground, our 18.4-cents-a-gallon tax on gas (which was set in 1993) remains static, thereby making it harder for The Man to get paid. Eventually, the government will have to find another way to generate tax dollars from drivers -- and researchers think this might be it. Instead of paying a constant fee on the fuel we purchase, drivers cars are equipped with a taxi-like meter, and users will be given a monthly bill for the miles that they've driven. We can only hope this is avoidable, perhaps due to the spontaneous existence of a free, plentiful, environment-friendly fuel source... or another revolution.

[Via Autoblog]

A gentleman from Erie named John Kanzius made a somewhat "shocking" discovery while he was working on a radio-wave generator he had developed for the treatment of cancer. While attempting to desalinate sea water using radio frequencies, he noticed flashes, and within a few days, had saltwater burning in a test-tube as if it were a candle. The discovery spawned interest from the scientific community, mostly concerned with whether or not the water could be used as a fuel, and of course, healthy doses of disbelief. Last week, a Penn State University chemist named Rustum Roy held a demonstration proving that the science is sound, noting that the water doesn't burn, though the radio frequencies weaken the bonds holding together the salt, releasing hydrogen which is ignited when exposed to the RF field. Mr. Kanzius and Dr. Roy say the question now is the efficiency of the energy, and are presenting the technology to the US Department of Defense and Department of Energy to investigate how useful the technology will be. Of the plentiful maybe-fuel (which apparently burns so hot it can melt test-tubes) Dr. Roy says, "This is the most abundant element in the world. It is everywhere," and (without recognition of the poetic irony, as far as we can tell), "Seeing it burn gives me chills." Check the TV report after the break to see the water in action.

[Thanks, Paul]

A breakthrough technology developed by three engineering lads in Wales could hold the key to converting carbon emissions into beneficial substances such as biodiesel, methane gas, and fertilizer. The cleverly-dubbed Greenbox was designed to be fixed underneath one's vehicle where it could gobble up carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide until the next fill up, at which point the box would be switched out for a new one while the filled canister headed to a bioreactor for processing. Sounds complicated, we know, but strapping these bad boys beneath every gasoline-powered vehicle in a given nation could boost its biofuel production exponentially -- all without spending another penny (or pence) on research. Unsurprisingly, the trio of inventors are staying mum until they (hopefully) convince the government or a private company to grab ahold, but unless these boxes learn to swap themselves, we can't imagine too many individuals bustin' out the creeper for underbody work at each fuel stop.

[Thanks, Jamie]

While we've seen everything from brilliant engineering to run-of-the-mill hacks enable vehicles to squeeze every last inch out of a tank of fuel, it looks like the Senate is taking larger strides in order to raise the MPG bar. The US Senate has reportedly passed an energy bill that would raise fuel efficiency standards to an average of 35 miles-per-gallon, create additional provisions that make it unlawful to charge "unconscionably excessive" prices for oil products, and establish new appliance and lighting efficiency standards to accelerate the use of more efficient lighting in public buildings. Lastly, there was purportedly verbiage that provided "grants, loan guarantees, and other assistance to promote research into fuel efficient vehicles." Of course, the bill still has quite a ways to go before it gets set in stone, and while upping the standard sure seems novel, a quick glance around existing lots will show that quite a few whips sold today aren't quite living up to the 22.7 mpg standard that's already in place.

[Via Digg, image courtesy of MPGStickers]

We've seen power hacks that allow hybrid vehicles to energize your domicile, but even that isn't enough to change how entire cities receive electricity. Now, however, the Japan Fine Ceramics Center (JFCC) has collaborated with Noritake Co. and a few other firms to develop "a high-performance hydrogen separation membrane made from ceramic materials" that can purportedly "attach directly to a gas pipeline to supply hydrogen for fuel cells using city gas as the source." Additionally, the the reaction to generate hydrogen can be carried out at a temperature of around "300-degrees lower than normal," and while current estimations are suggesting that cities won't be powered via this method until closer to 2020, there's always the option for a gigantic solar field to fill the void in the time being. [Warning: read link requires subscription]

Be warned, you should certainly take this one with a helping or two of salt, but according to a report over at Motor Authority, Toyota's Masatami Takimoto has at least insinuated that by 2020, hybrid vehicles would account for "100-percent" of the automaker's fleet. Of course, the context of the conversation was surrounding the firm's recent report that it expected to "make as much money on hybrids as it does on conventional gasoline-powered cars by 2010," so all sorts of boasting was likely to be aimlessly floating out of higher-ups' mouths. While making such a bold claim can't be seen as entirely unrealistic, we have to wonder if purely electric whips won't have at least some presence in the mainstream automotive market (and Toyota's lineup) within the next 13 years.

[Via Edmunds]

While we've been seeing methanol fuel cells pop up in all kinds of concept devices for a while now, there have been precious few actual shipping products that get their juice on with a fuel cell. That might be slowly changing, as a research team at the National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan has come up with a novel filtration system that increases the efficiency of methanol cells to potentially usable levels. The system, which is 10 times more efficient than conventional waste pumps, features a series of 100 50-micron holes that allow waste CO2 to escape out of the cell, while excess water is pulled off by a hydrophobic Teflon ramp (boy do we love those hydrophobic Teflon ramps!) that drives H20 molecules away from the methanol and into a collector. Since this method doesn't require any power to work, it's well-suited to cell phones and laptops, as the cells can be made smaller and quieter. While this doesn't mean we'll be seeing fuel cell Zunes anytime soon, you can bet those guys in Texas with the booze-powered robots just crossed a big X off their dev charts.

(Photo is of an unrelated Toshiba fuel cell concept.)

[Via DailyTech]