Gas 2.0

Energy Firms are Spying on Activists in the UK
Porsche Unveils Panamera S Hybrid: 380 Horsepower, 35 MPG
Chrysler Considering Natural Gas Pickups
Fat People Cause Global Warming, Raise Cost of Fuel, Etc.

Energy Firms are Spying on Activists in the UK

Posted: 16 Feb 2011 03:31 PM PST

Environmentalists keep tabs on the corporations and governments they feel pose a threat to the environment, so it might seem only natural that energy firms who stand to benefit from more lax environmental regulations would turn the tables, and do a little digging of their own to see what kind of dirt they could get on the activists that hound them, right? Except that, it just seems a bit more evil when it’s big companies hiring PI’s to go after “the little guy”, doesn’t it?

Of course it does … and the fact the aforementioned big “companies” (E.ON, Scottish Resources Group, and Scottish Power) happen to be some of the largest coal producers in the UK doesn’t really help me feel any more sympathy for them.

This past Monday, UK’s Guardian published leaked documents that showed that Rebecca Todd, who owns one of the private security groups hired to infiltrate environmental protest groups, tipped off company executives at E.ON about environmentalists’ plans after monitoring their personal email accounts. Documents also show Todd instructing an agent to attend campaign meetings and coaching the agent on ways to ingratiate himself with the activists.

Some senior police officers complain about the investigators hired by companies like E.ON, primarily because of the lack of regulation, with the Guardian reporting that even the president of the Association of Chief Police Officers went so far as to call “the deployment by completely uncontrolled and unrestrained players in the private sector” a “massive area of concern“.

Over the past few years Todd has used a number different email addresses and proxies to sign up to the mailing lists of a number of environmentalist organizations, ranging from large-scale and high-profile events (like the G20 rallies in London) to smaller demonstrations against E.ON’s Kingsnorth power station. E.ON’s spokesmen, however, told the Guardian that the company only asked Todd to gather publicly available information, and that – if Todd and her colleagues had somehow obtained personal/protected information – they had done so “under their own steam” …

… but I don’t believe that for a second, and think this is a clear case of E.ON getting caught with its hand in the cookie jar.

It’s not entirely clear from the Guardian’s article what (if any) laws E.ON, Scottish Power, and Scottish Resources Group broke by hiring Todd to infiltrate these groups, but I ~~imagine~~ hope that such negative PR is bad for business.

Source: the Guardian.

Porsche Unveils Panamera S Hybrid: 380 Horsepower, 35 MPG

Posted: 16 Feb 2011 01:00 PM PST

Stuttgart, Germany-based automaker Porsche has pledged to add a hybrid version to every model in its lineup without sacrificing performance. So it should be no surprise that the Panamera S Hybrid has 380 horsepower and averages 35 mpg.

From race cars to road cars, Porsche seems genuinely serious about performance hybrids. Ok, actually it averages 34.5 mpg thanks to a 47-horsepower electric motor coupled to a 333 horsepower supercharged 3.0 liter V6 engine. Total output? 380 horsepower. That's damn good for a car that gets the same gas mileage as many compact cars. Porsche had previously announced plans to build just such a hybrid, so no surprises here.

The electric motor can actually power the Panamera S Hybrid for about 1.25 miles on electricity alone, and an eight-speed transmission helps take the Panamera from 0-60 mph in under 6 seconds, and a top speed of 168 mph. In a hybrid. Porsche is taking on electric cars too, with an electric Boxster pumping out 240 horsepower with a zero-emissions range of 100 miles.

Why aren't more automakers building hybrids like this? Sure, if it comes to America it will cost well over $100,000, but this is the kind of hybrid that every performance nut would love to drive. Hybrids don't have to be boring, and Porsche keeps proving this over and over again. Are you paying attention, Detroit?

Source: Porsche

Chris DeMorro is a writer and gearhead who loves all things automotive, from hybrids to HEMI’s. You can follow his slow descent into madness at Sublime Burnout.

Chrysler Considering Natural Gas Pickups

Posted: 16 Feb 2011 12:00 PM PST

The plug-in hybrid Ram is not going to be built for public purchase. That's a kick in the balls of taxpayers if you ask me. Instead, Chrysler is considering compressed natural gas, or CNG, to clean up pickup emissions.

