Today in cleantech comes straight to you from the cleantech section of GigaOM Pro (subscription required), our premium research service:
Consumer Affairs is out with new polling figures this week with regard to how Americans feel about alternatively fueled vehicles. We’re heading into the summer and with gas well above $4 in many cities and $5 gas on the horizon, 73 percent of drivers said they would consider an alternatively fueled vehicle, from a hybrid to flex-fuel, which runs on E85 ethanol.
The top consideration in buyers’ next vehicle purchase was fuel economy (37 percent) followed by a distant second being quality (17 percent), with younger buyers disproportionately interested in alternatively fueled vehicles. The automakers are also aware that car ownership has lost some of its luster, particularly among young people and Zipcar has done studies showing young people care more about social networking online than owning a car.
There’s definitely a generational shift going on as young folks care about fuel efficiency and environmental impacts, which makes them question the absolute need to own a car in the first place.
Other things we’re reading about today include:
- Zipcar: Two moms, a business idea and $68 in the bank: The story of Zipcar’s early beginnings.
- IO focuses on modular data centers and ways to manage them: Using the iPad to manage your data center. What can’t that thing do?
- HP developing “net zero” data center: Matching the availability of solar power with the need to do compute tasks to achieve a “net-zero” data center. From HP.
- Why I suspend disbelief: Venrock Capital’s Matthew Nordan on why he listens to crazy pitches and why he thinks physics today is where biology was in the 70s.

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