Toyota has developed a new fuel cell hybrid, powered by hydrogen, that can travel more than twice the distance of its predecessor model without filling up, the automaker said today.

The improved model's maximum cruising range is 516 miles compared with 205 miles. Fuel efficiency in the FCHV-adv was improved 25 percent. The new fuel cell vehicle can also start and run in temperatures as low as minus 22 degrees Fahrenheit. Cold temperatures are a big technological hurdle for fuel cells.

The vehicle will be available for leasing in Japan later this year. Rival Honda Motor Co.'s revamped fuel cell vehicle for leasing in California is rolling off a Japanese factory floor later this month.
(AP)

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Martin Library will host an environmental panel discussion on February 21 featuring:

I was interviewed, via keybord of course, since I will be one of the moderators. Below is the text of the interview:

5. In your opinion, how does the level of environmental awareness in York County compare to that of other similar-sized communities?

York is a land of plenty. We have enjoyed low population congestion and are blessed with resources. California is tuned into air pollution because congestion and climate patterns demanded action. The desert southwest is tuned into water supply because of the lack of it. Other than the Codorus Creek, a stray landfill and an occasional bad ozone day, York County generally has not been confronted in the face with major environmental issues. High oil prices, wars and global cries that we need to act have brought these concerns home to York.

6. What do you believe the typical Yorker can do to improve the environment?

Use less to do more. Nothing will lower pollution, lower oil prices, and stretch resources more than choosing to use less through product choice and lifestyle. This concept runs contrary to our financial model that, up until now, has promoted and thrived on people using more energy.

7. As editor of Greenmesh.com, what do you see as the most promising alternative to oil-based energy?

Experimenting with many alternatives is the best was to transition away from an oil based economy. It takes time to understand the repercussions of any form of energy production. Solar collection is the lowest impacting source of alternative energy, but in places like Pennsylvania, solar isn’t practical most of the time. We have already experienced the implications of diving head first into corn-based ethanol by higher food and feed prices.

All methods of energy production have environmental implications and placing all our eggs in one basket gives power to a new monopoly and will accentuate any negative effects of pushing a single solution of energy production....

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The energy bill fell flat in the Senate Friday after the house passed it. The White House issued a statement saying,

"“Their proposal would raise taxes and increase energy prices for Americans. That is a misguided approach and if it made it to the president’s desk, he would veto it.” nyt.com

The bill is more of a panic reaction by a few well intentioned to a dire situation than a solution.

Well true, the bill would have increased the price of energy for Americans because a majority of the taxes were on oil companies that would have passed the cost along to consumers; before the money taken away from consumers could catch up by creating competition with alternative energy. Also people affected by feed prices like cattleman lined up not liking it because the huge ethanol mandate would push the price of feed up squeezing them against consumers.

The love for corn based ethanol is mind boggling requiring production of ethanol and other bio fuels, from about 5 billion gallons a year of bad science and impact of the food supply today to 36 billion gallons of the same and yet to be discovered methods of production by 2022.

Old school oil wants to clutch it's money as long as possible and government is here to empower status quo economic highways. Meanwhile, no one with power is enough of a hero to see the big picture and force change. The planet continues to die.

Nothing is going to get done here until consumers start using some things, stop using others and conserving what we must use but don't want. The great part about capitalism is that there has to be a market for something to gain power. Ultimately, an educated consumer holds all the power.

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Honda's hydrogen fuel cell Clarity, goes 100 mph top speed and acts like a regular car but will only be available in California in 2008. California is the only state with a hydrogen infrastructure large enough to handle a large scale lease.

How it's fuel cell system works...

Inside each cell, hydrogen gas reacts with a hydrogen electrode, causing a catalytic reaction that ionizes the hydrogen atom (electricity is of course nothing but flowing electrons). The electron-less atom (ion) next bonds with oxygen to create water, which recirculates through the stack to keep the electrolytic membranes damp, before exiting the vehicle through the tail pipe. In turn, the fuel cell stack powers an electric motor, which drives the front wheels. There is also an auxiliary lithium ion battery to store extra juice created by the stack, the motor (which behaves like a generator when decelerating) and additional energy gathered from the regenerative braking system. The battery is used during start-up or to assist the engine if the demands of the right foot exceed the power output of the stack. jalopnik.com

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$159 a barrel by 2030 with 270 million cars in China

As gasoline prices quietly scrolled past $3 a gallon locally this week and a barrel of crude nears $100 there wasn't much to say here at greenmesh, though it's an oozing fissure in the dome of the volcanic energy crisis.

Those in the energy industry who can profit this quarter are not saying much as those who just "need" a 7-liter pickup truck to commute to work from their well heated, over-sized house. Life, aside from accelerating dollars in and out of a pockets, goes on.

The International Energy Agency in it's annual World Energy Outlook has taken a more pessimistic view over previous projections that in the past said pumping trillions of dollars into sucking oil out of the earth could meet global energy needs.

$100,000,000,000 in today's dollars could shift us to Hydrogen according to Peter Schwartz, a former futurist for Shell Oil, who is an investor in two companies developing hydrogen power technologies and Doug Randall, Global Business Network.

