Monday, February 1, 2010

Gas 2.0

Gas 2.0

Concerned Scientist Group Says Many Hybrids Aren’t a Good Value

Posted: 01 Feb 2010 11:35 AM PST

All hybrids have some type of premium associated with them that makes them more expensive than their conventional counterparts, but is that premium really worth it when you consider cost versus reduced environmental impact and fuel savings? It’s a question that thrift-conscious and green-minded consumers often find themselves asking when doing new car research.

It’s a tough question to answer and one that will clearly be different for each individual based on how important it is to reduce environmental impact and fossil fuel use. Yet, even though the process is highly subjective, the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) has developed the Hybrid Scorecard to help consumers determine if that premium is worth it for each hybrid on the market.

Environmental Score

First the group looked at all the hybrids currently available on the market and determined an “Environmental Score” to “look past the hybrid label to see if hybrid technology is truly being used to maximize reductions in both global warming and smog-forming emissions.” The score is a measure of a vehicle's improvement in global warming pollution over its closest conventional counterpart.

What they found was that among the hybrids available for purchase there is a huge difference between the best and the worst performers. “Going from a conventional Toyota Matrix to a Prius reduces global warming emissions a whopping 44 percent,” says the group’s website. “That's like trading in a Hummer H3 for a Mini Cooper. By contrast, going from a Saturn Aura to an Aura Hybrid only reduces emissions 10 percent, the equivalent of trading in the Hummer H3 for a 3.7-liter Jeep Grand Cherokee.”

The group took special exception with what they call “hollow hybrids” saying that cars such as the Chevy Malibu Hybrid and Saturn Aura Hybrid fall into this category. “Their electric motors aren't powerful enough to provide significant assistance in moving the vehicle, a key feature of hybrid technology,” stated the group’s website. “In reality, these are not hybrid vehicles. Their poor Environmental Score and Hybrid Value rating show how taking a half-hearted approach to hybrid technology can undermine consumers' confidence in the hybrid label.”

Hybrid Value

Next the group looked at whether or not the vehicles in question had a good “Hybrid Value.” In other words, how much of a reduction in environmental impact do you get for your buck? What the group found was that a 27 percent or greater reduction in global warming emissions for a hybrid premium cost of about $4,000 fell into the category of “High Value.” According to the group’s website, “Toyota, Honda, Ford, and General Motors have all shown they have the capacity to deliver high hybrid value in vehicles ranging from compact cars to full-sized SUVs.”

The group found that misusing hybrid technology in the form of what they call "muscle hybrids" resulted in low value by combining the premium hybrid technology costs with poor emissions performance. For example, according to their methodology, the GMC Yukon Hybrid and Chevy Tahoe Hybrid SUVs have a lower Hybrid Value rating because “their hybrid drivetrains were coupled with bigger engines that help the vehicle deliver additional power and torque.”

Forced Features

Lastly the UCS wanted a way to measure how artificially inflated the price of a hybrid was compared to a conventional counterpart. The way the group sees it, the hybrid drivetrain certainly adds justifiably to the cost of a new hybrid. But in order to inflate their profit margins, some automakers add non-optional bells and whistles such as leather upholstery and upgraded audio systems. Overall the the UCS found that the average hybrid comes with $3,000 of these “forced features,” as the group calls them.

As the group’s website says, “Car buyers deserve the freedom to invest extra dollars in fuel economy instead of frills. Honda's Insight has no forced features, resulting in a 40+ mpg vehicle that costs less than $20,000. By comparison, Honda's 42 mile per gallon Civic Hybrid is loaded with $3,362 worth of forced features, bringing its MSRP to $23,550. The worst offender is the Lexus LS 600h L, which comes with more than $17,000 of extra features on top of an already luxury-laden base model.”

Check out the full list on the UCS website hybridcenter.org. Although the list clearly has some warts, it does highlight many of the problems we’ve all noticed with the way hybrids are engineered and brought to market. Do you think the UCS’ Hybrid Scorecard is helpful?

Source: AutoBlogGreen

Image Credit: Nick Chambers

Ferrari to Unveil Hybrid Sports Car at Geneva Motor Show

Posted: 30 Jan 2010 06:19 PM PST

Well, it’s finally happening. Ferrari is officially making a hybrid…or at least officially showcasing one.

At the Geneva Motor Show in March, Ferrari will display a hybrid variant of their 599 GTB Fiorano. Details on the car are still a mystery but it will likely utilize the all-wheel drive hybrid system that Ferrari patented in June of last year.

