In order to cut harmful emissions from maritime vessels, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the next steps of its coordinated effort on Wednesday. The steps include creating a rule under the Clean Air Act that would establish tough engine and fuel standards for U.S. flagged ships. The proposed rule would harmonize with international standards and lead to improved air quality throughout the country.
Three more car companies received sizeable loans from the federal government yesterday, but don’t worry; it’s not another bailout. In fact, the$8 billion is just the start of a larger $25 billion project called the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program (ATVM for short) that was thought up back in 2007 and funded by Congress in late 2008 during the Bush administration. The project, overseen by the Department of Energy, is a federal grant and loan initiative bent on providing [...]
The Rampart Casino in Summerlin, Nevada, has taken the first steps toward a more Electric Vehicle (EV) friendly community. With the installation of an EV charging station, the Rampart became the first casino property to accommodate EVs, whose charge station was acquired in a business deal with Coulomb Technolgies.
If you build it, they will come…or not. Since the addition of the EV charge station, the Rampart Casino has seen limited numbers of Electric Vehicles. Very limited.
“We only have one patron with an electric car, that I know of,” said John Shaughnessy, a casino security guard. “Actually, I’ve never seen it.”
David Garth, a valet for the casino since 1999, confirmed Shaughnessy’s statement, saying that he’s never seen an EV pull up. “But,” he said, “we get plenty of hybrids.”
Amsterdam - On May 27, 2009, 365-Energy Group announced a pilot-program that could make Amsterdam the leader an Electric Vehicle (EV) infrastructure in Europe.
By 2012, the city of Amsterdam plans to be home to 200 electric vehicle charging stations. These 200 stations, courtesy of US-based Coulomb Technologies, are expected to serve 10,000 cars by the year 2015.
Excitement is high over the two-year public demonstration program, which will use 45 Coulomb Technologies‘ ChargePoint(TM) Networked Charging Stations as their source of fuel. Richard Lowenthall, CEO of the California-based company, announced that “the city of Amsterdam will have the largest network of smart charging stations in Europe for fleet and consumer charging.” He went on to say that, “Coulomb is providing an inclusive open architecture so that all electric vehicle owners in Amsterdam can easily make the switch from gasoline to electricity as a fuel.”
NASA’s new ingeneous design calls for using large plastic bags, made of forward-osmosis membranes, and filled with sewage for offshore harvesting of algae for bio-fuel. Don’t expect any protests against this “offshore” oil-generation!
One of the world’s most prestigious and established biofuels meetings, the 31st Symposium on Biotechnology for Fuels and Chemicals, is currently underway May 3-6 in San Francisco, with more than 800 scientists expected to attend sessions on topics ranging from commercialization of biofuels and their long-term sustainability to emerging technologies and turning algae into fuel.
We’re liveblogging (on Twitter) [...]
Renewable fuels company Sustainable Oils shared the results of a life-cycle analysis of jet fuel created from proprietary Camelina seeds. According to the study, renewable jet-fuel made from Camelina reduces carbon emissions by 84% percent compared to the petroleum-based counterpart.
A team at Michigan Tech University based their research on Camelina grown in Montana and then processed into bio-jet fuel using “UOP hydroprocessing technology”. Next generation biofuels are true hydrocarbons and in the molecular aspect are indistinguishable from fossil fuels, which makes Camelina oil a good candidate to quickly reduce carbon emissions produced by aviation.
Editor’s Note: This is Dalton Wignall’s first contribution to Gas 2.0. Welcome Dalton!
It’s said to be the “most complete” charging station in the country, with two units that are capable of recharging electric vehicles in roughly an hour. Hopefully, the facility will set an example and give way to future possibilities for charging stations.
In honor of the inauguration, six Tesla Roadsters were brought to the charging station by Tesla Motors representatives. The Tesla roadsters are capable of traveling up to 250 miles on a single electric charge and go 0-60 in a speedy 4 seconds.
A team of British designers have created a new racing car made entirely of vegetables and powered by … chocolate.
The car, named the ecoF3, has a steering wheel made of carrots, a body made of potatoes and a seat made of soybeans. The team, from World First Racing, hope that environmentally-friendly technology used in their car will be adopted by Formula 1 teams such as McLaren and world champions Ferrari.
The algae! Yes – the same slimy brown-green ‘plant’ that makes a pond or a lake look yucky – is the creating a great buzz as the most promising source of alternative energy. And now nanotechnology is being leveraged to add some more zing to the promise!
US Scientists have revealed how natural gas locked up in frozen water crystals could provide massive amounts of energy, and claim that it could even be totally emissions-free.
The astonishing claim was made by Tim Collett of the United States Geological Survey at last weeks national meeting of the American Chemical Society. Collett told the gathering that, to the naked eye, clathrate hydrate (CH) looks like everyday ice but, as well as being partly made of water, the molecules are also organised into “cages”, which trap individual molecules of methane.
Remarkably, a new method of extracting the methane and ’swapping’ it with carbon dioxide could turn the substance into a revolutionary carbon-neutral fossil fuel.
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