the weakonomist

Signs of Life in the Auto Sector: Positive Indicators for Cleaner Internal Combustion Technologies

Producing carbon fiber is a resource intensive process. I don't need to tell people here that hybrid batteries are very resource intensive to produce.

Carbon fiber has been around for 50 years, and they still haven't figured out how to mass produce it cheaply. I'm a car guy so I'm all for the use of the stuff. But I'm a car guy, so I'm skeptical about the potential for success.

Signs of Life in the Auto Sector: Positive Indicators for Cleaner Internal Combustion Technologies

Lighter composites means carbon fiber, which is resource intensive to produce and difficult to recycle. Hardly green. It's just like the hybrid buys who ignore how much goes into making those batteries of theirs.

The problem here is more about letting states set their own regulations. I wrote about this Friday morning as well:
weakonomics.com/2009/0.../

That being said, the prospect of investing in part suppliers appears lucrative. There will be plenty of money spent developing new materials and technologies, and the government has pledged money to help as well.

Could this bring home American manufactoring? We'll see.