The battery source will be lithium-ion and it will use a version of the KERS energy recovery system. There is speculation the hybrid version will increase the model’s fuel efficiency from 9 mpg to 14. Not a huge savings.

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Source:  Ecofriend

Tesla Motors Ending Production of its Famed Roadster

Posted: 30 Jan 2010 04:12 AM PST

Come 2011, Tesla Motors plans to stop selling its famed roadster. Why? Because no one will build it.

Deep within the Securities and Exchange Commission paperwork Tesla filed ahead of its IPO was the announcement. The two-seater–and its souped up Roadster Sport sibling–will end production next year. If there is a replacement, it won’t be available until 2013…at the earliest.

"We do not plan to sell our current generation Tesla Roadster after 2011 due to planned tooling changes at a supplier for the Tesla Roadster," the company wrote in the filing. The Roadster is currently built by Lotus.

Tesla’s Model S is one thing keeping the Roadster on the back burner. That model hits production in 2012 using the $465 million it just secured from the Department of Energy. Essentially, Tesla will have no cars to sell and therefore no revenue coming in for a full year.

Scary since the Roadster is the car that put Tesla on the map. Hopefully nothing goes wrong with the Model S.

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Source: Wired

Obama Announces $8 Billion For High Speed Trains

Posted: 29 Jan 2010 10:05 AM PST

Trains are an integral part of American history, and, until the turn of the 20th century, they were the main mode of long distance transportation for most people… hence the reason why owning all four railroads in a Monopoly game is awesome. But trains aren’t what they used to be, at least in this country. We lack a real, innovative, high speed train system.

That might just change though as the Obama administration announced $8 billion in grants to over a dozen states to build, upgrade, and otherwise improve rail systems. But is it going to be enough?

The biggest winner (surprise surprise) is California. The Golden State was awarded $2.3 billion, almost all of which will be devoted to a high speed rail system running from Los Angeles to San Francisco at speeds of up to 220 mph. This is about half of what California wanted; it could cost upwards of $45 billion to complete only the first two phases of the project according to the Rail Authority. California estimates that by 2030, a finished high speed train project will carry 65 to 96 million riders per year between cities, though other estimates say the number will more likely be 23 to 31 million users (as well as projecting a cost of up to $81 billion). So really this grant amounts to nothing more than a drop in the bucket in terms of required funding.

Moving on from California, the next biggest winners were the Midwest states with $2.6 billion. A proposed high-speed train corridor would allow trains to run at 110 mph between Chicago and St. Louis as well as improving various stations and rail services across the other states. Florida also managed to grab over $1.8 billion to build 84 miles of track between Tampa and Orlando as well as improve existing tracks in other parts of the state.

Money will also go to a railway between Charlotte, N.C. and Washington D.C. to allow existing trains to go at speeds around 90 mph. $520 million will be dedicated to 30 “interrelated projects” to improve this corridor.

My home region, the Northeast, got hosed. Bad. With under $500 million in grants spread out between seven states, from Maine to Washington D.C. What pisses me off is that we already have a high speed commuter train. Yeah, I didn’t know that until yesterday. The Acela Express runs between New York and Boston and is capable of speeds up to 150 mph and it is the only train line in the US that meets the definition of high speed rail. But, because of space limitations the train’s speed usually hovers around 90 mph. South of New York the speed is just 80 mph.  There are a lot of outdated rails and centenary systems and old bridges hindering speeds, but none of the appropriated funds seem directed at solving these problems.

Nuts.

For  complete breakdown of who got how much money, go here.

Source: White House Website | Image: Tim Gilliam

Data Suggests Americans Drive Slower Than the Speed Limit

Posted: 29 Jan 2010 09:58 AM PST

Last week I talked about how fast is fast enough, and that one of the easiest ways to save fuel was by simply going slower. Well rejoice! Apparently all of America heeded my advice, and American drivers, on average, drive below the posted speed limit.

Ok, obviously this has nothing to do with me. According to Tele Atlas, the mapping unit of GPS maker TomTom, anonymously collected data from millions of GPS devices shows that most Americans are driving under the speed limit. So why don’t I get that feeling when I am on the highway?

According to an Autocar UK story, Tele Atlas says that no state tops 70 mph as an average highway speed. The fastest highway in the country is the stretch of I-15 between Utah and Nevada, with average speeds of 77.67 mph, even though the speed limit is 80 mph. This baffles me. I-15 is a road that pretty much runs through mostly desert. Why wouldn’t you go the speed limit?

The state with the fastest average speed was Mississippi, whose drivers went exactly 70 mph. Which is the speed limit. The slowest area of the country, surprisingly, is Washington D.C. which comes in at a sluggish 46 mph. Maybe because of all the Beltway traffic?

