Green Car Congress

Advanced Research Projects Energy (ARPA-E) Act Proposed in Senate and House

Bills that would create a new program within the US Department of Energy to be focused on leading the way to reducing dependence on petroleum have been introduced in both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

The Advanced Research Projects Energy (ARPA-E) program is modeled on the Defense Advanced Research Program Agency (DARPA), the source for much of the work that led to the Internet.

Senators Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Harry Reid (D-NV) and Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) introduced S. 2196 (Advanced Research Projects Energy Act (ARPA-E) Act) in the Senate last week. Representative Bart Gordon (D-TN) had introduced H.R. 4435 (along with 25 co-sponsors) in December 2005.

The ARPA-E program office, with an authorized funding level of $9 billion for fiscal years 2007 to 2011, would take on high-risk, high pay-off research to move advanced energy technologies into the marketplace.

In the House bill, the agency is chartered explicitly to reduce the amount of energy the United States imports from foreign sources by 20% over the next 10 years.

A report from The National Academy of Sciences recommends the creation of such a new agency to sponsor “creative, out-of-the-box, transformational, generic energy research in those areas where industry by itself cannot or will not undertake such sponsorship, where risks and pay-offs are high.”

Such an organization would be able to accelerate the process by which research is transformed to address energy-related economic, environmental, and security issues to decrease dependence on foreign energy through targeted research and technology development.

The agency would itself perform no research or transitional effort but would fund such work conducted by universities, startups, established firms, and others.

Resources:

• H.R. 4435 ARPA-E Act

• NAS: Rising Above The Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future

Diesel Auto Sales Trending to Exceed Gasoline in Europe in 2006

Sales of new diesel cars in Europe continue to increase.

The latest quarterly pricing survey by Pricewaterhouse Coopers and eurocarprice.com finds that diesels accounted for 49% (7,415,198 units) of the total European car market at the end of 2005. That represents a 7% increase in annual sales volume over the prior period.

Diesel is now set to overtake gasoline as the primary fuel for new passenger vehicles in Europe during 2006 as buyers look for more fuel-efficient options.

Although diesel car sales will undoubtedly outstrip those of petrol in the coming year, the debate continues on the ultimate level of penetration they will achieve. They could potentially achieve 55-60% of the total market but the extra costs of making diesels to meet tougher emissions requirements means buyers will still have to pay a premium over petrol versions.

Fuel prices will be another factor. Demand for diesel models tends to be higher in markets where there is the largest price difference between petrol and diesel. Varying levels of diesel fuel taxation between countries will always be a constraint.

—Chris Hibbs, UK Automotive leader, PricewaterhouseCoopers

Although overall the price of diesel was 8% less than that of gasoline, in the UK, which showed an 8% gain in diesel sales, the price of diesel was 5% higher than gasoline.

Prices for diesel cars continued to rise more quickly (by 3.5% a year) compared with those for gasoline cars (3.2%) in the final quarter of 2005, although the overall rate of price increases slowed as sales weakened.

European Diesel Sales
Country	Diesel sales Oct 04–Sep 05	% Total market	% Change sales	Diesel fuel price vs. gasoline
Belgium	349,545	72%	3%	-19%
France	1,449,381	70%	6%	-12%
Spain	1,137,162	68%	9%	-7%
Austria	205,870	66%	-4%	-6%
Portugal	118,850	62	11%	-17%
Italy	1,337,162	59%	2%	-8%
Germany	1,441,577	43%	6%	-12%
United Kingdom	873,121	36%	8%	5%
Norway	36,195	34%	29%	-5%
Poland	77,312	31%	-17%	-3%
Czech Republic	36,829	28%	-10%	-1%
Switzerland	73,414	28%	11%	9%
The Netherlands	125,279	26%	9%	-24%
Denmark	32,719	25%	21%	-11%
Ireland	36,917	21%	30%	1%
Finland	22,802	17%	2%	-17%
Hungary	35,229	17%	29%	3%
Sweden	21,635	9%	6%	-4%
Greece	4,039	1%	-56%	-3%
Total	7,415,198	49%	7%	-8%

Honda Begins Selling Civic Hybrids in Mexico

Mercosur. Honda launched consumer sales of its Civic Hybrid in the Mexican market; Mexico is the first Latin American country in which hybrids are offered to consumers. Last week the company entered into an agreement with the Mexican government for the testing of 500 Civic hybrids. (Earlier post.)

