9.
Energy for Transportation
Archive
of Past Articles for Chapter 9
2009 August 19. Toyota,
Hybrid Innovator, Holds Back in
Race to Go Electric. By Hiroko
Tabuchi, The NY Times.
Excerpt:
...Mitsubishi Motors started leasing
its all-electric vehicle, the i-MiEV,
in June. Next year, Nissan Motor
is set to release its electric car,
the Leaf. But Toyota does not plan
to introduce an all-electric car
until 2012. Instead, later this year,
it plans to introduce a plug-in electric-gasoline
hybrid, and only a few hundred initially.
...Electric technology could help determine
winners and losers in the auto industry
of the future, but Toyota has been
highly skeptical of electrical vehicles.
“The time is not here,” Masatami
Takimoto, Toyota’s executive
vice president, said during a factory
tour this year.
Electric cars “face many challenges,” he
said, adding that “to commercialize
pure E.V.’s, we need a battery
that far exceeds the current technology.”
If Toyota is right, its competitors
will have spent billions on a technology
that will be slow to take off.
But if electric cars win drivers over,
Toyota’s rivals could take the
lead.
...Toyota executives rattle off reasons
to be skeptical of electric cars: They
do not travel far enough on a charge;
their batteries are expensive and not
reliable; the electrical infrastructure
is not in place to recharge them.
...Toyota is instead building on its
hybrid technology, bringing out a plug-in,
gasoline-electric hybrid vehicle later
this year that runs a short distance
on batteries before the hybrid system
kicks in....
2009 August 16. A
New Test for Business and Biofuel.
By Kirk Johnson, The NY Times. Excerpt:
IGNACIO, Colo. — ...With the
twin goals of making fuel from algae
and reducing emissions of heat-trapping
gases, a start-up company co-founded
by a Colorado State University professor
recently introduced a strain of algae
that loves carbon dioxide into a
water tank next to a natural gas
processing plant. The water is already
green-tinged with life.
The Southern Utes, one of the nation’s
wealthiest American Indian communities
thanks to its energy and real-estate
investments, is a major investor
in the professor’s company.
It hopes to gain a toehold in what
tribal leaders believe could be the
next billion-dollar energy boom.
But from the tribe’s perspective,
the business model here is about
more than business. “It’s
a marriage of an older way of thinking
into a modern time,” said the
tribe’s chairman, Matthew J.
Box, referring to the interplay of
environmental consciousness and investment
opportunity around algae.
...The Colorado State professor,
Bryan Willson, who teaches mechanical
engineering and is a co-founder of
the three-year-old company Solix
Biofuels, said working with the Southern
Utes on their land afforded his company
advantages that would have been impossible
in mainstream corporate America.
The tribe contributed almost one-third
of the $20 million in capital raised
by Solix, free use of land and more
than $1 million in equipment....
...More than 200 other companies
are also trying to find a cost-effective,
scalable way to achieve the same
end — turning algae into vegetable
oil fuel, according to the National
Renewable Energy Laboratory, a federal
research center in Golden, Colo.
Just last month, Exxon said it planned
to throw $600 million into its own
algae project, dwarfing Solix’s
financial base about fiftyfold. Like
most oil-to-fuel efforts, the Solix
project focuses on making biodiesel,
which can be used in a regular diesel
engine....
2009 July 31. The
Food, Energy and Environment ‘Trilemma’.
By John Lorinc, The NY Times.
Excerpt: At the 2009 Bio World Congress
on Industrial Biotechnology, held in
Montreal last week, industry players
and scientists found themselves pondering
two seemingly contradictory concerns.
One focused on how rapid advances in
genetic engineering and biotechnology
can expand the market for cellulosic
ethanol and other “second-generation
biofuels,” which are touted as
low-emission substitutes for corn ethanol
(itself a partial substitute for gasoline).
The other involved the problem of ensuring
that exponential growth in the global
biofuel market — which is projected
to grow 12.3 percent a year through
2017, according to one recent study
of the industry — will not hurt
the environment and divert vast tracks
of arable land needed for food or grain
production.
A paper published in Science earlier
this month, referred to the triple
challenges of energy, environment and
food as the biofuel “trilemma.” The
authors identified five “beneficial” sources
of biomass: perennial plants grown
on abandoned farm fields, crop residue,
sustainably harvested wood residue,
double or mixed crops, and industrial/municipal
waste.
“In a world seeking solutions
to its energy, environmental, and food
challenges, society cannot afford to
miss out on the global greenhouse-gas
emission reductions and the local environmental
and societal benefits when biofuels
are done right,” the authors
state. “However, society also
cannot accept the undesirable impacts
of biofuels done wrong.”...
2009 July 13. Exxon
to Invest Millions to Make Fuel
From Algae. By Jad Mouawad,
The NY Times. Excerpt:
...On Tuesday, Exxon plans to announce
an investment of $600 million in
producing liquid transportation fuels
from algae — organisms
in water that range from pond scum
to seaweed. The biofuel effort involves
a partnership with Synthetic Genomics,
a biotechnology company founded by
the genomics pioneer J. Craig Venter.
