NEXT100

Battery Plan Could Boost Electric Cars - Study

Leonard Anderson — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 15:21:59 -0800

By: Leonard Anderson

Sales of electric cars could capture 64 percent of light vehicle sales and make up 24 percent of the U.S. light vehicle fleet by 2030 if consumers could lease the batteries, according to a University of California-Berkeley study released on Monday.

UC economist Thomas Becker, who authored the study, said electric vehicles will increase under pay-per-mile service contracts similar to cell-phone minutes. Electric car companies such as Better Place would own the batteries and operate charging stations where owners could get a boost or swap out batteries. The total cost of ownership of these vehicles is expected to be 10 cents to 13 cents per mile below gasoline-powered cars, depending on the price of oil, according to the study.

Overall, the study found that electric cars with separate battery ownership are not only more affordable than gasoline-powered cars, but that incorporating their financing into a service contract will overcome the range limitations of fixed-battery electric vehicles.

"These vehicles make eliminating the U.S. dependence on foreign oil an achievable goal. Transitioning to electric cars will also create jobs, lower health care costs, and significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions," Becker said.

Better Place is aiming to set up an electric-car infrastructure network in the San Francisco Bay Area, other U.S. cities and overseas. The company is also working with Renault-Nissan to launch electric cars with switchable batteries.

Climate Changes

Jonathan Marshall — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 11:34:38 -0800

By: Jonathan Marshall

Several recent stories on the science and politics of global warming caught our attention this week:

Science and politics are often at odds because scientists and the public have widely divergent views, a new survey suggests. A Pew Research Center survey finds that unlike scientists, who mostly agree that human activity contributes to climate change, only half of the public agrees. (And 11 percent don't believe any warming has even taken place.) Nearly every scientist agrees that humans evolved through natural processes, but nearly a third of Americans believe people existed from the beginning of time. Not surprisingly, 85 percent of scientists polled said they believe public ignorance is a major problem.

New data from NASA earth-orbiting satellites show dramatic thinning of winter Arctic ice from 2004 to 2008, according to results published in Journal of Geophysical Research-Oceans. Over just four years, the average thickness dropped 2.2 feet. Thinner winter ice in turn means more open ocean during summer months and more absorption of solar energy, creating feedback effects. New estimates suggest that the amount of carbon frozen in arctic tundras that could potentially be released as warming continues is double the amount contained in the atmosphere.

The timetable for Senate action on climate change legislation got pushed back this week. California's Barbara Boxer, who chairs the Senate environment and public works committee, said a draft bill won't be ready until September, and there are no guarantees that legislation will pass by December, when President Obama will attend an international summit in Copenhagen.

International cooperation on climate change will be a challenge. A group of developing nations attending a G-8 meeting in Italy, including China and India, made it clear that they would not take a leadership role in combatting global warming. Unfortunately, some analysts say the U.S. Senate will balk at tough action unless they see evidence that developing countries will act in concert.

Chances of Senate passage are jeopardized by doubts expressed by more than a dozen Senate Democrats who fear the impact of climate change legislation on farmers, coal producers, utilities and manufacturers. On the Republican side, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, a possible 2012 presidential candidate, said at the first Senate hearing, "It is hard to believe that at a time when growing our economy is our No. 1 priority, Congress is considering a bill that would reduce economic growth."

The Green Seen

Leonard Anderson — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 07:47:18 -0800

By: Leonard Anderson

Several items relating to the business and technology of clean energy caught our attention this week:

