There is a lot of talk within the Electric Vehicle community about the Chevy Volt, but sometimes the headlines can overpower news of other EVs, like the BYD F3DM.

The BYD F3DM is one such case. Made and sold in China, it’s been called a Volt copycat, but it doesn’t seem to have the same following as its American counterpart.

News has recently come out that the BYD makes its own proprietary LiFePO4 battery and can sell the car for a US equivalent of $22,000. Warren Buffett has invested in the company and the potential exists to eventually sell the car in the US.

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The U.S. Forest Service on Friday announced a new plan to address the problem of climate change in relation to wildfires.

“The health and resilience of America’s forests affect everyone,” said Gail Kimbell, the U.S. Forest Service Chief, while speaking at the National Convention of the Society of American Foresters. “The goal is to respond to climate change broadly, from helping forests adapt to warmer, drier conditions to reducing the agency’s carbon footprint by stepping up its purchase of alternative fuel vehicles.”

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The guys over at Zero South, in conjunction with “Drive Around the World” have created a Biodiesel Monster truck ice crawler for driving to the South Pole.

Zero South plans to use the vehicle to bring attention to global warming and raise awareness for the viability of fossil fuel alternatives by taking four different alternative fuel vehicles to the South pole next month. The plan has actually been modified recently and it is said that Jay Leno will be helping to install a VW diesel four-cylinder engine to act as a generator for four electric motors powering each track cluster.

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The loss of coral reefs around the world is being blamed on the mass amounts of CO2 in our planets oceans, and the resulting acid that is keeping the reefs and other crustaceans from calcifying.

When I was a kid, my favorite television program was The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau.  I knew every thing there was to know about him (or so I thought).  I even did a report, in which I stood at the front of the class, talking about his invention of the Scuba Tank. All these years later, I still remember that it is an acronym for “Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus.”

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The Oxford University’s Department of Chemistry has discovered a new method of producing methanol from glycerol Waste. According to the research team, ninety percent of methanol is currently produced from natural gas and the new process wont need to rely on any fossil fuels.

“We’re turning a waste material - glycerol - directly into a very useful product - methanol,” said Professor Edman Tsang, an expert in the development of new catalyst materials, and the main inventor behind the new method. “Around 350,000 tons of glycerol is incinerated in the US each year, and converting this to methanol gives you a portable store of energy, and potentially an economically viable new biofuel business.”

“Essentially, this is a way of getting methanol ‘for free’ from biomass,” said Tsang.  “Methanol itself is useful either as a fuel on its own or in biodiesel manufacture. It is also used widely in industrial chemistry.”

The advantage of the new process is that it is direct - not requiring multiple costly processing steps - and it works at a low temperature and low pressure.

“In industry, temperature costs money, but high pressure is even more expensive. This process operates under readily achievable, mild conditions of 100 degrees C and 20 bar of pressure.”

There is no large-scale industrial demand for glycerol right now, so utilizing this process would not only use something that would otherwise be wasted, it will help save energy in the production phase.

Isis Innovation has patented the technology, and will be working with Prof Tsang to commercialize the technology.

Source: Biofuel Review
Photo: Courtesy of Odd Bod via Flickr Creative Commons License

Now that Barack Obama is President Elect, it seems a good idea to recap some of his previous newsmaking thoughts about the future of energy in the US. One of his most telling comments came at a stop in Terre Haute, Indiana last March, where Barack Obama spoke of his support for alternative energy, saying that corn-based ethanol is not optimal.

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Monsanto, one of the worlds largest Genetically Modified Organism (G.M.O.) seed companies, is slated to acquire Aly Participacoes Ltda., which operates the Brazilian sugarcane breeding and technology companies, CanaVialis S.A. and Alellyx S.A.

Incidentally, as sugar cane expands in southern Brazil, soy production is heading northward, encroaching on the Amazon and causing mass deforestation.”

