Archive for the ‘Alt Fuels’ Category

Hydrogen Fuel

In 2003, President George Bush announced a $1.2 billion hydrogen fuel initiative in his State of the Union address that was intended to reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil to provide the petroleum we need to produce gasoline that would power our vehicles.  That commitment allowed scientists to develop the technology for commercially viable hydrogen-powered fuel cells to power cars, trucks, homes and businesses with no pollution or greenhouse gases.

Since then, there has been so much new funding in developing hydrogen fuel as an alternative to gasoline that we are now seeing many vehicles being powered by hydrogen fuel than ever before.  Hydrogen fuel depends on fuel cells to store and process the gas that will power a vehicle.  As a result of the initiative promised by President Bush, fuel cell technology has developed so much over the years that General Motors now boosts a one hundred percent hydrogen fuel powered vehicle.

Hydrogen Fuel Reality

Hydrogen fuel doesn’t come without its downfalls.  Hydrogen is four times as expensive to produce as gasoline (when produced from its most affordable source, natural gas). The hydrogen fuel initiative seeks to lower that cost enough to make fuel cell cars cost-competitive with conventional gasoline-powered vehicles by 2010; and to advance the methods of producing hydrogen from renewable resources, nuclear energy, and even coal.

Hydrogen Fuel = Energy Independence

By using hydrogen fuel instead of gasoline, we can actually become energy independent.  We won’t have to depend on other countries for our energy resources.  Hydrogen is domestically available in abundant quantities as a component of natural gas, coal, biomass, and even water.  The Department of Energy estimates that the hydrogen fuel initiative may reduce our demand for petroleum by over 11 million barrels per day by 2040 – approximately the amount of oil America imports today.

Hydrogen Fuel = Less Pollution

Vehicles are a significant source of air pollution in America’s cities and urban areas. Hydrogen fuel cells create electricity to power cars without any pollution. The hydrogen fuel initiative may reduce America’s greenhouse gas emissions from transportation alone by more than 500 million metric tons of carbon equivalent each year by 2040. Additional emissions reductions could be achieved by using fuel cells in applications such as generating electricity for residential or commercial uses.
Hydrogen fuel is the key to a clean energy future.  It has the highest energy content per unit weight of any known fuel.  When it is burned in an engine, it produces no emissions.  In fact, the only emission given off by hydrogen fuel when powering an engine is water vapor.

The newest, biggest thing in the alternative fuel industry is hydrogen fuel.  President Bush knew that and now the American people know that as well.  With new fuel cell technologies, owning a vehicle that is powered by hydrogen fuel alone is now a reality.  And it’s just the beginning!  How exciting!

More Hydrogen Fuel Resources

http://greener-living-online.com
Eco Tips Recycling Advice
Hydrogen Power
Renewable Energy Articles

There is a lot of buzz around eco-friendly passenger cars, however many manufacturers have also been working on fuel efficient and electric commercial vehicles. Here are some examples.

Navistar

Navistar has recently unveiled its first all-electric commercial truck, which is called eStar. It is a medium-duty vehicle with a range of 100 miles, and fully rechargeable in 6 to 8 hours. The truck will be used by FedEx in its Los Angeles fleet. What is important, the battery is a cassette-type one and can be changed in 20 minutes, which enables the truck to be used 24/7 if needed. Navistar has enjoyed a $39.2 million federal stimulus grant for the development of eStar as a part of the Transportation Electrification Initiative announced by President Obama. What is interesting is that in January 2010 Navistar received some federal funding again. This time the $37 million project is to help in development of a SuperTruck that is expected to provide a 50 percent improvement in fuel efficiency.

CNET gets a look at one of FedEx\’s eStar

Smith Electric Vehicles

Smith Electric Vehicles U.S. Corporation has been selected by U.S Department of Energy to receive a $32 million grant for a nationwide vehicle electrification program. The funding is used to support the production of all-electric zero emissions commercial trucks. Smith’s customers will also be able to participate in a commercial electric vehicle demonstration program with the goal being to gather data on vehicles placed in service in different regions of the country.

Smith is also proud to be the manufacturer of the world’s largest battery-electric-powered truck called Newton. The truck is equipped with Lithium-ion battery cell technology. It has a top speed of 50 mph, a one-charge range of 100 miles and offers a payload of over 16,000 pounds. Additionally, Newton runs without noise or vibration and stores electric energy during stopping thanks to regenerative braking. The manufacturer claims that when compared to diesel-fueled trucks, the vehicle can give savings of up to 80% on a per-mile basis.

CNN Money Highlights Smith Electric\’s eco-friendly truck

Electric Vehicles International

Based in Stockton, California, Electric Vehicles International is the manufacturer of  all-electric medium-duty truck, the EVI MD and the all-electric walk-in van, the EVI WI. Both vehicles can offer a bit higher performance than the trucks mentioned above with a top speed of 60 mph, a range of 115 miles. The battery requires 3 to 12 hours of charging, depending on its size and charge options (110v/220v).

