Hybrid News

Filed under: Biodiesel, Ethanol, Legislation and Policy, European Union

Support for crop-based biofuels is falling in many parts of the world, including Europe. When the European Commission proposed that 10 percent of road transport fuel should come from renewable sources by 2020 it didn’t specify what types of renewable energy should be used. The European Parliament’s industry committee has now endorsed the 10 percent requirement. However, in a nod to environmentalists, the committee has decided that at least 40 percent of that should be provided by hydrogen or electricity from renewable sources or next-generation biofuels. Environmentalists still aren’t entirely pleased but the move to limit use of crop-based fuels is seen as a positive development. The committee’s decision will be used as the basis for negotiations among member states of the EU before passage of final regulations, likely some time in 2009.

[Source: New Scientist Tech]

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Original post by Sam Abuelsamid

Filed under: Biodiesel, Emerging Technologies, Ethanol

Researchers at the University of Washington have developed a “novel technology” that uses “commercially advantageous” strains of algae to make biofuels. While work on algae and biofuels is taking place around the world, UW might be on to something here, at least if we trust the investment firm Allied Minds. Allied Minds announced yesterday that it will create a new company, AXI, LLC, with the school to commercialize these strains and make biofuel with them.

The AXI technology is not limited to the strains the UW is working on. According the the UW press release (available after the jump and in PDF), biology professor Rose Ann Cattolico, who developed the technology, said the methodology can “help any algal production system improve its output of inexpensive, oil-rich algae as the raw material for the generation of biofuel.”

[Source: Allied Minds, Inc.]

Continue reading Allied Minds and UW partner up in algae biofuel company AXI

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Original post by Sebastian Blanco

Filed under: Biodiesel, Ethanol, EV/Plug-in, Flex-Fuel, Hybrid, MPG, Legislation and Policy, USA

Democratic Presidential hopeful Barack Obama has proposed a new ten-year $150 billion energy plan today in Michigan. A large part of the plan centers around transportation — both the use of petroleum and the types of cars we are to drive in the future. For automakers, $4 billion in loans and loan guarantees would be made available for PHEV development, with one-million of the vehicles to be ready for sale by 2015. For consumers, a $7,000 tax credit would be offered for their purchase of said vehicle. Also, in a more short-term effort, Obama proposes that the U.S. sells some seventy-million barrels of oil from America’s strategic petroleum reserve.

While those PHEVs are being developed, Obama’s plan would increase fuel economy standards 4-percent per year. What’s more, Obama would mandate at least 60 billion gallons of advanced biofuels by 2030 while requiring that fuel producers reduce their fuel’s carbon emissions by 5 percent within 5 years and 10 percent within 10 years. To make those biofuels have as large an impact as possible, all new vehicles would be required to have flex-fuel capability within four years.

Lastly, the entire White House fleet will be converted to plug‐ins within one year (does this include the new presidential limo that will debut in January?) and half of all cars purchased by the federal government will be plug‐in hybrids or all‐electric by 2012. See the entire plan in .pdf form at this link.

[Source: Barack Obama - .pdf]

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Original post by Jeremy Korzeniewski

By Henning Peitsmeier, July 22, 2008

An idea is electrifying car users: mobility out of a socket. In times of high gasoline prices many car drivers, including commuters and low-income earners, are dreaming of an alternative to the gas-guzzling conventional combustion engine. Who would hold it against them? Since the price of a liter of gasoline has soared to levels above €1.50, calls for plug-in electrical cars have resounded throughout the land. In theory, they not only save the owner money but also the environment – at least if the electricity is generated by wind, sun or nuclear power plants …

Read the full article here.

Original post by Tim Allik

Better than hydrogen?

Fuel cell stacks are shrinking. Lithium-ion batteries are getting lighter and more powerful. This combination alone means the need for hydrogen to power fuel cell vehicles is shrinking. Of course, where are the hydrogen pumps?

Already, automakers, such as Ford, are exploring hydrogen infrastructure gaps with plug-in hybrid functionality by developing plug-in fuel cell hybrid prototypes. This enables such a vehicle to use both hydrogen and electricity for power. Yet, what if hydrogen could be replaced with a fuel like methanol that not only can utilize a fuel cell, but also work within the current refueling infrastructure of America?

While many, including this writer, have consistently questioned biofuels, particularly ethanol, methanol seems to have some distinct advantages over other biofuesl. Off the bat a fuel cell could double the efficiency of methanol. Add hybrid technology and add another 30 percent in efficiency is achieved. Add plug-in functionality and little methanol would ever be needed, except for long trips, day-time refueling or other periods of high electricity costs.

Automakers are going to pursue biofuels, fuel cells, hybrid vehicles and EVs regardless of whom becomes the next President. Shouldn’t the synergies of these technologies also be pursued?

