Green Car Advisor
Ethanol
August 22, 2008
The New York Times reports today that the politics of energy are convoluted and volatile in Congressional campaigns across the U.S. this summer, as candidates search for a Goldilocks approach that is neither too hot nor too cold, and that voters will believe is sincere.
The pandering and waffling of candidates is producing a convergence of sorts around the idea that more is better, the Times reports, that an expansion of energy production from all sources and places will somehow fix things, lower prices and restore stability to the economy.
But the more complex components of the energy debate, from climate change to conservation, often get mostly lost in the drumbeat of simplified answers, leaving some voters more confused, or torn, than ever. The article is well worth the time it takes to read.
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- Scott Doggett August 22, 2008, 5:16 PM
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- Alternative Fuels, Emissions, Energy Companies, Ethanol, Fuel Economy, Opinion
August 15, 2008
LS9 Inc. says it has created synthetic "industrial microbes" that can digest sugar in plant-based food and excrete it as hydrocarbon-based "petroleum replacement products."
But that's not all. The South San Francisco, Calif., company says it can genetically tweak the bacteria to produce a variety of "DesignerBiofuels" that are essentially indistinguishable from gasoline, diesel and even jet fuel.
LS9 says the fuel its proprietary microbes produce can go straight into a car's gas tank or be sent to a refinery for further preparation.
What's more, the fuels are nearly carbon-neutral, LS9 reports, meaning that about the same amount of carbon dioxide is generated by the combustion of its fuels as is consumed by the plant-based foods eaten by the bacteria.
The company suggests that its bacteria's efficient use of biomass or sugar cane addresses the food-versus-fuel issue plaguing corn-based ethanol and other alternative fuels.
LS9 says it is "rapidly commercializing and scaling up" production so that the company can produce fuel by the barrelful within a few years.
Visit the company's Web site for further details.
Scott Doggett, Contributor
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- Scott Doggett August 15, 2008, 1:01 PM
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- Alternative Fuels, Biofuels, Diesel, Emissions, Ethanol, Fuel Economy
August 13, 2008
By Bill Visnic, Senior Editor
The annual Center for Automotive Research Management Briefing Seminars confab in Traverse City, MI, put together a feisty session Tuesday called "Energy, Efficiency and Climate -- What Role Auto?" And while the session resulted in some prickly give-and-take between auto-industry and environmental representatives, there was essentially agreement on one point: California needs to give up its crusade to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions.
Mike Stanton, president and CEO of the Association of International Automobile Manufacturers, which represents almost all domestic and import automakers doing business in the U.S. and a longtime auto-industry rep in Washington, DC, said simply, "It's a little ridiculous," to have federal emissions standards, competing state emissions regulations, and the potential for even more conflict with California's CO2-regulating proposal.
He said the 14 manufacturers represented by the AIAM want "one national standard" for emissions regulation.
But he also said political winds appear to be blowing against their wishes. Both presidential candidates support granting California's waiver to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions.
"Neither candidate (Democratic Sen. Barack Obama and Republican Sen. John McCain) has been terribly supportive of us in the past," Stanton said. Either presents challenges to the AIAM's hope for sanity in the emissions-regulation structure, he added.
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- John O'Dell August 13, 2008, 7:26 AM
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- Fuel Economy, Legislation
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, Center for Automotive Research Management Briefing Seminars, CO2, Emissions, Fuel Economy, GHG, Greenhouse Gases
August 12, 2008
While automakers wait for more 85 percent ethanol blend gasoline pumps to be installed at gas stations, the ethanol industry is waiting for automakers to produce more "flex-fuel" vehicles that can safely burn the E85 blend, in what has resulted in a widespread waiting game.
"E85 needs more infrastructure," Rick Gunther, Midwest fleet and commercial operations manager for General Motors, told the subscription news service Greenwire. "I tell retailers, 'We're the chicken, you're the egg.' "
Detroit's Big Three automakers are waiting for Japanese companies Honda and Toyota to be more active in the flex-fuel market to stimulate demand for more pumps, but so far their response has been slow. Toyota plans to introduce a flex-fuel version of its Tundra in 2009.
Pump manufacturers told Greenwire they are waiting for Underwriters Laboratories certification of safety and efficiency on the new blender pump, which would offer more options for ethanol blends -- beyond the 10 percent or 85 percent currently available.
