November 25th, 2009

Are small cars doomed to fail in the American market?

Posted by Harry Fuller @ 6:05 pm

Categories: Blogroll, air pollution, biofuel, cars & traffic, conservation, energy, engineering, federal government, fossil fuel, green tech, law & politics, mass transit, petroleum

Tags: Car, Harry Fuller

Some auto industry analysts are warning that small, fuel efficient cars are NOT going to dominate the U.S. market. Does that mean failure for the GM Volt, Detroit’s first plug-in car, next year? Here’s a look at the potential for success or failure of smaller cars in the U.S. market. There seems no questions that the single most important factor in determining how big we drive: gasoline prices.

November 23rd, 2009

Atmospheric CO2 levels to hit million-year high

Posted by Harry Fuller @ 8:29 pm

Categories: Blogroll, air pollution, cars & traffic, climate change, energy, environmental health, fossil fuel, global warming, petroleum, research

Tags: Carbon Dioxide, Current Climate Change Theory, IPCC, Harry Fuller

American scientists say the CO2 levels in the earth’s atmosphere are going to hit levels not seen in the past million years. Current climate change theory says CO2 is one of the gases that is causing global warming.

Researchers say the additional CO2 entering the atmosphere is stable and can remain for thousands of years. As fast as plants absorb CO2, more is being added. The IPCC says the additional CO2 is partially due to human acticity, especially burning fossil fuels and wood.

The rise of CO2 in the atmosphere has been measured since 1998 when records were first kept. This past year has seen the CO2 concentration increase slightly faster. The World Moeteorlogical Organization says the increase began with the Industrial Revolution over 200 years ago. The three main greenhouse gases are CO2, methane and N2O (nitrous oxide). All three have both natural and man-made causes.

The IPCC projects that the current CO2 emission curve would raise global temps from 4.3 to 11.5 degrees Fahrenheit by century’s end. Temperatures are already 1 degree higher in the past century. The IPCC says this warming’s mainly due to the build-up of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

Such warming is predicted to change weather patterns with more extreme weather events. More drought and famine. Political and demographic disruption. More floods. Extinction of numerous plant and animal species. Rising sea levels along with the melting of land ice. Those are the IPCC predictions. Sounds like just another 2012 movie, doesn’t it?

November 23rd, 2009

EPA reports positive news on vehicle emissions, efficiency front

Posted by Heather Clancy @ 6:40 pm

Categories: air pollution, cars & traffic, climate change, conservation, energy, environmental health, green tech, research

Tags: Carbon Dioxide, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Carbon Dioxide Emission, Heather Clancy

For the first time, the Environmental Protection Agency is included carbon dioxide emissions information in its annual report, “Light-Duty Automotive Technology, Carbon Dioxide Emissions and Fuel Economy Trends: 1975 through 2009.”

The news is relatively positive: Not only has fuel efficiency increased for the fifth consecutive year — to an average of 21.1 miles per gallon compared with 21 miles per gallon — the agency reports that average carbon dioxide emissions have decreased since 2005. Since 2004, average carbon dioxide emissions have been reduced by 39 grams per mile, which is a reduction of about 8 percent. This reverses a trend from 1987 to 2004, when carbon dioxide emissions increased and fuel efficiency decline, according to the EPA.

Here’s the trends report.

Try to tell me this is a bad thing.

November 23rd, 2009

GM: not doing well, but going back to the well anyway

Posted by Harry Fuller @ 11:37 am

Categories: Blogroll, Europe, European Union, cars & traffic, green tech, law & politics, renewable energy

Tags: General Motors, Opel, Volt, plug-in, electric car

General Motors tried to sell Opel. No deal. So now GM is asking for almost $5 billion dollars, less than 4 billion Euros, to restructure Opel and the rest of its European operations. Will the EU put up the cash?

I blogged recently about GM using its Volt tech to put some electric spark into other GM brands, including stodgy Opel. The Volt, a GM plug-in, is due to launch in the U.S. in about one year.

November 21st, 2009

American cars giving slightly more miles per gallon

Posted by Harry Fuller @ 4:12 pm

Categories: Blogroll, air pollution, cars & traffic, conservation, energy, engineering, environmental health, federal government, fossil fuel, petroleum

Tags: Car, Emission, Carbon Dioxide, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Harry Fuller

The avergae MPG of cars driven by Americans continues to edge up. According to the EPA, average MPG hit 21 in 2008. It’s up nearly 2 MPG since 2004.