I honestly don’t know what to make of this data. In my own personal experience, when I drive the speed limit (65 mph here in CT) I get passed by everybody but the little old ladies in their Buicks. What about you? In your experience, do people drive slower, faster, or at the posted speed limit?

Source: AutoCar | Image: Ltljtlj

Microbial Breakthrough to Make Diesel Directly From Non-Food Plant Waste

Posted: 28 Jan 2010 10:59 AM PST

A group of scientists from both the public and private arenas has announced that they’ve successfully engineered a microbe that contains all the bits required to turn raw plant matter directly into diesel without any refinement or intermediary steps required.

The microbe is a modified strain of E. coli (that’s right, the same type of bugger that’s responsible for some nasty gut infections) that has been enhanced to produce tailor-made diesel molecules, alcohols and waxes directly from hemicellulose—one of the main components of plants. Not only can the microbial products be used for fuel, but the team is also setting their sights on directly producing environmentally-friendly—and industrially-necessary—surfactants, solvents and lubricants.

The researchers, including collaborators from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), employees from next-gen biofuel company, LS9, and scientists from UC Berkeley, have published their results in the January 28th issue of the prestigious and well-respected scientific journal, Nature—which gives some idea of how important this research is.

Apparently, the successful experimentation shows that the process can be altered to also produce substances that can be directly substituted for gasoline

LS9 has been working on this method for a number of years now—their slogan being “The best replacement for petroleum is petroleum.” The fuels made in this process are different from your standard biofuels in several key ways. They are essentially straight substitutes for the diesel and gasoline that you currently put in your car, which means no modifications necessary and that your brand new high-mileage diesel can run a 100% blend.

“It’s a nice milestone in the field of biofuels, and it has a lot of promise for actually being commercialized,” James Liao, a metabolic engineer and synthetic biologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, told the journal Nature.

Although LS9 has made some major breakthroughs on their own, it took the collaboration with this new multi-institutional team to jump the last hurdle. In the end, the research team made more than a dozen genetic modifications to the E. coli. The major modifications included short-circuiting the microbe to produce large fatty-acid molecules and giving them the ability to convert these molecules directly into fuels and other chemicals. In order to make the process more efficient and able to use a large variety of plant materials, the researchers also inserted genes that allow the modified E. coli to produce enzymes for breaking down hemicellulose

Source: EurekAlert!

Image Credits: JBEI

IBM Using Two of World’s Fastest Supercomputers to Develop Lithium Air Batteries

Posted: 28 Jan 2010 09:55 AM PST

With a theoretical storage capacity more than 10 times higher than today’s best lithium-ion batteries, it’s no wonder lithium-air batteries are being touted as one of the types of batteries that could make electric cars truly mainstream.

Now, as part of a US Department of Energy program to provide large amounts of supercomputer time to advance cutting edge, real world research, IBM scientists are partnering with government scientists from both Argonne and Oak Ridge National Laboratories to model and develop the materials needed to make lithium-air batteries a reality.

The award provides up to 24 million hours of computer time on two of the world’s fastest supercomputers–which, you guessed it, are housed at the two national labs. To give you some perspective, this only represents about 1.5% of the total time available on both computers, but considering how many other scientists use these computers, the fact that one project got 1.5% of the total time is pretty amazing.

IBM has been researching lithium-air batteries for some time. In the past they’ve indicated they’re not interested in building their own batteries, but want to partner with other players. The major stumbling blocks to building a consumer grade lithium-air battery have thus far been related to safety and recharging. Lithium can be extremely flammable and using air as a reactant instead of forms of cobalt or iron greatly increases the danger for the battery to catch fire.

The researchers hope that with the huge amount of computing time made available to them, they’ll be able to develop materials and methods to deal with some of these issues.

Given that recent reports clearly show lithium-ion batteries are coming up far too short in certain areas, the world can’t get next generation batteries soon enough.

Source: EurekAlert!

Image Credit: Argonne National Laboratory

Postal Service Could Get $2 Billion To Electrify 20,000 Vehicles

Posted: 28 Jan 2010 08:19 AM PST

The United States Postal service is the second largest civilian employer in the country, after Wal-Mart. Over 650,000 are employed by the USPS, which utilizes some 260,000 vehicles. While 43,000 of these vehicles run on E85 fuel, they still manage to get an average of just 9 mpg. Pretty terrible gas mileage, and E85 made with today’s methods isn’t all that much better when it comes to carbon emissions anyway.

