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Today, it's all about your email, calls, help & how-to around the high tech device that is today's car. Car Tech guys Wayne Cunningham and Antuan Goodwin answer your questions about cabin tech on a budget, start-stop technology, and aftermarket entertainment options. Later, Antuan gets on an old man rant about loud stereos and loud exhausts and we take a look at a device that could save you a few bucks at the pump on this episode of CNET Roadside Assistance.

Ten eastern states in a greenhouse gas reduction program have invested more than half of their carbon permit auction proceeds, or about $404 million, in energy efficiency, the group said today.

New York, Massachusetts, Maryland, and seven other states on the East Coast belong to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI, which aims to trim carbon dioxide output from the area's power plants 10 percent by the end of 2018.

To meet that goal, RGGI holds quarterly auctions of permits that let the plants emit carbon dioxide. Some investors also buy the credits in the cap-and-trade program, believing … Read more

Governments are looking at ways to keep the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol going beyond 2012 in some form to defuse a standoff between rich and poor nations that threatens efforts to tackle global warming.

Negotiators from almost 200 nations will meet in Bangkok from March 3-8, after side-stepping the Kyoto issue at their last meeting in Mexico in December.

"There is some creative thinking going on" about Kyoto's future, said Jennifer Morgan, director of the climate and energy program of the Washington-based World Resources Institute.

The Kyoto Protocol obliges almost 40 industrialized nations to cut greenhouse … Read more

Congress should pass a federal gas tax on consumers instead of continuing to impose CAFE regulations on automakers, says the CEO of Edmunds.

Jeremy Anwyl, who heads the iconic source of auto information, again raised the idea he has long advocated via his blog Tuesday and in conjunction with his attendance at the 2011 Government/Industry Meeting of the Society of Automotive Engineers taking place this week in Washington, D.C.

CAFE, or Corporate Average Fuel Economy, regulations are designed to promote fuel efficiency and require an automaker's fleet to meet a specific average gas mileage.

Anwyl said that … Read more

Ciris Energy today said it raised a series B round to build its first commercial plant for converting underground coal to natural gas.

Khosla Ventures led the funding, which also brought in existing investors Braemer Ventures, Rho Ventures, and GE Energy Financial Services. An SEC document from last week showed that Ciris raised $23.9 million, out of a planned $63.9 million.

Ciris has developed a process to biologically convert underground coal into methane, the main ingredient of natural gas. The company has said that its technology is less expensive than conventional natural gas production and other gasification processes. … Read more

WASHINGTON--U.S. environmental regulators released a plan on Thursday for the nation's power plants and refineries to cut greenhouse gas emissions, pressing ahead with the Obama administration's strategy of tackling the pollution in the absence of federal climate legislation.

The Environmental Protection Agency said it would propose so-called performance standards on greenhouse gas emissions on both new and existing plants beginning in July for power plants and for oil refineries by December. The fossil fuel plants emit about 40 percent of U.S. greenhouse gases.

The plan resulted from an agreement with states, including California and New York, … Read more

analysis Republicans in the new Congress will pose a greater threat to the Obama administration's strategy to regulate greenhouse gas polluters than a plethora of industry lawsuits.

The Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, is marching ahead with rules requiring big polluters like coal-fired power plants, oil refiners, and cement manufacturers to get permits starting January 2 to emit gases blamed for warming the planet.

President Barack Obama has always said the EPA would regulate carbon emitters if lawmakers failed to pass a climate bill.

Republicans, who will control the House of Representatives in January after winning some 60 seats … Read more

India and the United States have agreed to cooperate on energy projects, including shale gas and clean energy, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and U.S. President Barack Obama told a press conference today.

The two countries will set up a research and development center for clean energy in India and will provide annual funding of $5 million each for five years, with matching investment from the private sector, they said in a joint statement made in India during Obama's three-day visit there.

"We agreed to deepen our cooperation in pursuit of clean energy technologies, including the creation … Read more

First, the bra that is meant to be taken off won an Ig Nobel award in October 2009. Then, just last week, the inventor unleashed the lacy gas masks on the open undergarment market at $29.99 a pop.

At the risk of overkill, this third (and likely final) mention of the bra is to put to rest all the rumors of just what the male counterpart will be. And no, it is not a jock strap.

Boston Herald's Working Stiff columnist Darren Garnick, who reports this morning from the trenches at MIT, tells us that Dr. Elena Bodnar … Read more