The agreement could plug a major
gap in the strategy of Exxon, the
world’s largest and richest
publicly traded oil company, which
has been criticized by environmental
groups for dismissing concerns about
global warming in the past and its
reluctance to develop renewable fuels.
...Exxon’s sincerity and commitment
will almost certainly be questioned
by its most galvanized environmentalist
critics, especially when compared
with the company’s extraordinary
profits from petroleum in recent
years.
“Research is great, but we
need to see new products in the market,” Kert
Davies, the research director at
Greenpeace, said. “We’ve
always said that major oil companies
have to be involved. But the question
is whether companies are simply paying
lip service to something or whether
they are putting their weight and
power behind it.”
...Currently, about 9 percent of
the nation’s liquid fuel supply
comes from biofuels — most
of it corn-based ethanol. And by
2022, Congress has mandated that
biofuel levels reach 36 billion gallons.
...According to Exxon, algae could
yield more than 2,000 gallons of
fuel per acre of production each
year, compared with 650 gallons for
palm trees and 450 gallons for sugar
canes. Corn yields just 250 gallons
per acre a year....
2009 May 7. U.S.
Drops Research Into Fuel Cells
for Cars. By Matthew
L. Wald, The NY Times. Excerpt:
WASHINGTON — Cars
powered by hydrogen fuel cells, once
hailed by President George W. Bush
as a pollution-free solution for
reducing the nation’s dependence
on foreign oil, will not be practical
over the next 10 to 20 years, the
energy secretary said Thursday, and
the government will cut off funds
for the vehicles’ development.
Developing those cells and coming
up with a way to transport the hydrogen
is a big challenge, Energy Secretary
Steven Chu said in releasing energy-related
details of the administration’s
budget for the year beginning Oct.
1. Dr. Chu said the government preferred
to focus on projects that would bear
fruit more quickly.
The retreat from cars powered by
fuel cells counters Mr. Bush’s
prediction in 2003 that “the
first car driven by a child born
today could be powered by hydrogen,
and pollution-free.” The Energy
Department will continue to pay for
research into stationary fuel cells,
which Dr. Chu said could be used
like batteries on the power grid
and do not require compact storage
of hydrogen.
...“We’re very devoted
to delivering solutions — not
just science papers, but solutions — but
it will require some basic science,” Dr.
Chu, who won a Nobel Prize for his
work in physics, said at a news conference....
2009 Spring. Solar
Fueling Stations: Building a Zero
Emissions Transportation Future. (PDF) By Sara Schedler, Friends
of the Earth newsmagazine. Excerpt:
...Transportation currently accounts
for more than one-third of all U.S.
greenhouse gas emissions and is rapidly
growing. In order to quickly and
substantially reduce greenhouse gas
emissions from transportation and
achieve energy independence as a
nation, we must fundamentally transform
our vehicles and the fuel they use.
Plug-in electric vehicles, fueled
by renewable energy sources such
as solar, offer a vital solution
to achieving these goals. ...Recognizing
the important role plug- in vehicles
can play in solving our greenhouse
gas and oil dependence problems,
President Obama has set goals of
putting one million plug-ins on the
road by 2015, requiring that at least
50 percent of all federal fleet purchases
be plug-ins by 2012, and converting
the White House fleet to plug-ins
(security-permitting). Today, a plug-in
charged from the cleaner California
electric grid can reduce emissions
by up to 62 percent compared to a
conventional car. But, when the electricity
used to fuel plug-in cars is produced
from 100 percent renewable sources
such as solar energy, greenhouse
gas emissions from cars can approach
zero. Friends of the Earth is pursuing
this vision and working with legislators,
regulatory agencies, and businesses
to develop solar-powered charging
stations (i.e. sun fuel stations)
that can fuel plug- in cars directly
from the sun. A solar fueling station
is essentially a carport upon which
solar panels are mounted and underneath
which cars park and charge from provided
outlets. These stations not only
charge cars, but can also feed the
grid with clean energy or provide
energy for the onsite host building(s)
when cars are not being charged.
...Solar fueling stations will also
significantly contribute towards
the emerging green economy and help
support a burgeoning green collar
workforce. Importantly, by using
existing built space such as parking
lots to generate fuel, solar fueling
stations encourage infill development
and cut down on the use of virgin
land for solar power generation.
...there are approximately 90 million
parking spaces in California and
if just one-third of all parking
spaces in the state were converted
to solar fueling stations, they could
generate enough fuel to power the
average daily commute for the majority
of Californian cars on the road....
2009 April 5. India's
electric car captures imagination. By Daniel Pepper,
San Francisco Chronicle. Excerpt:
Indian cities are typically clogged
with hulking buses, braying bullock
carts and motorbikes - stacked with
as many as five people - that cause
commuters to idle for hours in traffic.