San Francisco, the city that outlawed plastic bags in supermarkets and ordered composting and recycling, now is preparing nutrition guidelines for its 809,000 residents to eat more healthy food. Mayor Gavin Newsom wants the city to grow fruits and vegetables on unused city-owned land and direct food vendors under city contracts to supply healthy and sustainable food. "We have an eating and drinking problem in the United States of America," Newsom said. "It's impacting our health, and it's impacting our economy."
Santa Monica is moving toward hiding solar panels on condominiums. A pending city ordinance says "aesthetic aspects" should be considered when designing solar systems and solar panels should be put in a location "least visible from the street" providing energy performance isn't weakened too much or system costs don't increase sharply. The ordinance won't affect single-family homes.
Bundanoon, a small Australian town 93 miles southwest of Sydney, has voted to ban bottled water to reduce its carbon footprint from bottling and transporting it. Bundanoon shops will replace single-use bottles with reusable bottles that can be filled from fountains and taps. Bundanoon's voluntary ban on bottled water, believed to be the first in Australia, has prompted the government of New South Wales, the nation's most populous state, to consider ways to cut down on bottled water. The state's premier this week banned government departments and agencies from buying bottled water.

Clean and Green: The Sensible Choice

Jonathan Marshall — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:43:10 -0800

By: Jonathan Marshall

Sometimes I think you have to be rich to live green.

That's how I feel every time I check out the organic produce or the divinely virgin olive oil at the Ferry Building in San Francisco. That's how I felt when I admired a cute one-seat electric commuter car at the Marin County fair last week--only to discover that it cost $120,000. The maker assured me they sell as fast as he can produce them.

So I was happy to learn today that that many of the greenest cars on the market--high-mileage hybrids and clean diesels--actually save you money over time relative to their gasoline-powered cousins.

Intellichoice.com just released an analysis of 51 different 2009 model year clean cars and their five-year (or 70,000 mile) ownership costs, based on factors such as depreciation, maintenance, repair and fuel costs. The bottom line: "34 have a lower overall Cost of Ownership compared to traditional or gasoline-only vehicles" in the same class.

Even if you ignore the tax break for hybrid vehicles, which gives them an artificial advantage, 23 of the hybrids and clean diesels beat their traditional competition for value.

Lower fuel costs were part of the reason--and a factor that will grow as gasoline prices keep inching back up. If gasoline hits $4 a gallon again, 41 of the clean vehicles in the survey would look like winners.

Also significant is the superior ability of many green vehicles to hold their value. The Toyota Prius and diesel Volkswagon Jetta TDI are champions in this regard. Both retain more than 70 percent of their initial value over five years, well above their closest counterparts (Camry and Jetta SE).

If Intellichoice.com's numbers are correct, you want to think twice before buying a new Lexus LS 600h L, GMC Yukon Hybrid, Chrysler Aspen Hybrid 4WD or Cadillac Escalade Hybrid 2WD--they'll burn through your pocket.

On the other hand, you'll enjoy thousands of dollars of savings with the Prius, Jetta TDI, Saturn Aura Green, Ford Escape Hybrid FWD, Chevy Silverado 1500 Crew Cab Hybrid and Mercedes-Benz GL320 BlueTEC (a diesel).

But don't forget--you'll save even more, and live even greener, by walking, riding your bicycle or taking the bus. You might even save enough to afford an organic peach now and then.

PG&E Selects Supplier for PV Pilot Project

Jonathan Marshall — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 08:58:34 -0800

By: Jonathan Marshall

PG&E continues to make significant progress on its 2 megawatt solar photovoltaic (PV) pilot project, first announced here in March. PG&E has selected Solon Corporation, a subsidiary of Germany's Solon SE, as the turnkey supplier to build the facility--named Vaca-Dixon Solar Station--next to PG&E's Vaca-Dixon substation in Vacaville, CA. Solon was one of the six suppliers invited to bid out of 168 suppliers who responded to PG&E's request for information.

The pilot represents the utility's first step in implementing its plan to promote 500 MW of new PV power over five years--250 MW to be built by the utility and 250 MW by independent developers. (The plan, proposed in February, is under consideration by the California Public Utilities Commission.)

PG&E will use the pilot project to help develop its processes for building and operating PV facilities while it seeks regulatory approval for the full 500 MW proposal. If approved and completed, that mega-PV program could meet more than 1.3 percent of PG&E's electric demand and deliver as much power as consumed by 150,000 average homes.

