Jun 24

American’s Want An Energy Plan; The Biofuels Roadmap; Natural Gas Really Green?; Are You An Early Adopter?

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While the BP oil spill catastrophe still dominates news headlines, will US law makers squander the opportunity to finally pass a bill that will pave for cleaner energy? 63% of American’s hope not according to the latest poll by the Wall Street Journal & NBC News. In fact, the poll shows that Americans want a comprehensive energy reform bill even if it means increasing the cost of energy. Treehugger.com blogger, Brian Merchant, hopes that the Senate is listening and would ideally like to see the bill amped up and include green job provisions (the only other concern topping energy according to the poll). He contends, however, that in our re-election, incumbent-threatened environment the Senate will go the route of a “safe, voter-approved” energy bill.  

Well, if the Senate isn’t listening, perhaps the USDA is. The USDA has just released its report titled “USDA Biofuels Strategic Production Report” which Ethanol Producer Magazine summed up as a regional roadmap to meeting biofuel goals of the RFS2 (Renewable Fuel Standards) by 2022. The good news is that to meet the biofuel goals it would require the building of 527 more biorefineries. The bad news is that comes at the cost of $168 billion which breaks down to be $8 dollars per gallon, according to the report. Yikes!

Natural gas has long been touted as abundant and cheap and is being increasingly used for “environmentally friendly” electricity generation. Wait, I thought this was blog about transportation? Well it is. Electricity generation will become more and more tied to transportation as electric vehicles take to the roads. One of the underlying arguments to how “green” electric cars actually comes down to how that electricity is produced. Which brings me back to natural gas…Chris Vernon at The Oil Drum: Europe, questions whether or not natural gas is truly the greener choice.  According to Vernon, “natural gas (CH4) itself is a potent greenhouse gas, and its release to the atmosphere without being burnt can quickly compensate for the CO2 advantage against coal.” He calls into question the methodology used to calculate power station emissions because they don’t take into account the upstream supply system such as pipeline leaks and gas released during coal mining. Although, wouldn’t that add to coal’s emission still making natural gas for electricity production preferable to coal?  True, concedes the author. He doesn’t discount that natural gas is greener but thinks as our power generation shifts towards natural gas these factors should be considered.

Which brings me to electric vehicles…the race is still on between the GM Volt and the Nissan LEAF. With the Nissan leaf selling out its pre-orders, GM is hoping to follow suit. GM is banking on “early adopters” to pave the way. Its early adopters, says GM’s marketing chief, Jim Campbell to GM-Volt blog site (not affiliated with GM), will “have an amazing appreciation for technology combined with a green or eco-imperative in their lives.”

Are you an early adopter?  If so, perhaps you pre-ordered the Nissan LEAF? Now your Nissan LEAF will be equipped with a noise maker for safety’s sake. Automotive Fleet describes the noises as “a soft whine that fluctuates in intensity with the vehicle’s speed” and “a clanging sound” when going in reverse. “Whine” and “clanging”? Really? I think I can feel the cringe in Nissan’s marketing department.

The Obama administration hopes to nudge entire communities to be “early adopters” of electric vehicles by enticing them with subsidies via the Electric Vehicle Deployment Act of 2010. The legislation is still in its infancy reports Plugincars.com , but has already garnered some big name support including Senator Byron Dorgan who chairs the Energy and Natural Resources Committee and co-authored the bill. One major criticism of the bill is that it’s a sign of government “picking a winner”.  That might be the case, but I think we can all agree that Big Oil’s been “winning” for way too long.

Written by Falana White

 Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here are the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the Alternative Fuel Vehicle Institute.

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Jun 09

Opening Farewell

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To echo the words of crooner Jackson Browne, this will be my opening farewell for Alt Fuel Views.  Here’s the deal, you’ll have to read all the way to the bottom to find out where I’m headed.  But, to find out where the climate bill is headed, look no further than Grist.  Writer David Roberts admits he doesn’t have a lock on it but he gives us five things to watch for that range from Obama’s adeptness in handling the oil spill to Harry Reid’s talk about having a bill ready in July.  One item of note comes up tomorrow as Alaska Senator Murkowski’s “resolution of disapproval” over the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulating greenhouse gases is debated.  While it is a long shot, if it did pass, it would wreak havoc on the vehicle fuel economy standards in place to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  In the meantime, this legal whack-a-mole has reared its ugly head in action taken by Massey Energy, Rosebud Mining, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and some other charming characters to knock the wind out of those EPA standards.  Imperial Valley News says California Attorney General Edmund Brown, Jr. donned his Superman cape and filed yesterday to support the federal Clean Air Standards.