Will the companies change they used trucks to new all-electric vehicles? The problem is that the green trucks are much more expensive to purchase. For example the eStar costs $150,000 – three times as much as a diesel truck of comparable size. For the time being the all-electric truck industry is supported by federal grants that make the vehicles cost-effective for buyers. In the future, when the production of green trucks reach economies of scale, the cost of the battery (which is the most expensive part) should fall, making the vehicle attractive even without subsidies.

Written by the team of Mascus.com. Visit our site to find various new and used trucks for sale.

Why go ‘Green’ with your choice of van

Nowadays it is de rigueur to discuss ‘going green’ with almost any topic imaginable. Here in the UK we have our first ‘Green’ party MP – the first of many I am sure. But in the emotive area of vehicle development, what is the availability of environmentally efficient cars, trucks and vans? With the price of petrol (gasoline) rising all the time, it becomes more and more important to conserve fuel consumption, because ultimately this means more money in our pockets. So how do you define a ‘green van? According to petrol prices.com: “a green van is a vehicle that is considered to be environmentally-friendly and to be less damaging to the environment compared with conventional vans”. So who cares, and why should anyone be bothered to ‘go green’ the next time they buy or lease a van?

The UK government (Department for Transport) is actively involved in encouraging the development of zero carbon and low carbon emission vans. Following competitive procurement, a process of selecting potential supplier, 4 companies were invited to submit proposals that showed new levels of performance, technical innovation and the potential for mass market commercialization.

Adrian Vinsome, Head of Programmes for Cenex (Centre of Excellence for Low Carbon and Fuel Cell Technologies): “Van use in the UK is rising more rapidly than for any other vehicle category, and van journeys are getting longer. As a result, CO2 emissions from vans are projected to rise rapidly over the next 10 to 15 years. A number of manufacturers have developed lower carbon and all-electric technologies, but these tend to be expensive in low production volumes and it is difficult for fleet operators to justify the additional cost. The LCVPP is helping overcome these initial cost barriers, paving the way for market development.”

‘Green’ vehicle technologies

Hybrid Vehicles: The current craze is for hybrid vehicles which were first released in the US markets by Honda with its ‘Insight’ model. The insight was able to boast 61 mpg in urban areas and up to 70mpg on the open roads. This vehicle was soon followed by Toyota’s version, the Prius. The hybrid technology uses a combination of a petrol motor and an electric motor that are connected via battery pack, featuring state-of-the-art energy saving measures such as regenerative braking.

Regenerative braking takes over some of the stopping duties from the friction brakes and instead uses the electric motor to help stop the car. To do this, the electric motor operates as a generator, recovering some of the kinetic energy and converting it into electricity that is stored in the battery so it can be used later to help drive the vehicle down the road. In order for the system to actually improve fuel economy, however, the vehicle must have a large enough electric motor operating at a high enough voltage to efficiently capture the braking energy.

Regenerative braking system

Hybrid vehicle and SUV’s are now offered by virtually every major automaker. Unfortunately, all the extra equipment involved in building a hybrid engine means that they are often more costly to buy than conventional vans and cars. That means that you may be driving for a few years before the money you realize the potential savings from the traditional method of transport.

High Efficiency fuel: In comparison to conventional combustion engines, high efficiency engines use much less fuel and therefore release less harmful emissions into the atmosphere. It is predicted that major advances in the technology of these engines will occur during the next few years, with potential increases of up to 30% in fuel economy. There is a cross over here with hybrid vehicles, as many are already using the highly efficient engines.

Going green is getting more important to a lot of people every year. As vans get better and better at conserving fuel, we all see the benefits: both to our environment ultimately in our pockets.

Clean Diesel: The ‘Greenest’ technology on the road at the moment is a variation of the diesel power plant that has been in production for a number of years. Known as ‘clean diesels’, these engines can average 50mpg under normal driving conditions. One of the advantages of this improved technology is that you do not have to sacrifice performance for efficiency. Clean diesel cars and trucks are now offered by Volkswagen, BMW, Audi, Cadillac, Saturn, Honda and Ford.

Bio
Peter is an internet marketer and enjoys writing about SEO and automotive topics, specializing in van leasing.

Ever thought that it was possible to see a green cat – and I am not referring to some pampered pussy that’s passed its sell-by date. I am talking about roaring tigers – the two new Eco-friendly Catamarans commissioned by Wightlink ferries, and built in the Philippines by FBMA Marine.