The Vaca-Dixon Solar Station will use Solon's polycrystalline modules, on ground mounts with a fixed tilt. Solon will sub-contract with Silverwood Energy, Inc., a California disabled veteran business enterprise, to build and commission the facility by the end of December, 2009.

Solon, which has the interesting corporate tag line, "Don't leave the planet to the stupid,"
is one of the largest solar module manufacturers in Europe and a major supplier of photovoltaic systems for large-scale solar power plants. Since 2005, Solon has constructed solar power plants with a total solar power output of over 130 MW in Spain, Germany, Australia and the United States. Solon's PV module manufacturing facility is located in Tucson, AZ, with an annual production capacity of 120 MW.

Hot Foot

Jonathan Marshall — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 17:29:43 -0800

By: Jonathan Marshall

Global Warming meets Big Foot: sounds like one of those Japanese monster movies from the '60s.

A team of biologists, led by Jeff Lozier of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has tried to guess the outcome of that thriller, using the technique of ecological niche modeling. The controversial technique combines environmental and species location data to extrapolate past and future habitation trends.

In the case of Big Foot, a/k/a sasquatch, the hairy creature said to inhabit forests of California and the Pacific Northwest, global warming will likely prompt the oft-sited but camera-shy ape to head for the hills in search of cooler climes.

The good news is that if Big Foots (Feet?) exist, they should find plenty of suitable habitat in the Rocky Mountains and Canada, the scientists report in the Journal of Biogeography.

Alternatively--and our theory hasn't yet been peer reviewed--if it gets hot enough, Big Foot might lose his hair and blend in with the rest of us homo sapiens. Next time you're camping in the Trinity Alps, keep your eyes out for some odd looking folks who might fit the bill.

King of the Wind

Jonathan Marshall — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 17:12:04 -0800

By: Jonathan Marshall

He (or she) who has the most money, wins.

In the race for bragging rights to the biggest wind farms, as I noted here recently, the Chinese have taken the lead with talk in Gansu Province of plans to develop a single project with 20 gigawatts of capacity by 2020. The project's total capacity, when the wind is blowing, could exceed that of the nearby Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest hydropower station.

The price tag for all that: nearly $20 billion.

In contrast, the closest American competitor, maverick Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens, is now reportedly scaling back plans, announced last year, to build a 1 GW wind farm in West Texas, which he said hoped to expand to 4 GW by 2014. Instead, he may try to build out three or four smaller sites.

Pickens blames falling natural gas prices (which make wind energy less competitive) and the unavailability of transmission for his decision. But the fact that the value of his hedge funds crashed from $4 billion last year to $1.5 billion today may have something to do with the relative modesty of his current ambitions.

Is Biochar the Solution?

Jonathan Marshall — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:01:27 -0800

By: Jonathan Marshall

Vanished civilizations that cultivated the Amazon jungle long before the arrival of European explorers may hold a key to slowing or even reversing the onset of global warming.

Archeologists who once believed the Amazon basin, with its notoriously unproductive soil, was only thinly populated by Stone Age tribes now have abundant evidence that it was extensively inhabited and farmed many hundreds of years ago. Evidence of this pre-Columbian civilization was literally buried under jungle that encroached when European diseases wiped out the indigenous population.

The fertility secret that made these early urban cultures viable was a potent soil called terra preta, or dark earth. Recent scientific studies show the soil was man-made, not natural, formed by mixing earth with plant material that was allowed to smoulder without fully burning.

Today biochar is made by heating biomass in kilns without oxygen. Instead of burning, this process of pryolysis creates energy-rich syngas, liquid bio-oil and fine-grained, porous biochar.

Biochar doesn't directly provide nutrients, but it improves crop yields by reducing soil acidity, fostering the growth of favorable microorganisms and improving water quality, among other factors.