Despite such urban chaos, many Indians
pine for a vehicle that they can call
their own. A Mumbai auto manufacturer
has answered the call, introducing
the world's cheapest car on March 23.
At $2,000, the Tata Nano is a five-seat,
air-conditioned, gasoline-powered car
that environmental activists predict
will further pollute smog-filled Indian
cities.
While the Tata Nano has received much
international publicity, India's other
automotive innovation - the Reva-i
- has quietly become the world's best-selling
electric car...
The Maini Group, the Bangalore company
that manufactures the car... has sold
more electric vehicles than any other
company - 3,000 - to at least 20 major
cities throughout Europe, Asia and
Latin America....
...The Reva-i is not yet available
in the United States. Like many European
models, strict safety and testing regulations
make the price of entering the U.S.
market prohibitively expensive....
Nevertheless, the Reva appears to be
catching on globally.
...Unlike the much-anticipated GM Volt,
due in 2010, the Reva is all electric,
with no gas option. The plug-in vehicle
turns on with the flick of a dial and
rolls almost silently into traffic.
Its manufacturer, the Maini Group,
is about to introduce its third-generation
model, which will be the same shape
and size as its two previous versions.
...Reva expects to triple its sales
in 2009. There are 3,000 on the road
in Europe, Asia and Latin America,
and a state-of-the-art plant in Bangalore
near completion is expected to eventually
churn out 30,000 cars a year....
2009 April 1. China
Vies to Be World’s
Leader in Electric Cars. By Keith
Bradsher, The NY Times. Excerpt:
TIANJIN, China — Chinese leaders
have adopted a plan aimed at turning
the country into one of the leading
producers of hybrid and all-electric
vehicles within three years, and
making it the world leader in electric
cars and buses after that.
The goal, which radiates from the
very top of the Chinese government,
suggests that Detroit’s Big
Three, already struggling to stay
alive, will face even stiffer foreign
competition on the next field of
automotive technology than they do
today.
“China is well positioned to
lead in this,” said David Tulauskas,
director of China government policy
at General Motors.
To some extent, China is making a
virtue of a liability. It is behind
the United States, Japan and other
countries when it comes to making
gas-powered vehicles, but by skipping
the current technology, China hopes
to get a jump on the next.
...But electric vehicles may do little
to clear the country’s smog-darkened
sky or curb its rapidly rising emissions
of global warming gases. China gets
three-fourths of its electricity
from coal, which produces more soot
and more greenhouse gases than other
fuels.
A report by McKinsey & Company
last autumn estimated that replacing
a gasoline-powered car with a similar-size
electric car in China would reduce
greenhouse emissions by only 19 percent.
It would reduce urban pollution,
however, by shifting the source of
smog from car exhaust pipes to power
plants, which are often located outside
cities....
2009 Feb 27. On
the Fast Track.
by Craig Canine, OnEarth Magazine
- NRDC. The rest of the developed
world has high-speed rail. We don't.
That's finally about to change.
...Several states are improving existing
rail lines with the goal of offering "medium-fast" (around
110 mph) service within the decade
(see "Slow,
Slow, Quick-Quick, Slow," this issue),
but California has pulled into the
lead as the probable site of America's
first true high-speed (top operating
speed: 220 mph) system.
Supporters hope it will be whizzing
passengers between Los Angeles and
San Francisco by 2020. Once the technology
has a foothold in the United States,
its rapid spread will become more
and more likely as the economic,
environmental, and practical benefits
sink in.
State-of-the-art high-speed rail
systems don't come cheap, but the
price of not building them will be
astronomical, in both economic and
environmental terms. As far as the
planet's climate is concerned, high-speed
rail can't come fast enough.
Trains, even painfully slow ones
powered by diesel engines, are inherently
efficient compared with other ways
of moving people and cargo. The reasons
have to do with basic physics. Steel
wheels on steel tracks have much
lower rolling resistance than rubber
tires on pavement. One train uses
less energy to overcome wind resistance
than the number of trucks or cars
that would be needed to haul an equal
load the same distance. A single
freight train can take as many as
280 trucks off the highway and uses
a quarter as much fuel as an average
truck to move a ton one mile. Amtrak
passenger trains, hardly paragons
of up-to-date technology, consume
on average 18 percent less energy
per passenger mile than airplanes
and 27 percent less than cars. So
policies that encourage and expand
rail transport will yield net reductions
in both oil dependence and greenhouse
gas emissions.
... High-speed trains take the environmental
advantages of conventional passenger
rail and supercharge them. All of
today's high-speed rail systems run
on electricity drawn from overhead
wires, which powers motors in the
trains' locomotives. Electric motors
are roughly three times more efficient
than internal combustion engines
in converting energy into mechanical
force. Recent generations of high-speed
trains use superefficient motors;
regenerative braking (which captures
energy that would otherwise be lost
as heat, then converts it back into
electricity and returns it to the
grid); and advanced, lightweight
materials to boost their comparative
efficiency even further.
