June 2007 Archives

A recent Forbes traffic study concludes that when people are stuck in gridlock they can't attain speeds that will kill them.

It appears that when you aren't moving, you can't smash into things as violently.

Though often driver-maddening, traffic jams can actually cut deaths by slowing speeds. "Most of the states with very low accident rates also have very high congestion," said Hartgen.

Massachusetts did best on the death scale, with only 0.797 fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles. Connecticut came second at 0.865, followed by Vermont at 0.946.

New Jersey was 5th with 1.013, followed by New York at 1.039. California took 19th place with 1.315 fatalities.

Montana was the deadliest, with 2.256 fatalities. South Dakota was 49th at 2.215; South Carolina was 48th at 2.211.

When I was a student at Gettysburg College, there was an elderly lady from town who used a trike to get around. She was beyond the ability of using a bicycle and perhaps having a drivers license, but the trike afforded her unlicensed mobility and probably added a few years of life because of the exercise.

This isn't your grandmother's trike. The RAPTOR is powered by lead acid batteries energizing an electric motor and/or foot power. A “Sunbrella” solar canopy is in the works for trickle charging off the grid when parked in the sun.

The gas free, license free (corporate and government free) people mover can reach a speed of 25 mph.
boomerbents.com

Toyota plants to launch an as-yet-unnamed dedicated brand of hybrid automobiles in 2009 following up on the success of it's Synergy Drive system.

Think Scion, the entry level boxy and sporty niche car that debuted a few years ago using some parts from Toyota's parts bin. Toyota figured out that the Camry and Corolla weren't cool to a 20 year-old.

In this case, I don't know what it means to consumers or what niche it fills other than to be a fully marketed hybrid (away from their huge SUV's and pickups) as Toyota seeks to ride the hybrid wave by selling as much success as it can. I guess we will look for solar-powered showrooms with bio-degradable coffee cups.
mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/business

Light Beam Industries, LLC has developed a new solid state light emitting plastic. This new substance uses fluorescent laser dyes and solid state light sources in conjunction with optical waveguides to generate multicolored or white light.

Applications might include targeting light wavelengths from from sources that emit a different wavelength than desired allowing the source to be as efficient as possible. LED's, for example, generate a limited wavelength and the sun produces a broad spectrum of wavelengths. The manufacturer also states that there is a very low loss of light energy meaning less energy needed at the source for an application.

Some applications from the website include: replacement for neon, solar applications, flat light panels.
lightbeaminc.com

Local student launches blog Green Effect

Seth Black starts with an appreciation for his natural surroundings, digging to the roots of an environmental blogger.

At One: Truly Appreciating Nature

The cool breeze washes around my face
As I look up into bitterness of the oncoming storm....

I believe that we can solve the problems if people are simply aware of what they are doing and its impact on the environment. Every small change can help, and that change can come through self-awareness. A person could pick up litter when walking through a park, recycle newspapers, drive a lot less, carpool to places, use natural bark mulch, cut back on pesticide usage, and so on. A person doesn't need to live a totally environmentally friendly life, but if they could make small imrpovements to their life it would greatly impact the growth of problems. greeneffect.blogspot.com

Pollution standards are too weak to protect people from the air they breathe, the Environmental Protection Agency's chief declared today.

"Based upon the current science", EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson concluded, that "the current standard is insufficient to protect public health."

However, Johnson has left the door open to keeping the rules as they are, based on further hearings.The EPA, which monitors 639 counties nationwide, says 104 of them are out of compliance with the current standard.

It's the Environmental Protection Agency's first new recommendation since 1997 for ground-level ozone, the principal component of smog - that noxious combination of car exhaust, industrial emissions and gasoline vapors aggravated by summertime sun and heat.

The EPA isn't out of touch as much as it needs to convey the global urgency of environmental protection rather than leaving the work to environmental groups that have little control of policy.

Clamping down on pollution in one state or one country does little good if companies can produce a product offshore without control. Separating ozone producers that can move (factories) from those that can be enforced (the cars and fuel sources we drive) would cut ozone and give the EPA a more realistic approach to attack pollutants.

A spin of reality would help the American public understand that their own health lies in the decisions they make as consumers.

Appalachian Trail thru-hiker Joe McMaster proves that you don’t need a huge SUV to haul a canoe down to the river. McMaster, who used his feet to move himself 2,175 miles from Georgia to Maine ydr.com (11/05), built a canoe trailer for his bicycle.

U.S. scooter sales have more than doubled since 2000, according to the Motorcycle Industry Council.

Eric Kling vice president of R.R. Kling and Sons, of Dover, Pa., which specializes in plumbing, heating and air conditioning, started using the scooters last summer, and in the first year, the company saved about $6,000 in fuel.

Kevin Cysyk of New Freedom, Pa. has always had a love of scooters. "I get a hundred miles to the gallon," he said. "I fill up for $3 and ride for two to three weeks. Insurance is less than $100 a year. And it's great fun. I'd always wanted one, but the economy of it definitely played a part in my actually buying one."

ydr.com/business

Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide, Inc. announced the delivery of Quantum's hydrogen hybrid Priuses to and their participation in this week’s opening of Norsk Hydro's first hydrogen refuelling station in Norway. The new facility is part of a planned "Hydrogen Highway" (Greenmesh 05/2006) between Oslo and Stavanger that will use renewable resources like solar and garbage to create hydrogen.