The relevance of terra preta today goes beyond its promise for helping farmers in the developing world. The very act of converting biomass into biochar and burying it in the earth may be one of the most effective ways to suck carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and prevent it from contributing to runaway greenhouse warming.

Radio-carbon dating of Amazon soils shows that biochar can store carbon in the earth for hundreds or even thousands of years. Johannes Lehmann, a Cornell University biogeochemist and leading expert on biochar, said,

By sequestering huge amounts of carbon, this technique constitutes a much longer and significant sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide than most other sequestration options, making it a powerful tool for long-term mitigation of climate change. In fact we have calculated that up to 12 percent of the carbon emissions produced by human activity could be offset annually if slash-and-burn were replaced by slash-and-char.

Tim Lenton, a climate scientist at the University of East Anglia, compared all major geoengineering proposals for mitigating global warming and rated biochar production as one of the most promising. Other biochar enthusiasts include NASA earth scientist James Hansen, whose prescient warnings in 1988 launched much of the research and subsequent activism on global warming, and James Lovelock, famed originator of the Gaia hypothesis of Earth as a self-regulating environment.

Lovelock, who turns 90 this month, told New Scientist earlier this year that biochar could be humanity's salvation:

There is one way we could save ourselves and that is through the massive burial of charcoal. It would mean farmers turning all their agricultural waste - which contains carbon that the plants have spent the summer sequestering - into non-biodegradable charcoal, and burying it in the soil. Then you can start shifting really hefty quantities of carbon out of the system and pull the CO2 down quite fast. . . . This scheme would need no subsidy: the farmer would make a profit. This is the one thing we can do that will make a difference, but I bet they won't do it.

Despite his pessimism, biochar enthusiasts have made headway with the United Nations and even with Congress: The 2008 Farm Bill established the first national policy in support of biochar production and utilization in the world. And several companies, including Carbonscape and Carbon Diversion, Inc. are attempting to bring the technology of biochar carbon sequestration to market.

Biochar may of course prove too good to be true. But if you like to garden and want to attempt a little geoengineering in your yard, check out this FAQ. The earth may thank you for it.

Climate Changes

Jonathan Marshall — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 11:00:36 -0800

By: Jonathan Marshall

Several news stories on the science and politics of global warming caught our attention last week:

Big chunks of the state of Louisiana are destined to sink underwater as land subsides and sea levels rise, according to a new study co-authored by a scientist at Exxon. Human causes include not only global warming but thousands of dams and levees that block sediment deposits from the Mississippi that used to build up low-lying lands near the coast. "We conclude that significant drowning is inevitable," the authors write in a paper published in Nature Geoscience.

Meanwhile, ExxonMobile is drawing heat from the British and Australian media for apparently reneging on its promise last year to "discontinue contributions" to climate-change skeptics. The conservative Daily Telegraph reported that the world's largest oil company made several hundred thousand dollars in grants in 2008 to such groups, including the National Center for Policy Analysis in Dallas, the Heritage Foundation in Washington, and the American Enterprise Institute in Washington. ExxonMobile also contributes to some environmental groups, the paper noted. "We are funding people on all sides of that debate," a company spokesman told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Germany, UK and France are taking the most aggressive steps to fight global warming among G8 countries, according to a new report sponsored by WWF and the German insurer Allianz SE. Only Canada and Russia rank worse than the United States. However, President Obama plans to meet next week with Russian leaders to promote collective action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

After last Friday's close vote in the House of Representatives to pass the Waxman-Markey climate change bill--a tribute to Speaker Nancy Pelosi's "arm-twisting" in the words of Politico--attention now moves to the Senate. One of the biggest threats to passage comes from opposition by agricultural interests, despite major concessions they extracted in the House. The American Farm Bureau Federation opposes the bill partly because it may raise the cost of fertilizer and fuel.

