Biofuels, EVs, and Recent Energy News
A lot has occurred recently regarding how we power our vehicles. Some is good news and some is terribly deja vu. We've included news of EVs also.
Bio-Seed Money
The most dramatic energy news is that one of the UK's best known entrepreneurs, Sir Richard Branson announced is will invest $3bn to fight global warming. He will commit all profits from his travel firms, such as airline Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Trains, over the next 10 years.
“We must rapidly wean ourselves off our dependence on coal and fossil fuels,” he said. Sir Richard recently launched Virgin Fuels, which will invest up to $400m in green energy projects and renewable energy.
Shortly after the announcement, Ted Turner was on David Letterman's show saying he thought it a smart investment that would make Sir Richard a lot of money. While Turner thought encouraging that the private sector was stepping up, he also stated that public policy support would make a big difference. Now, the fossil fuel industry is subsidized and gets the tax breaks, instead of more climate friendly alternative energy sources.
Biodiesel
The Green Restaurant Association has partnered with New Leaf Biofuel, LLC to provide San Diego diesel truck and car drivers with a local non-petroleum-based fuel made from used kitchen grease from San Diego restaurants. It is estimated that America's restaurants could supply drivers with enough biodiesel to cut our oil consumption by 350 gallons per year—enough to eliminate all imports from Syria, Yemen, The United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Ukraine and Bolivia.
Using biodiesel instead of petroleum-based diesel fuel can reduce green house emissions by 70%. New Leaf will be collecting waste grease from restaurants in San Diego and plans to produce 3 million gallons of biodiesel each year.
The Executive Director of the Green Restaurant Association is Michael Oshman. See www.dinegreen.com
Small Diesel Buying Window
The good news is that all diesel fuel now being sold is the new ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel. The fuel allows automakers to use new emissions equipment. The hope is this is a precursor to new, cleaner-burning diesel vehicles.
Volkswagen has an SUV that was to go on sale in September. Mercedes will also have a new clean burning diesel for sale. Unfortunately the laws in 2007 become stricter in California and once again they cannot be sold. VW is planning new models and will return to all states in 2008.
Ethanol Myth
Seemingly the favorite alternative fuel of the Bush Administration, ethanol hasn't gotten great reports recently. The October issue of Consumer Reports ran a cover story called “The Ethanol Myth.” They tested the 2007 Chevrolet Tahoe FFV - a flexible-fuel vehicle that can run on gasoline, or on E85, which is 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline.
Ethanol.org claims a combination of gasoline and ethanol will “decrease the fuel's cost, increases the fuel's octane rating and decrease gasoline's harmful emissions.”
Consumer Reports' conclusion was not good for ethanol. The FFV's they tested emit less smog-causing pollutants than gasoline, but they provide fewer miles to the gallon, are not cheaper than regular gasoline and it is hard to find ethanol outside of the Midwest.
EV History Repeating
On the heals of the movie Who Killed the Electric Car? and GM's shredding of the EV1, the hope would be that automakers might reconsider whether there is a market for EVs or not. Instead, Nissan has rounded up and locked up the 11 EVs called Hyperminis, which the city of Pasadena has been leasing from them.
Workers at the Pasadena Water and Power Department loved the vehicles and hid them when Nissan came calling. It only worked for a while before they were collected and put behind a locked chain-link fence.
The city fought Nissan and wanted to keep the cars, but Nissan refused. Nissan said they were recalling them because they couldn't maintain them. They were moving from Gardena to Nashville. City workers stated they have serviced the cars themselves.
Postcard Material
Dear Nissan,
When it comes to buying a new vehicle, there are so many choices these days it can really be overwhelming. After reading about your recent recall of the EV Hyperminis in Pasadena I want to thank you for eliminating yourself from my list of choices. Thanks for making life easier.
Call 800/NISSAN-1 or 800/647-7261.
Coming Events
The Green Expo will be held at the Palm Springs Convention Center Oct. 7-8 from 9am to 6pm. See www. ExperienceGreen.com. There will be a special screening of Who Killed the Electric Car? On Friday Oct. 6 at 7pm. Cast members Alexandra Paul, Chelsea Sexton and others will be present. See www.starpowerevent.com and www.pluginamerica.org
The Electric Vehicle Association of San Diego meets the fourth Tuesday of every month at 7pm in the auditorium of the San Diego R.T.C. at Pearson Ford.
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