And everyone is waiting for U.S. EPA to decide whether it's safe to use a 20 percent blend of ethanol in car engines. The 10-percent blend is now the maximum for regular engines, although EPA has approved E85 for flex-fuel vehicles.
Ethanol proponents say E20 and maybe even E30 are safe for regular car engines, although automakers disagree.
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- Scott Doggett August 12, 2008, 2:08 PM
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- Alternative Fuels, Biofuels, Chrysler, Diesel, Emissions, Ethanol, Flex-Fuel, Ford, Fuel Economy, Fuels & Technologies, General Motors, Toyota
Researchers at the University of California at Davis have developed a process for making a new kind of biofuel -- one they say is cheap, easy to make and takes advantage of hard-to-use cellulose.
Research published by Mark Mascal and Edward Nikitin in the German journal Angewandte Chemie describes a method to transform biomass into fuels that could be used as substitutes for diesel fuel.
In an e-mail to Greenwire, a subscription-only environmental news service, Mascal said his process very efficiently turns raw materials into fuel and is simple and inexpensive compared to processes to make ethanol from cellulose.
Many U.S. and international companies are pursuing the conversion of biomass to ethanol, in large part spurred on by federal ethanol mandates.
But while using sugars to make fuel is fairly straightforward, producers have stumbled over challenges involved with processing plant waste and other cellulosic materials that exist in abundance and would avoid conflicts between food and fuel.
Mascal told Greenwire that while the recent publication covers just the processing of sugars into furanic fuels, his research shows similarly strong results for cellulosic materials that are currently being written up for a follow-up paper.
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- Scott Doggett August 12, 2008, 1:47 PM
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- Alternative Fuels, Biofuels, Emissions, Ethanol, Fuel Economy, Fuels & Technologies, Legislation
August 11, 2008
Large-SUV segment: Could reports of its death have been greatly exaggerated?
The run-up in gas prices from April through June spooked American car buyers into a manic rush to find the most fuel-efficient vehicles they could and to dump their gas guzzlers.
So new-car buyers nearly abandoned the large-SUV and pickup-truck segments, grew lukewarm about crossovers even compared with the first quarter, sought out small cars, pushed OEMs' subcompact-car manufacturing capacity to the max, and completely sucked up supplies of Prius and of some other hybrids. All the while, overall sales tanked.
So automakers made some of the most precipitous and significant decisions ever about production cutbacks and segment reallocations. Each of Detroit's Big Three and even Toyota moved quickly and massively to slash pickup and SUV production and goose small-car output as much as they could.
But the latest Edmunds.com data indicate that the industry may well have rushed into these moves too soon, perhaps overreacting -- along with the news media and other entities -- to how American consumers plainly were responding to skyrocketing gasoline prices.
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- Scott Doggett August 11, 2008, 7:15 AM
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- Alternative Fuels, Emissions, Ethanol, Flex-Fuel, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Natural Gas, Plug-ins and Electric
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, Edmunds.com, Fuel Economy, Fuel Efficieny, Hybrids, Mileage
August 8, 2008
By Scott Doggett, Contributor
AE Biofuels Inc., a Silicon Valley energy-crops startup, announced today that it will open the nation's first integrated cellulose and starch ethanol demonstration refinery (right) on Monday.
The Butte, Montana, refinery is expected to produce up to 150,000 gallons of cellulosic ethanol annually from local wheat straw, corn stover and other agricultural waste materials, said Rory Mackin, a spokesman for the Cupertino, California-based company.
The refinery will use a patent-pending enzymatic process (see graphics) to break down tough cellulosic materials into fermentable stands of sugar, Mackin said. If the technologies work as expected, AE Biofuels will likely expand the plant to produce 1.2 million gallons of ethanol annually, he said.
"The enzymes do work," Mackin told Green Car Advisor. "It's only a matter of getting them up to commercial scale," he said, adding that company scientists "may have to do some tweaking" of the enzymes for certain feedstocks to make that happen.
AE Biofuels' project comes amid a high-powered political push to reduce the nation's dependence on fossil fuels.
President Bush signed an energy bill last year that requires the use of 36 billion gallons of biofuels annually by 2022. The legislation includes specific targets for cellulosic ethanol, starting with 100 million gallons in 2010 and escalating sharply over a decade.
Major oil and chemical companies are responding.
