Here’s a kind of good news, bad news post.  The good news?  No, let’s save that for last.  The bad news is, military robots have already killed humans and we are all doomed.  Also, drunken elephants go on a tear and some get electrocuted for their troubles.  Also, slime in a petri dish can fly an aircraft, so quite naturally it probably wants to kill us.  Also, extra big, humungous forest fires are now the norm, instead of your grand-dad’s teeny tiny ones.

Scared yet?  Ok, now for the good news.  A “regular joe” mechanic can take parts right off of General Motors’ own shelves and make a car (or truck, but usually a Hummer or a Cadillac) get  at least twice the fuel efficiency, and at the same time twice the horsepower.  For example, his latest project is a 2005 Hummer H3:

“Conservatively,” Goodwin muses, scratching his chin, “it’ll get 60 miles to the gallon. With 2,000 foot-pounds of torque. You’ll be able to smoke the tires. And it’s going to be superefficient.”  He laughs. “Think about it: a 5,000-pound vehicle that gets 60 miles to the gallon and does zero to 60 in five seconds!”

A great article on the Fast Company website that simultaneously makes me mad and hopeful at the same time.  On the mad side, this mechanic can take existing parts and just do incredible things, but for some unknown reason the big 3 US car makers can’t do the same.  Still the fact that he is doing it just confirms something I have always suspected:  we already know everything we need to fix the energy problem, the climate problem and most of our pollution problems.  That’s a very very good thing, I think.  I love the fact that this guy seems to love working on the hugest of the gas guzzlers and making them really efficient.  Consider his first Hummer conversion:

“Goodwin installed the Duramax and a five-speed Allison–the required transmission for a Duramax, which also helps give it race-car-like control and a rapid take off. After five days’ worth of work, the Hummer was getting about 18 mpg–double the factory 9 mpg–and twice the original horsepower. He drove it over to a local restaurant and mooched some discarded oil from its deep fryer, strained the oil through a pair of jeans, and poured it into the engine. It ran perfectly.”

It’s a really good read, and nice to hear somebody is doing something the big boys say can’t be done, and getting their attention doing it.