Fatih Birol is back colorfully suggesting that fossil fuel subsidies are the appendicitis of the global energy system.  Business Week offers the context for the proclamation from the chief economist of the International Energy Agency (EIA).  $550 billion is the whopping total global subsidy to fossil fuel energy, which is 75% more than previously thought.  Birol wants the leaders of the Group of 20 nations to roll back those subsidies, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2.4 gigatons a year.  It would also reduce global oil demand by 6.5 million barrels a day.  Prove it, says the editorial board of the Chicago Tribune.  Last week President Obama told us that “Every act of energy conservation is an act of patriotism,” but that is so yesterday.  Presidents Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Bush and Clinton have all convincingly called for reducing our dependence on foreign oil and our collective response has been to fill ‘er up. 

Is there anything different today that will make us conserve, like maybe the Gulf catastrophe or caring so much that you’ll parade in your birthday suit?   Believe it or not, I have not one, but two stories about people yearning so badly for energy independence that they are willing to publicly bare their feelings.  Let us begin on the Pearl Street Mall in, where else, Boulder, Colorado.  Lush Cosmetics employees are quite agitato about Canadian tar-sands oil so Westword says to be at 1312 Pearl Street at noon today where employees will take to the streets dressed in not much but an oil barrel.  Too far away?  Mark your calendar for June 19, also known as World Naked Bike Ride day.  In 70 cities around the world, undraped bicyclists will be peddling the message that dependence on foreign oil is bad, bad, bad.  NBC mentions Madison and Chicago as two of the locations.

On to my next location.  I’ve had the pleasure of working with the good people at the Alternative Fuel Vehicle Institute, as well as many of you, for the past five years.  After this week I have the good fortune of moving on to my next adventure which will be with the Pasadena-based clean transportation nonprofit, CALSTART.  Because it is a small world after all, I feel certain our paths will cross again. 

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Jun 07

Risky Business

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Bad timing Lisa Murkowski.  You’ll recall the Alaska Senator who is working with oil and coal lobbyists to eviscerate the power of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act?  As ubiquitous images of oil covered animals and beaches grace the airwaves, this is the week that the Senate will take up that silly idea, and The Hill suggests there’s not a chance it will pass.  As we Americans continue to use 378 million gallons of gas each day, Chrysler is finally lending their voice to the natural gas choir.  Reuters reports that Chrysler chief Sergio Marchionne is speaking out loud that natural gas is an ideal transition to a hybrid future.  But hold your horses says Colorado-based Pike research.  National Geographic News shares their noteworthy numbers about medium-and heavy-duty hybrid market penetration.  There are 9000 on the road today but they say that by 2015 that number will grow to more than 100,000. CALSTART’s Bill Van Amburg echoes those projections saying fuel costs and carbon emission reductions are big drivers.  CALSTART’s Pasadena neighbor Caltech will be joined by serious researchers from all over the country this week to launch a $20 million study to see just where Southern California’s pollution is coming from.  One year from now, says the Pasadena Star News, they’ll be able to tell us if the big culprits are ships, cars, trucks, industry, or even if the majority of their air quality challenges even emanate in the U.S.

 

Curmudgeon James Howard Kunstler is woefully depressing this morning but I did like his assessment of the lack of leadership as the worst oil spill in our history spews unabated.  He suggested that it is a horrific version of the movies Home Alone meeting Risky Business-a very dangerous place with no adult supervision.  Bob Hebert carries that theme in his New York Times piece suggesting the ludicrousness of Carol Browner’s comment yesterday that the government has been in charge from the beginning.  He goes on to suggest that we need dynamic leadership and it doesn’t just have to come from the top.  When the adults are off trying to stanch flows by shoving chunks of used auto tires down an undersea gusher you have the making of a tragicomedy.  The Archdruid Report tackles this from the perspective of our wishful thinking about techno-potency, which is no match for pesky realities presented by geology and physics.  From Kunstler to Hebert to The Archdruid, the sobering theme is that the only “magic” will come from changing our role from being spectators at a train wreck to embracing the reality that as individuals, the time has come to catalyze a transition to a new, sustainable reality.

