diesel

In an article in today's Washington Post an official of the National Wildlife Federation was quoted linking rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline with breaking our addiction to oil. Even with the administration having delayed its decision on the project until 2013--quite possibly killing it--this point merits further exploration. Just...[read more]

The following guest essay is by Paul Nash, a regular reader here at R-Squared. Paul is an Australian who now lives near Vancouver, Canada. He is an environmental engineer who specializes in doing municipal water and energy efficiency projects, and has had experience in managing small town water and energy utilities. He is also...[read more]

Just over two weeks after the earthquake near Sendai in northeastern Japan, which I'm increasingly seeing referred to as the "Great Tohoku Earthquake", the impact of the resulting disruption to various supply chains is being felt around the world. From car factories in Europe that rely on Japanese electronic components to producers of...[read more]

The low cost of natural gas and the high cost of petroleum products like diesel and gasoline have produced a lot of interest in natural gas as a transportation fuel. It is an idea that’s been around for a while and works fine in practice. Most of the interest and effort has gone into using compressed natural gas (CNG). UPS recently...[read more]

Regular readers know I'm a fan of diesel cars, having test-driven some terrific models at recent car shows, as well as renting them on past trips to Europe. For drivers who travel mainly highway miles, the fuel economy benefits of dieselization can approach those of hybrids at a much lower initial cost premium. However, at least in the...[read more]

And speaking of using natural gas for transportation (as in part of my earlier post, The true face of shale gas), there’s the whole nasty issue of leaks. Natural Gas May Be Worse for the Planet than Coal: This week the U.S. Congress heard testimony supporting a bill that would push to replace diesel with natural gas in heavy vehicles...[read more]

In addition to a pair of well-matched teams and a sufficient dose of fourth-quarter suspense concerning the outcome, yesterday's Super Bowl was the first in several years to feature an ad meriting comment in an energy blog. The subject of the ad was the new Audi A3 TDI clean diesel car, which was recently named "Green Car of the Year"...[read more]

The most massive fuel transition ever attempted in the United States has been occurring quite smoothly over the past few years without so much as a hiccup. It is the slow and steady movement from Low Sulfur Diesel Fuel to Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel (ULSD) fuel that started in 2006 and will continue through 2014. ULSD fuel was mandated by...[read more]

The best thing about the Prius is that it achieves its high fuel economy without sacrificing size or performance and, most importantly for global warming, without being a diesel. There seems to be a lot of confusion on this point in the comments section of Part One, so let me elaborate. Bottom Line: If you care about global warming, don...[read more]

My Clean Break column this week is about plans to build a facility in Quebec that will process used diapers into oil, gas and char using a pyrolysis process. Engineering giant AMEC has been contracted to build the plant, which will take in used diapers (infant and adult) from hospitals and seniors homes. It makes sense. Pyrolysis is a...[read more]