On Wednesday, British Petroleum PLC said it would invest $90 million in Cambridge, Massachussets-based Verenium Corp. to research and develop cellulosic ethanol, a biofuel typically produced from the non-edible parts of plants
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- Scott Doggett August 8, 2008, 12:12 PM
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- Alternative Fuels, Biofuels, Emissions, Energy Companies, Ethanol, Fuel Economy, Fuels & Technologies, Legislation
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- AE Biofuels
, Biofuel, British Petroleum, Cellulosic Ethanol, DuPont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol, Ethanol, Fuel Efficient, Rory Mackin, Verenium Corp.
August 7, 2008
By Scott Doggett, Contributor
To be honest, we nearly decided not to report the following development, because as anyone who has paid the slightest attention to EPA Administer Stephen Johnson (right) the past year knows, he was as likely to approve Texas's request to halve the 2008 renewable fuel standard as he was to appear before the Washington press corps in a yellow polka-dot bikini.
In denying the state's request to cut the national biofuels mandate in half for a year, Johnson -- a Bush appointee -- said today that the renewable fuel standard "is strengthening the nation's energy security and supporting America's farming communities."
The mandate "will remain an important tool in our ongoing effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and lessen our dependence on foreign oil in aggressive yet practical ways," he said.
Texas Governor Rick Perry asked EPA to lower the 2008 renewable fuel standard from 9 billion gallons to 4.5 billion gallons, saying the mandate was spurring skyrocketing food and feed costs and hurting his state's economy.
Politically, rubbing some Texans the wrong way given that the state can be counted on to vote Republican anyway is a small price to pay compared to losing campaign contributions from the agriculture industry and votes from swing states where agriculture is big business.
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- John O'Dell August 7, 2008, 12:25 PM
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- Alternative Fuels, Diesel, Fuel Cell, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Nissan, Plug-ins and Electric
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- EPA
, Ethanol, Flex Fuel, Renewable Fuel Standard, Stephen Johnson, Texas Governor Rick Perry
August 4, 2008
Auto dealers and consumer advocates told federal rulemakers today that a proposed 25 percent mandatory increase in fleetwide fuel economy standards is out of touch with importance buyers now give fuel-efficiency.
Mark Cooper, research director for the Consumer Federation of America, said rulemakers wrongly assumed U.S. drivers would continue to covet large trucks and SUVs, even though car buyers began moving to smaller, more fuel-efficient cars in 2004.
"The auto industry acts as if plummeting SUV and pickup truck sales are a new phenomena," he told the National Transportation Safety Board at a Washington public hearing. "The fact is, gas-guzzling-vehicle sales have been falling off a cliff for over three years. And yet the administration's proposed fuel economy standards presumes no fall and no cliff."
As a result, Cooper said, the proposed fleetwide fuel economy standard of 31.6 miles per gallon by 2015 would fail to meet consumer demands. According to a study performed by his organization, 59 percent of those surveyed want their next vehicle to get more than 35 mpg. Meanwhile, only 1 percent of new models offer that degree of fuel economy.
Adam Lee, president of Lee Auto Malls, which has a dozen Maine dealerships, said he has seen firsthand the shifting buying trends that have resulted in across-the-board losses for major carmakers.
Lee said he has laid off salespeople while waiting for automakers to produce the type of cars Americans want. "We just don't have the cars to sell," he said. "And I'm not just talking hybrids.... Consumers are waiting for good, old-fashioned small cars."
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- Scott Doggett August 4, 2008, 2:05 PM
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- Alternative Fuels, Chrysler, Courts, Emissions, Ethanol, Flex-Fuel, Ford, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, General Motors, Honda, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Legislation, Mercedes-Benz, Plug-ins and Electric, Toyota
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- CAFE
, Consumer Federation of America, Corporate Average Fuel Economy, EV, GM, National Transportation Safety Board, NTSB, PHEV
July 31, 2008
With almost daily announcements of initiatives aimed at chopping the price of fuel at America's pumps, West Virginia, one of the nation's most prolific coal-producing states, is making a serious move to leverage the lumpy black stuff for transportation fuel by fast-tracking construction of a commercial-scale plant utilizing a proven coal-to-gasoline process.
The coal-to-liquids plant, which will be the first in the U.S., could be up and running as quickly as three years from now, according to published reports, at a cost of some $800 million.
