At Least He Didn’t Take a Private Jet - Wheels Blog - NYTimes.com

Mr. Massa had driven the Equinox from his hometown, Corning, down to Washington without using a drop of gasoline or producing any emissions — at least that was supposed to be the message....But was the trip as green as the photo suggests?

Not really. The range of the Equinox Fuel Cell vehicle is about 200 miles, according to G.M., and the distance from Corning to Washington is roughly 280 miles, which means Mr. Massa would have had to refill the tank with hydrogen somewhere along the way — but there are no hydrogen stations on the most direct route from Corning to Washington.

The solution: two Equinoxes.

Carolyn Markey, a G.M. spokeswoman, said Mr. Massa drove one Equinox from Corning to Harrisburg, Pa., where a second Equinox was waiting for him. He then drove it to Washington, where the above photo was snapped.

In order to deliver and retrieve the Equinox Fuel Cell vehicles, Ms. Markey said, two Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid S.U.V.’s were used as tow vehicles: one to tow the first Equinox back up to Honeoye Falls, and another to tow the second Equinox, which originated in Washington, up to Harrisburg for the trip back down. So essentially, the entire 280-mile trip was also made by a Tahoe Hybrid, which gets about 20 miles a gallon on the highway. Towing another S.U.V. lowers that gas mileage.

Now that it's really cold, Bill Chameides has suddenly developed a strong interest in natural cycles

So where are we headed? Well, the emerging picture indicates chill. Remember how last winter was particularly cold? It turns out that ENSO probably had something to do with that, as a strong La Niña paid a visit in late 2007 and 2008. The La Niña ended around May of 2007 and we have been in so-called ENSO-neutral conditions since. I thought that perhaps we could now expect an El Niño. But maybe not.