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Jun 03

Revival of the Fittest

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Could we be seeing the revival of the fittest?  First there was the Ford Transit Connect announcement, and now General Motors is back with news that their 2011 model year lineup will include full-sized vans that run on CNG and LPG.  The New York Times story shows the potential benefits of fleets using alternative fuels by citing an AT&T business case analysis.  Based on benefits from the telecommunication giant converting 15,000 vehicles to CNG and hybrids, the carbon dioxide savings if half of U.S. corporate fleets did the same, would be the equivalent of taking 1.2 million vehicles off of the road.  Here!  Here! 

AT&T joined seven others as recipients of AFVi’s annual awards, announced at our May conference.  Details of the award-worthy are outlined by Fleet Owner.  The grand prize went to the frolicsome Paul Kerkhoven of NGV America who took home the Lifetime Achievement award for advancing natural gas on Capitol Hill and beyond.  Others are attempting the same but through different channels and Wired focuses on a “saucy new video” that received more than 4,000 hits in the first 36 hours.  Who would have thought “saucy” and “natural gas” would ever appear in the same story but to see the alt fuels ditty with more double entendres than the Betty White SNL Muffin Sketch, devote a few minutes to “Natural Gas:  How Do You Like to Get It?”

President Obama is being heralded by some for announcing yesterday that the time has come to aggressively accelerate the transition to a clean energy future.  The speech, suggests the Washington Independent, finally turned public angst over BP and the Gulf oil spill to the administration’s advantage in pushing for comprehensive climate legislation.  With random talk of nuclear explosive devices, giant sheers and top hats to manage the spill, one wonders who is driving the ship?  Not that more evidence is needed that it isn’t BP, but the group Public Employees for Environmental Protection dissected the oil giant’s 600 page plan and Grist isn’t too impressed.  Its official, the Emperor has no clothes as they reveal a plan that addresses everything from concerns about Arctic wildlife to listing one of their key equipment suppliers as the Japanese home shopping site.  So what’s BP to do?  When you’ve got a gusher of a credibility problem, The Detroit Bureau thinks a name change is in order and here’s where you come in.  If you have ideas for how to move BP beyond petroleum, your “oil-mail” is invited.  The grand prize?  A can of anchovies, packed in oil, of course.

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Jun 01

Energy vs. Environment

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Waking up to the reality that June is already here is just one example of how time flies.  Another is the reality that this is day 43 of the Gulf oil spill, and the relentless headlines are hard to shake.  An ASPO-USA story uses a familiar argument that alternative fuels and advanced vehicle technologies will take a very long time to displace any meaningful quantities of oil.  The author makes compelling points about unintended consequences of stopping offshore drilling like prolonging our dependence on foreign oil and leading us to environmentally horrific energy sources like tar sands and coal-to-liquid production.  It is interesting reading and I am struck again by the peak oil crowd tendency to posit energy supply against environmental protection.

There are countless recent examples of government and industry opting to displace oil and protect the environment.  General Motors is back in the natural gas market; Chesapeake Energy is converting 1000 trucks in their corporate fleet to natural gas; Toyota’s Hino Motors is bringing hybrid electric vehicles to the U.S.; and Portland, Oregon is the launch market for battery electric eStar trucks built by Navistar-Modec EV Alliance.  The combined energy and air quality benefits of each of those moves is staggering and those are just a few of the examples that the subscription publication Fleets & Fuels focuses on in their latest issue.  The Raleigh News and Observer cites yet another positive by drawing attention, in light of the Deepwater Horizon rig disaster, to the new federal initiative to develop fuel efficiency standards for trucks and busses.  Even though only 4% of vehicles on U.S. roads are large trucks, they consume 20% of fuel supply.  And now, for another country heard from, is it really possible that Canada will have 145,000 trucks and 2.4 million light-duty vehicles fueled by natural gas by 2025?  Oilweek showcases natural gas producer Encana which says the supply, cost benefit and emissions reductions make it a winning fuel.

Electric vehicles (EV) stand to become even bigger winners if two new bills in Congress are passed.  Senator Byron Dorgan tells NACS Online that his effort to pour $10 billion into 15 cities for EV readiness could mean more than 700,000 of the vehicles on U.S. roads in the next few years.  Eric Loveday is Autoblog Green’s EV killjoy when it comes to China.  There’s that little niggling problem of how your electricity is generated and Argonne National Lab tsk tsks the China strategy to rely on coal.  Speaking of killjoys, there’s no shortage of analysts saying EV market penetration will continue to be meaninglessly itsy bitsy for decades to come.  I prefer to rely on EV World editor Bill Moore’s refreshing refutation of a widely publicized Deloitte study that says EVs will advance at the same rate as washing machines did in the 20th century.  Really?  80 years to reach 80% of households?  So much of this forecasting seems like pulling back the curtain to discover the Wizard of Oz but I side with Bill who suggests that EV growth is much more comparable to electronics vs. the wringer washer.

