The Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) announced yesterday it has a new partner in the Institute's project to developbetter plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV): Commonwealth Edison Company (commonly known as ComEd). ComEd joins IIT, All Cell Technologies, LLC, the City of Chicago and other industrial and government partners in a project that aims to double the fuel efficiency of and reduce emissions from Chicago's fleet of hybrid Ford Escape SUVs. ComEd will bring its experiences of owni

The catalyst found in most fuel cells is composed of platinum, but Dr. Fraser Armstrong, a chemistry professor at Oxford University, believes that enzymes known as hydrogenases may hold the key to efficiently unlock the power of hydrogen.

New Ford Motor Company CEO Alan Mulally will make some mad cash according to the Detroit News -- at least $10 million clams in compensation, in fact. The high sticker comes as no surprise given the fact that Bill Ford has had such a hard time finding somebody to take over his job, including the likes of Carlos Ghosn and Dieter Zetsche. It also comes as no surprise since Mulally was Boeing's second-highest paid executive at a mere $9.9 million compensation package in 2005, and Ford had no choice

In January, Johnson Controls Inc (JCI) and Saft Advanced Power Solutions, a Paris-based battery company, combined efforts in a joint venture (JCS) to further the development of lithium-ion batteries for vehicle applications. Last month, the U.S. Advanced Battery Consortium, an umbrella organization involving collaborative research between DaimlerChrysler, Ford and GM, along with the U.S. Department of Energy awarded the joint venture a 2-year contract to continue its research and development.

Maybe finding those extra 10 million acres to grow America's biofuel crops won't be all that difficult. Not if the results of Michigan State University (MSU) professor Kurt Thelen's research come out right. Thelen is looking at ways to grow corn (for ethanol), soybean, sunflower and canola (for biodiesel) on brownfields, polluted former industrial sites. The possible ecological benefit

UAW President Ron Gettelfinger is apparently done being pushed around by the domestic auto industry. Despite having given landmark cost-saving concessions on health care to both General Motors and Ford, Gettelfinger indicated to Reuters the same offer would not be extended to The Chrysler Group. The UAW considers Chrysler to be in a better financial state than GM and Ford, and therefore has disregarded the time honored tradition of pattern bargaining and not accepted Chrysler's latest concession

"We have always found a way to clean the environment and grow the economy at the same time. And when it comes to global warming, we'll do it again." Former President Bill Clinton takes his own words, spoken in the 1998 State of the Union Address, to heart as he gives up his Secret Service issued SUV for a Mariner Hybrid.