The first of the new fleet of two catamarans was launched in the Philippines recently and after a successful period of sea trials, was given the green light. The vessels were named Wight Ryder1 and 2 respectively after the company held and internal competition. The winner of the competition, Mike Bristow, was an employee of the company based at Ryde Pier head, and claimed to have got the inspiration from ‘watching too many American programmes’.

But aside from the obvious aesthetic quality of the vessels, the thing that has really impressed the industry is the operational efficiency that has been worked into the design. Originally designed by Southampton based boat designer, BMT Nigel Gee, the new catamarans have been given greater stability during the journey, and improved berthing facilities. Both of these points have greatly reduced the anticipated cancellations, and have therefore improved the service on offer. Andrew Wilson, Chief Executive of Wightlink commented:  “Reliability is our overriding objective and, with these advantages, the new craft should enable Wightlink to reduce the instances of weather-related cancellations that affect the existing service.”

The key to the improved performance, and the reason the designers can lay claim to the environmentally-friendly credentials is the new advance electronic management system. This, it is claimed, will result in fuel savings of around 1.3 million litres per annum, compared with the existing FastCats vessels, with a reduction in emissions equivalent to over 3.4 million kg CO2.

But how does this translate to the ordinary man in the street? It is a clean and simple service, or do people encounter problems that end up resulting in the undoing of all the best practices established by the vessels themselves? I decided that the best way to find this out, was to take a trip on the ‘cats’ myself.

I arrived in the city of Portsmouth by car, not a good start I know, but I wanted to see how well the area was signposted. I was not disappointed. Both the regular car ferry service and the catamarans are well signposted, an important factor when you consider the extra petrol consumption used on futile searching for your destination. When approaching by rail, a much more sensible option, you will find the docking point of the catamarans immediately outside Portsmouth Harbour station. After a short walk, you are ready to board the catamaran, which runs a service every 30 minutes. The journey itself, takes only 18 minutes, but as you leave the entrance to Portsmouth Harbour, you can’t help but think of the historical magnitude of the area; the fleets that have previously left for battle and the famous commanders of those fleets like Nelson.

Your destination is the historical Ryde Pier head, where the Cats are moored. Ryde Pier is quite long, about a quarter of a mile, but providing you are up to the walk, this is another great way of saving costs and therefore energy. A service is available for disabled and senior passengers, but I preferred to walk and take in the emerging view of the town ahead of me. All in all, I was impressed by the service offered by these vessels and the way that the ferry company, Wightlink, have integrated it into their system. It indicates to me, that they are serious about issues concerning the environment, which I hope in time will spread to the larger car-carrying vessels.

Bio

Peter is an internet marketer and SEO, and enjoys writing about issues that concern the environment, and travel and accommodation on the Isle of Wight.

As more and more people live and work in the cities, even the best developed public transport and a network of highways may soon not be enough to serve all the commuters. What is more, if we won’t stop the usage of petrol and diesel cars, the quality of the air is the overcrowded cities will deteriorate noticeably. That is why General Motors and its strategic partner in China – Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. Group (SAIC) – have been working on a new type of vehicle that could help to revolutionize the idea of urban mobility.

GM EN-V
The vehicle called EN-V (short for Electric Networked-Vehicle) was designed to help in the elimination of diesel and petrol cars in the urban areas what should result is better air quality. What is more, due to its small size (it needs around 5 times less space than a typical automobile) the car can also reduce the problem of traffic jams and limited parking space. Unfortunately the EN-V has a range of only 40km (25 miles), so it is suitable only for city transportation; nevertheless it has several advantages that are worth consideration. Thanks to combination of GPS-based navigation with wireless vehicle-to-vehicle communication and distance-sensing technologies, the vehicle can drive itself, without engaging the passengers. Another advantage of the high-tech solutions is that the vehicle will ‘sense’ what is going on around, react quickly to changing driving conditions and – as a consequence – significantly reduce the number of accidents. Furthermore, the EN-V can also automatically select the best route basing on real-time traffic information.
The vehicle has been presented publicly for the first time at the end of March 2010. It will be also shown between May 1st and October 31st at Shanghai World Expo 2010. There are three body versions of EN-V at the moment: blue which is called Xiao (in Chinese: laugh), red – Jiao (pride), and gray – Miao (magic).

The author recommends CarTruckTrader.com. Visit the website to find a comprehensive list of new and used hybrid vehicles for sale online.

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Cars today are messy, bad for the environment and are eating up our planets natural resources, but has it always been like this?  When cars were first built and invented by the French Engineer Mr Cugnot were they quite so bad?

The very first self propelled cars were steam powered, and were actually built in the 18^th century.  They were used frequently throughout the 19^th century and especially in Britain where they were used for stage coaches.  These steam powered cars although bulky and had received a name for breaking down quite a lot, had another charm about them!

