Biodiesel Makers See Opportunity as New York Seeks Greener Future
Architecture and robotic ecologies
Climate Change Plan is ‘New Ad Campaign.
Emission Scheme To Shield the Poor
Grassroots Green Ghemistry
(more)
(Posted by David Zaks in News and Views at 10:44 AM)
Filed under: Etc., Legislation and Policy
John J. Mooney, a native of the proud state of New Jersey, is the recognized co-inventor of the 3-way catalyst that has been on US cars since 1976. It was developed in the 1960s and 70s and has been successfully used to control the emissions levels of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides in 31 years of auto production sold in the US and now other countries. The impact of the “3-way cat” is impressive. In combination with an oxygen sensor and fuel injection and the removal of leaded gasoline, it has helped keep air in developed countries from becoming substantially worse than it currently is.
The continuing problems we have in air pollution today are the result of the large increase in auto vehicles use. If we drive enough miles in clean vehicles, we eventually end up with dirty air. For instance, in 1965 there were about 92 million registered vehicles. In 1995 we were up to 193 million, and now in 2007 we are above 230 million registered vehicles. Think what that would be like without the 3 way cat. Think Beijing. No wonder the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) regards the 3-way cat as “one of the 10 most important inventions in the history of the automobile.”
I recently heard Mr. Mooney speak at the 2007 NJ Institute of Technology graduation ceremonies where he was awarded a Ph.D. in Science, Honoris Causa, for this achievement. He then relayed a story about the early testing of the catalyst. His team drove 50,000 miles around Newark Airport as an endurance test. That is about 10,000 times around in those days. This is a reminder that engineering is hard work.
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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.
Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Tesla Motors
Say, who’s that in one of the Tesla Roadster prototypes? Why, it’s none other than Tesla sales manager Tom O’Leary. Oh, you mean on the left? That’s U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice out at Moffett Field, California over last week. Rice was meeting with Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and the two took some trips on the tarmac (up to 110 mph. Jealous yet?) Here’s the official transcript of their comments:
Secretary Rice: Well, the Foreign Minister and I have just gone in what felt like a little rocket ship. We went down the runway there. We’ve been looking at some of the ways that energy efficiency can improve our ability to get off of hydrocarbons but also to improve the environment and contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, which is an issue of great concern to me and to Foreign Minister Downer as well. So we’re delighted to be here at this great company. And we expect to see great things from Tesla, but it was a wonderful to meet with the engineers, to meet with the founder, but it was especially wonderful to ride in the car. (Laughter.)
Foreign Minister Downer: I can only repeat all of that. Fantastic car. We got it up to 110 miles an hour. It’s entirely legal on an airport here. (Laughter.) And great acceleration, naught to 60 miles an hour in four seconds is pretty breathtaking, so a genuine sports car. And an electric car like this has great environmental advantages, including being quiet, actually. The silence of the car is extraordinary. But maybe for those who love the tone of the Ferrari engine or whatever it is, they’ll miss that with electric cars, but very much the technology of the future and exciting to see. And I think this company has done incredibly well with private venture capital. It’s not a government initiative. It’s a private initiative and it’s great to see the private sector coming up with solutions like this to some of our environmental problems.
I love the reflections of all the media (and, presumably, security) folks we can see in the shiny front fender.
[Source: State Department, h/t to Linton]
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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.
Ladies and gentleman, step right up! Welcome to the greenest show on the web, the Carnival of the Green! sustainablog is proud to serve as the stopping point for the 79th installment of the COG, now organized by Treehugger. Last week, the carnival struck ground at everyday trash; next week, it will move along to groxie.
It’s a holiday weekend in the US, so everyone should already be in a festive mood. If you need a little help, though, here’s some music to put you in the right frame of mind. And away we go…
Hungry?
We’ve got plenty of choices for snacking while enjoying the Carnival this week (though no funnel cake or cotton candy):
Animals on Display
We’ve got a couple of wonders from the animal kingdom here for your entertainment. Please note that all animals used in the Carnival of the Green live under humane conditions!
Business and Government
Our mini trade show this week includes some information on finances, real estate and utilities.
Enjoy a Ride!
A couple of participants in this week’s COG think about getting from here to there.
Stroll Down the Midway
Finally, to wrap things up this Monday,
That’s a wrap for this week’s Carnival of the Green! See you next week at groxie.
On a personal note, I said on Saturday that today’s COG post would be the last at sustainablog for the foreseeable future. I say that with a heavy heart — my little sustainability blog has been a real source of joy and pride for nearly four years, and connected me with many good people around the globe that I now consider friends. Many, many thanks to all of you who’ve supported sustainablog over the years — you’ve made it all very worthwhile. Please stop by Green Options or Treehugger to say “Hi!” — I’m not going away…
Best,
Jeff
Filed under: MPG
The Sierra Club has set up a mileage calculator on their website that purports to tell users how much their mileage would improve if fuel economy requirements were updated and carmakers put all the technology that’s currently available on their cars. While this seems like a good idea for showing people how much they would save under the new rules the reality is somewhat flawed.
When a user goes to the site and selects the car or truck they have and the annual miles they drive the calculator displays the current mileage and what could be achieved with current technology. It then displays how much money you would save. The problem is that much of the data in the calculator is incorrect. For example selecting the Ford Escape hybrid shows a current mileage of 33mpg and a potential of 62mpg which seems highly unlikely. Choosing the Prius or Civic hybrid brings a response that the vehicle is already achieving maximum fuel economy. If an Escape Hybrid could almost double it’s mileage why not these two?