High gas prices and then the cash for clunkers program are expected to keep the MPG moving up this year. CO2 emissions have also been fallling since 2004. That year marked a turnaround in the U.S. The EPA reports CO2 emissions increased and fuel efficiency decreased in the United States from 1987 to 2004.

MOST EFFICIENT

Honda again leads in fuel efficiency on American highways, says the EPA. Next come Hyundai-Kia and then Toyota. VW finished fourth in fleet efficiency. Both GM and Ford showed fuel efficiency gains.

November 19th, 2009

Alcohol and fuel cells in our future?

Posted by Harry Fuller @ 11:21 am

Categories: Blogroll, air pollution, cars & traffic, conservation, energy, engineering, environmental health, fossil fuel, green tech, renewable energy, research, venture capital

Tags: Fuel Cell, Neah Power, Navy, D'Couto, Methaol, Fuel Cells, Emerging Technologies, Harry Fuller

Neah Power, a Seattle-based company, is finding widespread interest in its portable fuel cells. Some of the company’s past research and development was paid for by the Pentagon. The Navy has been especially eager to see Neah’s technology developed. The Neah fuel cells can operate in anaerobic conditions. No air. Can’t do that with gasoline, diesel or even traditional fuel cells.

Other early money for Neah came from Novellus and Intel. The power for portable gear is very attractive to corporations making all manner of remote or portable equipment.

I recently spoke with Neah’s CEO, Chris D’Couto, who’s got a PhD in chemical engineering and an MBA. Right combo, because Neah has a number of chemical processes they intend to patent. And they’re building and selling fuel cells that use methanol for fuel. No Kevlar-reinforced cylinders full of liquid hydrogen. Just simple plastic cartridges with methanol inside. For portable uses, no expensive and heavy lithium-ion batteries with their concomitant ability of exploding on a ship or plane. Just plastic cylinders of methanol. Neah’s goal: better power through chemistry.

D’Couto sees Neah’s tech becoming common across many parts of the economy. The military needs to get those heavy batteries out of the foot soldier’s backpack, and out of ships at sea or airplanes overhead. Neah fuel cells can help run digital technology in remote areas where there’s no electrical grid. Campers, hikers, boaters will use it for many purposes. Already Neah and Hobie are teamed making electrically-powered kayaks. The parts needed for Neah fuel cell on board a kayak.
The Torqueedo. Images courtesy Neah and Hobie.

D’Couto sees easy acceptance of the Neah fuel cells. Methanol is already widely produced and available in the U.S. It is much easier to handle and safer than liquified hydrogen. The chemistry: methanol is CH3OH. When it burns in the fuel cell it produces water, carbon dioxide and a spare electron. That’s the electricity. Neah has developed super-efficient fuel cells, says D’Couto. Neah claims efficiency as much as 2.5 times as great as the traditional fuel cells using pure hydrogen and requiring an constant air supply.

The Neah fuel cells use only miniscule amounts of gold or platinum, the necessary catalysts for breaking down the methane and freeing the hydrogen which gets burned in the fuel cell. D’Couto says they can get down to sub-micron thickness of gold and platinum in their fuel cell design. Important because those metals are expensive. That’s why they are classed as “precious.”

And there’ll be no need for building large, new infrastructure to build the cartridges or other components. Neah will hire existing computer chip fabrication plants to create the necessary catalyst parts for its fuel cells. No capital expenditure, no ramp up.

November 17th, 2009

Cap and trade controversial in Australia

Posted by Harry Fuller @ 11:54 am

Categories: Blogroll, European Union, air pollution, cars & traffic, conservation, energy, engineering, environmental health, federal government, green tech, law & politics, renewable energy, research

Tags: Cap-and-Trade, Harry Fuller

It’s not only in the U.S. that cap and trade (CAT) is a controversial approach to try to lower greenhouse gas emissions. A report written in Australia, and critical of CAT, has sparked a battle over censorship. Finally the report’s author and the leading science agency in Australia have reached a compromise that will allow publication there.