Independent research commissioned
by Eurostar, which operates high-speed
trains between London and Europe
through the Channel Tunnel, has shown
that a passenger who flies from London
to Paris (214 miles) or Brussels
(199 miles) generates 10 times more
carbon dioxide than one who rides
on a high-speed train.
2009 February 26. $25
Billion to Promote Electric Cars
Is Untouched.
By Leslie Wayne, The NY Times. Excerpt:
The Energy Department has $25 billion
to make loans to hasten the arrival
of the next generation of automotive
technology — electric-powered
cars. But no money has been allocated
so far, even though the Advanced
Technology Vehicles Manufacturing
Loan program, established in 2007,
has received applications from 75
companies, including start-ups as
well as the three Detroit automakers.
With General Motors and Chrysler
making repeat visits to Washington
to ask for bailout money to stave
off insolvency, some members of Congress
are starting to ask why the Energy
Department money is not flowing yet.
The loans also are intended to help
fulfill President Obama’s campaign
promise of putting one million electric
cars on American roads by 2015.
...Energy Department staff members
said they were still sifting through
loan applications, dozens of which
arrived on the filing deadline of
Dec. 31. On top of that, another
$2 billion is coming to the department
from the $787 billion stimulus package.
That money will be used to develop
the advanced battery technology needed
to power electric cars, batteries
more durable, safer and cheaper than
anything available today....
2009 February 21. British
Fight Climate Change With Fish
and Chips. By Elisabeth
Rosenthal, The NY Times. Excerpt:
NUNEATON, England — As he has
done frequently over the last 18
months, Andy Roost drove his blue
diesel Peugeot 205 onto a farm, where
signs pointed one way for “eggs” and
another for “oil.”
He unscrewed the gas cap and chatted
nonchalantly as Colin Friedlos, the
proprietor, poured three large jugs
of used cooking oil — tinted
green to indicate environmental benefit — into
the Peugeot’s gas tank.
Mr. Friedlos operates one of hundreds
of small plants in Britain that are
processing, and often selling to
private motorists, used cooking oil,
which can be poured directly into
unmodified diesel cars, from Fords
to Mercedes.
...Here, ...the direct-to-the-tank
approach is gaining a bit of mainstream
popularity, attracting people like
Mr. Roost... The oil, he said, is “good
for the environment and it’s
cheaper than diesel, even now that
prices have dropped.” It costs
$4.88 per gallon, which is about
10 percent less than diesel costs
now — and about one-third less
than diesel cost at its peak last
year. Used cooking oil will never
erase the need for filling stations,
nor will it, by itself, reverse climate
change, transportation experts say.
“You can’t eat enough
French fries” to serve all
the cars driven in the West, said
Peder Jensen, a transport specialist
at the European Environment Agency.
At most, he said, cooking oil might
supplant a few percent of diesel
fuel consumption. But he said that
it was one of many small adjustments
that, added together, could have
an important effect on reducing emissions
of greenhouse gases....
2009 Feb 18. CITY
OF SAN FRANCISCO UNVEILS CHARGING
STATIONS FOR ELECTRIC VEHICLES.
Campbell, Calif. Based Coulomb
Technologies Powers Public Charging
Stations at San Francisco City
Hall to be Used for Fleet and Car-Share
Plug-in Automobiles. SAN
FRANCISCO - Coulomb Technologies,
the leader in electric vehicle infrastructure,
today announced the City of San Francisco
has installed its Smartlet Networked
Charging Stations at City Hall. The
charging stations are a part of a
two-year public demonstration conducted
with the City of San Francisco -
a pilot project to power San Francisco's
plug-in fleet and car-share plug-in
vehicles. Coulomb's charging infrastructure
is providing the City of San Francisco
special networked features that address
electric vehicle fleet needs. Unveiling
of the charging stations came today
in a press conference with Mayor
Gavin Newsom and Coulomb CEO Richard
Lowenthal announcing the City's Green
Vehicle Showcase outside City Hall,
and is part of the Bay Area's regional
EV initiative.
"Our goal is to transform the
Bay Area into the EV Capital of the
United States, and a networked infrastructure
is essential for the adoption of
electric vehicles," said San
Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. "San
Francisco is proud to be the first
city to feature charging stations
with technology to support our city's
clean electric fleet vehicles and
car-share fleets."....
2009 January. The
Interdisciplinary Study of Biofuels-Understanding
questions and finding solutions
through biology, chemistry, and
physics. Philip D.
Weyman. NSTA, the Science Teacher.
Excerpt: From media news coverage
to fluctuating gas prices, the hot
topic of energy is hard to ignore.