It will be interesting to see whether supporters succeed in making farm-state Senators aware of how much their constituents have at stake as the earth warms. The recent report of the U.S. Global Change Research Program, commissioned by President Bush and based on the expert findings of 13 federal departments and agencies, has this to say about the projected impact of warming on the farm belt:

Midwest: "While the longer growing season provides the potential for increased crop yields, increases in heat waves, floods, droughts, insects, and weeds will present increasing challenges to managing crops, livestock, and forests. Spring flooding is likely to delay planting. An increase in disease-causing pathogens, insect pests, and weeds cause additional challenges for agriculture. Livestock production is expected to become more costly as higher temperatures stress livestock, decreasing productivity and increasing costs associated with the needed ventilation and cooling equipment."
Great Plains: "Agriculture, ranching, and natural lands, already under pressure due to an increasingly limited water supply, are very likely to also be stressed by rising temperatures. . . . Pests will spread northward and milder winters and earlier springs will encourage greater numbers and earlier emergence of insects."
Southeast: "Effects of increased heat include more heat-related illness; declines in forest growth and agricultural crop production due to the combined effects of heat stress and declining soil moisture; declines in cattle production; increased buckling of pavement and railways; and reduced oxygen levels in streams and lakes, leading to fish kills and declines in aquatic species diversity. Decreased water availability is very likely to affect the region's economy as well as its natural systems. . . . Sea-level rise and the likely increase in hurricane intensity and associated storm surge will be among the most serious consequences of climate change. . . . a large portion of the Southeast coastal zone could be threatened. Ecological thresholds are likely to be crossed throughout the region, causing major disruptions to ecosystems and to the benefits they provide to people."

The Green Seen

Leonard Anderson — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:00:00 -0800

By: Leonard Anderson

Several items relating to the business and technology of clean energy caught our attention this week:

Alaska is considering building small nuclear reactors to power some of its cities and reduce energy prices. A Fairbanks developer is proposing a 25-megawatt reactor designed by Hyperion Power Generation Inc. of New Mexico. The village of Galena has been working with Toshiba Corp. to build a 10-MW reactor. Both reactors would be buried underground. Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin supports the concept.
Canada's Ontario province has dropped a $22.4 billion plan to build a nuclear power plant that would have been the first nuclear reactor constructed in North America in three decades. The province cited rising costs and uncertainty over the financial health of government-owned Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. Ontario gets more than half of its electricity from nuclear power.
SunPower Corp. and Wells Fargo Bank will partner to fund $100 million of solar electricity in businesses and public buildings, beginning with projects at the University of California-Merced and a waste water agency in Riverside County. Wells Fargo will finance and own the systems and SunPower will build, operate and maintain them. Customers will buy the electricity from SunPower.

Bigger is Better

Jonathan Marshall — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:49:51 -0800

By: Jonathan Marshall

China and Texas have at least one trait in common, besides the five-pointed star in their flags: a belief that bigger is better.

Latest case in point: After leading the United States in oil production, Texas is now home to the world's biggest wind farm. Meanwhile, after leading the world in new coal-plant construction, China is now boasting of wind-energy projects that will leave even Texas in the dust.

China last week announced plans to build seven giant new wind farms by 2020 at a cost of $140 billion. Their combined capacity will total 120 GW--gigawatts, not megawatts--representing about eight percent of China's power capacity by the time they come online a decade from now. (Sadly for GE and the U.S. balance of trade, China has no plans to tap foreign turbine manufacturers to meet its wind power needs; the central government has imposed a "buy Chinese" policy.)

The largest wind farm in the world today is Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center in Texas, spread over 47,000 acres near Abilene. Owned and operated by a subsidiary of FPL Energy, it consists of 421 giant GE and Siemens turbines with a total rated capacity of 735 megawatts, less than seven percent of the capacity of each of China's proposed new projects.

(By comparison, the Altamont Pass Wind Farm in PG&E's service area has a total capacity of about 576 MW.)