Honda Mexico’s head of product planning, Ricardo Chan, is confident the company will meet its modest sales goal of 450 vehicles this year. The hybrids are priced at US$26,415.

“It’s a conservative figure from a certain point of view, but we’re taking into account that this is a completely new, virgin, market”, said Chan who added that Honda’s choice of Mexico as the first market for these vehicles in Latin America was because of the severe air pollution in Mexico City and other big urban areas of the country.

Auto sales in Mexico in 2005 grew 3.3% to an annual record of 1.13 million vehicles, according to figures from the Mexican Automotive Industry Association. Honda was sixth in the Mexican market last year in terms of sales, trailing Volkswagen, Nissan and US automakers Ford, General Motors and Chrysler.

SatCon Wins Army Contract for Integrated Starter/Generator for Hybrids

The US Army has awarded SatCon Technology, a developer and manufacturer of power electronics and motors for alternative energy markets, a contract to develop an Integrated Starter/Generator (ISG) for hybrid powertrain military vehicles. SatCon currently sells a line of subsystems to hybrid vehicle integrators such as Azure Dynamics, among others (earlier post).

This award expands SatCon’s portfolio of vehicle power technologies with the development of an integrated starter/generator based on an advanced permanent-magnet motor.

This work is a direct follow-on from research conducted at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for the automotive sector, and previous SatCon work supporting the Department of Energy’s FreedomCAR traction motor development program.

SatCon will leverage its prior Partnership for the Next Generation Vehicles (PNGV) development work and Advanced Integrated Power Module (AIPM) technology to provide the mating drive for the ISG. This is dual-use technology—applicable to both military and civilian hybrid electric vehicles—and will be designed to function as an ISG and/or traction motor.

SatCon’s Applied Technology division is currently developing DC/DC converters (pulse power and battery chargers), starter generators, auxiliary power units, and main generators for hybrid electric vehicles for U. S. Army advanced technology vehicles.

A week before this award, Satcon won a contract to develop an Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) for military tactical vehicles.

The SatCon APU can be configured as a standalone unit or geared to the main engine, employing either liquid or air-cooling. The APU combines a high speed permanent magnet (PM) generator with a novel power circuit and controller design that provides 270VDC, 28VDC, and 120VAC power ports.

The baseline configuration is targeted as a 4kW APU for the Abrams tank. As a dual-use opportunity, this technology is also applicable to providing auxiliary power outlets on hybrid electric commercial and passenger cars and trucks.

Connecticut DEP Presents Clean Diesel Plan

Diesel Particulate Matter (DPM). Source: CT DEP

The Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has presented a Clean Diesel Plan to the state General Assembly that would significantly reduce the emissions of PM 2.5 diesel particulate matter from buses and construction equipment.

The DEP developed the plan in response to Special Act 05-7 of the General Assembly which required DEP to provide the legislature with a strategy to reduce health risks associated with diesel emissions from four specific sectors: transit, school bus, construction, and on-road fleets.

The DEP concluded it would cost approximately $20 million to retrofit or replace transit buses, school buses and construction equipment to meet the specific targets for diesel emissions reductions suggested in the 2005 legislation. These targets were:

• 85% reduction of diesel particulate matter in transit buses by the end of 2010.

• Maximized reduction of diesel particulate matter and prevent diesel emissions from entering the passenger cabins of buses by the end of 2010.

• Maximize the reduction of particulate matter emissions from construction equipment servicing state construction projects valued at more than $5 million by 1 July 2006.

Sources of Connecticut on-road PM 2.5 emissions in 2002. Click to enlarge.

In 2002, highway vehicles in Connecticut emitted 563 tons of PM 2.5 (about 2.7% of the total 21,000 tons of PM emitted from all sources). Of that highway total, school and transit buses accounted for 6%, or 33.78 tons per year. Heavy-duty Class 8 trucks accounted for 69%.