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May 26

Murky Clarity

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I talked to someone the other day about my “Lava Lamp Theory of Life,” and he actually got it.  Picture the rise, fall, morphing, shape-shifting of random blobs of wax (aka lava) and it speaks of life and the electric vehicle (EV) market.  The heat is on.  Who will be in, or out, or reformatted is definitely up for discussion.  Nissan’s all atwitter over having “sold-out” of the electric Leaf for 2010.  The Detroit News reports that they are taking no more pre-orders and they’ll find out in August how many customers plop down their $25k, or alternatively, ask for their $100 deposit refund.  Santa Monica based EV manufacturer CODA is expanding and Bloomberg reports that they are opening a battery factory in Ohio to hedge against the possible rise of the Chinese yuan.  China’s automotive ascension in the U.S. is ubiquitous and Autoblog Green raises interesting questions about BYD’s confusing sales plans.  Having announced a US headquarters in Los Angeles recently, the manufacturer is back pedaling on production saying now they will focus on government fleet sales for 2010.  The $24 million question is, will the U.S. government buy Chinese cars?

The ink has barely dried on the White House announcement regarding new fuel rules for heavy trucks and the naysayers have begun their propaganda campaigns.  The Los Angeles Times rails against the Institute for Energy Research, fossil fuel funded, think lite tank, as they set out to convince truckers that decreasing pollutants, foreign oil reliance and health and gasoline costs are bad, bad, bad.  But just to our north Today’s Trucking showcases Robert Transport, which is calling on the Canadian government to get with the U.S. program of credits and incentives that accelerate the natural gas market for trucking.  They love us, they really do, and they think American carriers could see a huge economic gain because of U.S. policies that will leave their Canadian brethren in the dust.   And who doesn’t love natural gas?  Apparently I do as my friends at NGVs Now proved yesterday as they gave me my 15 minutes (really 2:14) of fame on the home page of their website.  Thank you NGVs Now.

It’s hard not to have a looming dread regarding the Gulf of Mexico disaster.  The Autoextremist says the only good thing that has come from it is this may allow us to finally remove the “alternative” from alternative fuels.  Peak Oil scholar Richard Heinberg of the Post Carbon Institute echoes that sentiment suggesting this is what the end of oil looks like.  We can clearly see that what we put in our gas tanks is about lives, declining health, compromised biological systems, and a failed foreign policy that spawns wars and occupations.  He cites a Gulf old-timer who said, “There’s fast, there’s cheap, and there’s right, and you get to pick two.”   Perhaps there is clarity in those murky waters after all.

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May 24

Alt Fuels Blossoming

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Today’s theme is “you miss two weeks, you miss a lot!”  Uncontrollable oozing oil from a faux contrite BP aside, exciting developments abound.  The Energy Collective kicks it off with last Friday’s announcement from President Obama that EPA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration get to develop the next round of GHG and fuel economy standards for cars and light trucks to cover 2017-2025.  Even juicier is the direction for those agencies to work with California to develop similar standards for heavy trucks.  The President specifically called out “California and other states” as partners in these ambitious initiatives. 

“What a bunch of wack jobs we Californians are,” caught my attention in a Sacramento Bee editorial.  The editor, Dan Morain, could have been talking about the looney toons oil companies concocting email scandals as reported by Business Week.  Big oil cries foul over the Schwarzenegger administration using government email to educate voters about the repeal attempts of AB 32.  Mon dieu!  How dare they?  Instead, the good editor makes a beautiful comparison between the derring-do of true believers 20-plus years ago who took on big tobacco in favor of clean air and the right to breathe, and defenders of AB 32.  New day.  Old script.  Oil lobbyists, just like their tobacco brethren in the 80’s, say Sacramento’s crazy ideas will cost jobs.  Dan Morain reports that $86 billion in health care costs have been cut since the passage of the anti-tobacco proposition.  Crazy. 

Love is in the air and the May courtship of Toyota and Tesla has Forbes offering opinions about how the partnership came to be.  Is Toyota in search of a return to cool?  Did Tesla realize it needs to be more than a niche manufacturer?  Whatever the motivation, the two will work together in producing electric vehicles (EV).  Toyota hasn’t been leading the EV pack and for that matter, neither has Honda.  In the latters case, The American says Honda has been seriously working on EVs since 1988 but the chief of research and development can’t wholeheartedly recommend them.  While battery issues are being worked out, Honda is betting on gas-electric hybrids, gasoline engine efficiency, and, of course fuel cells.

