As Oil Concerns Mount, the Profits Roll In
Friday, May 2nd, 2008
Against the backdrop of consumer protests and rising tensions, Royal Dutch Shell and British Petroleum (BP), two of the world’s largest oil producers, announced record profits for their first-quarter earnings this past Tuesday. With oil currently priced at an unprecedented $120/barrel, the announcements underscored the clear division between consumer concerns and what many activists and environmentalists perceive as corporate exploitation. While company executives were no doubt basking in the good news, commercial truckers in both the U.S. and Europe staged vehement demonstrations, bringing traffic to a halt in some cities. Given the strife, BP’s 63% profit growth seems obscene, not to mention unlikely to hasten the move to clean and sustainable alternatives, and considerable handouts in the form of government subsidies further abet this inequity. According to the Center for American Progress, the big five oil companies - BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobile, and Royal Dutch Shell - received $1.3 billion in tax breaks last year despite $123 billion in profits.
Isn’t it time for such double-dipping to end? While these write-offs are a drop in the bucket compared to company earnings, they could go a long way to easing the burden on the average driver. H.R. 5351, recently passed in the House and now before the Senate, intends to set limits on tax credits for oil companies while at the same time increasing subsidies for renewables. Such subsidies are intended to spur growth in emerging industries seeking a foothold in a competitive market; needless to say, oil companies don’t fall into this category. Recent legislative developments are cause for guarded optimism, however; a similar proposal nearly became law back in December, falling one vote short of overcoming a tortuous fillibuster by conservative Senators that had killed previous reform bills. Notably, Republican presidential candidate John McCain didn’t show up for the vote, though a campaign spokesman has stated that “would not have supported breaking the fillibuster”.
The passage of H.R. 5351 is a necessity if we are to tip the balance away from fossil fuels. Click here and here to read more about oil subsidies.
Posted in Energy, Legislation, Transportation | Permalink
Passenger Trains Still Having Success
Monday, April 14th, 2008
Taiwan is celebrating the 23rd millionth passenger on their extremely successful bullet train line that connects the capital Taipei to the south of the island. A large project which, as always, created controversy, the response to its completion has been such that in a little more than a year the amount of trains on the line has been tripled to accommodate demand.
Previously, a trip to Kaohsiung would have taken over four hours. Now the whole route takes only 90 minutes. The train has had such an impact that the air-routes now serviced by the train have made significant cutbacks.
Because trains are much more energy-efficient people movers than all other forms, this is a welcome milestone.
Posted in Energy Efficiency, Transportation | Permalink
New Capacitor Technology Could Lead to Even Cleaner Cars
Friday, April 4th, 2008
At this year’s Detroit auto show back in January, the AFS Trinity Power Corporation opened some eyes with its XH-150, an automobile prototype that uses more efficient ultracapacitor technology to store energy. Even with continued improvements in lithium-ion battery efficiency and storage, this latest development could be the most significant revolution yet for the hybrid car industry.
A three-way hybrid, the XH-150 adds these more efficient capacitors to the standard battery-and-gas-engine dual-system set-up found in most commercially available hybrids. This new wrinkle allows a vehicle to accelerate more quickly, as well as recharge and discharge electricity more quickly, than with a battery. Industry insiders believe that, as the capacitor technology progresses, it may even replace batteries entirely.
Even in their conventional form, capacitors supply energy more quickly than batteries, but are only able to achieve a fraction of the storage capability. The new ultracapacitors combine the best of each technology; they are able to store more energy because they don’t simply rely on static charges the way conventional capacitors do. They also make use of ionic flow and an electrolytic medium much like batteries, but do so without resorting to the slower electrochemical reaction that normally facilitates this process. This is achieved in part by increasing the surface area of the electrodes without increasing volume, a tricky process that engineers are finally beginning to control through nanotechnology. Other alternate approaches utilize new insulating materials such as barium titanate, eschewing increased surface area for higher electric potential.
The result, in the case of the XH-150, is a hybrid vehicle that will be capable of up to 80 mph and 150 mpg in normal use (as opposed to around 50 mph and 100 mpg for regular hybrids), and an all-electric range of 40 miles before the gasoline engine kicks in (400 miles on both electric and gas). The use of ultracapacitors also means it can be charged much more quickly than current electric vehicles, thereby increasing their range even more, since the possibility of convenient electric “refueling” will further reduce the need to make use of conventional fuel.
Ultracapacitors may not be the final word in the hybrid revolution, as battery technology is also improving by leaps and bounds. The ensuing competition between technologies will pose an embarrassment of wealth that the burgeoning industry will eventually need to resolve. But what a great problem to have!
Posted in Technology, Transportation | Permalink
Green Renter: Greening NYC’s Transportation System - with Dani Simons, NYC Department of Transportation
Sunday, February 10th, 2008| February 25, 2008 | ||
| 7:00 pm | to | 8:30 pm |
Posted in New York City, Solar One Events, Transportation | Permalink
Future Now (but only in California.)
Thursday, February 7th, 2008
What has 3 wheels, pull-up doors, and gets 330 miles per gallon?