The report steps back from suggesting a strategy for on-road fleet reductions (i.e., those of heavy-duty commercial diesel vehicles).

The current inventory [of suggested approaches] is somewhat limited to develop detailed evaluation of fleet-wide emission reduction options. Prior to developing fleet specific emission reduction strategies and choosing an appropriate model for Connecticut, a complete inventory of on-road vehicles is needed...

In its development of a more detailed on-road action plan, DEP will focus on the waste-hauling fleet because:

• The trucks travel at low speed and idle frequently in neighborhoods and commercial centers directly exposing people to their exhaust;

• They operate in significant numbers in urban areas where diesel emission reductions should be prioritized; and

• They are likely to be either publicly owned or privately owned but under public contract.

The DEP report also suggests that the legislature consider steps to reduce diesel emissions in areas beyond the mobile sources specified in its Special Act of 2005. These include:

• Consider the use of low sulfur and biodiesel blended home heating oil. Reducing the permitted sulfur content of heating oil from 3,000 parts per million (ppm) to 500 ppm would reduce sulfur emissions by 83 percent. The agency also said further reductions could be obtained by requiring a blend of low-sulfur heating oil and biodiesel fuel.

• Address emissions from wood burning. While not directly related to diesel emissions, wood burning is a major source of the type of particulate pollution addressed by the Special Act, representing an estimated 38% of fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) in the state’s air. As fuel prices rise, more people are burning wood as a primary source of fuel.

• Develop a more comprehensive anti-idling strategy. While there are anti-idling laws for school buses, broader legislative and legal enforcement action—including strong penalties for violations—is needed to reduce excessive idling by all types of motor vehicles, according to DEP.

• Encourage fleet turnover. Tax incentives could be considered to encourage the earlier retirement and replacement of older buses, which would speed up air quality benefits of the new engines beginning with the 2007 model year.

Emissions from diesel engines contain fine particulate matter (PM 2.5). Exposure to PM 2.5 has been linked to premature death from heart or lung disease. When inhaled into the lungs it can aggravate existing heart and lung diseases to cause cardiovascular symptoms, arrhythmias, heart attacks, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma attacks and bronchitis. EPA has also classified Diesel Particulate Matter as a probable human carcinogen.

Children, the elderly, and other sensitive populations are most at risk from diesel emissions and PM 2.5. Urban areas, with construction sites and heavy traffic that includes buses and diesel trucks, are often hot spots for PM 2.5, which puts large numbers of people at risk.

Public exposure to PM 2.5 is a health issue in Connecticut and states across the country. The EPA has formally designated New Haven and Fairfield Counties as being in non-attainment with the federal ambient air quality standard for PM 2.5.

Approximately one half of the state’s population (1.73 million people) resides in these two counties. In addition, the entire state fails to meet federal ozone standards.

Resources:

• DEP Diesel Reduction Initiatives

• Connecticut Clean Diesel Plan (final)

Human-Produced Aerosols in Many Arctic Clouds Contribute to Climate Warming

Enhanced aerosol concentrations can make the clouds more opaque and emit more thermal energy to the surface.

Two scientists from Scripps Institute of Oceanography and Brookhaven National Laboratory have measured the impact of a significant anthropogenic source of warming: aerosol concentrations in Arctic clouds. The research is published in the current issue of Nature.

The team used radiometric data to show that increased concentrations of aerosols in the clouds cause the cloud droplets to become smaller and, within clouds of fixed water amounts, more abundant. This process, known as the “first indirect” effect makes many clouds more opaque and to emit more thermal energy to the surface by an average of 3.4 watts per square meter, which is comparable to the effect of increased greenhouse gases.

The Arctic is showing the first unmistakable signs of climate warming caused by human activities, in the form of rapidly retreating and thinning sea ice. This rapid climate change in the Arctic may have profound implications for both fragile ecosystems and unique modes of human habitation. Our study illustrates how human activity can influence Arctic climate in more than one way, by changing the way clouds warm the climate, in addition to the carbon dioxide increases. It is also another example of human industrial activity’s surprising impact on remote polar regions, the most famous example being the Antarctic ozone hole discovered in the mid-1980s.