Clean Energy Fuels and the natural gas industry as a whole should be feeling a bit giddy, too.  From Green Chip Stocks to the Motley Fool, investors can’t stop talking about the potential for natural gas to fuel transportation.  Last Wednesday, an extension of the Energy Policy Act was introduced in Congress and in addition to extending NGV tax credits for ten years, it would increase credits to fleet owners, make bi-fuel vehicles credit eligible, and create natural gas bonds to promote government purchase of the vehicles.  That’s all on top of the many benefits in the NAT GAS Act which is running through Congress.  Senator Kerry said when you see him and Boone Pickens trying to pass something you know it is a genuine attempt to bridge the old divides. Two weeks ago at the AF&V Conference, Boone said, “When was the best day to plant a tree?  20 years ago.  The next best day is today.”  The octogenarian was talking about fueling infrastructure, but he could just as well have been addressing political cooperation.

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Apr 27

Debunking Debunkers

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I learned from Wikipedia that Van Wyck Brooks who I had never heard of before today, was an “American critic.”  What a sweet title but even better is a comment he made in 1915.  He said, “Issues which really make the life of a society do not spring spontaneously out of the mass.  They exist in it-a thousand potential currents and cross-currents; but they have to be discovered like principles of science, they have almost to be created like works of art.” What I like about that is the ability to view the many splendid happenings in the alternative fuels industry through the lens of building those currents and cross-currents leading to the new norm in transportation.  Take for instance the tried and true natural gas fueled Honda Civic GX.  It has made strides by growing strategically, and Green Car Reports says Oklahoma is about to become their fourth retail market.  Just like natural gas infrastructure hecklers, the electric vehicle (EV) market has had to duke it out with those who say no can do without the infrastructure.  Think CEO Richard Canny isn’t taking it anymore and he set out in EV World to debunk the debunkers.  While some are busy concocting myths, the Detroit News points to others who are building new vehicle kingdoms. Look no further than Japan where Better Place begins a 90-day battery-switching equipment pilot with Tokyo’s largest taxi fleet.  Then you have the Automotive X Prizers, all 28 of whom made their way to Michigan over the weekend for the “Shakedown Stage” of the competition to see who can ultimately share in the $10 million prize purse.  Thanks to a heads-up from Autoblog Green, anyone in the vicinity of Lansing is invited to see the vehicles on display this Thursday.

I can relate to E.B. White of Charlotte’s Web fame who said, “I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.”  I guess I’m leading toward “improve” as talk of Valero Oil and California’s landmark AB 32 legislation musters my inner agitato.  The NRDC’s Annie Notthoff knocks the oil industry around a bit and points out that no one is buying that a Texas oil company is worried about the economic impact of California jobs.  No way, their worry stems from the economic impact successful regulation will have on Texas oil profits, and that’s why they are pouring so much money into delaying the implementation of it.  The really scary thing is that a super smart California person I know says if this thing makes it to the ballot, there’s no turning back.  The signature collection deadline is July 17.  You would think that when it comes to enjoying the world, surely environmental groups are singing from the same song book.  Not so says the Herald Tribune.  In fact, since economics, resource allocation and ethical considerations are more intertwined, would be mission friendly groups are increasingly finding themselves at odds with each other. 

Quirky, weird and exuberant come to mind when I allow thoughts of the Blue Man Group in my head.  They’ve quintessentially created a work of YouTube art with a short, impactful climate change cross-current that includes an invitation to “locate the planet’s emergency exits.”  Oops, there aren’t any, but they do prove that it is possible to “improve” and “enjoy” at the same time.

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Apr 22

Green Day

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April 22, today, is the 40th anniversary of Earth Day and it is hard to miss it with a cacophony of messaging wherever you look.  Is it a Hallmark moment or a serious landmark?  It depends who is talking.  Environmentalists are using the day to pressure legislators on Capitol Hill in anticipation of a landmark energy and climate change bill next week.  Roll Call says to look for the momentum to continue through the weekend with Sting headlining a rally on the National Mall in D.C.  The New York Times is using the anniversary to announce an expanded shift in their coverage of all things green.  Their Green Inc. blog gets bigger and better as they expand to cover all aspects of environmental science, policy and politics.

