This year, the online magazine is looking at five finalists including the new Ford Focus Electric, Honda Civic Natural Gas, Mitsubishi i, Toyota Prius v and Volkswagen Passat TDI. That includes two all-electrics, a CNG vehicle, one hybrid and a diesel-powered car.

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Global market realities, principally high oil prices, are also compelling governments to look for non-traditional, environment-friendly fuel to run vehicles, power industries, and energize communities to achieve sustainable national development.

But any drastic or “cold turkey” approach to a switch to alternative fuels or energy sources carries a high tag price.

But such outlay should not be considered a cost; rather, it should be treated as an investment – an investment in a cleaner, healthier planet.

For instance, a new generation of motorists are receptive to the idea of hybrid cars, vans, sports utility vehicles, and light trucks which can run on gas, electricity, bio-fuel, and solar energy.

But vehicle buyers can only be motivated to choose “green” automobiles when offered reasonable incentives.

This has prompted more lawmakers to grant incentives to car makers who build or import cars powered by electric or hybrid engines or those that run on alternative fuel in a move to reduce the country’s dependence on fossil fuel.

Under the plan, the incentives include exemption from excise tax or import duties. Owners of hybrid cars would be exempt from payment of the motor vehicle user’s charge and number coding and given priority in the issuance of license plates, according to a proposal now gaining steam at the House of Representatives.

The House Committee on Ways and Means has consolidated several measures on the proposed “Electric, Hybrid and Other Alternative Fuel Vehicles Incentives Act of 2011” seeking to promote the use of alternative sources of energy for automobiles.

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Forget horse power!  Looking for alternatives to using food crops, such as soybeans and corn, as raw materials for fuel, U.S. researchers have developed a way to extract oil from alligator fat and easily convert it into biodiesel.

In a study in the American Chemical Society’s journal Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, released Wednesday, researchers from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette note the alligator meat industry disposes about 15 million pounds of alligator fat annually in landfills.

The researchers noted the gator oil was more suitable for biodiesel production than oil from some other animal fats. The alligator biodiesel was also similar in composition to biodiesel from soybeans, and met nearly all of the official standards for high-quality biodiesel.  I love the creativity of all these committed scientists, keep up the good work and we will get rid of our dependence on fossil fuels.

Next Green Car have added a further 282 electric car charging points to Zap-Map in the two months since its launch, resulting in a total of 1,034 points mapped across 451 locations.

The majority of the charging points continue to be the “Slow” chargers (6-8 hours for full charge). However Zap-Map has added the first six “Fast” chargers (3-4 hours for full charge) and an additional two “Rapid” chargers (80% charge in 30 minutes) to add to the existing 27. Zap-Map will continue to be updated on a weekly basis.

“The continuing roll-out of recharge points at home, at the workplace and in public locations is key part of encouraging the take-up of electric vehicles. As part of this electric revolution, owners of plug-in EVs need an easy-to-use data resource showing where the public recharging points are located – this is why we have developed Zap-Map in the UK” says Dr. Ben Lane from Next Green Car.

The Next Green Car’s Zap-Map can be found on a new electric cars micro-site within Next Green Car, which also provides an electric car buying guide, details about available electric models, model prices and more.

Next Green Car’s Zap-Map is now available to license by third parties, either as a fully integrated bespoke map or as a data feed to integrate onto an existing map.  Great news, keep them coming!

However, producing EVs cranks out a sizeable 8.8 tonnes of carbon, compared to 5.6 tonnes for standard fuel cars, meaning that 46 per cent of an EV’s lifetime emissions are generated before the car even hits the road.

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On May 17, KB Home unveiled the Primera Terra, the largest Leed Platinum-certified residential community in California. Leed, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is an internationally recognized green building certification system developed by the U.S. Green Building Council. Leed-certified homes typically use 20 to 30 percent less energy than other new or resale homes, but some homes using up to 60 percent less energy.

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