—Ray Lubin, Scripps

The Arctic region also experiences significant periodic influxes of anthropogenic aerosols, which originate from the industrial regions in lower latitudes.

Because sunlight is generally weak in the Arctic, the clouds, via their emission of thermal energy, normally exert a net warming on the Arctic climate system throughout most of the year, except briefly during the summer.

Resources:

• “A climatologically significant aerosol longwave indirect effect in the Arctic”; Dan Lubin and Andrew M. Vogelmann; Nature 439, 453–456 (26 January 2006); doi:10.1038/nature04449

Eurobarometer: High Fuel Prices Not Sufficient Incentive for Widespread Consumer Change

Only slightly more than 50% would use their cars less if fuel prices hit €2/liter ($9.18/gallon)

A European Commission survey of 24,930 consumers in the 25 Member States as well as the acceding and candidate countries determined that 77% of citizens pay attention to the energy consumed by cars (59% paying “a lot of attention”).

However, faced with a hypothetical price increase of fuel to €2/liter—that’s $9.18/gallon for those of us in the US—only 53% said they would use their cars less. Of that 53%, only 22% said they would use their cars “a lot less often.”

Given the findings on car use, the survey analysis concludes:

Other active policies are necessary to promote the use of alternative means of transport.

In July 2005, the European Commission launched a four-year campaign to raise public awareness on sustainable energy. The EC organized this Eurobarometer survey as a way to better understand the position of consumers on the energy situation.

At the top level, the survey found that while the development of renewable energies is favored by large blocks (48% supporting a focus on solar, 31% supporting a focus on wind), a majority of people (54%) are not yet ready to pay more.

Forty-seven percent of the respondents think that energy policy should be addressed at the European level, while 37% think it should be handled at the national level.

Resources:

• Eurobarometer: Attitudes Toward Energy

Sandia Labs Tackling PEM Fuel Cell Issues

Liquid water content of an operating PEM fuel cell. Red color is more water, blue is less. Source: Sandia.

Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories are working to understand water management and performance degradation in hydrogen-fueled PEM (proton exchange membrane) fuel cells—two key areas that need to be addressed before PEM fuel cells can be used more routinely in transportation and/or for home power.

One, Ken S. Chen, is developing computational models to describe the phenomena while the other, Mike Hickner, is performing physical experimentation.

The work is internally funded through a three-year Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) grant to tackle key technical challenges. Sandia is a National Nuclear Security Administration laboratory.

“A natural byproduct of using hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity in a PEM fuel cell is water [with waste heat being the other]. One challenge is maintaining the proper amount of water in a PEM fuel cell. Sufficient water in the membrane is needed to maintain its conductivity, whereas too much liquid water can result in flooding the cathode gas diffusion layer, which prevents reactant oxygen from reaching catalytic sites and causes performance deterioration.

—Ken Chen, project principal investigator

The two scientists have obtained some nice feedback between the experiments and analyses. The intent is to build a computational tool that can be used in designing fuel cells, eliminating the need to do experiments on every single part of them.

For the past couple of years Chen and Hickner have focused mainly on liquid water transport, developing a PEM fuel cell model that can be employed to simulate a fuel cell’s performance, and performing diagnostic tests on fuel cells for phenomena discovery and model validation.

Next they will tackle the key technical issues of performance degradation or durability, including performance degradation under normal operating conditions and under freezing operating conditions.

Bruce Kelley, project manager for the PEM Fuel Cell LDRD and manager of Sandia’s Chemical Biological Systems Department, says the project was developed specifically to leverage Sandia’s capabilities in multi-physics modeling and membrane materials to develop broader capabilities with applicability to fuel cells and other related technology areas.

Biomass to Play “Essential Role” in Reducing Global Dependence on Fossil Fuels; Time to Get On It

Writing in the journal Science, a group of scientists from the UK and the USA said that using biomass rather than oil or coal to produce fuels and chemicals could play an essential role in reducing the world’s dependence on fossil fuels.

The scientists from Imperial College London, Georgia Tech and Oak Ridge National Laboratory have evaluated the scientific and technological potential of a future based on biomass. Their conclusions form the basis of a strategic alliance between the three institutions, the AtlantIC Alliance.