At least one person has had it up to here with the vapid blather of green virtuosity.  Sharon Astyk writes in Energy Bulletin that the spew of greenwashing is a puerile distraction.  Could it really matter that nude Eddie is walking across the Alaskan wilderness today to raise awareness of caribou migration?  Or, is Disney helping the planet by offering you a hat made from recycled bottles when you bring 6 soda cans into one of their stores?  Astyk argues that the greening of consumption is not a meaningful response to the many challenges facing the environment.  That said, if you are in a consumptive mood, Ethiopian Review has some opportunities for you.  If you want a shot at winning a Smart Fortwo, Safeway is calling.  If the 2010 Ford Fusion hybrid is more your style, look no further than Target’s Drive Home Green contest.  There’s a reason these companies are luring customers with fuel efficient vehicle promotions. Green Car Reports cites research conducted for Capital One Auto Finance concluding that 53% of those surveyed will buy a more fuel efficient vehicle the next time they are in the market, and 54% believe they will own one in their lifetime.  Here, here!

It is hard not to be tantalized by so many aspects of the Iceland volcanic eruption.  I learned new words like “volcanologist” and “Eyjafjallajokull.”  No one will speak it but everyone comments on it, like MSNBC’s Savannah Guthrie who said, “It’s like you took the alphabet, threw it up in the air and let the letters land where they were.”  The gravity of the situation is what Tom Whipple focuses on in the Falls Church News-Press.  His entire analysis is worth your time.  The last time Eyjafjallajokull erupted was 1821-1823 and it continued for one year.  Sixty years later a nearby one called Laki erupted for 8 months causing environmental havoc and killing 30,000 people.  He concludes that while we have a mastery over identifying fossil fuel induced troubles like wars, nationalism and the impacts of global oil decline, we are clue free about our many vulnerabilities to forces of nature.  Finding a clue may be the only answer to what NASA climatologist James Hansen calls “the predominant moral issue of the century.”

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Apr 20

Follow The Money

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Today is the day that 115,000 people who raised their enthusiastic hands and reserved a Nissan Leaf, will get an email to spend $99 and get on the official “to buy” list.  The Inside Line is that the coveted missive will land in your Inbox between 1-6 p.m.  Truckstop operators are signing on to a different kind of list.  The National Biodiesel Board real-time counter says it was 108 days ago that the $1/gallon biodiesel tax credit expired.  How does that translate in terms of production decline?  It is down a whopping 80% since the expiration.  Autoblog Green showcases the National Association of Truckstop Operators as part of a groundswell of biodiesel supporters wanting the credit reinstated now.  While petitions are being signed, a Senior Adviser to Energy Secretary Chu is out and about saying that renewable fuels are in part responsible for a positive shift in a reduction in gas demand.  Matt Rogers spoke up, according to DC Streets Blog, saying peak oil hit in 2007 but he thinks CAFÉ and increased electrification are other factors driving a new order.

Oh, California.  Oil companies are at it again and this time they are pumping katrillions of dollars in an effort to give AB32, the global warming solutions act that was passed in 2006, the pink slip.  The issue is that oil companies want to delay the enforcement of the law until the cows come home, I mean until the economy is better.  $150 million is what the Los Angeles Times says will be spent, if the measure gets on the November ballot, as the nation watches Big Oil vs. Silicon Valley.  But how does one cut through the ideological haze surrounding climate change?  The Climate Desk has a compelling answer-follow the money.  The world of industry and commerce is a “reality-based community” because it exists to make money.  When supply chains are crippled by drought or floods, CEOs aren’t debating whether or not a climate hoax is responsible for their dwindling bottom line.  That’s why Wall Street analysts produced more than 200 reports last year assessing risks and opportunities from climate change, one of which argued that it will shake up industry the way mobile phones changed communications.  You’ll have to read the story to find out how one business boosted their revenues by more than half a million dollars thanks to the melting arctic.

The 40th anniversary of Earth Day is Thursday, and what better time to release a new book called Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet?  Bill McKibben is the author of the spell check challenged “Eaarth” and Salon applauds the writing as both harrowing and hopeful.  Money continues to play a starring role in this piece, too. He writes, “Think about the incredible regard we have for the economy. ‘It’s healing,’ we say. ‘It’s going through a rough patch.’ We talk about it like it’s our aging mother. Whereas with the Earth, we say, ‘Oh well, it’s going through its natural cycles, don’t worry.’”  It begs the question, how did we get to a point where we view nature as a subset of the economy rather than the other way around?  I know!  I know!  Money.

