Recently in the Transportation Category
Mar 12 2010
Several items relating to the business and technology of clean energy and the environment caught our attention this week:
A program to reduce lighting costs in Silicon Valley and nearby areas is paying off for small and medium-size businesses, the San Jose Business Journal reports. PG&E and nonprofit environmental consultant Ecology Action of Santa Cruz cooperate on the RightLights program, offering free audits of lighting consumption, plus rebates to reduce up-front costs for new lighting and installation. Fox Head Inc., a motor sports apparel designer and manufacturer, switched out high-energy metal halide lights to fluorescent induction lighting, slashing lighting costs by 60 percent, or $32,000 a year. Since the PG&E-Ecology Action program began in 2001, more than 5,000 PG&E commercial customers have joined the program, with total rebates of $17 million and a $25 million savings on utility bills. Total carbon impact was the equivalent of 15,000 cars taken off the road and saving 150 million kilowatt hours.
Internet giant Google this week added biking directions in beta to Google Maps for the U.S. and plugged in information about bicycle trails, lanes and recommended roads. Through Google's partnership with Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, more than 12,000 miles of trails are included in directions and will add new trail information and encourage riders to provide feedback. Google says when Maker is available in the U.S., all riders will be able to directly contribute information about trails, bike lanes and routes.
Aurica Motors, a Silicon Valley electric car startup, says it's trying to keep the NUMMI car plant in Fremont in business when Toyota departs at the end of March. Aurica's plan calls for converting the plant to manufacture an all-electric car and a battery swap system. The company is seeking federal economic stimulus money and private financing to convert the plant.
Mar 11 2010
LNG in
Yes. You won’t see any drilling rigs out in the pastures, but at Altamont Landfill, whopping amounts of methane gas are belched out by bacteria that break down organic waste. Instead of venting into the atmosphere, however, the gas is now captured by dozens of black suction tubes spread across the facility.
Last November, Houston-based Waste Management Inc., which runs the 240-acre landfill, and Linde North America, a major engineering company, announced they had started production at the world’s largest facility to convert landfill gas to LNG.
In full production, the plant can produce up to 13,000 gallons of the super-cold methane each day. The liquid fuels 300 clean-air vehicles in Waste Management’s hauling and recyling fleet and will reduce CO2 emissions by nearly 30,000 tons a year.
The use of LNG cuts carbon emissions 85 percent compared to gasoline or diesel fuel, according to Waste Management. The company has nearly 500 vehicles powered by LNG or compressed natural gas in about 20
(PG&E also runs some of its heavy trucks on LNG, which fuel up at the
“It’s taking material that would otherwise go into the atmosphere and be a contributor to global warming and turning it into a useful product that is cutting emissions,” said Mary Nichols, chair of the California Air Resources Board. “This is exactly the kind of win-win situation we are looking for in trying to transform our whole energy economy away from having to extract, process, and import fuels from other parts of the world.”
Waste Management is aggressively mining its landfills for more green energy. The company runs 115 gas-to-energy facilities at its landfills and 16 solid waste-to-energy combustion generators. In all, they produce enough power for 700,000 homes.
The company’s newest investment horizon is waste-to-biofuels production, including investments in Enerkem to make ethanol and a partnership with Terrabon and Valero Energy to make “green gasoline.”
EPA recently reported that 519 landfill gas-to-energy projects were operating across the country last year, up more than 25 percent since 2005. NEXT100 profiled one such project in Half Moon Bay in December.
Converting waste methane gas to biofuel isn’t just good business. It’s especially good for the environment since methane that escapes into the atmosphere is a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide. If Congress ever gets around to putting a price on carbon emissions, we’ll surely see many more companies drilling for landfill gas.
Mar 03 2010
One of my colleagues – a guy -- the other day suggested that I write up the new
Something about the overly aggressive look of the car, and the even more aggressive price tag it’s likely to carry, put me off. Automakers are falling all over themselves to make ridiculous looking electrified sports cars--like this, this, and this--that only moguls can afford.
