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Energy News from Around The World
Why Ford is racing to reinvent its product line Brazil June Motor Vehicle Output Up 4.8% Vs May Two 250mph Koeniggseggs to Debut at Geneva |
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| Lotus Exige 265E Flex Fuel to be shown in Yokohama |
Lotus is a world-renown maker of lightweight performance cars. The UK-based company has been making efforts to create more environmentally friendly vehicles using more environmentally friendly methods. For instance, a plan was created to erect a wind turbine grid in the centre of their test track, which could provide power to the nearby assembly plant. more
Ethanol highway promoted
Premier Lorne Calvert's proposal for an ethanol-friendly highway across the country got a mixed reception at a meeting of provincial and territorial leaders this week.
Atlantic Canada currently has little capacity to produce ethanol, but there was "significant interest" in the West and toward Central Canada, Calvert said Thursday, after attending the Council of Federation event in Toronto.
The premier said he wants to see a designated highway where service stations along the way would offer fuel for E85 vehicles -- vehicles that can take a fuel blend of up to 85-per-cent ethanol.more
UPI Energy LP: Guelph Gas Station Offers E85 to Motorists
GUELPH, ONTARIO--(CCNMatthews - March 27, 2007) - The environmentally friendliest gasoline possible, E85, has been available to motorists in the Guelph area, following its launch on January 30, 2007 by UPI Energy LP at their gas bar on Wellington Road 124.
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Energy Watch
India looks to IPI despite U.S. objections
Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday said India would go ahead with the gas pipeline from Iran via Pakistan despite U.S. objections. more
2007 Ford F-150 SuperCab Lariat 4WD Flex-Fuel Road Test
The art of great timing
Despite having to pay more at the gas station, I love testing full-size pickup trucks. Inside these big vehicles, particularly with 4WD, I often feel invincible. But the guilt of burning as much non-renewable fuel manages to creep its way back in my mind. That's why I was happy to hear that Ford introduced a new variant of their best-selling truck powered by a Flex-Fuel (E85) 5.4L V8 engine. The timing would be perfect if oil companies offered this alternative fuel with 85 % ethanol... more
Spanish bioenergy firm plans to build Immingham bioethanol plant
The Spanish company Abengoa Bioenergy has applied for planning permission to build a bioethanol plant in Immingham with a capacity of about 400,000 tonnes a year, which if all goes to plan, could be producing fuel by 2009; it would use about 1.1m tonnes of wheat a year as feedstock. more
Budget boost's region's green prospects
A range of measures in last week’s Budget aimed at encouraging the use of ‘green’ fuels and increased recycling levels have been welcomed by authorities in the Tees Valley area as “good news for further strengthening our area’s role as a centre for the development of new environmental technologies.”
more
On Europe
Fuels of the future
'We are on the threshold of a major change and this is going to be very expensive', says the GM boss
Ethanologically Speaking
Saab may have brought the ethanol debate to greater prominence following the introduction of a new BioPower Saab 9-5 that runs on either 85 per cent ethanol or petrol or any mixture of both from the same tank.
Pushed Towards Biofuels
French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin ordered that at least 15% of all state vehicles purchased this year run on a mix of ethanol and conventional fuel, the government said on Monday. more
Saab Steps up Green Drive
Saab goes bio-power crazy |
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| Saab is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year with a further push into the very topical biofuels arena, and Geneva showcases two new examples of the Swedes' growing green commitment. more | |
Renault pursues its commitment to E85 bioethanol and B30 biodiesel biofuels
As in 2006, Renault will be present at the International Agricultural Show in Paris (March 3-11, 2007(1)). Renault's stand will highlight its active involvement in the development of biofuel-related technologies with the display of an E85 bioethanol Mégane alongside one of its B30 biodiesel-compatible engines, the 1.5 dCi 85hp. more
Total inorganic sulphate in bioethanol
News Release from: Metrohm UK
An important quality criterion is the sulphate content of this ethanol, because sulphates form deposits in the engine and may contribute to sulphuric acid emissions. more
Ford Europe Appoints Director to Lead Alternative Fuels Strategy
Ford Europe has appointed Jan Brentebraten to the newly-created position of director, flexifuel and alternative fuel vehicles strategy, Autowired.co.uk has reported. more
GM to be the First Auto Company to Build Hybrid Vehicles in Canada
GM of Canada today announced that its Oshawa Truck Assembly Plant will be the first plant in Canada to produce hybrid vehicles, with the new Two-Mode Hybrid Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra scheduled for sale in the fall of 2008. more
Daimler Chrysler
Having just completed a full day of rigorous driving, I was asked by DaimlerChrysler's Vice President of Canadian Marketing, Judy K. Wheeler, what I thought about the new Avenger. My response, perhaps slightly glib, was, "I thought we were doing fifty, when we were actually doing seventy." What I simply meant was this: The inexpensive Avenger is so well mannered at seventy miles per hour that one could easily be lulled into believing they were holding the line fifty miles per hour: translation- speeding ticket.