However, little connection often
exists between energy use in our
daily lives and the presentation
of energy-related concepts in the
science classroom. The concepts of
energy production and consumption
bring together knowledge from several
science disciplines to both enhance
student understanding and seek solutions
to important global problems. Students
learn the second law of thermodynamics,
photosynthesis, and Ohm's law in
the classroom, but they may not see
the direct application of these concepts
to their daily lives-from the electricity
that powers their computers to the
ethanol-blended gasoline that fuels
their cars. Students may have even
more trouble relating to the world's
rapidly emerging energy crisis. As
global demand for energy increases,
supplies of liquid transportation
fuels used to power our cars, trucks,
and airplanes decrease, leading to
a potential crisis in their cost
and availability (Hudson 2005). In
addition, increasing evidence points
toward planetary climate changes
resulting from carbon dioxide emissions
associated with burning fossil fuels.
Substituting biofuel for fossil fuel
is one potential solution to these
energy problems. This article provides
an overview of activities and discussions
teachers can use to address the questions
raised about biofuels in biology,
chemistry, and physics classes....
2008 December 15. Waste
Coffee Grounds Offer New Source
Of Biodiesel Fuel. Science Daily. Excerpt: Researchers
in Nevada are reporting that waste
coffee grounds can provide a cheap,
abundant, and environmentally friendly
source of biodiesel fuel for powering
cars and trucks.
In the new study, Mano Misra, Susanta
Mohapatra, and Narasimharao Kondamudi
note that the major barrier to wider
use of biodiesel fuel is lack of
a low-cost, high quality source,
or feedstock, for producing that
new energy source. Spent coffee grounds
contain between 11 and 20 percent
oil by weight. That's about as much
as traditional biodiesel feedstocks
such as rapeseed, palm, and soybean
oil.
...The scientists estimated...that
spent coffee grounds can potentially
add 340 million gallons of biodiesel
to the world's fuel supply.
To verify it, the scientists collected
spent coffee grounds from a multinational
coffeehouse chain and separated the
oil. They then used an inexpensive
process to convert 100 percent of
the oil into biodiesel.
...The scientists estimate that the
process could make a profit of more
than $8 million a year in the U.S.
alone. They plan to develop a small
pilot plant to produce and test the
experimental fuel within the next
six to eight months....
2008 November 3. Neil
Young on gas guzzlers: Long may
you run. By Al Saracevic,
San Francisco Chronicle. Excerpt:
Leave it to Neil Young to make
green technology cool.
The rock legend has created a company
called Linc Volt Technology to promote
the conversion of existing gas-guzzling
cars into vehicles that run on alternative
energy.
...Young, who likes his cars old
and big, is launching his effort
by converting a 1959 Lincoln Continental
to run on electricity and natural
gas....
All 5,000 pounds of it.
..."All we're doing is showing
that you can run a car like this
at 100 miles per gallon or more," said
Young, standing next to the cream-colored
beauty at a South San Francisco auto
shop. "Our main focus is on
developing the technology. We can
tell people how to do it. Or, we
can do it for you."
...The car's conversion to a green
machine started about a year ago
when Young was feeling guilty about
driving his oil-burning behemoth....
He approached a Wichita, Kan., entrepreneur
named Johnathan Goodwin and his company,
H-Line Conversions, to do the job.
But once he got to talking with Goodwin,
he became convinced that there might
be an even better solution.
H-Line had pioneered a new type of
alternative-energy engine that makes
a car run on a variety of fuel platforms.
Here's how it works in a nutshell:
For short runs, a car can be plugged
in, charged and then run strictly
on electricity using a rotary engine
and its batteries. For longer hauls,
there's also a generator in the car
that runs on compressed natural gas.
When electricity runs short, the
generator kicks in and refuels the
batteries. To make matters even more
interesting, the car's generator
will actually feed electricity back
into your home when it's parked and
plugged in in the garage.
"It's a power generator," Young
said. "This thing can power
up about a third of a city block.
It'll make your meter run backward."...
Fall 2008. Running
Out of Gas. By
Jim Kliesch, Catalyst, Union of Concerned
Scientists. Federal regulators are
shortchanging U.S. drivers by making
new fuel economy standards weaker
than the law meant them to be. UCS
is working to reverse this trend
and give consumers the clean car
choices they deserve.
2008 October 14. With
Little Fuel, Eco-Racers Arrive
in Las Vegas. By
Steve Friess, The New York Times.
Excerpt:
Las Vegas — In a city
accustomed to the catering to the
strange and offbeat, the arrival
Monday evening of Jack McCornack
and Sharon Westcott in a topless,
two-foot-tall green and yellow roadster
at the front door of the storied
Sahara Hotel-Casino still turned
heads.
Gawkers couldn’t have known
that Mr. McCornack and Ms. Westcott
had just driven the vehicle more
than 800 miles over three days from
Berkeley, Calif., but many nonetheless
noticed the plastic tank of vegetable
oil — a.k.a. fuel — affixed
to the back.
In making it to Las Vegas in a total
of 1,418 minutes without burning
an ounce of petroleum, the duo from
Cave Junction, Ore., collected a
$5,000 prize in the Escape From Berkeley
race.
...Beyond the requirement to use
no petroleum products for fuel was
the added twist that the participants
would have to scavenge along the
way for raw materials....
