The Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA), which operate 234 buses in and around Columbus Ohio are running a 50 percent soy biodiesel and 50 percent petroleum this fall. (B50) The Transit Authority has recently announced that the Ohio Soybean Council along with Nexsol Biodiesel (Peter Cremer North American, Cincinnati, Ohio) will be sponsoring a public awareness campaign on their buses.

The most interesting part that other cities should note is that they’ve estimated saving up to $400,000 a year by running B90 in the summer and B50 at other times.

Read the entire post on RichC’s Blog

Citroen is introducing the first running prototype diesel-hybrid. It’s based on a Citroen Berlingo, but called the Efficient-C.

The Citroen Efficient-C uses a 92hp 1.6L HDi turbo diesel, an electric motor running off of lithium-ion batteries, and a SensoDrive automatic transmission (which is just Citroen’s version of a stick/paddle-shifted automatic). The electric motor powers the car at low speeds while the diesel engine takes over topend duty.

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New Zealand has an biennial fuel efficiency and environmentally friendly race dubbed the AA EnergyWise Rally. For 2006 a record number of entrants come from diesels. 53 diesel cars have entered the race which is ahuge increase from 2004 which had a paltry 10 diesels entered. The winner of this race will be the car buying public.

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The new Mercedes Benz E320 Bluetec clean diesel will start being sold next week in 45 states and Canada. The E320 should be the cleanest running diesel to date, and should give hybrids a run for their money. The Bluetec engine will also be put in their ML sport utility vehicle, and R-Class touring wagon by the end of October. The diesel GL should hit the States early next year.

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