DaimlerChrysler announces new technology, expanding product line
DaimlerChrysler Canada will expand and improve its lineup of environmentally friendly, advanced clean diesel technology starting with the 2007 model year. more
EXCLUSIVE: BRAZIL: Japanese late for the flex-fuel era
24 January 2007| Source: just-auto.com editorial team
Flex-fuel models accounted for 86% of cars and light commercials sold here in 2006. In Brazil, automobiles are not diesel-powered for energy policy reasons, that fuel is reserved for pickups and utilities over 1,000 kg payload, no minimum payload 4x4 utilities with low range gear, and trucks and buses. more
Morrisons to Open UK's First Bioethanol E85 Pump
| LONDON - British supermarket group Wm Morrison said it planned to open the UK's first bioethanol E85 filling pump on Wednesday, tying in with the first deliveries of the Saab 9-5 BioPower flex-fuel car. |
Bioethanol E85 (a blend of 85 percent bioethanol and 15 percent petrol) will retail for two pence per litre less than petrol, and can contribute to a cut in the harmful effects to the environment caused by burning fossil fuels, Morrisons said. Morrisons, the UK's fourth largest supermarket chain, will locate the UK's first bioethanol E85 pump on the forecourt of its Albion Way, Norwich site, to be immediately followed by supplies at another four of its sites in eastern England. more |
Rotterdam is the first spot in the Netherlands to put E85 bioethanol on the fuel market.
The minister of Environment, Pieter van Geel and Alderman Environment of Rotterdam , Roelf de Boer inagurated the first pump in beginning of June in Rotterdam. The pump is opened by the company Argos, one of the larger independent oil companies in the Netherlands.
At that time there was six Flexifuel cars in operation in Rotterdam, four of the owned by the city. Another 12 were by that time ordered by Roteb, from whom among others Rotterdam City Surveillance & Control and Public Works of Rotterdam leases their cars. With the opening of the first pump these cars can also fuel E85. the opening of the pump and the purchase of Flexifuel vehicles the market can develop further. more
Ethanol blends and flexible fuel vehicles -
A Strategy for India
India is the second largest producer of sugar cane in the world with a production level of about 280 Million tonnes per annum. Brazil, the number one, produces about 320 Million tonnes of sugar cane in a year. India stands fourth in the world in Ethanol production with a production about 1.3 Billion litres per annum. Brazil, which produces about 16.1 Billion litres per year, stands at the top of the table. USA is next with 5.75 Billion litres and China with a production level of about 2.83 Billion litres occupies the third place. more
Sweden aims to end oil dependency by 2020
But some say goal from leader in renewable energy is too ambitious
The environmentally progressive Scandinavian nation has announced one of its most ambitious goals yet: to completely end its dependency on petroleum — and do it in the next 15 years. more
Forecourts: France authorizes biofuel but more carrot needed
The French government has authorized the commercial sale of biofuels.
France has joined a number of other countries in approving the commercial sale of biofuels, with the French government stating that it hopes to see biofuel's share of total motor fuel consumption rise to 7% by 2010. However, legislation alone is not enough. Given the need to convince retailers to provide biofuels, and the attendant costs, the uptake of biofuels also needs to be consumer-driven. more
GM bids to reclaim its green crown with new electric concept
 13 gennaio 2007 |
“An electrically driven car from General Motors? I’m shocked – truly shocked,” joked GM product chief Bob Lutz as he took the wraps off the Chevrolet Volt, GM’s latest bid to re-establish its eco-friendly credentials in the US.
GM surrendered a lead in alternative fuel vehicles that it gained a decade ago with the GM EV1 electric car, a technology it later abandoned. A documentary film called “Who killed the electric car?” last year lampooned GM for not developing the EV1.