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Apr 15

Dot Connecting

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Automotive marketing people take note.  The Department of Energy (DOE) issued their guidance yesterday in response to President Obama’s Executive Order to federal fleets to reduce petroleum consumption.  The guidance includes the purchase of alternative fuel vehicles, and electric as well as plug-in hybrid electric are all part of the mix.  For the truly bored among you, R&D Magazine presents you with the opportunity to read the entire Federal Fleet Management Guidance.  Bill Ford offered some guidance of his own to the DOE yesterday by including federal funding for battery research on his list of the five forces that will shape the green automotive industry.  The Earth2Tech list includes the smart notion that the automaker needs to see beyond one car in every garage to emerging mobility options like car-sharing. 

The business case for alternative fuels is soaring because so are oil prices.  The International Energy Agency forecasts an all time high demand this year with an upward revision of 100,000 barrels a day.  The Times Online cites a 20% leap in demand in China.  One of Bill Ford’s five things to shape the automotive future is that China is already in the U.S. and they will make a dent in the U.S. market.  Tom Whipple’s Falls Church News-Press column correlates close to $3 a gallon U.S. gas prices with the drought in the southwestern part of China.  How are they all connected?  In addition to escalating Chinese oil imports, the country has had an unprecedented growth in auto sales, with 1.73 million units in March alone.  If the drought continues, there will be even further hydro power shortages creating demand for more oil imports and world prices continue to rise. 

So, China, India and the U.S. all have very big straws in the finite oil reserve cup and there is no sign of waning demand.  Hello energy insecurity and T. Boone Pickens was dispensing some advice about dependence on imported oil to the House Ways and Means Committee yesterday in a hearing on energy tax policy.  Natural gas as “American fuel” is music to his ears and so is his favorite legislation, the NatGasAct. The Hill reports that part of the octogenarian’s advocacy included the need for credits for fueling infrastructure.  Critics like to squash the fuel citing a lack of infrastructure and not surprisingly, Boone has something to say about that.  “If Henry Ford had decided not to build the Model T based upon the availability of gas stations, where would we be today?”  Indeed.

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Apr 13

Back to the Future

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In 1903, Henry Ford’s personal banker opined, “The automobile is just a fad.  The horse and buggy is here to stay.”  10,000 fadistas, aka auto engineers, descend on Detroit today for the opening of the SAE World Congress.  Adding music to Detroit’s ears is a Center for Automotive Research market growth projection of 100,000 industry jobs annually over the next three years.  The Detroit News says it starts today as dozens of automakers set out to pluck new hires from the Cobo Center gathering. 

Fast Company and everyone else is out with the news that General Motors has now doubled the size of its “swanky” auto battery lab making it the biggest and most advanced in the U.S.  What does this mean?  A serious effort to speed the development of batteries means they are committed to electric and to getting their extended range EVs to market in bigger numbers as soon as possible.  They aren’t alone, either.  Dealing with the charging side of things is Better Place and they are about to make their battery swapping scheme a reality in Tokyo.  The Auto Guide headline shouts “The future is nearly here!” and they mean it.  In May of this year their first station will be on line to service Tokyo’s largest taxi firm.  “Who will buy these things?” some realists are asking.  One of them is Chrstine Hertzon writing in Energy Collective.  She’s effusive enough about her EV love but she warns that a lack of consumer education is the missing link.

The future arrived at Stanford recently where engineering students were treated to an event designed to inspire and educate them about the automobiles of tomorrow.  I really liked the guy featured in The City Fix who said OEM competition like we are seeing today has not been known since the 1910’s.  The great book Nine Shift documents what happened 100 years ago when the automobile replaced the horse and buggy.  In 1903, 57 companies began making automobiles and 27 others went out of business.  At one point, 2200 companies made cars.  In 1920 there were 80, in 1940 there were 40, and by 1970 we all knew what “the big 3” meant.  Picking winners requires a much bigger crystal ball than I have but those that don’t change, won’t be contenders.  Or, as philosopher Eric Hoffer said, “In times of change, the learner will inherit the earth while the learned are beautifully equipped for a world that no longer exists.”