“I’m actually kind of
shocked that anybody made it at all,” said
Jim Mason, the event’s organizer
and founder of a 20,000-square-foot
open-air garage in Berkeley called
Shipyard Labs where self-described “geeks
and gearheads” work in shipping
containers....
...Mr. McCornack’s sole rival
by Monday was a green Dodge Dakota
that runs on oxygen, hydrogen and
methane power converted from burned
wood in a large black contraption.
The vehicle was driven by Wayne Keith,
a 59-year-old cattle rancher from
Springville, Ala....
... Among the vehicles that didn’t
make it were a Mercedes-Benz that
runs on vegetable oil, a two-man
bicycle augmented by a one-horsepower
electric motor that runs on ethanol,
and a 15 m.p.h. steam-powered three-wheeler
(two of which are wooden)....
Summer 2008. The
New Car Conundrum. By
Christine Sarkis, Terrain Magazine
- The Ecology Center. Excerpt:
I've never embraced the consume-more-to-consume-less
strategy; avoiding waste of any kind
seems essential to environmental
responsibility. It's one of the reasons
I still drive a conventional gasoline
car...
...When it comes to your carbon footprint,
is it better to keep driving the
car you already have or buy a new
hybrid?
...How would the Prius, that iconic
hybrid, stack up against my own not-very-new
four-door hatchback?
...Since I am considering replacing
my existing car with one that must
be newly produced, I need to know
how long it would take to make up
for the emissions involved in manufacturing
the Prius—the equivalent of
about eighteen tanks of gas. Since
I drive 10,000 miles each year, it
would take about eleven months for
the emissions to balance out....And
since I'd be using less gas, I'd
be saving over $900 a year at the
pump. The clear message: When it
comes to emissions, mileage matters
more than manufacturing.
How much would driving a Prius reduce
my overall carbon footprint? ...In
my case, there would be a 5,809 pound
difference each year, which, even
including the manufacturing emissions,
translates to an impressive 11.8
fewer tons of carbon dioxide over
five years. That's like erasing my
carbon footprint for an entire year....
...After crunching my way through
the whole equation, it seems that
in my case the impulse to conserve
by making the most of what I've got
doesn't take into account vast differences
in fuel efficiency. In California,
where people drive more than 825
million miles each day, getting the
most out of every gallon of gasoline
has a tremendous environmental impact.
That's reason enough for me to take
another look at consuming a little
more in order to use a lot less....
2008 August 29. Surge
in Natural Gas Has Utah Driving
Cheaply. By CLIFFORD
KRAUSS, The New York Times. Excerpt:
SALT LAKE CITY — The best deal
on fuel in the country right now
might be here in Utah, where people
are waiting in lines to pay the equivalent
of 87 cents a gallon. Demand is so
strong at rush hour that fuel runs
low, and some days people can pump
only half a tank.
It is not gasoline they are buying
for their cars, but natural gas.
By an odd confluence of public policy
and private initiative, Utah has become
the first state in the country to experience
broad consumer interest in the idea
of running cars on clean natural gas.
Residents of the state are hunting
the Internet and traveling the country
to pick up used natural gas cars at
auctions. They are spending thousands
of dollars to transform their trucks
and sport utility vehicles to run on
compressed gas....
...Natural gas is especially cheap
here, so that people spend about 87
cents for a quantity of gas sufficient
to propel a car approximately the same
distance as a $3.95 gallon of gasoline.
...some unique factors apply
in Utah. Natural gas prices at the
pump here are controlled and are the
cheapest in the country, while the
price of conventional gasoline is one
of the highest. Questar Gas, the public
utility, has compressed-gas pumps around
the state open to the public, a fueling
infrastructure that few states can
match.
...Natural gas cars produce at least
20 percent less greenhouse gas per
mile than regular cars, according to
a California study....
2008 August 13. Downtowns
Across the U.S. See Streetcars
in Their Future. By BOB DRIEHAUS, The New York
Times. Excerpt:
...Cincinnati officials are assembling
financing for a $132 million [streetcar]
system that would connect the city’s
riverfront stadiums, downtown business
district and Uptown neighborhoods,
which include six hospitals and the
University of Cincinnati, in a six-
to eight-mile loop. Depending on
the final financing package, fares
may be free, 50 cents or $1.
...At least 40 other cities are
exploring streetcar plans to spur
economic development, ease traffic
congestion and draw young professionals
and empty-nest baby boomers back
from the suburbs, according to the
Community Streetcar Coalition, which
includes city officials, transit
authorities and engineers who advocate
streetcar construction.
...Modern streetcars, like those
Cincinnati plans to use, cost about
$3 million each, run on an overhead
electrical wire and carry up to 130
passengers per car on rails that
are flush with the pavement. And
since streetcars can pick up passengers
on either side, they can make shorter
stops than buses.