CNG and LPG (essentially methane and propane, respectively) pickup trucks are nothing new. Ford, GM, and Chrysler have all built these vehicles before to satisfy the air quality standards set by the California Air Resources Board. Of course, unless you were in the know you probably didn't hear about these vehicles, because the Big Three didn't bother advertising them. With higher fuel economy standards for cars and trucks coming in 2016 though, American automakers have to find a way to clean up their best selling vehicles.

Even though Chrysler has used a $48 million government grant to build a test fleet of 120 plug-in Ram hybrid pickups, they have no plans to produce these vehicles, despite an impressive 20-mile all-electric range and a 65% improvement in gas mileage. Instead, they are likely to pursue CNG as their alternative fuel of choice. Fiat is Europe's largest builder of CNG vehicles and owns much of the commercial CNG vehicle market as well. So a CNG Chrysler sort of makes sense. Plus CNG vehicles earn "bonus points" towards making the new EPA fuel economy numbers, much like electric vehicles do, but without the billions of dollars in development costs.

Natural gas refueling stations are fairly common across the country, and America is sitting on huge stores of natural gas. So making a transition from oil to natural gas seems to make sense, but will it translate into dollar signs? Only if Chrysler markets it right. The Pentastar is introducing low-priced base V8 pickups, the Tradesman and Adventurer (pictured above) as a way to undercut the competition’s prices. Adding a CNG system is only going to drive costs up. But if they can figure out how to sell it at a price point that is competitive with gas engines, they might be able to convert a few believers.

Would you buy a CNG Ram pickup?

Source: Bloomberg

Chris DeMorro is a writer and gearhead who loves all things automotive, from hybrids to HEMI’s. You can follow his slow descent into madness at Sublime Burnout.

Fat People Cause Global Warming, Raise Cost of Fuel, Etc.

Posted: 16 Feb 2011 07:00 AM PST

Let me begin with a heartfelt, personal message: I’m only the messenger, please don’t kill me.

That said, I’ve spent enough time behind the wheel of racing karts or riding up and down South Florida beach towns on small, 50 cc scooters to tell you that the weight of the rider can make a big difference in the overall performance of a given vehicle, and 150 lbs. gets down the road a lot quicker than 200 lbs. (I know, I’ve been both). Still, when I read the headline “Are Fat People Driving Up the Price of Gas? Are They the Source of the Greenhouse Effect?” over on The Truth About Cars (TTAC) blog, it seemed a bit … what’s the word? Sensationalist.

I do enjoy tabloid journalism, however, so I clicked the little (Read More …) link and got to reading.

It turns out, the heavy lifting was done by a Washington think-tank called Resources for the Future (RFF), who examined “"the unexplored link between the prevalence of overweight and obesity and vehicle demand". Which is the long version of “bigger people buy bigger cars“, which seems pretty obvious.

What isn’t immediately obvious, however, is exactly how much of an impact rampant obesity has on something like the price of fuel. According to the RFF, a 10 % increase in the rate of obesity reduces the average mpg of new vehicles demanded by 2.5 %, resulting in increased demand and a $0.30 cent increase in gas prices to counteract and millions of excess tons of carbon emissions. The whys and hows of those numbers are detailed in the RFF’s report (titled “Lose Some, Save Some: Obesity, Automobile Demand, and Gasoline Consumption in the U.S.“), which also correlates the market share of pickups and light trucks with the percentage of overweight/obese people in the population (from 1960-2006).

As TTAC points out, the study is a bit dated (it was initially published in 2009) but its implications are still timely and relevant, especially when one considers the millions of dollars in research monies being given to companies like Lotus to specifically research the methods, costs, and benefits involved in making cars lighter.

TTAC’s Bertel Schmitt does an excellent job of summing up the rest of the article (while deftly avoiding childish “all things being equal, fat people use more soap” jokes), so you have your choice: CLICK HERE to read TTAC’s summary, or CLICK HERE to download the entire 34-page PDF document (complete with bibliography, sources, etc.).

Source: Resources for the Future, via The Truth About Cars.
Photo Credit: Gilles Klein, under a Creative Commons License.