These cars were environmentally friendly.  All they did was burn water, creating steam, doing no harm to the planet.  Speed may have been limited and of course it was annoying to travel somewhere long distance, especially because you would have to stop every 15 minutes or so to build up some steam pressure.  Where we really all that wrong with this sort of car?

The main problems as listed above where that we couldn’t actually travel anywhere and get there much faster than riding a horse or walking.  So we needed to find another way in which we could travel, similar but faster.  Steam may not have been able to help us get to destinations quickly, but it was safer for the planet.

The other big problem was the steam engine itself.  They were heavy and bulky, and of course extremely hot, and needed to be exposed.  If the occasional burn or engine exploding didn’t bother you then you were going to be right as rain, but will probably be forking out quite a lot of cash.

Now we are trying different solutions with electric powered cars and hydrogen fuel cells.  These are much safer, and still have the same sort of power as the gas powered cars.  In fact the company Tesla Motors had created a car called the Tesla (see image below) that is faster in a straight line than the lotus, and only needs to recharge every 200 miles.  It can accelerate from 0-60 in under 4 seconds, quite impressive for something that runs on laptop batteries.  This just goes to show that these electric cars can achieve a lot and could have even further to go.  All they need to do now is sort out the price tag!

Bio:

Marcus travels around the world with a Golf holidays Tour Operator, blogging and talking about the environment and cars is one of his greatest passions.

At some point we are going to run out of our fossil fuels like oil and coal and will need resources that can sustain us in the future!  So what are these wonderful renewable energies that will help take us into the future?

• Wind Power:  This is already in use, although not as much as it should be.  The idea is that by turning a turbine using the Earths natural wind energy can generate electricity.  It works and very well, especially in countries that have a windy climate or a high above sea level.  However the main drawback is that the amount of turbines needed to power even a village would be massive.  A Nuclear Power Station can power many towns and cities, whereas in order to power many towns and cities with wind energy you would need millions of air turbines.  This is still potentially one of the best forms of renewable energy resource to utilize.

• Next we have the Solar Power of the Sun.  Our most powerful energy source in the solar system is our Sun.  We use solar panels to store the energy that the suns rays give off and then store it to in an electrical form that can be used when we wish.  The power generated by these solar panels is much like the Wind turbines, as in it is very low.  This is also something we must utilize to great effect as well, as the potential here is also great, in vast amounts the energy that can be gathered is immense, and we need to use vast areas of land!

• Next up is Hydropower!  This one is utilised best in massive dams that have a huge amount of water flowing through them.  Much in the same way a windmill works but on a much larger scale, the water is driven through a turbine at immense speeds.  This can generate large amounts of electricity, but plenty of water is needed and required in a specific way, so it is difficult to place all over the world!

Bio:

Marcus works with a Caribbean holidays tour operator and enjoys blogging about all of his personal experiences around the world.

A green revolution in the automotive industry has begun, and from time to time we can hear about some brand new technologies that may soon end the predominance of petrol and diesel cars and their negative impact on the environment. For the time being the greenest option are electric vehicles. They are clean, quiet and cheap to run. Of course, they are still not perfect, as the most of the electricity that charges the batteries comes from coal-burning power stations, nevertheless they are the most eco-friendly cars for the time being, and hopefully, in the near future more and more electricity will come from wind, hydropower and solar panels.

There is still long way to go, but at least we are heading in the right direction. As society has become more aware of the environmental problems associated with internal-combustion engines and expects the eco-friendly alternatives, major manufacturers have decided to respond to these expectations. What is more, many governments are now supporting the introduction of vehicles with electric motors powered by battery packs, what will definitely speed up the process. Today electric cars make a minuscule proportion of new car sales, but this figure should improve soon…

The world goes electric

The US government wants to have 1 million electric cars on the road by 2015. To encourage drivers the Obama administration offered tax incentives to those who decided on Neighborhood Electric Vehicles (NEV) last year. Such vehicle costs around $6,500 and those who bought one could get a tax credit for the full amount. What is more, last year Obama granted $2.4 billion to manufacturers willing to build production plants for electric vehicle batteries. To further support the industry and promote the notion, he also promised that half of cars purchased by the federal government will be plug-in hybrids or all-electric by 2012.

At the end of 2009, the UK government has launched the world’s largest ‘real life’ electric-car trial. The £25 million scheme enables citizens to take part in long-term tests of 340 electric vehicles, ranging from small city cars to sports cars and vans. The project is being undertaken to gather data from real users on battery life, convenience and viable range. What is important, the 8 cities that have been chosen for the trial benefit from new charging infrastructure, what is an undeniable advantage for prospective buyers. There are also plans to exempt electric vehicles from company car tax for several years.

France, Japan, China, and Canada plan to launch some sort of electric vehicle incentive program this year as well. Surely, other countries will follow the suit soon.

Written by the team of CarTruckTrader.com. Visit them online to find fuel efficient vehicles for sale.