Since then, Japanese rivals Toyota and Honda have claimed GM’s green crown with their hot-
The Volt attempts to redress the balance. It’s an electric car, but its batteries are recharged on the go by using a small onboard constant-speed 1-litre engine that runs on low-emissions E85 ethanol fuel, giving the car a range of 640 miles and making it practical for long-distance journeys – something the pure electric EV1 couldn’t achieve. more
Britain going green
by Robin Roberts |
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THE UK is becoming a little greener. |
Superstore group Morrisons has opened the first filling station in Wales to stock a new fuel, Harvest Bioethanol E85 which is made from renewable and sustainable agricultural crops.
It is very environmentally friendly and vehicles using E85 release through their tailpipes only the same amount of CO2 as the crops used to produce the fuel absorbed when growing. more
Methanol - The Official Chinese Liquid Transportation Fuel Of The Future
John Laumer, Philadelphia
Nations seem to sanction transportation fuels based on their respective natural resource bases. Brazil, tropical center of a highly productive sugar industry, has a focus on ethanol. The US, which once was able to meet most domestic fuel demand with in-country oil production, focuses on gasoline as if it were still 1970. China, without much of either oil or sugar, has decided to go for methanol as the ‘official liquid transportation fuel’ of the future. The logic here is that methanol is a straightforward output of Coal To Liquid (CTL) processing and they have coal-a-plenty.
Yes we know: methanol is toxic. But so is gasoline (a major constituent of gasoline is benzene, a known human carcinogen). Plus, don’t forget to account for this USEPA risk analysis , from we excerpt the following information: - “Gasoline-ignited fires in 1986 involving cars, buses, or trucks resulted in 760 deaths, 4,100 serious injuries, and $215 million in property damage. Projections indicate that casualties would drop dramatically if methanol were substituted for gasoline as the country’s primary automotive fuel. Looking just at vehicle fires in which gasoline is the first material to ignite, a switch to methanol could save an estimated 720 lives, prevent nearly 3,900 serious injuries, and eliminate property losses of millions of dollars per year”.
Having hopefully set aside the methano-phobia for a few minutes, lets have a look at the details.
From an article in Financial Times Asia-World edition we garnered that “China is gearing up for a massive investment in a homegrown fuel source to cut its growing reliance on imports - plants to turn coal into gas and oil…China's central planners have on their desks proposals for at least $24bn (€20bn, £13.6bn) worth of large-scale coal-to-liquids projects, with a number of pilot plants already under construction in Inner Mongolia and other coal-rich provinces”.
In a later US edition we learned that “Beijing sets national standard for methanol as automotive fuel.” “The standard, which has yet to be officially announced, was reported in a trade magazine and confirmed yesterday by an official attached to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the economic planning body responsible for the standards…By the time the plants, which convert coal to liquids, start producing in 2011 to 2013, China's oil demand will have doubled, allowing methanol to supply about 10 per cent of the market."
Addressing China's increasing food demand, “Critics of ethanol say it is inappropriate to use corn to make fuel at a time when China is struggling to keep precious agricultural land in production to ensure "food security" for the country”.
We have a hunch about this which transcends the ICE technology future. It is possible that direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) for transportation will cross the cost-effectiveness finish line long before a hydrogen fed PEM fuel cell gets out of the starting gate.
Kudos to the US car makers who may get to sell "flex-fuel" vehicles in China, set up for ethanol and/or methanol and gasoline blends.
Given the Rand Corporation's recent projection that the US could feasibly satisfy 25% of its energy demand from renewable fuels, and given the increased food demand that will follow the burgeoning world population, what will satisfy the remainder of our transportation needs by 2050? Cellulose is certainly the most popular current bet for investors and government research grants. Given the resources that the US has in large quantity, we think that CTL produced methanol is the dark horse for the US official liquid fuel of the future.
The Week in Sustainable Mobility
In its just-released World Energy Outlook 2006 (WEO-2006), the International Energy Agency forecasts that under a business-as-usual reference scenario, world primary energy demand would increase by 53% between now and 2030, and global carbon dioxide emissions would reach 40 Gt, a 55% increase over today’s level. “WEO-2006 reveals that the energy future we are facing today, based on projections of current trends, is dirty, insecure and expensive.” (More...