The paper in Science describes the scientific challenges of creating a facility to process all the components of biomass. Such a facility would make a range of fuels, foods, chemicals, animal feeds, materials, heat and power in proportions that would give maximum value with minimum waste.

The scientists believe that efficient refining of biomass will be vital for producing renewable products with reduced carbon emissions. Biofuels and biomaterials are derived from plants which take carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as they grow. Their net contribution to the addition of greenhouse gases can be very small if minimal non-renewable energy is used when processing them into useful material or energy products.

We’re looking at a future for biomass where we use the entire plant and produce a range of different materials from it.

Biomass has a completely different molecular structure compared with hydrocarbons from oil. That means we’ll need to develop new techniques so that we can transform plant material into everything from specialty, high value products such as perfumes and plastics to higher volume products such as fuels.

—Dr. Charlotte Williams, Imperial College

Imperial hopes that the partnership with Georgia Tech and Oak Ridge will combine their complementary areas of expertise and examine the critical issues from alternative angles. The project has been given a major boost by the award of a UK Office of Science and Technology grant to develop the alliance, backed up by internal funding from each of the partners.

An editorial in the same issue of Science by Steven Koonin, chief scientist for BP (earlier post), calls for a global scientific focus on biofuels.

Credible studies show that with plausible technology developments, biofuels could supply some 30% of global demand in an environmentally responsible manner without affecting food production. To realize that goal, so-called advanced biofuels must be developed from dedicated energy crops, separately and distinctly from food. This is a multidisciplinary task in which biologists, agronomists, chemical engineers, fuel specialists, and social scientists must work to integrate and optimize several currently disjoint activities.

There are major technological challenges in realizing these goals. Genetic improvement of energy crops such as switchgrass, poplar, and jatropha has barely begun. It will be important to increase the yield and environmental range of energy crops while reducing agricultural inputs. Plant development, chemical composition, tolerance of biotic and abiotic stresses, and nutrient requirements are important traits to be manipulated. The combination of modern breeding and transgenic techniques should result in achievements greater than those of the Green Revolution in food crops, and in far less time.

[...]There is substantial technology “headroom” for advanced biofuels to enhance energy security, reduce emissions, and provide economical transport. It exists largely because the world’s scientific and engineering skills have not yet been focused coherently on the challenges involved. It is now time to do that through a coordination of government, university, and industrial R&D efforts, facilitated by responsible public policies. In the jargon of the petroleum industry, the “size of the prize” is too large to ignore.

—Steven Koonin

Resources:

• “The Path Forward for Biofuels and Biomaterials”; Arthur J. Ragauskas, Charlotte K. Williams, Brian H. Davison, George Britovsek, John Cairney, Charles A. Eckert, William J. Frederick, Jr., Jason P. Hallett, David J. Leak, Charles L. Liotta, Jonathan R. Mielenz, Richard Murphy, Richard Templer, Timothy Tschaplinski; Science 27 January 2006: Vol. 311. no. 5760, pp. 484–489; DOI: 10.1126/science.1114736

• “Getting Serious About Biofuels”; Steven Koonin; Science 27 January 2006: Vol. 311. no. 5760, p. 435; DOI:10.1126/science.1124886

American Biofuels Targeting Quadrupling its Biodiesel Capacity to 40MGPY in 2006

American Biofuels (ABF) plans to quadruple its soy biodiesel production capacity to 40 million gallons per year (mgpy) in 2006.

The company is planning a new 20-mgpy East Coast facility to supply New York State and surrounding states and expects this facility to be in production by late 2006. ABF is also expanding its existing production biodiesel plant in Bakersfield, California to 20 mgpy.

ABF originally expected to complete an expansion of the Bakersfield plant from 5- to 10 mgpy by January. The company decided, however, to increase certain designs to accommodate even further expansion later this year. ABF is planning to commence further expansion to increase the production capacity beyond 10-million gallons per year to 20 mgpy, with an estimated completion date by late 2006.

Should ABF realize its plans, it would have one of the largest biodiesel production capacities in the US. Total biodiesel production capacity in the US is about 354 million gallons, according to the National Biodiesel Board. Actual production in the US was about 66 million gallons in 2005.