I don’t care how many fans I point directly at my bed during the summer, the space between my butt and the mattress always reaches temperatures that make comfortable sleep entirely impossible. So, either I get a lame, inefficient AC window unit. Or I sweat my way through the brief, though surprisingly hot, Montana summers.

So far I’ve elected for option two, but now, thanks to some clever folks in Japan, I can cool the two inches between my butt and the mattress (the two inches that really matter) without having to pay to cool the entire room around me.

Lord this is an amazing idea. I’m about ready to fly my sweaty butt to Japan to get one right now. This extremely simple invention (by the people who brought you the USB Powered fan shirt) simply uses two ultra-quiet fans at the base of a mattress pad to pull cool air from above the head under your hot body. The device is more efficient even than regular fans. Even if used 8 hours a day for 30 days straight, it will only consume about 25 cents of electricity.

Via TreeHugger

Over the years the 3-Series has become the car that defines the term “sport sedan” and the benchmark for every luxury car maker from Alfa Romeo to Volvo. Also it’s the best selling car in BMW’s range. That’s the sole reason why the Bavarians have been so tentative with the styling of all 3-Series models. Either you like them or not, design-wise, the latest 5-Series and 7-Series sedans performed a

DEARBORN, May 21, 2007 – With increasing global consumption of
fossil fuels and consumers looking for “greener” choices in dealer
showrooms, Ford Motor Company is working to accelerate ethanol
production among a broad range of renewable fuel options for future
vehicles.

Ford has placed more than 2 million flexible-fuel vehicles (FFVs)
on American roads. The company’s current lineup of FFVs includes the
Ford F-150, Ford Crown Victoria, Mercury Grand Marquis and Lincoln Town
Car.

Last year, Ford, along with General Motors and DaimlerChrysler,
pledged to double annual production of vehicles capable of running on
renewable fuels by 2010. The automakers renewed a commitment this
spring to make half of their annual vehicle production capable of
running on alternative fuels by 2012. Key to that commitment, however,
is the need for an adequate distribution network for ethanol or E85, a
mixture of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline.

“Not only does E85 access have to be convenient to customers,
it has to be at a price point that provides value,” said Curtis
Magleby, director, State and Local Governmental Affairs.

Magleby says there are approximately 1,200 ethanol fueling stations
operating in the United States today. Most are concentrated in the
Midwest. Compared to the nearly 170,000 retail gasoline stations in
business nationally, the need for additional ethanol availability is
clear.

At least 10 to 20 percent of the fueling locations would need
to have E85 available to really begin to have true customer access,
according to Magleby, who added accessibility is only part of the
challenge. The government needs to make E85 production more attractive
for energy producers, he said.

“Governmental and business policies in place today actually
provide greater financial incentives to those producing lower-level
ethanol fuel blends (E10 which is 10 percent ethanol and 90 percent
gasoline). The result is there is no business equation for many of the
major refiners or retailers to produce or sell E85. That has to
change,” said Magleby.

“Ethanol has lower energy level content than gasoline. E85 needs to be
discounted at least 20 percent under gasoline to provide value to
customers,” he added.

Ford entered into a unique E85 partnership last year with
VeraSun Energy Corporation and MFA Oil to create the Midwest Ethanol
Corridor. The goal was to provide flexible-fuel vehicle owners the
ability to drive between Chicago and Kansas City, fueled exclusively by
E85, while educating consumers about the benefits of ethanol in the
process.

“I think the automakers, and Ford in particular, have stepped
up and shown leadership on this issue,” said Bill Honnef, senior vice
president, VeraSun. “This effort was a first for the industry, in that
Ford went from simply producing flexible fuel vehicles to proactively
looking to expand the E85 infrastructure. As a result, the ethanol
industry is expanding at a record pace.”

Honnef estimates that ethanol production in the U.S. will reach
a capacity of 14 billion gallons, or roughly one-tenth the annual
consumption of gasoline by American motorists (140 billion gallons),
within the next five years.

“Right now, America has no alternative fuel option; we’re
dependent on gasoline for transportation. Our challenge is to get the
ethanol infrastructure in place to match expected growth of production
to suport E85 sales,” said Magleby. “For every penny increase in the
cost of a gallon of gasoline today, it is a cost to the American
consumers of $1.3 billion.”