The planned facility is in Marshall County, located not far from the major cities of Pittsburgh and Cleveland in the state's Northern Panhandle. It will be operated in a joint venture between Pittsburgh-based Consol Energy Inc. and Houston's Synthesis Energy Systems Inc.
The plant will employ standard coal and waste coal from a nearby Consol mine and could draw on coal from two other nearby mines.
The joint venture, called Northern Appalachia Fuels LLC, will employ SES's U-Gas process to gasify coal to synthetic gas then convert it to methanol, the primary product of the process.
Synthetic Energy then uses its proprietary methanol-to-gasoline process to convert the methanol to gasoline. The company is negotiating with Exxon-Mobil Research and Engineering to license the process.
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- Scott Doggett July 31, 2008, 3:01 AM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Coal, Emissions, Ethanol, Flex-Fuel, Fuel Economy, Legislation, Methanol
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- coal-to-gasoline
, Consol Energy Inc., Exxon-Mobile, Fuels LLC, methanol, Synthesis Energy Systems Inc.
July 28, 2008
The race is on to develop cellulosic ethanol that comes from waste material and plants that aren't part of the normal food chain and can be grown in much of the country, as map (left) shows. The resulting fuel can help offset oil use in the U.s. and abroad.Cellulosic ethanol refineries seem to be growing these days like the switchgrass many hope to use to make an oil-replacement fuel for our cars and trucks.
The latest announcement comes from DuPont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol, a new joint venture of
DuPont and Denmark's
Danisco (a food and enzymes conglomerate).
The two plan to build a 250,000-gallons-a-year cellulosic refinery and research facility in eastern Tennessee, near Knoxville, feeding it with corn cobs, corn stover - the leaves and stalks of corn plants - and with switchgrass grown by area farmers under a program aided by the
University of Tennessee's Biofuels Initiative.
Cellulosic ethanol is a plant-based alcohol fuel that is not
dependent on food crops, as is the corn-based ethanol now produced commercially in the U.S.
Its drawback, to date, is that it is more difficult to break down fiberous plant material to extract the sugars that are then fermented into alcohol. That has made cellulosic processes more expnesive and more energy intensive than producing ethanol from corn.
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- John O'Dell July 28, 2008, 1:30 PM
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- Alternative Fuels, Biofuels, Ethanol, Fuels & Technologies
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- Cellulosic Ethanol
, Danisco, Dupont, Tennessee
July 24, 2008
The ethanol industry, until recently a golden child that got favorable treatment from Washington, is facing a critical decision on its future, the New York Times reports today.
Gov. Rick Perry of Texas is asking the Environmental Protection Agency to temporarily waive regulations requiring the oil industry to blend ever-increasing amounts of ethanol into gasoline. A decision is expected in the next few weeks.
Perry says the billions of bushels of corn being used to produce all that mandated ethanol would be better suited as livestock feed than as fuel.
Feed prices have soared in the last two years as fuel has begun competing with food for cropland.
"When you find yourself in a hole, you have to quit digging," Perry said in an interview with the Times. "And we are in a hole."
His request for an emergency waiver cutting the ethanol mandate to 4.5 billion gallons, from the 9 billion gallons required this year and the 10.5 billion required in 2009, is backed by a coalition of food, livestock and environmental groups.
Naturally, farmers and ethanol and other biofuel producers are lobbying to keep the existing mandates. Corn growers and ethanol producers say they are being made scapegoats for failed economic and energy policies.
The Times report will bring you up to speed on the ethanol mandates if you've fallen a little behind.
Scott Doggett, Contributor
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- Scott Doggett July 24, 2008, 11:13 AM
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- Biofuels, Courts, Emissions, Ethanol, Fuel Economy, Legislation
July 23, 2008
Los Angeles County officials today approved a proposal by BlueFire Ethanol to build what might be the first commercial facility in the U.S. to process biowaste into ethanol.
Members of the county's regional planning commission voted today to issue a permit to BlueFire Ethanol of Irvine, Calif., to build a $30 million facility in Lancaster, 70 miles northeast of downtown L.A.
Ethanol is the type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages and in thermometers, but it's largest single use today is as a fuel for internal combustion engines and as a fuel additive.
BlueFire President Arnold Klann said the plant would be the first commercial facility in the nation to make ethanol out of wood chips, paper and other biowaste.
Construction of the plant, which would be located next to a landfill, is expected to begin this fall.