Currently there are CAT schemes in place in the European Union and among the northeastern states in the U.S. Here’s the website for RGGI which administers CAT across ten states in the northeastern section of the U.S.

Japan’s current government is looking at introducting CAT in the next two years. Some major metro areas of China have long had carbon trading schmes in place. But there is no national emissions regulation or CAT in China.

November 17th, 2009

Ford turns to wind power

Posted by Harry Fuller @ 5:35 am

Categories: Blogroll, Europe, cars & traffic, conservation, energy, engineering, green tech, renewable energy, wind

Tags: Turbine, Wind Energy, Ford Motor Co., Telecom & Utilities, Harry Fuller

Ford is going to be using wind power. Not to actually power their cars, but to power a car factory in Belgium.

Ford of Europe announced that its plant in Genk, Belgium will now be generating electricity through two gigantic wind turbines, each with a height of 150 metres. Installed by local energy company, Electrabel, each unit has an output of two megawatts of power, enough to power 2,500 private homes. The wind turbines will deliver a significant part of the electrical power needed in the Genk Plant, production home of the Mondeo, S-MAX and Galaxy models.

Wind is not a new Ford investment. Ford’s Dagenham Diesel Centre in the UK became the world’s first automotive plant to meet all its electricity needs from two giant on-site turbines.

A third turbine is expected to come into service in Dagenham in 2010, allowing the plant to remain 100 per cent powered by wind-generated electricity, following the installation of a new 1.4/1.6-litre Duratorq TDCi engine production line. A new three-bladed turbine, provided by Ecotricity, will be commissioned to produce two megawatts of electricity, enough to power more than 1,000 homes.

November 16th, 2009

New car sales soar in Europe, thinking smaller

Posted by Harry Fuller @ 10:24 am

Categories: Blogroll, Europe, European Union, air pollution, cars & traffic, conservation, energy, engineering, fossil fuel, mass transit, petroleum

Tags: Car, Sales Strategy, Sales Force Management, Sales, Harry Fuller

Western Europe saw a dramatic new car sales increase in October. Sales were encouraged by heavy subsidies for owners getting rid of older cars, “scrappage” they call it in British. And the smaller cars sold best. Huge increases were seen in sales at companies from Fiat to Renault, Chevy, Skoda, VW. Down in sales year to year: Saab, BMW, Mercedes, Audi. Japanese auto makers have a smaller share of the European car market than they command in North America or Asia.

A majority of the cars sold in Europe have long been new-generation diesel, meaning they run more efficiently and are cheaper to maintain than gasoline-burners. Fuel prices in Europe are double or even higher than that compared to U.S. prices. The fuel, diesel or gasoline, is more heavily taxed. Except Norway, most of Euroope depends on oil imports.

Car sales in eastern Europe continue to decline due to less government intervention there. The former Soviet satellite states are still much in love with the “free market” after years of central planning and Russian domination.

November 16th, 2009

How we think, and perhaps lie, about the oil supply

Posted by Harry Fuller @ 5:30 am

Categories: Europe, biofuel, cars & traffic, conservation, energy, environmental health, federal government, fossil fuel, green tech, law & politics, petroleum, renewable energy, research

Tags: International Energy Agency, Aleklett, Leadership, Government, Management, Harry Fuller

I recently blogged about one oil expert claiming the world’s oil supply is less than officially admitted. In the most recent report from the International Energy Agency (IEA), it’s clear what they are worried about: economic panic.

The IEA warns that continued rising oil prices could stymie economic growth on a wide scale. Oil prices have risen 80% this year from their low point after the economic woes that were openly recognized late in 2008. Crude is still less than $80 per barrel, far below the record prices of $140 or more a couple years back.

The U.S. and China rank #1 and #2 in national oil consumption.

DON’T TRUST THE IEA

A group of European academics are warning their governments to not trust the IEA oil supply figures. Without directly referencing the recent whistleblower who says the IEA is cooking the books, these scientists and engineers say the oil supply and production numbers have been “politicized.” That’s polite talk for corrupted and dishonest. The academics go on to say the world production of oil will actually decline between now and 2030, not increase as much as the IEA continues to project.

Here is where you can find this report on “Peak of the Oil Age.” The leader author is Kjell Aleklett of Uppsala University. Aleklett is president of ASPO, Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas (ASPO).

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