If you select a Toyota Yaris it reports the current mileage as 22.7 mpg and potential of 39.7mpg. I suspect most Yaris drivers would be very surprised and suspect something is wrong if they got mileage that low. The same result comes up if you select a Honda Fit or numerous other cars. According to the site the current numbers are based on EPA ratings but clearly they have entered a lot of erroneous data. The idea is a good one, but if the results are so wrong it can be counterproductive and damaging to the club’s credibility. They should really take the calculator off line until they correct the errors.
[Source: Sierra Club via Green Options]
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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.
Filed under: Emerging Technologies, Hydrogen
Good news for those of us who daydream about the day BMW is handing us a hydrogen-powered 7-series sedan.
Shell Hydrogen, LLC and Virent Energy Systems, Inc. announced a five-year joint development agreement to develop further and commercialize Virent’s BioFormingTM technology platform for hydrogen production.
Virent claims to produce hydrogen, among other fuels and chemicals, from renewable sources: glycerol and sugar-based feedtsocks. Currently, most of the available hydrogen is produced using fossil fuels.
Virent and Shell will collaborate on the development and testing of hydrogen systems for fueling stations. If research and development goes to plan, initial deployment of the new technology at a Shell hydrogen fueling station could follow within several years.
We are speaking of an important market that, if given the facilities, can grow immensely. Currently, the worldwide market for distributed and centralized hydrogen is estimated at approximately 45 million tons each year. The pilot experiences of using hydrogen in public transport in Europe used in-house plants that obtained this gas using conventional electric methods.
Hydrogen has not only applications for fuel. It is used in many chemical processes such fertilizer production, oil cracking and other applications such as manufacture of glass, vitamins, personal care products, lubricants, refined metals, and food products.
[Source: Shell, Virent]
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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.
Filed under: Etc., Ethanol, Honda
We’ll leave the winner’s name out of the first part of this post, and we’ll start by focusing instead on the fact that this was the first time the Indy 500 was run using 100 percent ethanol (as if you needed reminding, right?)
Anyway, despite a rain delay, the race was a win for ethanol boosters like Domestic Fuel. We’ve been linking to them for a while on this topic, and they continue to have nice, short posts about E100 and the Indy 500, like this one about how this year’s race is but one step towards an estimated annual ethanol demand of about 16.3 billion gallons of ethanol by 2050.
OK, enough about ethanol. The winner’s name (and more pictures) are available after the jump.
[Source: Domestic Fuel, Honda]
Dario Franchitti (Andretti Green Racing)
Yes, Dario Franchitti took the win. You can hear him talk about his victory – and his thought on ethanol (he said it helped him get better gas mileage and that was beneficial), over on Domestic Fuel. All pictures courtesy of Honda.
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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.
If you plant some trees, is it OK to drive an Escalade? The question isn’t as silly as it sounds. People worried about global warming increasingly are trying to “offset” the carbon dioxide _ the leading greenhouse gas _ they spew into the atmosphere when they drive, fly or flick on a light.
Photo Credit: GreenspringsThe move towards a greener lifestyle extends even to the end of life. Choices for the final resting place include some relatively new approaches. Many of these developments seem to be coming out of the United Kingdom and from Europe, though they are being adopted in other countries, as well.
Green burials are now being performed in park- or forest-like settings. The more familiar green lawn with rows of stone markers is being replaced by a more natural setting, a meadow or a stand of trees. Green burials also forego many of the common contemporary conventions in favor of a simpler funeral and burial practive. Green burials do not use formaldehyde compounds to preserve the body, for example. Metal coffins, or coffins that use exotic and unsustainably harvested wood are also not allowed, as well as not using concrete burial vaults. Many of these steps are both more economical choices as well as avoiding consuming quantities of resources unnecessarily.
GreenSprings is a 100 acre site with meadows and woodlands in the Finger Lakes region of upstate new York that is one provider of green burial sites.
Greensprings offers a sustainable and beautiful alternative to conventional cemeteries. It is a place of meadows and woodlands, where you may choose native trees and shrubs for planting on your gravesite, helping to restore the land to it natural state and providing shelter and food for wildlife.
There are options for coffin selection as well that try to offer a greener choice. Ecopods are coffins made from "naturally hardened, 100% recycled paper." Being lighter than traditional coffins and having fewer materials used for a coffin is in line with many people's greener values. The company currently offers them in four color choices, plus silkscreen decoration, but a huge range of individual customization should be readily available as this market expands. The ecopod is suitable for burial or for cremation. However, the ecopod makers encourage people not to choose cremation because of the additional pollution it causes. It is also suitable for use in conjunction with a woodland burial.
In the UK, the Natural Death Centre brings many of these trends together with support for environmentally-friendly funerals and natural Burial Grounds. In the US, the Green Burial Council addresses similar issues on this side of the Atlantic. There are currently providers in nine states, though the website does not include direct links to any of them. The Green Burial Council has two standards for green burials. According to their site, "A "Natural Burial Ground" is a cemetery that encourages sustainable and ethical practices." Above and beyond that level, a "Conservation Burial Ground" also has a land conservation component.
Links:
Ecopod (via: BoingBoing and EcoGeek )
Natural Death Centre (UK)
Green Burial Council (US)
GreenBurials.org
GreenSprings Natural Cemetery
In the last two years, the price of barley has doubled to euro200 (US$271) from euro102 per ton as farmers plant more crops such as rapeseed and corn that can be turned into ethanol or bio-diesel, a fuel made from vegetable oil.