BIOFUELS
A recent study by the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) concludes that vehicles using a B20 biodiesel blend (20% biodiesel and 80% petroleum diesel) do not produce an increase in nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions. These findings counter those of an earlier Environmental Protection Agency 2002 report showing a two-percent increase in NOx emissions for B20. (More...)
ASTM International recently released a new standard for biodiesel that will help ensure that biodiesel blends of up to 20% (B20) will be compatible with future diesel exhaust emissions technology. (More...)
According to data provided by the Renewable Fuels Association, US ethanol production is currently averaging nearly 4.7 billion gallons a year, a 20.5% increase from the 3.9 billion gallons produced in 2005. (More...)
Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) outlined its strategy to be the global leader in bioenergy while expanding its premier position in the agricultural processing value chain during its Analyst Day Meeting today in Chicago. (More...)
India plans to introduce the mandatory blending of 10% ethanol (E10) into gasoline across the entire country from June 2007, according to Shri M. S. Srinivasan, Secretary of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. (More...) The country also plans to produce 60 million tonnes (18 billion gallons) of biodiesel per year by 2030, according to President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. (More...)
New Century Lubricants (NCL) has entered into an exclusive worldwide agreement with National Chemical Laboratory (NCL-India), a constituent laboratory of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research in India, to demonstrate and commercialize NCL’s new simpler and lower-cost transesterification catalyst and process for the production of biodiesel fuels and biolubricants. (More...)
CHS Inc., one of the US’ leading energy and grain-based foods companies, and US BioEnergy Corporation, a producer and marketer of ethanol and distillers grains, today jointly introduced Provista, a new ethanol and biodiesel marketing joint venture. Provista will market 450 million gallons of ethanol from seven plants at the end of 2006—with plans to grow to 800 million gallons over the next year—and currently has 95 million gallons of biodiesel per year under contract. (More...)
Volvo Cars is launching FlexiFuel models into eight new European markets this fall and is also extending its range of E85 models to include the new C30. (More...)
Toyota Motor reportedly plans to introduce E85 flexible-fuel vehicles in North America starting with the Tundra pickup truck as early as 2008. Currently, all of Toyota’s gasoline engines can run on fuel that contains 10% ethanol. (More...)
Honda to mass-produce bioethanol cars
The Yomiuri Shimbun
Honda Motor Co. is to mass-produce compact cars that run solely on bioethanol, becoming the first Japanese automaker to do so, sources said Thursday.
The company will first start producing and selling the vehicles in Brazil, the top nation in the world in terms of the use of bioethanol in automobiles.
Since bioethanol is seen as being effective in combating global warming, the government wants to spread the use of the energy source.
With an eye on the Japanese market, Honda wants to develop bioethanol vehicles as a pillar of the environmentally friendly technologies that the company promotes, such as hybrid cars.
Ethanol is a form of alcohol, and the type made from sugar cane and corn is called bioethanol. It can be used as fuel for automobiles, either mixed with gasoline or used entirely in place of gasoline.
Honda plans to produce flex-fuel vehicles capable of running on 100 percent pure bioethanol.
Of the 65,000 or so Civic and Fit models produced in the company's plant in Brazil, the company will switch production of about 30,000 to bioethanol cars.
Japanese automakers have marketed vehicles overseas that run on fuel containing 10 percent to 25 percent bioethanol. But Honda would be the first to market vehicles that run on bioethanol alone.
Under the Kyoto Protocol to combat global warming, carbon dioxide emitted from the combustion of bioethanol is considered zero as the amount of the emissions is seen equal to that absorbed by plants and reemitted into the air. Bioethanol therefore is seen as an environmentally friendly fuel.
British Racing (Very) Green Lotusis
Lotus has always danced to a different drum. When the rest of the world was building muscle cars in the sixties and seventies, it went the other way. Light weight, superb handling, miniscule frontal areas and svelte aerodynamic efficiency became the hallmarks of Lotus roadsters which always did more with less. Now the Lotus brand is further extending its values towards the responsible use of resources with the Lotus Exige 265E which runs on environmentally friendly bio-ethanol E85 - 85% ethanol alcohol and 15% petrol! More story information
Energy News from Around the Nation & The World |
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Alternative Fuels Institute
P.O. Box 1505
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(605) 520-0936
Email: info@afisd.com