Perhaps the best example of an effective ethanol solution today
can be found in Brazil, where more than two-thirds of the vehicles sold
are already flex-fuel capable, including the ability to run on pure
ethanol, known as E100.

“About 10 years ago, the Brazilian government incentivized
their farmers to grow more sugar cane, which they convert to ethanol,
with the hope of reducing their dependency on foreign oil,” said Hau
Thai-Tang, product development director for Ford South America
Operations (FSAO).

“As market demands influence pricing, customers can switch from
100 percent gasoline to 100 percent ethanol, or any blends in between,
including E85. It gives the consumer a lot of flexibility.”

Thai-Tang says Ford has been a pioneer in delivering several
flexible-fuel products to the Brazilian marketplace, including the
Fiesta, Focus and EcoSport mini SUV. He adds that the company’s South
American experience will benefit future product development plans in
North America.

“We view ourselves as being the center of excellence within the
Ford community for doing flex fuel and ethanol vehicles,” Thai-Tang
said. “Every opportunity we have to share those learnings moving
forward, we’ll take advantage of.”

Today ethanol is primarily produced from corn, but Magleby says that may change.

“Work is being done to accelerate the transition toward a
broader array of biomass feedstocks, as an increasingly important part
of sustainability and greenhouse gas production,” he said.

Not only did Nissan’s new compact crossover get a maximum 5-star rating for adult occupant protection, but thanks to a near to perfect 36.83 points out of a maximum 37 points, the Qashqai achieved the highest ever recorded score in this test for any vehicle in Euro NCAP’s 10-year long history. In the other tests, the Qashqai received 4-stars (out of 5) for child protection and a mediocre 2 out of

Not the prettiest SL you’ll see on the road but admittedly, it does ooze with power. Kicherer’s latest interpretation of the Mercedes-Benz SL roadster is equipped with a bi-turbo V12 engine delivering 605hp/445kW. 0 to 100 km/h (62mph) come in just 4.3 sec and 200 km/h after 14.2 sec while top speed is electronically limited to 300 km/h (187 mph). Performance isn’t the SL K 60 Evo Black’s only

Jeep decided to share with us the first pictures of their upcoming Wrangler based Unlimited & JT concepts that’ll make their public appearance at the 2007 SEMA Show in October. Beginning with the sand-colour JT, the 4×4 pick-up is based on the new Wrangler Unlimited’s 116-inch wheelbase platform featuring a 5-foot pickup bed and an easy-to-handle removable hardtop. Its off road capabilities have

Due to be unveiled at the 2008 London Motor Show (July 23 to 3 August, 2008) the new Opel Vectra (which will also base a mid-size Saturn) has been caught on camera by Automotorsport performing test runs on an airfield in Germany. Despite the “military” camouflage it’s quite obvious that Opel designers took a really close look at the Geneva Show GTC Concept while drawing up the Vectra. Undoubtedly

What a tragic yet, unbelievable story. A 21-year-old Californian man who tried to kill his 23-year-old female companion by leaving her in a parked car on a railway crossing at San Fernando Road and Branford Street, L.A. was ironically killed himself when the oncoming Metrolink commuter train threw the parked Dodge into him. According to eyewitnesses, the couple had been seen arguing in their

A couple of weekst before the official premier at the Barcelona Motor (7 to 17 June, 2007), Seat uncovered its first all-road vehicle, the Altea Freetrack. Loosely based on the homonymous 2007 Geneva Show prototype -forget about the door mounted spare tire, the humongous ground clearance and the pronounced wheel arches, the Freetrack will go on sale in Europe in September. The Freetrack is

Unlike the States and despite the various “Gay car of the Year” awards here and there, in Europe, the Audi TT isn’t widely considered as a metrosexual symbol on wheels. Or is it? Ok, we’re not sure if the term “fag” has the same meaning in Sweden, but we nearly fell off our chair laughing with the pictured 2008 Audi TT Roadster and the obvious association we made. And no, it’s no photoshop as the

We don’t know if this will make European and American Scooby fans feel a little bit better or not, but from the looks of it, the JDM (Japan Domestic Market) version of the 2008 Impreza WRX will loose the “WRX” nameplate in favour of the uninspiring and meaningless “S-GT”. As you can see from the images that where posted on NASIOC, apart from the 7.500 rpm redline (US WRX: 6.500 rpm) and the 180km