Perhaps that is why the government is considering granting the USPS $2 billion to electrify 20,000 delivery vehicles. And if there is any government agency that could benefit from electric vehicles, it is definitely the USPS.

Considering how much of the mail is delivered by local-only vehicles that rarely even break the speed limit, electric vehicles make sense. They wouldn’t be required to have an extended range (25-30 miles per day would probably be more than adequate), they could all be charged at a single location, and it would certainly help save money. The USPS has explored other options for delivering the mail such as e-scooters and and hybrid trucks because they really need to turn their “revenue-neutral” business around. The USPS is hemorrhaging cash; between the last quarter of 2008, and the first two quarters of 2009, the USPS lost $4.69 billion. That ain’t exactly chump change.

Neither is $2 billion, and the money might not even make it to the USPS. Even if it does, those 20,000 vehicles represent just 15% of the USPS’s fleet of vehicles, and the cost comes out to $100,000 per vehicle. Umm, what are they planning on delivering the mail in, Tesla Roadsters? Why not pay some private firms to convert those glorified go-karts I see putzing around town to electric power? It could probably be done for under $25,000 per vehicle (a guesstimate, though plenty of people have electrified their vehicles for far less).

The bill, H.R. 4399, is being pushed by Rep. Jose E. Serrano. We’ll have to see if it makes it through. In the end it could go a long way towards curbing those outrageous annual losses.

Source: Green Car Advisor | Image: Chrysler

East Coast Could Get A Hydrogen Highway

Posted: 28 Jan 2010 08:01 AM PST

It has been awhile since we talked about hydrogen cars. In fact, auto manufacturers the world over seem to have pushed hydrogen vehicles to the side of their plate (next to the spinach and garbanzo beans). There are of course exceptions, such as Mazda and Mercedes, but electric cars are all the rage right now, and hydrogen arguably has more infrastructure issues to overcome. The biggest issue; where does one get hydrogen?

A Connecticut company called SunHydro wants to deploy 11 solar-powered hydrogen fueling stations (SunHydro, get it?) along the East Coast, creating the area’s first hydrogen highway.

Using electrolysis technology from Proton Energy, based in Wallingford, CT, (one town over from me!) SunHydro wants to deploy stations from Portland, Maine to the southern tip of Florida. The stations will be small time, though completely self-contained, and will be able to fill just ten-to-fifteen cars per day. That doesn’t leave a whole lot of room for profit,  but hydrogen cars are faced with the “chicken or egg” quandry.

What comes first? Hydrogen cars, or hydrogen filling stations? SunHydro seems to think the filling stations need to come first. Since the whole process uses just the sun to split hydrogen atoms, it is relatively cheap compared to other methods of building hydrogen fueling stations. Of course, “relatively” still means $3 million to install just one station.

Still, the East Coast does have an advantage over California in terms of building a hydrogen highway. 14 states touch the Atlantic, compared to three on the West Coast, which means getting public funding or assistance would likely be easier (though it might not). The hydrogen highway would also run through Washington D.C., though the closest station would be in Richmond, VA, giving the Feds a reason to pitch in.

But if you build it, they will come. Right?

Source: Wired | Image: Honda FCX Clarity Hydrogen Car

Government Waste Paper-Powered Vehicles Debut In Washington

Posted: 27 Jan 2010 08:31 AM PST

Anyone who has ever had to wait in line at most DMVs can attest that the government isn’t always exactly… efficient. It is full of red tape and bureaucracy and filling out form after form after form after form. Ever wonder where all of those forms go? Probably not files, not in today’s computerized world. No, they probably end up in the circular file.

Imagine if all of that paper waste could be turned into fuel? Well two vehicles, a Chevy HHR and a Ford F-150, have been converted by a company called Novozymes to use recycled waste-paper as fuel.

Novozyme partnered with Maryland-based Fiberight to produce a biofuel cocktail made from the government wastepaper. It is very appropriate that the cars would debut at the Washington Auto Show. In addition to utilizing waste paper, energy crops, agricultural residue, and municipal waste can also be transformed into fuel utilizing their process.

Is it likely we’re going to all be driving around in paper-powered cars anytime soon? Well, no. There probably isn’t enough waste paper to go around. One could also argue that the paper would be better recycled… as paper again, rather than cutting down more trees. The fuel is also E85, a blend of 85% biofuel and 15% gas. So while it greatly reduces the amount of gasoline used, it hasn’t completely eliminated it. If anything, this car is more of a statement than a full-blown solution to our future transportation needs.

But it is still pretty neat, and maybe could one day power government vehicles, if not the rest of us.

Source: BusinessWire
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