But now that I’ve seen
Apparently, this video can turn grown men into jello. Here’s what green car expert Nick Chambers had to say:
What is Porsche doing to me? I had just gotten over my teenage-like, eco-speed-lust with the 918 Spyder hybrid from yesterday’s announcement, and now Porsche has to go and release a video showing it actually driving? It’s not right. A man can only take so much.
Mar 03 2010
This article was adapted from a story by James Park in PG&E's communications department.
What're you going to do when your new high-tech electric vehicle goes on the blink? For PG&E, which is adding several hundred new hybrid and electric vehicles to its fleet, calling the Tappet brothers at Car Talk is not an option.
Instead, PG&E has gone into partnership with several community colleges to teach the utility's fleet mechanics how to safely repair and maintain the new trucks and cars. Starting this month, about 175 fleet mechanics will be trained on safety, diagnostics and routine maintenance for the new vehicles. Classes will be taught over the course of three days by 14 instructors from local community colleges.
PG&E is adding about 250 Chevrolet Silverado light-duty trucks and Ford Escape hybrid passenger vehicles to its fleet along with some 50 electric and hybrid passenger vans and heavy-duty trucks manufactured by Altec, Eaton and Peterbilt.
"The hybrid vehicles are entirely new technology platforms," said Mac Fernandez, PG&E master mechanic. "For example, there’s no such thing as doing just a simple brake job on these cars because they use regenerative braking technology."
Fleet mechanics will be taught about the unique aspects of the vehicles, including appropriate diagnostic technology and special safety procedures associated with using electric hybrid battery packs, which have voltages as high as 800 volts.
Citing PG&E's national leadership in alternate fuel technologies, Dave Meisel, PG&E's director of Transportation Services, said "this program will provide a mechanism to ensure that our professional technicians and our customers alike will have access to some of the most sophisticated technical training on some of the most technologically advanced vehicles in the world today. The clean vehicle training program will allow PG&E and its transportation team to maintain its commitment to environmental leadership, employee development and community involvement."
The partnership between PG&E and the community colleges is called the PowerPathway™ Clean Tech Vehicle Training Program. It's part of a broader skills development program aimed at creating a trained workforce for PG&E and the utility industry in California under the PowerPathway™ umbrella.
The partnership with community college instructors will also help take curriculum knowledge back to California communities. Instructors will use techniques gained from teaching the utility's fleet mechanics with their own students at local community colleges, developing technical skills and creating career paths.
Feb 22 2010
Electric vehicle maker ZAP, based in Santa Rosa, has been selected along with four other firms in a competitive bid held nationwide by the USPS to provide clean vehicles for its more than 140,000 mail carriers. ZAP was awarded an engineering contract for the design and development of an electric version of the Postal Service’s Long Life Vehicle (LLV). They will convert the gasoline mail truck to run on electricity.
This is part of a bigger program of the USPS to develop a clean vehicle fleet, including some cute three wheeled package delivering vehicles previously featured in Next100.
Feb 12 2010
Several items relating to the business and technology of clean energy and the environment caught our attention this week:
Major league baseball spring training begins next week and the greening of the sport continues to show no letup. The Minnesota Twins are installing a giant underground storage tank the size of a freight car to harvest and recycle rainwater at their new ball park, Target Field. The Twins may save more than two million gallons of water a year. The Rain Water Recycle System will purify rainwater for human consumption as well as maintenance and irrigating the field. It was designed by Pentair, a company specializing in water systems and storage. The Twins also are seeking a LEED (Leadership in Engineering and Environmental Design) certification for the new park.
Eco-minded residents of Berkeley are recycling and composting so much that the city's refuse revenues are down by $4 million, the biggest factor in a $10 million city budget deficit. Residents are switching to smaller trash bins which carry a lower collection rate. People are buying less stuff so there's less packaging and cardboard waste, and a failed business means there's no trash to collect. "Not only does the amount of garbage change with the economy, but the very nature of garbage changes," says Robert Reed, spokesman for Recology Sunset Scavenger, San Francisco's garbage company.
