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Study: E15 Could Put Some Engines at Risk

May 20, 2012 by Mark Green
with 201 views
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Photo by ullrich.c via Flickr

More on the potential risk to America’s car and truck fleet posed by E15 – gasoline containing 15 percent ethanol that has EPA approval: Just-released research indicates that more than 5 million existing cars and light trucks, which EPA says are OK for E15 use, could develop engine problems as a result.Why this discrepancy?  The... [read more]

Vehicle Emissions Standards: A Regulatory Success Story

May 18, 2012 by James Coan
with 167 views
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Recent estimates from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) show that emissions of air pollutants that harm human health in the Houston region are falling dramatically. This excellent development is largely the result of very successful national regulations to reduce tailpipe emissions from motor vehicles. As the startling... [read more]

Renewable Energy via Fuel Cells: Solid Oxide Comes of Age

May 18, 2012 by Christopher Miles
with 402 views
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Studiotouch/Shutterstock

In our previous post, we outlined some of the ways that the Hydrogen Fuel cell is slowly making its way into the transportation energy mix. It’s benefits seem manifold: Hydrogen Fuel Cells release only water vapor, and once generated, Hydrogen can be stored for long periods with minimal loss. It also can be supplied... [read more]

Obama’s Biggest Climate Decision Of The Year May Be … Palm Oil?

May 17, 2012 by Joseph Romm
with 268 views
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Loskutnikov/Shutterstock

The Obama administration is poised to make one of the biggest climate policy decisions of its entire administration – and it’s not about coal, oil, or gas, but rainforests. EPA is deciding whether or not palm oil should be included in the Renewable Fuel Standard, which mandates that American motorists use 36 billion gallons of biofuel in their cars and trucks by 2022. [read more]

Why Storage?

May 14, 2012 by James Greenberger
with 263 views
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cardiae /Shutterstock

It is not clear that the automotive market alone will provide an advanced battery market of sufficient size and immediacy to attract the necessary capital and innovation. Using a potentially larger market for the deployment of similar batteries in DES systems on the grid to leverage the automotive market, however, would make for a large, combined market. [read more]

Baby You Can Drive My (Electric) Car

May 11, 2012 by Scott Edward Anderson
with 474 views
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Electric vehicles have come a long way since the days for the botched EV-1 experiment of the 1990s. Fisker KarmaFormerly considered tin cans without much oomph or sex appeal, EVs took a back seat to the more trendy hybrids (Prius) and powerful SUVs. Yet, if this year's EVS26 at the Los Angeles Convention Center proves one thing to... [read more]

PG&E Proposes New & Improved Rates for Electric Car Customers

May 10, 2012 by Max Baumhefner
with 231 views
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mmaxer/Shutterstock

Today, the biggest electric utility in California, the largest car market in the country, took an important step to give drivers access to a cleaner fuel that’s roughly the equivalent of buck-a-gallon gasoline.  Pacific Gas & Electric (“PG&E”) has submitted a proposal for new and improved rate plans that encourage electric... [read more]

Norway Loves The Nissan Leaf … But Why?

May 9, 2012 by Nino Marchetti
with 874 views
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image via Nissan

Nissan recently sent out a release to the automotive press touting the fact that the company had sold 1,000 Nissan Leafs in Norway in just six months. The company went on to claim that the Leaf became the second-best selling Nissan in Norway and the ninth-best selling passenger car overall in February, claiming almost 2 percent of the... [read more]

How CBO Got it Wrong on Fuel Consumption and the Highway Trust Fund

May 8, 2012 by Deron Lovaas
with 944 views
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Artens/Shutterstock

The authors of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) study released last week must have been sniffing gas fumes when they drastically overestimated the effects of the proposed fuel economy standards on the Highway Trust Fund. The study claims that proposed changes to the corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards would amount... [read more]

New IMF Working Paper Models Impact of Oil Limits on the Economy

May 7, 2012 by Gail Tverberg
with 394 views
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sdecoret/Shutterstock


The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently issued a new working paper called “The Future of Oil: Geology versus Technology” (free PDF), which should be of interest to people who are following “peak oil” issues. It considers two different approaches for modeling future oil supply: an economic/technical approach and a geological approach. [read more]

Cars Vs. Climate: Eco-Driving Index Tells The Story

May 5, 2012 by Nino Marchetti
with 275 views
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Image via University of Michigan

Consumers have gotten used to evaluating an automobile’s fuel performance based upon the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s fuel economy rating system. But what about a rating system that measures a car’s impact on the environment?Researchers at the University of Michigan might have come up with just that. Their Eco-Driving Index... [read more]

E15: A Fuel Before Its Time

May 4, 2012 by Mark Green
with 492 views
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E15 – gasoline containing 15 percent ethanol that has EPA approval  – is one of those ideas that looks good on paper but seems headed for problems in the real world. API’s Bob Greco, director for downstream and industry operations, outlined some of them for reporters during a conference call:Testing so far shows the higher... [read more]

Getting Things Done: What's at Stake for Congress in the Transportation Bill

May 4, 2012 by Deron Lovaas
with 120 views
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Did you see this eye-catching opinion piece about the polarization in Congress drawn from a new book by a couple of authors who wrote The Broken Branch: How Congress is Failing America and How to Get it Back on Track (which is worth a read as well)? There was another one in the same paper (the Washington Post) about... [read more]

China's Dominance in Rare Earth Elements and Pyrolysis Oil

May 4, 2012 by Robert Rapier
with 229 views
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In this week’s episode of R-Squared Energy TV, I talk about the significance of China’s dominance of rare earth element production, and the conversion of pyrolysis oil into fuel.The questions answered this week are:1. Can you discuss the uses of ‘rare earth’ elements in the production of renewable energies (i.e., wind and solar)?... [read more]

Chrysler’s Electric Efforts Show Spark Of Life

May 3, 2012 by Nino Marchetti
with 314 views
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It’s been a tumultuous few years since “Big Three” automaker Chrysler’s highly publicized 2009 bankruptcy and subsequent $14 billion bailout. Now, the company seems to be pulling itself from the wreckage thanks to a new alliance with European automaker Fiat, an ambitious and long overdue redesign of some of its stalwart models and... [read more]