Original post by Dahcredyns

By Lutz Deyerling
VP European Operations, Scuderi Group

The overall worldwide automotive (and engine market) is undergoing a major change unlike ever before. This change affects all players in the market, OEM´s, suppliers, new technologies, consumers and investors. There has been shocking news about the US OEM´s every day. Yesterday, for example, for the first time an analyst from Merrill Lynch said that one of the top three automakers could go bankrupt soon

Scuderi European Vice President Lutz Deyerling addresses the crowd gathered to view the first model of the Air-Hybrid Engine at the 2008 Engine Expo in Stuttgart, Germany in May.

Wednesday’s auto news was a parade of negative earnings reports, mostly based on consumer reaction to rising fuel costs and engine inefficiency. In June, one US OEM lost 18% in sales, another 28%, while yet another big manufacturer went down 36%. Many have serious problems – none of them are able to cut costs fast enough to keep up with the cash drain. (Double digit millions of dollars daily!). This phenomenon is driven by the fact that US drivers are now shifting away from SUV´s and pick-up-trucks and seriously looking for smaller and more fuel efficient vehicles – which almost none of the US OEM´s have in their portfolio. This is a really dangerous scenario and could end in a vicious circle.

The Financial Times Germany, who has been running an editorial series called “the future of the automobile” also writes this in a recent article, the last sentence stating: “Maybe in the future they will say, these were the years, where afterwards nothing was as it had been before.”

Read the story here.

In Germany, a major discussion about electric vehicles and batteries started last week with an

“>article about a study from Professor Dudenhoefer, who heads the well known CAR (Center of Automotive Research) at the University of Gelsenkirchen:

The article states: “A huge revolution, the end of gasoline and diesel vehicles”. From 2010 onwards, electric and hybrid vehicles will replace vehicles with internal combustion engines.

There have been several reactions on this article – for example also the CEO of Volkswagen, Prof. Winterkorn said: “the future of the automobile is the battery”. The “hype” culminated in a 16 pages article (which also was the top story) in Germany´s Wirtschaftswoche, a highly respected business magazine.

But as the article also states, many of these OEMs, suppliers and others are finding themselves having to look “Green” and environmentally friendly, even when they aren’t…

A time of change of this magnitude creates an even bigger opportunity to address the immediate benefits of the air-hybrid engine technology. While we continue to further licensing talks with many of the major OEMs around the world, the first gasoline prototype is on schedule to be completed by the end of the year. There is currently historical interest in the Scuderi Air-Hybrid Engine, which would give OEMs tremendous relief in several areas:

Original post by Lutz Deyerling

More ethanol in the states?

Yesterday, GM CEO Rick Wagoner called on the government to advance ethanol in the US because the “stakes” in the oil “poker game are getting higher and higher.” Coincidentally (yeah right), GM announced its new lithium hybrid powertrain via the Saab BioHybrid, a new lithium hybrid optimized for biofuel.

Now, if all the biofuel was coming from something like the Coskata Project in which GM is investing - rather than corn - I could buy Wagoner’s argument. However, earlier this week, the EIA already announced that cellulosic biofuels are significantly failing to meet the production standards set by the Renewable Fuel Standard. That’s means even more corn, a lot more corn. That’s just not acceptable.

Get the corn out, Mr. Wagoner. Get the corn out.

Original post by Dahcredyns

$4.00 gas starts to change consumer behavior

I just finished reading a story on how the Department of Energy is funding enzyme systems for cellulosic ethanol, a line of research I endorse. Still, this quest that US automakers, Congress and business are making to develop cheap biofuels seems flawed in its very essence.

Hasn’t cheap gas already proven that cheap fuel leads to consumer retardation? Cheap fuel leads to increased consumption. So, why do we keep pouring billions and billions of dollars into ethanol and biofuel-related endeavors, but so little into automakers that achieve impressive fuel economy, into automakers that significantly reduce consumption?

Is consumption, not efficiency, the driving force of America? Yes, I know, that’s a stupid question for anyone living in this consumer nation to ask.

Original post by Dahcredyns

Another reason for automakers to retool their technology?

GM claims that it will take decades for technologies, such as hybrid cars or electric vehicles, to have a significant impact on foreign oil dependency and global warming emissions. Thus, the automaker has continually pushed for a huge increase in US ethanol production, continually dismissing all criticisms of the fuel.

Yet, the evidence against ethanol keeps mounting, and it just seems biofuels are not going to be an easy way out for automakers.

“Almost all biofuels used today cause more greenhouse gas emissions than conventional fuels if the full emissions costs of producing these “green” fuels are taken into account, two studies being published Thursday have concluded,” writes the NYTimes this morning.

Original post by Dahcredyns

A small, biofueled Hummer

Compared to some of the large SUVs on the market today, the Biofueled Hummer Concept that GM displayed at NAIAS is relatively small. Add in its biofuel-capable V6 powertrain and some might dare to call it a green Hummer.