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Apr 08

Uniting Spider Webs

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Smart colleagues are a wonderful thing and thanks to the efforts of AFVi’s Jackie Lanning, Trucking Info has picked up the news that within the next three years, half of the leading U.S. fleets will purchase alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs).  Jackie concludes that of the 135 companies surveyed, larger companies and those that already have some AFVs, are the most likely targets.  Expanding the marketplace of vehicles available for purchase are CleanFuel USA and Roush.  The leading producers of propane-injection systems have just gotten EPA approval for light-and medium-duty Ford and GM vehicles.  The AutoBlog Green overview suggests the emissions benefits are significant compared to gasoline and diesel engines.  Green Car Congress gets in the good news game this morning, too, by reporting that lucky duck Ryder was asked to dance yesterday with the San Bernardino Association of Governments, resulting in a groundbreaking natural gas (NG) truck rental and leasing project in Southern California.  The belle of the ball gets $19 million of state and federal money to purchase more than 200 NG trucks.

Listen up Congress.  The time is upon you to extend the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit and Domestic Fuel has compelling reasons why.  A new report by Urbanchuk reports that 25 states, and not just those in the farm belt, stand to lose 38% in production (bye bye RFS targets) and a whopping 112,000 jobs nationwide if the credit isn’t extended by the end of the year.  Job creation is what Cobalt Technologies is crowing about.  Horrified by the tens of millions of acres hit by beetle-killed trees in lodgepole pine forests, the California company has found a way to make lemonade, or rather biobutanol.  Gas 2.0 reports a breakthrough in converting the trees to low-carbon fuels and chemicals.

If you haven’t made summer vacation plans you may want to book a trip to Montana before the glaciers melt.  The alarming news from Red Orbit is that two glaciers have been lost to climate change and the US Geological Survey warns that by the end of the decade, all 25 of the named glaciers could be gone.  Will the new name be “Not Glacier National Park?”  Not to sound like negative Nellie, let us now turn to news from UC-San Diego that cooperative behavior is contagious and individuals can make a difference in influencing social networks.  Teaming up with Harvard, there is now laboratory evidence that social networks and goodness are connected.  The finding reported in the National Academy of Sciences does not correlate the power of goodness with reversing the melting of ice formations, but who knows?  I subscribe to the Ethiopian Proverb, “When spider webs unite they can tie up a lion.”

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Apr 06

Tootsie Roll Energy Policy

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 The United States of California has spoken through a new fuel economy rule issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Transportation (DOT) that spells out standards for cars and light trucks beginning in 2012.  California started it through regulations more stringent than the feds, because they could. Now the blogosphere is definitively screaming that it’s going to costs billions, er millions, er nada.  Which is it?  Autoblog Green looks at the range of claims from $985 to $51.5 billion and declines the pity party invitation.  The costs just aren’t that bad but the American Petroleum Institute (API) is hopping mad and so is Energy Bulletin’s Dave Cohen who invites API to join him on a peak oil reality check.  Oil production has declined since 1970.  At the end of last week the U.S. was consuming 19.2 million barrels of crude per day (MORE THAN ANY OTHER COUNTRY ON EARTH!).  API’s chicken little moment is over what they see as disastrous clean air act regulations.  Mr. Cohen argues, don’t even look at that then, but do wake up and smell the coffee.  Oil is finite.

Sustainable Business doesn’t disagree but does challenge the notion that the internal combustion engine is on life support.  Joel Makower’s contention is that fuel efficiency solutions like efficient tires, advanced carbon fiber materials and turbo-charging will already make 2016 model year vehicles 34% more efficient than last year’s models.  But he does caution that if our focus is just on techno-fixes vs. the bigger picture, we’ll be driving in the wrong direction.  The fuel efficiency panacea for medium- and heavy-duty trucks is what the National Research Council is clinging to as they release results of a new study commissioned by NHTSA.  Congress, in 2007, required the DOT to establish fuel economy standards for heavier vehicles. Truck News shares the findings which basically says the payback, even at today’s energy prices, works when among other things, adopting aerodynamics and hybrid powertrain solutions.

Terry Tamminen, former head of California EPA, has had a powerful role in shaping transportation and clean air policies in the Golden State.  He’s enjoyed a lot of influence globally and now he would like President Obama to hear him out.  It begins with a battle between tootsie rolls and asparagus, and Mr. Tamminen is convinced that the Administration’s nod to oil drilling off of the coasts will make the tootsie roll the victor.  It’s a weight loss analogy and his CNBC opinion piece suggests that diversifying the U.S. energy portfolio, absent a real strategy that recognizes oil as a dwindling resource, will foster unmeasured consumption.  His alternative is simple.  Power 75% of our vehicles with inexhaustible clean domestic energy sources by 2025 and do the same with electricity generation.  By doing so, all energy sources compete but there’s a cost-benefit measurement as part of the formula.  That sure beats a tootsie roll energy policy.

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