Car sharing memberships in North America soared by 117 percent between 2007 and 2009, according to the Frost & Sullivan research firm, and total membership is projected at 4.4 million in North America and 5.5 million in Europe by 2016. The firm estimates that each vehicle in a car sharing fleet replaced 15 personally owned vehicles in 2009 and car sharing members drove 31 percent less than when they owned a personal vehicle. This means fewer cars on the road and a reduction of more than 482,000 tons of CO2 emissions. Meanwhile, car sharing firm Zipcar Inc. has pulled the 2010 Toyota Prius hybrids from its fleet (less than 1 percent) due to the recall for a potential brake problem. Zipcar also has removed 2009 and 2010 Toyota Matrix models in a previous safety recall.
Feb 11 2010
Yesterday we looked
at some of the simple--and for the most part, obvious--changes in driving habits and maintenance practices that can, at no cost, increase your vehicle mileage up to 15 percent, saving you money and sparing the environment.
It should be equally obvious that your choice of what car to drive--today, without waiting for the next generation of plug-in hybrids, fuel-cell vehicles or advanced diesels--can have an even bigger impact on your wallet and the environment.
That also happens to be a central finding of a recent Oxford University study titled "The Future of Mobility." Instead of waiting for manufacturers to perfect some brilliant new engine technology, it concludes, simply "downscaling . . . both size and weight" of conventional vehicles is the best way to reduce emissions in the near future.
Automakers already know how to do that--they did it during the energy crisis of the late 1970s. It just takes consumers to care enough about the environment (or their budget) to buy the smaller and lighter cars on the market.
Consumers are clearly of two minds. On Yahoo! Autos' list of most-searched-for cars in 2009, the Chevrolet Camaro ranks #1. The Ford Mustang, Jeep Wrangler and Dodge Charger and Challenger also made the top 10, showing that America's love affair with muscle cars lives on.
On the other hand, the Honda Civic, Mini Cooper and Smart for Two were in the top 5, so many people care about economy as well as a cleaner environment.
How much difference does your choice make? The 8-cylinder Camaro pumps out about 6.4 tons of CO2 for every 10,000 miles traveled, and will cost more than $1,500 for gasoline, according to the indispensible comparison web site, www.fueleconomy.gov.
Buying instead a peppy and trendy Mini Cooper will save you about $13K and about $400 in gasoline. It will also emit only 4.4 tons of CO2 each year, almost a third less than the Camaro.
Or you can save an additional $5,000 on the purchase price, and a couple hundred dollars on gas, by picking a Toyota Yaris, a no-frills car with what some reviewers call an "impressive safety package." It emits only 4 tons of CO2 per 10,000 miles. Added bonuses: it hasn't been recalled, and you probably won't be pulled over as often as the driver of a red Camaro.
Any one of these cars will reach the speed limit and get you to work and back. So why not save money and save the earth at the same time?
Feb 10 2010
Automakers the world over are spending billions of dollars on high-tech R&D to eke out a few percent gains in vehicle mileage. And before their efforts make any noticeable difference to the environment, consumers will have to shell out hundreds of billions of dollars on cleaner new vehicles over the course of many years.
Yet the same result could be achieved at no cost, with no new technology, almost overnight. Simply by changing their driving habits and properly maintaining their cars and trucks, vehicle operators can readily improve their mileage by up to 15 percent--saving themselves big money and sparing the environment.
The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, composed of 11 major global carmakers, is promoting an EcoDriving movement to make exactly that point. It hasn't garnered nearly enough publicity, though it has been endorsed by many of the nation's governors, including California's Arnold Schwarzenegger.
- If just half of all drivers nationwide practiced moderate levels of EcoDriving, annual carbon dioxide(CO2) emissions could be reduced by about 100 million tons, or the equivalent of heating and powering 8.5 million households.
- If all Americans practiced EcoDriving, it would be equal to 450 billion miles traveled on our roadways without generating any CO2 emissions. That’s 1,500 CO2-free miles for every man, woman and child in the United States each year.
