Unlike other fuel-cell based models from competitors, the Hydrogen 7 carries in its trunk a bullet-proof, drop-proof and crash-resistant tank of ultra-cold liquid hydrogen. The futuristic Beamer can burn regular unleaded or liquid hydrogen in its beefy V12.

Here, Buchko talks about his valuable charge:

The show activities officially start on Saturday, but Friday afternoon there will be a hybrid car MPG challenge to whet everyone's taste for the future of high fuel economy vehicles.

However, HybridFest isn't just about high MPG and hybrids -- it's more about the future of the automotive industry. This year the show will feature everything from big automakers Toyota and GM showing off their wares to homespun biodiesel makers and ecomodders like myself. There will also be speakers on a wide range of green car topics, including the featured talk on plug-in hybrids and the quest for 100+ MPG production vehicles.

Personally, I'm attending under two separate sets of auspices. Firstly, I will be an interested participant looking forward to things like the hybrid car test drives and speeches for tech buffs. Secondly, I will be there as a representative from my site, showing my car and talking about ecomodding as a way to conserve without chucking your old car.

I just … began my search for the healthier prenatal choice. I've read up a lot on the perfect prenatal by new chapter organics. Do you have any opinions on this? I noticed it contains lavender, which I've read can cause some female hormones to appear in male babies? Any other opinions on products for me?
 


Thanks, Staci

A perfect prenatal is a tall order! Overall -- organic or not -- you want to make sure you’re getting the maximum daily recommended dose of folic acid (important for helping prevent neural tube defects and spina bifida). Some “natural” (that’s in quotes because the claim natural is unregulated) brands also contain additional herbs and nutrients considered beneficial for pregnancy. These claims aren't exactly regulated either, so it's a good idea to go over the ingredient list of any vitamin you're taking with your OB/GYN or midwife.

Here’s a list from The Complete Organic Pregnancy of the vitamins and minerals your pre-natal should contain and the appropriate levels for an expecting mother:

• 4,000 and 5,000 IU (international units) of vitamin A
  
• 800 and 1,000 mcg (1 mg) of folic acid
  
• 400 IU of vitamin D
  
• 200 to 300 mg of calcium
  
• 70 mg of vitamin C
  
• 1.5 mg of thiamine
  
• 1.6 mg of riboflavin

  
• 2.6 mg of pyridoxine
  
• 17 mg of niacinamide
  
• 2.2 mcg of vitamin B-12
  
• 10 mg of vitamin E
  
• 15 mg of zinc
  
• 30 mg of iron
  

Unfortunately I found (and many, many other moms have found) most of them made me nauseated when I took them, which was tough at a time when I was already nauseated. I wound up trying many different kinds, and also only took them right before bed so I was either less nauseated or I slept through it.

The main difference between an organic and a conventional vitamin is ...

Greenpeace has just issued its annual electronics guide. Given that women buy 14% more electronics than men, the guide can help female consumers make their money matter by favoring the mobile phone, computer, TV and games console manufacturers that have the best policies and practices on toxic chemicals and equipment take-back. Consumers can also favor electronics companies that do the best job reducing their climate change impact.

According to the Greenpeace website, "Companies are scored on disclosure of their greenhouse gas emissions, commitment for absolute cuts in their own emissions and support for the mandatory global emissions reductions that are needed to tackle climate change. On energy efficiency, a selection of each company’s product range is assessed to see how far they exceed the current de-facto global standard, the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star. Energy Star sets minimum standards for energy efficiency for many types of electronic products. The overall percentage of renewable energy in a companies total energy use is also assessed.

The climate impact is important, since the information and communications technology sector currently accounts for ...

“In some cases, the exhaust from the Hydrogen 7 is cleaner than the actual air,” Dave Buchko tells me. We are standing in my driveway next to his charge, a heavily art-directed BMW, which has the words “Clean Energy” emblazoned on its side. I am not tempted to breathe in its exhaust, however clean it may be.

Buchko, who is an advanced powertrain spokesman for BMW, delivered the car to me and brought his young son, Jamie, along for the ride. Given that his family's involved, I believe what he's saying about the safety of hydrogen (no visions of the Hindenburg for him) and the bullet-proof, drop-proof and crash-resistant nature of its hydrogen tank.

BMW's Dave Buchko, son Jamie and BMW's Hydrogen 7.

The Hydrogen 7 has a detuned 12-cylinder, internal-combustion engine. Normally cars with V-12s are horrible gas guzzlers. The standard-issue big boy known as the 760Li gets a miserable combined fuel economy of 15 miles per gallon, and will if allowed consume 22.8 barrels of oil annually. The fairly luxurious H7 runs on gasoline if you want it to, but a push of the “H2” button and its taking in hydrogen from the big cryogenic tank that occupies half the trunk.

Why cryogenic? Well ...

So the price of food has gone up about 8% in the past year, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. Stop your complaining! As my mother always told me, "I like my whine in a glass, but not at the dinner table."