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]]> http://gas2.org/2008/11/04/gmo-seed-company-monsanto-invests-in-biofuels/feed/ http://planetsave.com/blog/2008/11/03/eco-carceration-inmates-recycling-reusing-and-rehabbing/ http://planetsave.com/blog/2008/11/03/eco-carceration-inmates-recycling-reusing-and-rehabbing/#comments Mon, 03 Nov 2008 22:40:48 +0000 Adam Shake http://planetsave.com/blog/2008/11/03/eco-carceration-inmates-recycling-reusing-and-rehabbing/

Convicted murderer Robert Knowles stands in the morning sunlight, composting food scraps from the chow hall and coffee grounds from the prison Headquarters.

“It’s nice to be out in the elements,” he says, as he stirs the dark, rich compost that will assist the soil at a small farm where he and other inmates of the Cedar Creek Corrections Center work.

Inmates of the facility, 25 miles from the Washington State Capital, raise bees, grow organic tomatoes and lettuce, and compost 100 percent of food waste.

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]]> http://planetsave.com/blog/2008/11/03/eco-carceration-inmates-recycling-reusing-and-rehabbing/feed/ http://gas2.org/2008/11/03/ford-f150-plant-rehires-gambling-on-our-short-term-memory/ http://gas2.org/2008/11/03/ford-f150-plant-rehires-gambling-on-our-short-term-memory/#comments Mon, 03 Nov 2008 17:28:43 +0000 Adam Shake http://gas2.org/2008/11/03/ford-f150-plant-rehires-gambling-on-our-short-term-memory/

While much of the global auto industry continues to shed employees, Ford Motor Co. said Thursday it would call back 1,000 workers to a truck plant in Dearborn, Mich., saying it expected growing consumer demand for its new F-150 pickup truck.

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]]> http://gas2.org/2008/11/03/ford-f150-plant-rehires-gambling-on-our-short-term-memory/feed/ http://planetsave.com/blog/2008/11/01/mass-relocations-planned-as-sea-levels-rise/ http://planetsave.com/blog/2008/11/01/mass-relocations-planned-as-sea-levels-rise/#comments Sat, 01 Nov 2008 23:53:34 +0000 Adam Shake http://planetsave.com/blog/2008/11/01/mass-relocations-planned-as-sea-levels-rise/

The government of Indonesia is preparing to do mass relocation’s of people living on islands considered vulnerable to rising sea levels over the next three decades.

Experts and Government officials fear that about 2,000 islands across the country will be underwater by between 2030 and 2040 due to rising sea levels caused by global warming. Indonesia has over 17,000 islands, of which, about 6,000 are populated.

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]]> http://planetsave.com/blog/2008/11/01/mass-relocations-planned-as-sea-levels-rise/feed/ http://gas2.org/2008/11/01/verasun-one-of-usas-largest-ethanol-producers-files-chapter-11/ http://gas2.org/2008/11/01/verasun-one-of-usas-largest-ethanol-producers-files-chapter-11/#comments Sat, 01 Nov 2008 21:14:48 +0000 Adam Shake http://gas2.org/2008/11/01/verasun-one-of-usas-largest-ethanol-producers-files-chapter-11/

According to a VeraSun press release, a “series of events” had shrunk its liquidity, impairing its ability to invest in production facilities and operate its business. “A dramatic spike in corn costs,” partly due to its hedging arrangements and “worsening capital market conditions and a tightening of trade credit resulted in severe constraints on the company’s liquidity position,” the release said.

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]]> http://gas2.org/2008/11/01/verasun-one-of-usas-largest-ethanol-producers-files-chapter-11/feed/ http://gas2.org/2008/10/30/florida-locomotives-to-begin-running-on-biodiesel/ http://gas2.org/2008/10/30/florida-locomotives-to-begin-running-on-biodiesel/#comments Thu, 30 Oct 2008 13:50:30 +0000 Adam Shake http://gas2.org/2008/10/30/florida-locomotives-to-begin-running-on-biodiesel/

Tri-Rail is to start operating 8 of its 10 locomotives on a 99 percent blend of either palm or soil oil biodiesel, the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority announced Wednesday.

Thanks to South Florida’s comparatively temperate climate, Tri-Rail is one of the few commuter rail systems in the country that can operate on such a pure blend of bio-fuel.