Many EcoDriving techniques (also called hypermiling) are obvious, others less so. You already know you want to avoid fast starts and stops by paying close attention to road conditions ahead. You probably know that mileage plummets as you drive faster than 55 mph because of aerodynamic drag. You may not know, however, that driving with your windows open above 40 mph generally wastes more fuel than relying instead on your air conditioner for cooling.
That said, be sure to have your air conditioning checked to make sure it's operating at maximum efficiency. And heed Barack Obama's much-lampooned advice during the presidential campaign about the wisdom of checking tire pressure monthly. More than a billion gallons of fuel may be wasted annually because of underinflated tires, according to the Department of Energy.
Driver education is especially important for improving the performance of corporate fleets--which is why the Environmental Defense Fund has a major initiative to promote fuel-smart driving practices. In Europe, the RECODRIVE project is promoting fuel-efficient fleet practices across the continent, with significant results.
Best of all, better driving promotes safety as well as fuel efficiency. Carrier, a division of United Technologies Corp., reports that it slashed at-fault accidents resulting from rear-end collisions by 45 percent in one year while cutting fleet emissions by 30 percent, and saving $1 million a year in fuel costs.
Jan 19 2010
Sometimes the biggest blow to a new technology isn't an engineering glitch but a seemingly authoritative report proving its time hasn't come. That's exactly what happened last month, when a team of experts from the National Research Council declared that sky-high battery costs will doom plug-in electric vehicles to irrelevance for years to come.
It doesn't happen often, but the NRC experts appear to be flat wrong, according to evidence of actual battery costs compiled by CalCars and the Electrification Coalition.
"Real-world information is already a step ahead of their assumptions," CalCars claims. "Battery and auto manufacturers would not be spending tens of billions of dollars on factories to support over a dozen new plug-in vehicle models unless they saw a long-term path to low-cost, competitive components."
At the heart of the NRC's critique was the claim that battery packs today cost more than $1,000/kilowatt-hour, and that it will take a decade of engineering and production innovation to slash costs to the $400/kWh needed to make plug-in vehicles affordable to the mass market.
The truth about battery costs is closely held by manufacturers, but CalCars cites a study prepared last year by experts from the Department of Energy and Argonne National Laboratory, estimating that batteries should cost only about $300/kWh in mass production, and less than double that in modest runs of about 10,000 per year.
General Motors officials have leaked data to the media suggesting that the cost of batteries for the new Volt hybrid will be in the range of $500/kWh to $600/kWh, and will likely fall to only $300 by 2015. A company spokesman specifically refuted the NRC's estimate of battery costs as "bloated." He added, 'Our starting point, which already costs much less than they estimate, is just the first step.'
Bottom line: as battery makers and electric vehicle manufacturers begin production, costs will indeed be high, as they were originally for personal computers, flat screen TVs, and most other new technologies. But as affluent early adopters and government subsidies create a growing market, prices should fall quickly to make these clean vehicles a strong contender in the marketplace.
Jan 14 2010
Green doesn't get much cuter than this.
As part of its ambitious program of energy conservation and environmental stewardship, the U.S. Postal Service is experimenting in several Southern California cities, as well as parts of Arizona and South Florida, with a nifty three-wheel electric vehicle for delivering mail.
With the world's largest civilian vehicle fleet, annual travel of 1.1 billion miles and fuel costs of more than $2 billion, the USPS can make a big difference to the environment by its leadership in clean transportation technology. It has experimented with advanced diesel, ethanol, hybrid electric and fuel cell vehicles, but I'm most taken by the T3 Series Electric Stand-up Vehicle, with optional solar-powered trailer, that the postal service has developed with T3 Motion, Inc. in Orange County.
T3 Motion claims the vehicles have a range of 40 miles, a maximum speed of 12 mph and a carrying capacity of 450 lbs. Its quiet operation and maneuverability make the vehicle a favorite of police forces as well. "Most importantly, it produces zero emissions and costs less than 4 cents a mile to operate," the company added in an announcement today.
The U.S. Postal Service aims to reduce its energy use 30 percent by 2015. Kudos to it for thinking outside the (four-wheel) box.