Two years ago, before the global financial crisis struck, Texas billionaire T. Boone Pickens floated plans to develop up to 4,000 MW of power from a giant wind farm in West Texas. A year ago, his Mesa Power LLP ordered 667 turbines from GE with a total rated capacity of 1,000 MW. More recently, in the wake of the economic downturn, the company laid off some employees and said it has significantly slowed its development schedule, while remaining committed to the project.

Meantime, just last month a Spanish group devoted to renewable energy, Guascor, announced plans to build what it believes will be the world's largest wind farm--a project of up to 900 MW in Argentina's wind-swept Patagonia. The estimated cost is $2.4 billion, and work could begin in as little as 12 months after environmental reviews.

Peel Tires!

Jonathan Marshall — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:13:37 -0800

By: Jonathan Marshall

Just as I had finished glugging a glass of OJ this morning, a new report from the University of Rochester Medical Center caught my eye: orange juice decreases tooth enamel hardness by 84 percent. "The acid is so strong that the tooth is literally washed away," said the lead researcher.

After I overcame a brief bout of acid indigestion, I started wondering. If I and millions like me decide to get our daily vitamin C instead from rose hip pills, what will happen to all those California and Florida oranges piled high in our supermarkets?

Not to worry. Turns out orange peel oil makes a great additive to car tires, improving their performance and making them more environmentally friendly.

Japanese tire manufacturer Yokahama says its new Super E-spec tire, 80 percent composed of non-petroleum materials (including orange peel extracts), has 20 percent less rolling resistance than standard tires, increasing its fuel economy. It's also easier to recycle than synthetic products. Yokahama is targeting the new tires for use by the Toyota Prius and other high-mileage cars.

(As noted recently in NEXT100, a 10 percent improvement in the rolling resistance of older tires used in California could reduce the state's consumption of oil by more than 250 million gallons, save about $750 million and reduce CO2 emissions by 2.7 million metric tons annually, according to the California Energy Commission.)

But Yokahama's orange-infused tires aren't just for sedate sedans. Porsche outfitted its racing cars on the Sebring International Speedway during the Patron GT3 Challenge with tires using the same technology.

Mark Chung, Yokahama's director of corporate strategy and planning, told Wired.com that Yokahama has been experimenting with orange oils since the 1980s, and was prompted to go commercial with the technology because of environmental imperatives.

"It is used to soften the natural rubber and increase grip on the tire," he said. "We've tested a lot of natural products including spider silk, and we found that orange oil works best because it has a molecular structure similar to natural rubber."

Now if they could just figure out how to turn the orange pips into biofuels, we could have the seeds of a real automotive revolution.

Just One Word: Materials

Jonathan Marshall — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:34:26 -0800

By: Jonathan Marshall

More than a few venture investors would consider giving up their first born if they could identify for sure the Next Big Thing.

Last week, however, a senior energy technology guru gave them some free advice. His message: don't just look at obvious items like batteries and solar cells, but also at the "game-changing materials" that underly key advances in those technologies. (Shameless plug: see NEXT100's earlier take on some of the amazing developments in materials science.)

Speaking at the annual convention of the Edison Electric Institute in San Francisco, Mike Howard, senior vice president of R&D at the Electric Power Research Institute, emphasized that "materials are critically important to everything we do," from generation to lighting to storage.

As an example, he pointed to the current limits on steam generation efficiency set by steels that degrade at temperatures above 1000F. If operating temperatures of boilers and turbines could be raised to 1400F, their efficiency could be increased dramatically from 37 percent to 47 percent.

Finding new materials to work at such temperature extremes without cracking requires understanding what is happening at the atomic level. "Working with atomic probe microscopes, we are uncovering some fundamental properties of materials and why failures occur," he said.

Materials science is also having a revolutionary impact on lighting, which consumes about 17 percent of all electricity in the United States. Applying surface-mount technology to assemble LEDs with different spectra to produce the desired light output is opening up great room for potential further improvements in efficiency and usability. "LEDs are on a strong upward trajectory with regard to efficiency," Howard said. "It's a game changer."