“The switch to biodiesel fuel has been long in coming,” said Commissioner Josephus Eggelletion, Jr., chair of the SFRTA Governing Board. “It follows in the path of Governor Crist’s mission to ‘green’ the state of Florida and we are pleased that the economies and efficiencies have come together to allow us to make this change for the betterment of the environment.”

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]]> http://gas2.org/2008/10/30/florida-locomotives-to-begin-running-on-biodiesel/feed/ http://gas2.org/2008/10/28/is-the-ethanol-industy-failing-or-flourishing/ http://gas2.org/2008/10/28/is-the-ethanol-industy-failing-or-flourishing/#comments Tue, 28 Oct 2008 14:05:32 +0000 Adam Shake http://gas2.org/2008/10/28/is-the-ethanol-industy-failing-or-flourishing/

Over the last few month’s we’ve seen a tide of News about the ethanol industry and it’s staggering growth, but in just the last few days, it seems as if the tides have turned. A confluence of events ranging from  rising corn prices and falling gas prices to increased rains and late corn harvests that some say are due to global warming, have resulted in a number of ethanol plants either shutting down or not being built.

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]]> http://gas2.org/2008/10/28/is-the-ethanol-industy-failing-or-flourishing/feed/ http://gas2.org/2008/10/25/introducing-the-new-electric-motorcycle-the-gpr-s/ http://gas2.org/2008/10/25/introducing-the-new-electric-motorcycle-the-gpr-s/#comments Sat, 25 Oct 2008 20:20:31 +0000 Adam Shake http://gas2.org/2008/10/25/introducing-the-new-electric-motorcycle-the-gpr-s/

A zero emissions street legal Electric Motorcycle for light commuters and motorcycle enthusiast alike, the new GPR-S is an Electric Motorcycle with a 14.2 kilowatt electric drive system. “How about power,” you ask? The Lithium batteries allow this light weight electric motorcycle to briskly accelerate to freeway speeds.

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]]> http://gas2.org/2008/10/25/introducing-the-new-electric-motorcycle-the-gpr-s/feed/ http://gas2.org/2008/10/24/wind-powered-electric-vehicle-charging-stations-available-in-australia/ http://gas2.org/2008/10/24/wind-powered-electric-vehicle-charging-stations-available-in-australia/#comments Fri, 24 Oct 2008 16:15:34 +0000 Adam Shake http://gas2.org/2008/10/24/wind-powered-electric-vehicle-charging-stations-available-in-australia/

Better Place, a company that builds electric-vehicle networks powered by renewable energy, is partnering with AGL and Macquarie to build wind-powered electric vehicle charging stations in Australia.

Victorian Premier John Brumby said, “The Victorian Government supports any initiative that will have positive outcomes in reducing emissions in the transport sector and welcomes this innovative approach to help make broad adoption of EVs in Australia possible.

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]]> http://gas2.org/2008/10/24/wind-powered-electric-vehicle-charging-stations-available-in-australia/feed/ http://gas2.org/2008/10/23/smart-for-2-car-or-the-white-house-which-do-tourists-prefer/ http://gas2.org/2008/10/23/smart-for-2-car-or-the-white-house-which-do-tourists-prefer/#comments Thu, 23 Oct 2008 15:07:49 +0000 Adam Shake http://gas2.org/2008/10/23/smart-for-2-car-or-the-white-house-which-do-tourists-prefer/

I work on Pennsylvania Ave. in Washington D.C., near the White House. Sometimes, when the weather is crisp and the sun is out, I like to step outside and take in the air for a moment, watching the tourist’s walk up and down as they visit all of the Capitols attractions, they in their t-shirts and tennis shoes, I in my suit and tie.  This morning was no different, except for one thing.

As the tourist trolley bus made it’s way down Penn Ave, instead of ogling the famous buildings, the tourists seemed more interested in checking out the bright yellow Smart fortwo car parked at the curb, just a few feet from me.  I heard the tour guide say something about the building I work in as he stopped at the light, then I saw a middle aged husband and wife pointing at the car, and telling their kids to “Check out that cute little car!”  “Wow!” exclaimed a boy of about ten, “That’s just my size!”  The light turned green, they were off, and I was left standing, looking at something that I see every day in this city.