In Switzerland, a 21 mile long tunnel through the Alps was opened today that will cut down travel times between Germany and Italy from 3 1/2 hours to just under two using a 150 mph train. A 36 mile long tunnel under the Alps is expected to open 2017. The tunnels and high-speed trains are expected to reduce traffic on congested highways.

Change behavior by taking your money

New York City is toying with the idea of charging cars $8 and trucks $21 to enter Manhattan's business district, other U.S. cities are also toying with the idea.

Other ideas include dropping subway bus/fares, odd/even license plates, increasing other tolls into the city and lowering fees for energy efficient trucks. wcbs/tv

Voluntary conservation measures have a long standing history of not working in the United States. It usually takes financial penalty to change behavior Even in the case of high gas prices, the consumption rate continues to climb.

It is the nature of Americans to strive to "profit" against each other and nature - size and level of consumption are the marks of success. The independence of stretching out in our own automobile has become part of our identity. At some point the penalty, either by shortage or cost will change behavior.

Hybrid ownership takes awhile to recoup purchase cost over a conventional car, but renting one can be profitable in a day.

Hertz announced today that it is putting 1,000 Toyota Prius gas-electric hybrids into its U.S. fleet this month. Avis said Wednesday that it will introduce 1,000 Priuses into its fleet by the end of this month.

Hertz, the largest rental company at airports, says a hybrid car costs renters $5 to $10 more per day. If a renter drives 500 miles, a hybrid car can save $20 to $45 in gas expenses vs. a standard vehicle, says Brian Kennedy, executive vice president of Avis
usatoday.com

HSL technology uses rooftop, 4-ft-wide mirrored dishes that track the sun with the help of a GPS receiver. The collector focuses the sunlight onto 127 optical fibers. The fibers, which can be thought of as flexible light pipes, are connected to hybrid light fixtures that have special diffusion rods that spread out the light in all directions. One collector powers about eight hybrid light fixtures--which can illuminate about 1,000 square feet. /www.ornl.gov

Energy from the sun is piped directly from the sun to where it's needed. Think of combining traditional electrically powered high efficiency lighting with a solar source. In full sun, the electrical l lighting could be scaled back while in darkness used 100% or dimmed back as required.

Mercedes-Benz S-Class Diesel Hybrid is one of the first creations unfolding as a result of the of the hybrid transmission joint venture between GM, BMW and DaimlerChrysler.

It is expected to debut this fall as the world's first production diesel-electric hybrid vehicle. The same transmission system is expected to appear in large GM trucks in the near future.

Sources predict that the S-Class Hybrid will achieve 36 mpg, which is impressive for a vehicle of its size.

There are still a couple of questions up in the air about the S-Class Hybrid, namely what its main engine will be. Two years ago when Mercedes-Benz launched the updated S-Class, they had a prototype diesel-electric hybrid in the works called the Bluetec Hybrid Concept, which featured a 3.2-liter CDI turbodiesel V6 that made 243 horsepower. While this is a likely choice for the production car, another viable option is the brand new four-cylinder Bluetec turbodiesel engine that debuted in the Vision C 220 Bluetec Concept last year. The net power from the four-cylinder configuration should at the very minimum be equal to 200 horsepower, and well over 300 lb-ft of torque.

automobile.com

Peugeot doesn't sell cars here anymore, but it's an interesting study.

The Peugeot diesel hybrid promises to average better than 70mpg and have the lowest carbon-dioxide emissions of any car other than a pure electric.
business.timesonline.co.uk

The concept of WiTricity is that the energy needed to power a device can be sent without wires in a process otherwise known as magnetically coupled resonance.

Transformers have exchanged energy for years by magnetic fields in close proximity, but this takes it one more step. The principle sends energy though the air without interacting with the objects in between. Energy can be sent wirelessly by laser, but it needs a line of sight and is dangerous if something comes between.

WiTricity is based on using coupled resonant objects. Two resonant objects of the same resonant frequency tend to exchange energy efficiently, while interacting weakly with extraneous off-resonant objects. A child on a swing is a good example of this. A swing is a type of mechanical resonance, so only when the child pumps her legs at the natural frequency of the swing is she able to impart substantial energy.

Another example involves acoustic resonances: Imagine a room with 100 identical wine glasses, each filled with wine up to a different level, so they all have different resonant frequencies. If an opera singer sings a sufficiently loud single note inside the room, a glass of the corresponding frequency might accumulate sufficient energy to even explode, while not influencing the other glasses. In any system of coupled resonators there often exists a so-called "strongly coupled" regime of operation. If one ensures to operate in that regime in a given system, the energy transfer can be very efficient. mit.edu

The concept inspires new ideas of efficient energy transfer for mobile use, and the reduction of wiring that causes resistance and a loss of energy

-Plastics make up 25% of our landfill space
-The combustion/disposal of plastic creates CO2
-Plastics use foreign oil

A new line of corn-based plastics, called polylactides or PLA, has has started to appear in food packaging. Its strongest selling points are that it fully degrades in 47 days, doesn't emit toxic fumes when incinerated, and requires 20 to 50 percent less fossil fuel to manufacture than regular plastics

Some [U.S.] lawmakers are pushing corn ethanol from Iowa, either because they hail from that area and are looking to give more welfare to farmers by wasting money on an alternative fuel that will never reach the scale of what is needed, or because they plan to run in the Iowa caucuses. Others are pushing huge subsidies to turn coal into gasoline, because they come from coal states. Those who don't come from Michigan want higher mileage standards imposed on Detroit, while those who come from Michigan prefer to continue their assisted suicide of the U.S. auto industry by blocking tougher mileage requirements....