Streetcar advocates point to Portland,
Ore., which built the first major
modern streetcar system in the United
States, in 2001, and has since added
new lines interlaced with a growing
light rail system. Since Portland
announced plans for the system, more
than 10,000 residential units have
been built and $3.5 billion has been
invested in property within two blocks
of the line, according to Portland
Streetcar Inc., which operates the
system....
2008 June 16. Honda
rolls out new zero-emission car. By
Tomoko A. Hosaka, Associated Press. Excerpt:
TAKANEZAWA, Japan (AP) -- Honda's
new zero-emission, hydrogen fuel
cell car rolled off a Japanese production
line Monday and is headed to Southern
California, where Hollywood is already
abuzz over the latest splash in green
motoring.
The FCX Clarity, which runs on hydrogen
and electricity, emits only water
and none of the noxious fumes believed
to induce global warming. It is also
two times more energy efficient than
a gas-electric hybrid and three times
that of a standard gasoline-powered
car, the company says.
Japan's third biggest automaker expects
to lease out a "few dozen" units
this year and about 200 units within
three years. In California, a three-year
lease will run $600 a month, which
includes maintenance and collision
coverage.
The FCX Clarity is an improvement
of its previous-generation fuel cell
vehicle, the FCX, introduced in 2005...
A breakthrough in the design of the
fuel cell stack, which is the unit
that powers the car's motor, allowed
engineers to lighten the body, expand
the interior and increase efficiency,
Honda said.
The fuel cell draws on energy synthesized
through a chemical reaction between
hydrogen gas and oxygen in the air,
and a lithium-ion battery pack provides
supplemental power. The FCX Clarity
has a range of about 270-miles per
tank with hydrogen consumption equivalent
to 74 miles per gallon, according
to the carmaker.
The 3,600-pound vehicle can reach
speeds up to 100 miles per hour.
The biggest obstacles standing in
the way of wider adoption of fuel
cell vehicles are cost and the dearth
of hydrogen fuel stations...
2008 May 21. New
Trend in Biofuels Has New Risks. By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL,
NY Times. Excerpt: ROME - In the
past year, as the diversion of food
crops like corn and palm to make
biofuels has helped to drive up food
prices, investors and politicians
have begun promoting newer, so-called
second-generation biofuels as the
next wave of green energy. These,
made from non-food crops like reeds
and wild grasses, would offer fuel
without the risk of taking food off
the table, they said.
But now, biologists and botanists
are warning that they, too, may bring
serious unintended consequences.
Most of these newer crops are what
scientists label invasive species
- that is, weeds - that have an extraordinarily
high potential to escape biofuel
plantations, overrun adjacent farms
and natural land, and create economic
and ecological havoc in the process,
they now say....
2008 April 7. Money
Doesn't Grow on Trees, But Gasoline
Might. NSF
Press Release 08-056. Excerpt:
Researchers make breakthrough in
creating gasoline from plant matter,
with almost no carbon footprint.
Researchers have made a breakthrough
in the development of "green gasoline," a
liquid identical to standard gasoline
yet created from sustainable biomass
sources like switchgrass and poplar
trees. ...chemical engineer and
National Science Foundation (NSF)
CAREER awardee George Huber of
the University of Massachusetts-Amherst
(UMass) and his graduate students
Torren Carlson and Tushar Vispute
announced the first direct conversion
of plant cellulose into gasoline
components.
...While it may be five to 10 years
before green gasoline arrives at
the pump or finds its way into a
fighter jet, these breakthroughs
have bypassed significant hurdles
to bringing green gasoline biofuels
to market.
"It is likely that the future
consumer will not even know that
they are putting biofuels into their
car," said Huber. "Biofuels
in the future will most likely
be similar in chemical composition
to gasoline and diesel fuel used
today. The challenge for chemical
engineers is to efficiently produce
liquid fuels from biomass while
fitting into the existing infrastructure
today."
..."Green gasoline is an attractive
alternative to bioethanol since it
can be used in existing engines and
does not incur the 30 percent gas
mileage penalty of ethanol-based
flex fuel," said John Regalbuto,
who directs the Catalysis and Biocatalysis
Program at NSF and supported this
research.
"In theory it requires much
less energy to make than ethanol,
giving it a smaller carbon footprint
and making it cheaper to produce," Regalbuto
said. "Making it from cellulose
sources such as switchgrass or poplar
trees grown as energy crops, or forest
or agricultural residues such as
wood chips or corn stover, solves
the lifecycle greenhouse gas problem
that has recently surfaced with corn
ethanol and soy biodiesel."....
2008 Mar 18. Hydrogen
Fuel Station Opens in White Plains. By DIANA MARSZALEK,
NY Times. WHITE PLAINS. Excerpt:
WITH a history of using alternative-fuel
vehicles long before it became chic,
White Plains now is the Northeast
hub - and one of three cities nationwide
- for a model program designed to
put hydrogen-powered cars in consumers'
hands.
In partnership with General Motors
and a division of Shell Oil, the
city has opened on its property the
only hydrogen refueling station in
the metropolitan area equipped for
public use, G.M. and city officials
said.