I’m not sure that I can go that far just yet. However, if it were a biofueled hybrid Hummer, I might give it a second chance.

Original post by Dahcredyns

Associated Press, January 2, 2008

NEW YORK — Crude oil prices soared to $100 a barrel Wednesday for the first time, reaching that milestone amid an unshakeable view that global demand for oil and petroleum products will outstrip supplies.

Surging economies in China and India fed by oil and gasoline have sent prices soaring over the past year, while tensions in oil producing nations like Nigeria and Iran have increasingly made investors nervous and invited speculators to drive prices even higher.

Violence in Nigeria helped give crude the final push over $100. Bands of armed men invaded Port Harcourt, the center of Nigeria’s oil industry Tuesday, attacking two police stations and raiding the lobby of a major hotel. Word that several Mexican oil export ports were closed due to rough weather added to the gains, as did a report that OPEC may not be able to meet its share of global oil demand by 2024.

Light, sweet crude for January delivery rose $4.02 to $100 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, according to Brenda Guzman, a Nymex spokeswoman, before slipping back to $99.27.

Read the rest of the AP story.

Original post by admin

By F. Noel Perry
Article Launched: 12/26/2007 01:37:26 AM PST

Despite the unanimous recommendation of legal and technical staff at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Administrator Stephen Johnson has denied California’s request for a waiver to implement its “cleaner cars” law of 2002.

This misguided decision not only fails to recognize how implementing this innovative policy would dramatically reduce greenhouse gases in California, it also fails to take into account how adopting this standard would stimulate technology innovation that would help create a zero-emission-vehicle industry in our state.

According to the Congressional Research Service, “California has served as a laboratory for demonstrating cutting-edge emission-control technologies, which once tested there, are adopted in a similar fashion at the national level.”

From 1947, when California established the Los Angeles Air Control District - the first air pollution agency in the United States - to the passage of our Global Warming Solutions Act (AB 32) in 2006, California has been a national leader in policy innovation to address critical environmental and energy needs. As a result of appliance and building standards and other policy reforms to promote energy efficiency - which were first passed in California and later adopted by the federal government - Californians saved $56 billion on energy from 1977 to 2003. And they are expected to save an additional $23 billion by 2013 - billions of dollars consumers spend to grow our economy.

Read the whole article on mercurynews.com.

F. NOEL PERRY is founder and president of Next 10, a non-profit, non-partisan organization based in Palo Alto that addresses the challenges facing California over the next decade and beyond. He wrote this article for the Mercury News.

Original post by admin

Will it be as efficient on E25

For the next couple of years, Brazil is going to test a few Toyota Prius hybrids in regular traffic to monitor their performance when filled with Brazilian gasoline. Gasoline in Brazil is 20 - 25 percent ethanol. However, if the results are successful, CENBIO and Petrobras might try to sell the idea of bio-fueled hybrids to other areas of the world as part of the BEST project, BioEthanol for Sustainable Transport project. (more)

Original post by Dahcredyns

FRANKFURT, Dec 12 (Reuters) - European carmakers could be fined billions of euros in penalties a year for failing to meet EU pollution limits, German newspapers reported, citing draft proposals by the European Commission.

Brussels may charge 95 euros per gram and per car for excess carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) and Financial Times Deutschland (FTD) said in summaries of articles to be published on Thursday.

The FAZ said the level was seen as very likely in Brussels where the European Union executive is due to adopt regulations on Dec. 19 on how to enforce an average limit of 120 grams of CO2 per km by 2012 — part of the bloc’s ambitious strategy to combat climate change.

The decision will affect Europe’s biggest carmakers such as Volkswagen, Daimler, BMW, Renault, PSA Peugeot Citroen and Fiat.

Read the whole Reuters story.

Original post by admin

Filed under: Biodiesel, Green Daily, Holidash, Germany

Christmas tree sticker shock in Germany is due in part to biofuels demand, according to HDH, the German timber industry group. Christmas tree land that was lost in order to grow crops for biofuels is a reason given by HDH along with more single person house holds and, of course, demand from China.

Christian von Burgsdorff runs a Christmas tree company and says that, “we don’t have enough goods to keep up with Chinese demand.” 28 million Christmas trees were sold in Germany last year (the most ever) and the Christmas tree racket can only go up. Will Christmas trees be added to the list of things impacted by biofuels like gummy bears and beers? More importantly, will people ever stop the incredibly strange tradition of chopping down a tree only to bring it inside and put lights on it?

Happy Holidays everyone!

Related:

• Biofuels threaten cheap beer in Germany
• Biofuels: responsible for the rising price of tortilla’s, milk, coffee and… gummy bears?
• Japan: making biofuels out of used chopsticks

[Source: Spiegel]

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

Original post by Lascelles Linton