We have a multigenerational problem that requires a systemic, multigenerational response, and that can happen only if we get our energy prices right. Only that will guarantee green innovation and commercialization at scale. Anything less is wasted breath and wasted money -- and any candidate who says otherwise is only contributing to global warming by adding hot air.

-- From "Our Green Bubble," by columnist Thomas L. Friedman, in
the June 3, 2007 The New York Times

Passed to me by local Ray Wallace, who makes it his mission to uncover the effects of producing ethanol.

I was never a big fan of the Accord hybrid. It was more whoosh than about saving fuel. The mileage numbers weren't much of an improvement over a regular V-6 Accord for the $4000 surcharge.

I am excited about Honda's new diesel power plant for the Accord, slated to officially replace the hybrid. Honda will continue to use it's hybrid power for smaller engine displacement models like the Civic and Fit.

The engine is likely to be a 2.2 - 2.4L unit that gets 45 mpg on the highway. The ultra-clean four-cylinder will be capable of meeting California's strict Tier II / Bin 5 standards, which are the toughest diesel emissions standards in the world. The horsepower won't likely match the gasoline V-6, but torque (a real-world measure of get up and go useful power) will likely be very rewarding to drive.

The diesel will position Honda with a high mpgl vehicle not tapped into by Toyota (their hybrid competitor) in the North American market and comes at a time with diesel fuel is below the cost of gasoline. Add proven long service life, traditionally enjoyed by diesel power plants, and you have a niche market only tapped by higher end (more expensive) cars Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen.

Sitting and idling is more the task of a police cruiser than speeding and chasing. A high- performance hybrid performs both tasks well.

Conventional police cruisers are left running so that the battery won't drain or the A/C is needed. A large conventional engine mostly just lumbers along for most tasks. The weight, the size of the engine, and all that idling is quite a waste of fuel. A Ford Crown Victoria police cruiser might get 14 mpg.

A hybrid powered police cruiser would have a large battery pack that supplies power for lots of power hungry police needs like lights and computers. The engine runs automatically at idle when the voltage drops below a certain point, resulting in no fear of a drained battery. An electrically run A/C compressor can run with the engine off. The dual electric and gasoline power provides ample chase power and efficient trolling.

Following on from the successful trial of the Lexus RX 400h by Hampshire Police in August last year, Wiltshire Constabulary will be the first police force in the country to incorporate the recently launched high performance Lexus GS 450h to their fleet.

The GS 450h takes hybrid performance to a new level combining a 3.5-litre V6 petrol engine with a high output electric motor. These systems combine to provide a maximum output of 341bhp achieving a 0-62mph acceleration in 5.9 seconds. The performance matches conventional V8 petrol engines but has significantly lower fuel consumption (35.8mpg combined cycle) and CO2 emissions of 186g/km. newspress.co.uk

India’s largest automaker, MDI, is set to start producing the world’s first commercial air-powered vehicle. The vehicle uses compressed air in an innovative engine design instead of exploding gasoline resulting in zero emissions at the tailpipe.

The $12,700 CityCAT, one of several Air Car models, can hit 68 mph and has a range of 125 miles. The vehicle is filled with 4350 psi of air in minutes by a special hose at equipped service stations for about $2.. It also has an internal compressor that can fill the car in four hours from the electrical grid.

Again, how green the car is depends on where your electricity comes from. There is an inherent loss in energy when it's transformed from fuel to electricity and pushed through wires. If you live in Wyoming, North Dakota, West Virginia, or Indiana (AP story) the chances are that your electricity is produced by coal and then you would be driving a coal powered car, one made less efficient by sending the energy produced by coal through wires.

If you are powered by a renewable resource like solar, hydro or wind, the air car design is a low cost, simple method for storing energy that produces zero emissions at the tailpipe.

It isn't surprising that Texas, the leader in emitting this greenhouse gas, cranks out more than the next two biggest producers combined, California and Pennsylvania, which together have twice Texas' population.

However, Wyoming's coal-fired power plants produce more carbon dioxide in just eight hours than the power generators of more populous Vermont do in a year. In sparsely populated Alaska, the carbon dioxide produced per person by all the flying and driving is six times the per capita amount generated by travelers in New York state.

The Associated Press analyzed state-by-state emissions of carbon dioxide from 2003, the latest U.S. Energy Department numbers available. The main ingredient in this disparity is the burning of high-carbon coal to produce cheap electricity.AP Science Writer