Last but not least he addressed storage, where the Holy Grail is maximizing the amount of energy stored per kilogram (energy density). For electrochemical batteries, the critical factor is the amount of reactive surface area available.

By inserting nanowires into lithium ion batteries, their energy density can be increased four times, Howard said. That means a laptop computer could be powered for 16 hours instead of only four, with batteries of the same weight and size. Or it means a Chevy Volt could drive 160 miles instead of 40 on a single charge. "That's where we are headed," Howard promised.

Is There a Diesel in Your Future?

Jonathan Marshall — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 10:03:20 -0800

By: Jonathan Marshall

Slow, loud and smoky, brought to you by General Motors.

That was the how Americans came to perceive a variety of ill-designed diesel cars more than two decades ago, after giving the fuel-efficient technology a try in the wake of the two oil embargoes. Diesel was a bust here in the U.S. of A.

So what is it about diesel cars today that makes them account for about half of new car sales in Western Europe? It turns out that engineers have quietly made them clean enough to pass the tightest air regulations, while retaining their famed accelerating power (torque) and fuel efficiency.

Diesel fuel has more energy than gasoline and diesel engines tend to have higher intrinsic efficiency than spark-ignition gasoline engines. Diesel fuels can also be manufactured from vegetable oils or animal fats--even recycled restaurant grease--making biodiesel an especially attractive "green" fuel.

There's more good news: after a nasty spike last year, diesel prices are back below gasoline. According to figures from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, diesel prices in California last week averaged $2.79 a gallon versus $3.01 for gasoline, a 22 cent spread.

This confluence of improved technology and lower fuel prices is giving a big boost to Volkswagon, maker of the diesel Jetta TDI. Sales of the diesel-engined Jetta in the United States are running far ahead of the manufacturer's projections.

The $22,000 Jetta TDI was named Green Car of the Year last November by Green Car Journal, which said the vehicle "raises the bar significantly in environmental performance with its EPA estimated 41 mpg highway fuel economy, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, and extremely low tailpipe emissions. This is all the more impressive when you consider the Jetta TDI is a clean diesel, achieving the kind of fuel efficiency offered by gasoline electric hybrids but in a more affordable way."

Riding the diesel wave, Volkswagon recently unveiled its BlueSport roadster, with a top speed of 140 mph, 258 ft-lbs of torque, and 0-60 acceleration in less than 6 seconds. Its U.S. fuel economy is estimated at 42 mpg.

Like Volkswagon, Mazda is reportedly focusing on clean diesel engines ahead of more expensive hybrids. And Audi is launching a major marketing campaign for its new line of diesels.

The latest surveys suggest, however, that only a third of Americans would consider buying a diesel car. Maybe the Old Country still has something to teach us about new vehicle technology.

The Green Seen

Leonard Anderson — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 10:00:00 -0800

By: Leonard Anderson

Several items relating to the business and technology of clean energy caught our attention this week:

San Francisco has passed a law requiring all homes and businesses to recycle and compost. Mayor Gavin Newsom says if everyone puts all the garbage, food scraps and other waste in the correct color-coded buckets, the city's recycling rate would rise to 90 percent from the current 72 percent. There's a cap of a $100 fine for homes and small businesses, but Newsom says the goal is to heighten public awareness.
Smart Sewers? Yes, we will have them right here in San Francisco. The city's Public Utilities Commission and IBM Corp. have teamed up to install software to monitor maintenance of the city's 1,000-miles of sewer pipes and pinpoint potential water pollution, overflowing storm drains and other underground emergencies.
Chicago's 110-story Sears Tower, the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, will get a $350 million "green" retrofit that aims to reduce electricity use by 80 percent and water consumption by 40 percent. The makeover will include gas boilers with fuel cells to generate electricity, heat and cooling; solar panels to heat water; wind turbines, if possible; "green" roofs; new lighting systems; and water conservation in new restroom fixtures, among other energy-saving features.