Was the Georgia/Russia conflict all about oil? Plus: consumers snub small cars as gasoline prices slowly decline — and China scores U.S. Olympic gold.

Georgia On Our Minds: An op-ed article by Dan Fisher in Wednesday’s Forbes paints this week’s conflict in the Caucasus region as a straightforward energy war. Fisher asserts that Vladimir Putin’s primary aim in the affair was to rule out Georgia as a safe transit point for shipping oil from the region beyond Russia’s reach. Fighting quickly shut down the Baku-Sipsa pipeline, which moves oil from Azerbaijan to the Georgian port of Sipsa. Now in doubt: the massive Nabucco pipeline, a $10 billion project which would have brought non-Russian natural gas to Europe via Turkey. (Forbes)

As gasoline prices drop, interest in smaller cars falls off: How quickly we forget. As gasoline prices slowly cool, so is public interest in smaller vehicles. A gallon of gas still costs a dollar more than this time last year, but auto industry analysts Edmunds.com says consumer interest is already switching from small vehicles to compact crossover SUVs. Sales of hybrids crashed at the end of 2007, when gasoline was selling below $3 per gallon. Still, Ford and GM report they believe car buyer habits are changing for good. SUV sales are down 16 percent so far this year, while trucks are off by almost a quarter. (USA Today)

U.S. gives Olympic Village gold for going green: China picked up another Olympic gold medal Wednesday — from the United States. U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson traveled to Beijing to present a LEED award for environmental excellence to the coordinators of the city’s Olympic village. Paulson held out the green features at the Olympics as a model of Sino-Chinese cooperation on addressing global environmental issues. (Reuters)

Poet to produce cellulosic ethanol this year: The dominant U.S. ethanol producer is entering the cellulosic conversion field. South Dakota-based Poet is dropping $4 million into a pilot cullulosic ethanol project, and expects to begin producing fuel before the close of the year. While cellulosic conversion utilizes non-food stocks — such as wood shavings and kudzu — for ethanol production, Poet’s first system will be tied to corn. They’ll be concerting leftover shucks and cobs from a larger conventional ethanol plant next door. (CleanTech)

Tokyo to get 200 quick-charge EV stations with plans for more: While some states and municipalities in the U.S. are experimenting with a handful of electric vehicle charging stations, mega-city Tokyo is taking the plunge with 200 test centers. At a least a thousand more will follow within the next three years, according to The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO). The project coincides — perhaps unsurpringly — with the expected launch of the Mitsubishi iMiev electric vehicle. TEPCO has been putting the iMev through its paces for the past several months. (Autoblog Green)

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