Scott Doggett, Contributor
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- Scott Doggett July 23, 2008, 4:36 PM
- Categories:
- Emissions, Ethanol, Flex-Fuel, Fuel Economy
July 22, 2008
Right, BMW 7 Hydrogen on Nürburgring racetrack. The car or one like it will be available for test drives.
The Detroit area is famous for the Woodward Dream Cruise, a summertime showcase of thousands of hotrods, muscle cars and other exotics.
Now in an effort to improve Motown's gas-guzzling image, a new group has organized what they call Nextcruise, which will actually give the public an opportunity to drive what many see as the next generation of vehicles - hybrids, fuel cell, clean-diesel, plug-in electric and other green machines.
The low-emissions, fuel-efficient vehicles will be available for free 15-minute drives on a first-come, first-served basis in Pleasant Ridge, just outside Detroit, in mid-August.
The event will take place from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 16, and from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 17, at Memorial Park, 23925 Woodward Avenue, Pleasant Ridge 48069-1199.
Nine automakers have agreed to provide green vehicles and green-car-technology demonstrations for event to date. They are: General Motors, Chrysler, Ford, Nissan, Toyota, Volkswagen, Audi, Mercedes-Benz and BMW.
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- Scott Doggett July 22, 2008, 3:44 PM
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- Alternative Fuels, Audi, Auto Shows, BMW, Biofuels, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Daimler, Diesel, Ethanol, Flex-Fuel, Ford, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, Fuels & Technologies, General Motors, Honda, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Plug-ins and Electric, Toyota, Volkswagen
July 21, 2008
By now most of us are aware of the pitfalls of ethanol, among them: It's raising food costs worldwide, it requires a tremendous amount of water, it produces less energy than gasoline while emitting more pollutants, it's contributing to rainforest deforestation, it's displacing valuable food crops, the fertilizers it requires are wiping out marine life. The list goes on.
But here's one pitfall this writer was unaware of: Ethanol is allowing Detroit's Big Three automakers to manufacture more gas-guzzling vehicles and as a result is making the U.S. more dependent on foreign oil, not less.
In his book "Gusher of Lies," Robert Bryce points out that the Big Three love ethanol because the automakers can use it to inflate the fuel-efficiency ratings of their cars artificially at a time when the federal government requires them to increase the corporate average fuel economy of their vehicle lines.
The CAFE rules allow for a complex formula that increases gas mileage by factoring in a percentage of ethanol use, but only counting the gasoline consumed. If, for example, the gasoline-ethanol variant of the Chevy Suburban used gas 52 percent of the time and ethanol 48 percent, it would have consumed a gallon of gas in the first 15 miles, then would be refilled with ethanol and would have used a gallon or so over the next 14 miles. But of the nearly 2 gallons consumed, only the gallon of gas would be counted.
So what does Bryce, a freelance journalist specializing in energy issues, suggest as an alternative fuel? Biodiesel derived from algae, solar and nuclear power to feed a grid that charges plug-in electric cars, and super-batteries that haven't been invented yet but likely would be soon if private foundations, the U.S. Department of Energy, or both offered a $1 billion prize to its inventor.
"Gusher of Lies" gives alt-fuel fans lots to think about. It lists for $27, but can be found at Amazon.com and other online stores for $10 less.
Scott Doggett, Contributor
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- Scott Doggett July 21, 2008, 8:56 AM
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- Alternative Fuels, Biofuels, Chrysler, Courts, Emissions, Ethanol, Flex-Fuel, Ford, Fuel Economy, General Motors, Legislation, Plug-ins and Electric, Solar
July 17, 2008
By Scott Doggett, Contributor
In a speech that every American ought to read or at least watch, former VP Al Gore today told an energy conference "to join with me to call on every candidate, at every level, to accept this challenge: for America to be running on 100 percent zero-carbon electricity in 10 years. It's time for us to move beyond empty rhetoric. We need to act now."
It was in large part his inconvenient-truth pitch, but he broadened his case; he says we must abandon fossil fuels for national security and dire economic reasons, too. The New York Times' coverage made a nice note of the expansion.
But we could practically hear the ears of thousands of plug-in EV fans perk up when the Nobel laureate said, 27 minutes into his speech: "We could further increase the value and efficiency of a Unified National Grid by helping our struggling auto giants switch to the manufacture of plug-in electric cars. An electric vehicle fleet would sharply reduce the cost of driving a car, reduce pollution, and increase the flexibility of our electricity grid."