I'd have more sympathy for a lot of Americans who are upset about soaring food costs if it weren't for the fact that most of them can reduce what they spend on food by about 25% if they'd only do as my mother also told me: "Shut your yap and clean your plate!" (Now you know where I get my gifts for both language and tact.)

Prepare for shock and awe (and national embarrassment): According to government sources, roughly 25% of the food Americans buy goes to waste. That's about one pound of food, per American, per day -- thrown in the trash. Sadly we've crossed the line from Land of Plenty, to Land of Waste.

Last week one of our readers suggested 10 easy ways to reduce food waste (thanks Mrs. Green!). Here's five more ways to cut your food costs -- and your carbon footprint:

* Shop for groceries no more than once every two weeks. Time and again, studies confirm the obvious: Q.) How to keep yourself from buying too much stuff? A.) Shop less frequently. Grocery shopping is no different, but the key is to shop smart in order to avoid spoilage. Cook two or three meals' worth of each recipe at the beginning of the two-week period, and immediately freeze the extra portions for the second week. Freeze any meat that you won't be eating within the next 48 hours.

Use up fresh fruits and vegetables first, and then supplement them with just-as-healthy frozen as you get into the second week. Check expiration dates on dairy products before you buy them; in most cases you can find products that will remain fresh for two weeks or longer. The idea is to always USE UP what you buy before you shop again.

Oh the countless emails I get asking about silver. It seems mother-in-laws like to break out their darling sons' cups/spoons/teething rings and pop them into the next generation’s mouths. Come to think of it, all grandparents like to do this – my own mother unearthed similar heirlooms for my daughter. The silver isn’t the issue, it’s the noxious silver polish used to clean the antiques off before proffering them that the moms are writing about. They’re right to ask.

Here are two silver queries I’ve gotten recently:

I had a question I was hoping you could answer. Is there a safe way to polish silver? Those nasty chemicals seem bad enough for polishing jewelry (I wear gloves when I do it) but horrifying when you think about polishing silverware you eat with or teething rattles and such. My answer has been to just leave those things tarnished, but I was wondering if there was another way?

Thanks,

Susan

and

My mother-in-law uses silver baby cups that belonged to my husband since I told her she can't use plastic -- and as we speak I am watching her polish a cup that we will be using later today -- thoughts?

Best,

Aliza

Thankfully there’s a seriously simple, eons less toxic, and readily available solution ...

What's an OECD country?* Who cares, right? But actually this report from the federal Energy Information Administration (EIA) is kind of a big deal, because of what it says about the collision course between business as usual and our climate and peak oil realities. The report makes a lot of assumptions, among them continued rising energy demand for the next two decades, mainly from the Third World (and especially China). It says that those cries of "Oil! Oil!" will push prices to $186 a barrel. What's more, coal will stay on the front burner as our largest source of electricity.

This is plainly impossible, both from the planet's point of view and the cold facts about our energy economy.

Coal is the biggest global warming aggravator, and climate visionaries such as NASA's James Hansen, not to mention myriad and increasingly vocal college students, are calling for "No New Coal." Soaring oil prices have already put a big crimp in demand, and it's far from clear we would even have it to pump if EIA's projections bear out.

The federal government needs to do energy outlooks, but this one is likely to be far off the mark. For instance, on June 19 China (the second-largest oil consumer today) announced steep 17 percent hikes in gasoline and diesel prices "to rein in energy consumption," according to Bloomberg.com. Electricity is going up, too, which should at least dent coal use.

I was giving an eco-parenting talk last week when a pregnant-with-her-second-child mom asked me if it were true that all chicken is bathed in chlorine as part of its slaughterhouse processing. I was grossed out, appalled, and stumped. I wasn’t, however, surprised. Conventional meat is about as grim and questionable as it gets. The slaughterhouses must have some serious gunk in need of disinfecting, especially as it is done in (potentially cross contaminating) bulk. I haven’t personally used chlorine bleach in years and years and clearly would not want the food I feed my family to be dunked in it.

When I got home, I immediately started researching her query. I personally get chicken from three places: my local farmers market, a pastured meat and poultry CSA I belong to, and a butcher shop near my parents’ place in upstate New York called Fleisher's. I have never smelled anything even remotely chlorine-y about any of these birds. But apparently a lot of people have smelled the chemical on theirs.

My first mode of action was to email my CSA contact to find out what they do to “clean” poultry, and to see if they could help get me up to date on what USDA organic regulations are when it comes to chlorine (I highly doubted they permit such a caustic chemical). Then I started reading everything I could about chlorinated chickens. I had given the mom who asked my email address and she forwarded me some links. One article she sent from Britain’s Daily Mail lamenting a possible lift of a ban against US chicken pointed out that it “would have to be labeled as 'treated with antimicrobial substances' or 'decontaminated by chemicals'.” Would that we had such labels here! ...