With that investment, the nation could shift the balance of power from foreign oil producers to US energy consumers within a decade. By 2013, a third of all new cars sold could be hydrogen-powered, 15 percent of the nation's gas stations could pump hydrogen, and the US could get more than half its energy from domestic sources, putting independence within reach.

All that's missing is a national commitment to make it happen. wired.com

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Iraq War Cost

I welcome $3 a gallon for gasoline. These small warning signs dotting the landscape are a wake-up call of what is to come. There is a price at the pump where an informed democracy will force a solution with it's tax dollars; perhaps that number is $4, $5 or $10.

Here are some projections by the IEA:
The staggering pace of Chinese and Indian economic growth in the past few years, outstripping that of all other major countries, has pushed up sharply their energy needs, a growing share of which has to be imported. Free trade means increased standard of living for developing countries. The world’s energy needs would be well over 50% higher in 2030 than today.

Oil demand for transport almost quadruples in China between 2005 and 2030, contributing more than two-thirds of the overall increase in Chinese oil demand. The vehicle fleet expands seven-fold, reaching almost 270 million. New vehicle sales in China exceed those of the United States by around 2015.

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Mazda will make a hydrogen powered rotary engine vehicle available for lease next year in Japan. The Mazda Premacy Hydrogen RE Hybrid runs on hydrogen stored in a tank, although it can switch to gas when hydrogen (can run a distance of 124 miles) runs out. www.iht.com

Mazda made it's debut in the United States with the rotary engine in the late 1960's and tried marketing several applications of the engine in cars through the next two decades.

The Wankel engine uses a rotating gear assembly with a triangle shape in place of pistons to convert the energy from combustion. Known for it's silence and a rev limit that just won't quit, the engine has fewer moving parts and more power cycles for the mechanical effort involved. By 2003, the RENESIS Mazda rotary engine was capable of delivering 250 hp from a tiny 1.3 L displacement. A two-rotor engine was common in early Mazda's.

Early rotary engines suffered from compression seal (equivalent of piston rings) issues at a mileage that would be considered low for a piston engine, but as materials improved so did the engine. By nature, piston rings in piston engines are lubricated from below by oil splash, while the the rotary engine compression seals are in motion around the rotor with a compression chamber on each side and more difficult to lubricate. The RENESIS engine injects a small amount of oil into the fuel mixture to promote lubrication of the compression seals.

The advantages of the Wankel engine are size, weight, few parts and thus less expensive to construct, but traditionally it uses more gas than a piston engine in roughly the same application and produces more hydrocarbon emissions due to the large cylinder design and it is harder to control the combustion. Emissions are not an issue with hydrogen fuel because it is an energy carrier and not a fossil fuel with pollutants to spew into the air.

One advantage of the rotary design that may lend itself to burning hydrogen is the ability to burn a very low octane fuel without pre-ignition. The large amount of cylinder turbulence prevents hot spots from forming, the "ping" I experienced often with crappy gas on the aging slant-6 1968 Plymouth I drove in college.

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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.

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Five years ago, General Motors Corp. gave the world the Hummer H2, a vehicle so fuel-thirsty that GM took advantage of a federal loophole that allowed the company not to publish its estimated mileage.

Today, the No. 1 U.S. auto maker by sales, usually the most conservative of Detroit's Big Three, has assigned hundreds of engineers and millions of dollars to an effort to become the greenest company in the auto industry.

This month, GM kicked off a drive to hire 400 technical experts to work on fuel-saving technology and other innovations, and became the first auto maker to sign up for a cap-and-trade system for carbon emissions, which are blamed for global warming.wsj.com

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So who was clapping, i'm not...

At the Clean Energy Venture Summit, James Woolsey, the former director of the CIA and currently an alternative energy advocate, received a standing ovation when he said hydrogen research was a distraction and largely a waste of time. Instead, he, among others, favor alternative transportation concepts like plug-in hybrids or clean diesel.

It amazes me the lack of vision at such high levels of government. Status quo maintains short-term profit for someone, but not a long-term energy evolution for the rest of us. To Woolsey's credit, he does promote conservation and reducing the use of foreign oil.

During a 2003 State of the Uinion Speech, President Push proposed a $1.2 billion program to help build the hydrogen infrastructure two years after ridiculing Al Gore’s proposal that we replace the internal combustion engine with new technologies (msnbc.com) Four years later, the hydrogen push seems to be driven more by the private sector and consumer interest..

Imagine an energy infrastructure where many systems derived hydrogen from many patents/methods and raw sources. A monopoly no longer controls the market. If a non-oil related energy source became viable taking just 5% of the gasoline market reducing demand, the price of gasoline and the it's value on the commodities market would begin a free fall.

Some interesting developments by people with hydrogen vision...

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Honda, in conjunction with Plug Power, is developing a home based hydrogen pump station that produces hydrogen fuel for it's 2008 FCX fuel-cell car.

HES III uses natural gas as its feedstock, and is able to supply a sufficient amount of hydrogen to power a fuel cell vehicle for daily operation while providing 5 kW of electricity for a household as well as heat. It's hard to quantify the cost of home hydrogen production over using gasoline, because the by-products of hydrogen production can be used to trim other household costs. However, placing a further demand on the natural gas supply may drive up price of natural gas in peak demand cycles.

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