Those 49 common-yet-wonderfully-arranged words were magic to Felix Kramer, one of this nation's most resilient proponents of plug-in EVs, and thousands of other plug-in fans.
"This definitive acknowledgment of the benefits of electrification gives advocates of steps on global warming a better answer for transportation than timid suggestions that more people buy more efficient gasoline cars or drive less," Kramer wrote in a passionate posting on his calcars.org site.
But it was another Website that came to mind when we heard Gore speak, the one belonging to Tesla Motors, maker of the all-electric Roadster. Tesla sponsors blogs for its customers, one of whom wrote something two years ago that stayed with us.
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- Scott Doggett July 17, 2008, 8:20 PM
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- Alternative Fuels, Biofuels, Emissions, Ethanol, Fuel Economy, Fuels & Technologies, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Plug-ins and Electric, Solar
Right, the cockpit of Honda's HFCV.
By Scott Doggett, Contributor
A transition to hydrogen fuel cell vehicles is entirely doable but requires nearly $200 billion in funding and further technological breakthroughs, National Research Council experts said today in a report requested by Congress.
While stressing the "best-case scenario" nature of their report, the experts concluded that hydrogen could be the key driver of a shift away from fossil fuels and emissions tied to global warming, with other clean technologies and biofuels helping in that transition.
"The benefits of hydrogen would be less in the early years but have a dominant effect" in the longer run, panel chairman Mike Ramage, a retired ExxonMobil executive, said in a conference call with reporters. "Hydrogen is a pathway to a sustainable energy future."
The best-case scenario assumes the automotive industry invests $145 billion and the federal government spends $50 billion over the next 15 years to drive down the costs of hydrogen production and vehicles that run on hydrogen.
"The number is big, but in perspective" it is doable, Ramage said, noting that the federal ethanol subsidy is at a pace to cost $160 billion over that same period. "We need durable, substantial and sustainable government help to make this happen, just as there is for ethanol."
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- Scott Doggett July 17, 2008, 4:31 PM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, BMW, Biofuels, Diesel, Emissions, Ethanol, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, General Motors, Honda, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Legislation, Mercedes-Benz, Plug-ins and Electric, Toyota, Transportation Alternatives
July 16, 2008
While most automakers have shifted production to focus on smaller vehicles, nearly 70 percent of consumers want the companies to invest more in existing and emerging powertrain technologies, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2008 Alternative Powertrain Study released today.
Now in its third year, the Alternative Powertrain Study examines the reasons why consumers consider or avoid alternative powertrain vehicles, such as gas-electric hybrid, flex fuel and clean diesel models.
The study includes the Automotive Environmental Index, which rates the 2008-model-year vehicles on the basis of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data to fuel economy and greenhouse-gas emissions, as well as expert input from J.D. Power & Associates.
The study found that more than 80 percent of the 4,000 consumers polled believe the U.S. is currently facing an energy crisis. Only 18 percent of these respondents believe the issue can be addressed by building small, fuel-efficient vehicle.
Thirty percent believe automakers should continue to produce a comparable vehicle lineup with a focus on gas-electric hybrid, clean diesel and flexible-fuel vehicles, while another 39 percent believe carmakers should focus on developing fuel cell and all-electric vehicles.
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- Scott Doggett July 16, 2008, 3:32 PM
- Categories:
- Chevrolet, Chrysler, Dodge, Emissions, Ethanol, Fiat, Flex-Fuel, Ford, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, General Motors, Honda, Hybrid, Hyundai, Kia, Lexus, MINI, Mitsubishi, Natural Gas, Nissan, Plug-ins and Electric, Pontiac, Smart, Solar, Toyota
July 15, 2008
Right, threatened Gulf marine life.
A surge in Midwest corn production to meet U.S. demands for ethanol is drastically worsening pollution problems in the Gulf of Mexico, a team of federal and state scientists said today, according to E&E News.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is predicting that a record spike in nutrients from the Mississippi River basin this summer will produce the largest Gulf of Mexico "dead zone" ever.
An area the size of New Jersey is expected to contain dissolved oxygen levels too low to support marine life, the respected subscription service E&E News reported.
Based on data collected by NOAA, the U.S. Geological Survey, the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium and Louisiana State University, the predicted 8,800-square-mile hypoxic zone would be 11 percent larger than last year's and the largest since scientists began monitoring the problem in 1985.