Proponents laud hydrogen-powered,
or fuel-cell, vehicles for producing
virtually no emissions and reducing
the need for traditional fossil fuel.
The vehicles are still in development
- and out of most consumers' reach
with price tags for some ringing
in at nearly $90,000 - but they are
already refueling at the station
on the Public Works Department's
refueling site.
..."The big benefit of using
hydrogen as a fuel is that there
is practically zero pollution," said
Mr. Nicoletti, who oversees the city's
approximately 400 vehicles, about
20 percent of which run on alternative
energies including electricity, ethanol
and compressed natural gas. "Water
vapor is what comes out of the exhaust
pipe." Maria Recchia-O'Neill
of Rye Brook, who is one of the first
two local residents to get one of
the Equinoxes on a three-month loan,
said driving the car had created
even more interest in alternative
fuels than she had expected. She
is the science curriculum coordinator
for the Port Chester Public Schools....
2008 Mar 18. They
May Not Use Gasoline, but They
Sure Burn Through Water.
By HENRY FOUNTAIN, NY Times. Excerpt:
One way to reduce the world's dependence
on oil is to produce more cars that
get their power from the electrical
grid rather than the gas pump. In
the United States, replacing a large
percentage of the roughly 235 million
cars, light trucks and sport utility
vehicles with all-electric vehicles
and plug-in hybrids (which have a
supplemental gasoline engine) would
make a big dent in gasoline consumption,
currently about 380 million gallons
a day.
But such a shift would have an impact
on another of the world's precious
liquids - water. It takes a lot of
water to produce electricity, both
to mine and to process coal and other
fuels and to cool power plants. ...in
an analysis in the journal Environmental
Science and Technology, Carey W.
King and Michael E. Webber of the
University of Texas found ...For
every mile driven by a gas-powered
vehicle that is displaced by one
driven by an electric vehicle, ...
about three times as much water is
consumed (that is, lost to evaporation)
and about 17 times as much is withdrawn
(used and returned to its source).
The researchers say the impact on
water use does not mean a shift to
electric vehicles is a bad idea.
But ...particularly in areas like
the Southwest, that it should be
considered in policy discussions
about widespread use of electric
vehicles.
2008 Mar 11. Pollution
Is Called a Byproduct of a ‘Clean’ Fuel. By
Brenda Goodman, NY Times. Excerpt:
Alabama’s first biodiesel
plant, a refinery that intended
to turn soybean oil into earth-friendly
fuel, has been polluting the local
river… The spills, at the
Alabama Biodiesel Corporation plant
outside this city about 17 miles
from Tuscaloosa, are similar to
others that have come from biofuel
plants in the Midwest. The discharges,
which can be hazardous to birds
and fish, have many people scratching
their heads over the seeming incongruity
of pollution from an industry that
sells products with the promise
of blue skies and clear streams… According
to the National Biodiesel Board,
a trade group, biodiesel is nontoxic,
biodegradable and suitable for
sensitive environments, but scientists
say that position understates its
potential environmental impact… In
January, a grand jury indicted
a Missouri businessman in the discharge,
which killed at least 25,000 fish
and wiped out the population of
fat pocketbook mussels, an endangered
species. Back in Alabama,
Nelson Brooke of Black Warrior
Riverkeeper,
a nonprofit organization dedicated
to protecting and restoring the
Black Warrior River and its tributaries,
received a report in September
2006 of a fish kill that stretched
20 miles downstream from Moundville... The
agency did not charge Alabama Biodiesel. In
August, Black Warrior Riverkeeper,
in a complaint filed in Federal
District Court, documented at least
24 occasions when oil was spotted
in the water near the plant… In
October 2005, the Alabama Department
of Environmental Management informed
Alabama Biodiesel that it would
need an individual pollution discharge
permit to operate, but the company
never applied for one. The company
operated for more than a year without
a permit and without facing any
penalties from state regulators,
though inspectors documented unpermitted
discharges on two occasions. For
some, the troubles of the industry
seem to outweigh its benefits.
15 January 2008. Virgin
Atlantic Plans a Biofuel Flight. By
NICOLA CLARK PARIS - Virgin
Atlantic said Monday that it would
conduct a demonstration flight
next month of one of its Boeing
747 jets using biofuel - the first
airborne test of a renewable fuel
by a commercial jet. The airline,
founded by the British billionaire
Richard Branson, said a 747-400
plane would make the one hour and
20 minute journey from London Heathrow
Airport to Amsterdam in late February
using 20 percent biofuel and 80
percent conventional jet fuel.
The test, without passengers, is
part of a joint research project
announced by Virgin, Boeing and
the aircraft engine maker GE Aviation.
15 January 2008. Europe
May Ban Imports of Some Biofuel Crops. By
JAMES KANTER. If approved, the law
would prohibit the importation of
fuels derived from crops grown on
certain kinds of land--including
forests, wetlands or grasslands.
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