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]]> http://gas2.org/2008/10/23/smart-for-2-car-or-the-white-house-which-do-tourists-prefer/feed/ http://gas2.org/2008/10/22/fiats-concept-bugster-buggy-spreads-its-legs-in-brazil/ http://gas2.org/2008/10/22/fiats-concept-bugster-buggy-spreads-its-legs-in-brazil/#comments Wed, 22 Oct 2008 22:20:56 +0000 Adam Shake http://gas2.org/2008/10/22/fiats-concept-bugster-buggy-spreads-its-legs-in-brazil/

Fiat’s new concept buggy, the Bugster, with what I would call an Eco Green paint job, is going to be making its world debut at the Sao Paulo Motor show in Brazil between October 30th and November 10th.

The vehicle has been developed by the Italian firms’s automotive engineering division in Brazil and features a zero-emission electric engine.

Showcasing a body made out of renewable natural fibers, it’s no wonder Fiat chose environmentally ravaged Brazil, to show of it’s futuristic green legs.

Follow the jump for another photo.

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]]> http://gas2.org/2008/10/22/fiats-concept-bugster-buggy-spreads-its-legs-in-brazil/feed/ http://gas2.org/2008/10/21/iowas-ethanol-plants-create-15-percent-of-its-emissions/ http://gas2.org/2008/10/21/iowas-ethanol-plants-create-15-percent-of-its-emissions/#comments Tue, 21 Oct 2008 16:35:43 +0000 Adam Shake http://gas2.org/2008/10/21/iowas-ethanol-plants-create-15-percent-of-its-emissions/

The Des Moines Register reported the other day that Iowa’s ethanol plants contribute 15 Percent — 7.6 million metric tons out of a total of 52 million metric tons — of greenhouse-gas emissions found in the state’s new inventory of major manufacturers, businesses and power plants.

Iowa’s Department of Natural Resources found that the largest portion of the state’s overall emissions came from fermenting grain at the plants and not from burning natural gas or coal. In addition, burning biomass such as switchgrass at various industrial plants added another 0.13 million metric tons.

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]]> http://gas2.org/2008/10/21/iowas-ethanol-plants-create-15-percent-of-its-emissions/feed/ http://gas2.org/2008/10/20/us-unable-to-meet-epas-renewable-fuel-standards/ http://gas2.org/2008/10/20/us-unable-to-meet-epas-renewable-fuel-standards/#comments Mon, 20 Oct 2008 14:49:53 +0000 Adam Shake http://gas2.org/2008/10/20/us-unable-to-meet-epas-renewable-fuel-standards/

The EPA, through its Renewable Fuel Standards program, has set a pretty idealistic goal for the introduction of cellulosic biofuels, and many are wondering if the goal will be able to be met.

In its mandate, the EPA has ordered that 36 billion gallons of biofuel be blended into the fuel supply by 2022. That doesn’t seem like such an unrealistic goal, until you consider that as of this writing, there are no commercial-scale refineries in existence in the United States and no distribution network to move the fuel once it has been developed. With these two roadblocks, 2022 doesn’t seem so far distant.

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]]> http://gas2.org/2008/10/20/us-unable-to-meet-epas-renewable-fuel-standards/feed/ http://gas2.org/2008/10/18/the-new-mini-e-lectric-emissions-free-car/ http://gas2.org/2008/10/18/the-new-mini-e-lectric-emissions-free-car/#comments Sat, 18 Oct 2008 16:53:42 +0000 Adam Shake http://gas2.org/2008/10/18/the-new-mini-e-lectric-emissions-free-car/ The BMW Group is about to become the first manufacturer of premium automobiles to deploy a fleet of nearly 500 all electric vehicles for private use in daily traffic. Powered by a 150 kW (204 hp) electric motor and fed by a high-performance rechargeable lithium-ion battery, the vehicle will be nearly silent and emissions free.

The Mini E will have a range of about 150 miles and will initially be offered to select private and corporate customers in California, New York and New Jersey, but will first be given its world premiere at the LA Auto Show on November 19th and 20th, 2008.

As for its speed, BMW claims that it will offer acceleration to 62 mph in 8.5 seconds with a top speed that is electronically limited to 95 mph.

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