In a conference call, scientists attributed the gulf's deteriorating conditions to spikes in runoff of nitrogen and phosphorus, key ingredients in fertilizers needed to sustain record corn harvests in the Midwest.
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- Scott Doggett July 15, 2008, 5:15 PM
- Categories:
- Biofuels, Emissions, Ethanol, Fuel Economy, Tax Incentives
July 7, 2008
The same day a World Bank report identifies biofuels as the principal cause of the global food crisis, the Bush administration announces creation of a Web site that Americans can use to locate biofuel service stations.
"Need to know where to buy E85 or other alternative fuels?" today's announcement asks. "The U.S. Department of Energy's Alternative Fuels and Advanced Vehicles Data Center now has an online station locator. Just specify which kind of fuel you want, then enter your address and the locator will map out the closest stations that sell that fuel."
It's been reported that the World Bank withheld publicizing its findings to avoid embarrassing President Bush. The World Bank's determination that biofuels are responsible for the food crisis that threatens the lives of 100 million people contradicts the U.S. government's claims that plant-derived fuels contribute less than 3 percent to food price rises.
The White House must be delighted that Bush isn't the only Western leader with egg on his face today. The president's good friend, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, sparked outrage after it was disclosed today that he and other world leaders enjoyed a six-course lunch followed by an eight-course dinner at the G8 summit, where the global food crisis tops the agenda.
The prime minister was served 24 different dishes during his first day at the summit -- just hours after urging the world to reduce the "unnecessary demand" for food and calling on British families to cut back on their wasteful use of food.
For the low-down on that scandal, take a look at an article in today's edition of the British newspaper Telegraph.
Scott Doggett, Contributor
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- Scott Doggett July 7, 2008, 2:17 PM
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- Alternative Fuels, Biofuels, Emissions, Ethanol, Flex-Fuel, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, Hydrogen, Natural Gas
Biofuels have forced global food prices up by 75 percent -- far more than previously estimated -- according to a confidential World Bank report obtained by the Guardian newspaper.
The damning unpublished assessment is based on the most detailed analysis of the crisis so far, carried out by an internationally respected economist at the global financial body.
The figure emphatically contradicts the U.S. government's claims that plant-derived fuels contribute less than 3 percent to food-price rises, the newspaper reported. It will add to pressure on governments in Washington and across Europe, which have turned to plant-derived fuels to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and reduce their dependence on imported oil.
Senior development sources believe the report, completed in April, has not been published to avoid embarrassing President Bush.
"It would put the World Bank in a political hot spot with the White House," said source is quoted as telling the Guardian.
The news comes at a critical point in the world's negotiations on biofuels policy. Leaders of the G8 industrialized countries meet next week in Japan, where they will discuss the food crisis and come under intense lobbying from campaigners calling for a moratorium on the use of plant-derived fuels.
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- Scott Doggett July 7, 2008, 1:33 PM
- Categories:
- Biofuels, Emissions, Ethanol, Flex-Fuel, Fuel Economy
June 27, 2008
Michigan's upper penninsula, a place with a lot of trees, has been selected by Mascoma Corp. for its first commercial scale cellulosic ethanol plant.
Mascoma, which is partnering with General Motors Corp.
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- John O'Dell June 27, 2008, 4:27 PM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Biofuels, Ethanol, General Motors
June 26, 2008
CIBC chart shows 10 million fewer vehicles on U.S. roads by 2012 than today.
Gasoline prices in America have risen from around $1.80 in 2004 to the current $4 per gallon mark. The most recent surge in pump prices has, in inflation-adjusted dollars, already taken pump prices to a buck a gallon above the record prices seen in 1981...
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- Scott Doggett June 26, 2008, 4:59 PM
- Categories:
- Alternative Fuels, Biofuels, Diesel, Emissions, Ethanol, Fuel Cell, Fuel Economy, Hybrid, Hydrogen, Transportation Alternatives
June 24, 2008
Congress is vowing to take actions that it believes will reverse runaway crude and gasoline prices. Oil rose above $136 a barrel on Monday – more than double what it cost a year ago – and gas hovered around $4.07 a gallon nationwide.
Lawmakers have introduced nine different bills on speculation, not to mention many more that tackle other causes of escalating fuel and oil prices. Several of the speculation measures have bipartisan support...
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