No, that’s not a typo. The super-cool plug-in hybrid Aptera gets more than 10 times the gas mileage of the average new car. Its lightweight, ultra-aerodynamic design and super-luxe interior with room for 2 adults plus luggage and surfboards make it one of the most exciting contenders for the Automotive X Prize, a $10 million grant awarded by the X Foundation to the company that can develop a low-carbon, 100+ mpg car that can be put into production quickly.
While it may look like a prop car from Woody Allen’s Sleeper, the Aptera is actually being put into production now. Californians can log on to Aptera’s website and reserve one for a $500 deposit (ultimate retail price: $25,000 and change.) With 3 wheels, the Aptera is officially classed as a motorcycle, but it packs all the safety features of a conventional full-size car, including air bags. (more…)
Posted in Energy Efficiency, Products, Transportation | Permalink
Preferential City Parking to be Limited by Bloomberg
Tuesday, January 8th, 2008
Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced on Friday that he was going to be limiting the permits that the city gives as perks to employees for free curbside parking. What started as underground pressure from blogs like Uncivil Servants–a not-so-friendly name for a blog that has photographed and documented hundreds of instances of government employees breaking the parking laws (they also photo delivery trucks, taxis, and other common offenders)–has put enough pressure on the city government to create a centralized tracking program for all permits issued, and an to curtail by approximately 20% the permits available. The city has no legal control of the permits issued by the state and fed, but will try to include them in the initiative.
Bloomberg is trying to implement a congestion charge for Lower Manhattan drivers, and initiatives like this will show the public he means it to be a fair policy.
Posted in New York City, Transportation | Permalink
NYC Taxis Go Hybrid
Wednesday, December 12th, 2007
Say goodbye to the Ford Crown Victoria. The TLC announced today that it will definitely be increasing fuel efficiency standards for NYC taxicabs purchased after October 1, 2008 to 25 mpg, and then to 30 mpg for new cabs in fall 2009. To meet these standards, fleets will probably be buying hybrids, making NYC’s taxi fleet “the cleanest, greenest large city taxicab fleet in the world”, according to Matthew Daus, the TLC chairman. The NYT reported last May that replacing the 13,000 yellow cabs currently on the streets will have the same air-quality effect as eliminating 32,000 private vehicles from the road. Not bad.
Posted in New York City, Pollution, Transportation | Permalink
The Hover Train:Put Some Wings On That
Friday, November 9th, 2007
Some of you may remember the maglev trains from a few years back, and while they are still here, the electricity required to run the magnets to make the train levitate is enormous. But a group of researchers at a Japanese University have tried to create a similar effect by putting small wings on the train instead. It looks like a sort of “flying train” and would use lift properties similar to an airplane (Bernoulli’s principle for you fellow dorks).
To add to the sustainable influence of the design, solar panels are installed right along the track of the prototype model.
Posted in Energy Efficiency, Transportation | Permalink
60mpg, sportscar fast…. and a Hummer?
Tuesday, October 30th, 2007
Crazy car tuner John Goodwin has done some unbelievable things in the past, but his current project takes the cake, and was featured on the cover of Fast Company magazine.
John got his hands on a 1985 jet turbine which he is planning on dropping in a 2005 Hummer H3, promising to be the latest in a long series of huge green cars that Goodwin has engineered. He is currently working on a 1960 Lincoln Continental conversion for Neil Young with the target of 100mpg. More on the unbelievable Hummer conversion from the magazine (because he’s a better author):
Like most hybrids, it’ll have two engines, including an electric motor. But in this case, the second will be the turbine, Goodwin’s secret ingredient. Whenever the truck’s juice runs low, the turbine will roar into action for a few seconds, powering a generator with such gusto that it’ll recharge a set of “supercapacitor” batteries in seconds. This means the H3’s electric motor will be able to perform awesome feats of acceleration and power over and over again, like a Prius on steroids. What’s more, the turbine will burn biodiesel, a renewable fuel with much lower emissions than normal diesel; a hydrogen-injection system will then cut those low emissions in half. And when it’s time to fill the tank, he’ll be able to just pull up to the back of a diner and dump in its excess french-fry grease–as he does with his many other Hummers. Oh, yeah, he adds, the horsepower will double–from 300 to 600.
“Conservatively,” Goodwin muses, scratching his chin, “it’ll get 60 miles to the gallon. With 2,000 foot-pounds of torque. You’ll be able to smoke the tires. And it’s going to be superefficient.”
He laughs. “Think about it: a 5,000-pound vehicle that gets 60 miles to the gallon and does zero to 60 in five seconds!”
A high school dropout from Kansas can do this and Detroit can’t do what?
Posted in Biofuel, Energy Efficiency, Transportation | Permalink
Interesting (mostly relevant) special green car section in the NYT today
Wednesday, October 24th, 2007
Today’s New York Times web addition includes a pretty interesting series of articles titled ‘Getting to Green’ that pertain to new environmental trends in the auto industry. Article subjects include G.M.’s electric car dream redux; a collaboration between an Icelandic artist and BMW to create a climate related art project; and the declining popularity, or at least microeconomic viability, of the Hummer (Moo-haha!), among other things. Not bad. . . read it here.
CN
Posted in Energy, Renewables, Sustainability, Transportation | Permalink
