Hybrid Technologies will introduce its new dealer/distributor network at the upcoming New York Auto Show. Under the plan, each of the 75 distributors will be able to establish one full service center and 25 dealers within its exclusive territory to offer Hybrid Technologies’ line of lithium-ion powered vehicles—two-wheel, four-wheel as... Read more →

Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) will build a European research and development center in Hamburg, Germany. The facility will explore new food and oleochemical technologies, as well as drive improvement and process efficiencies for existing technologies. ADM is one of the world’s largest processors of soybeans, corn, wheat and cocoa.... Read more →

The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) of the State of Karnataka in India is currently switching the first 2,500 buses of its 5,162 bus fleet to O2Diesel, an ethanol-diesel blend comprising 7.7% ethanol and 0.5% of O2Diesel’s proprietary fuel additive technology. The decision came after a successful trial of... Read more →

ARES Corporation (ARES), an engineering and project management company, and Blue Sun Biodiesel have formed a 50-50 joint venture: ARES Blue Sun Development, LLC (ARES Blue Sun). ARES Blue Sun will combine the engineering expertise of ARES Corporation with the fuel and oilseed technology of Blue Sun Biodiesel to collaborate... Read more →

Demand for motor gasoline in Japan declined 0.9% (as measured by calendar year shipments minus end of year inventory) to 60 million kiloliters (15.9 billion gallons US) in 2006—the first year-on-year drop in 32 years—according to data released Wednesday by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. Within the total,... Read more →

Pirelli Ambiente, a company within the Pirelli & C. Group, and LiqTech A/S, a Danish company with long experience in silicon carbide (SiC) filters for the retrofit market, are initiating a joint research project to improve the performance of SiC Diesel Particulate Filters. Results from the research will belong to... Read more →

Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry has proposed that the state spend $40 million over a four-year period to create an Oklahoma Bioenergy Center (OBC) to focus on bioenergy research, development and education. Biofuels research supported by the OBC would include development of feedstocks (primarily cellulosic biomass), collection and transportation, conversion technologies... Read more →

The European Commission today proposed new standards for transport fuels that, among other measures, require suppliers to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions caused by the production, transport and use of their fuels by 10% between 2011 and 2020. This life-cycle based approach to lower carbon fuels echoes the new California... Read more →

Chaoyang Liaohe Oilfield Natural Gas Co., Ltd. plans to build CNG stations in Chengnan, Chengbei and Hedong (China), in a bid to meet the fueling demands of up to 3,000 taxicabs. Read more →

Bosch has acquired FHP Manufacturing as a part of its strategy to strengthen its Thermotechnology division and gain better access to the rapidly growing US market for electric geothermal heat pumps. FHP is Bosch's second acquisition in the field of electric heat pumps, following the acquisition of the Swedish IVT... Read more →

Germany’s Automobilewoche reports that with the change in Volkswagen’s top management is coming a change in strategy for hybrids. Martin Winterkorn, who formerly headed the company’s Audi AG unit, became CEO after Bernd Pischetsrieder resigned at the end of 2006. Pischetsrieder had brought in Wolfgang Bernhard from DaimlerChrysler to run... Read more →

Globe and Mail. A Strategic Counsel survey for Canada’s The Globe and Mail and CTV found that higher fuel-economy standards and forcing consumers and industry to switch to alternative fuels rank No. 1 (86%) and No. 2 (80%) in terms of what Canadians are most likely to support to counter... Read more →

In testimony before the US Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources today, GM Vice President for Environment and Energy Beth Lowery urged the government to fund a major effort to strengthen domestic advanced battery capabilities—specifically lithium-ion batteries. Her stance was echoed during the hearing by statements from other witnesses,... Read more →

Washington state legislators are considering a “Clean Air, Clean Fuels” bill (HB #1303) that would provide funding to support a 25% cut in the petroleum use of the state's fleets via a range of initiatives including support for biodiesel and cellulosic ethanol, development of new technologies such as plug-in hybrids,... Read more →

SatCon Technology Corporation, a developer and supplier of power management and system architecture solutions for the alternative energy and distributed power markets, has been awarded a Phase I Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) contract with the US Navy to develop insulation technology for advanced propulsion motor designs for future all-electric... Read more →

Production from the PEMEX Cantarell complex in 2006. Click to enlarge. Oil production from Mexico’s giant Cantarell offshore complex, which now accounts for 50% of PEMEX’s total output, declined 25% during the course of 2006, according to statistics from the Energy Ministry available on the Sistema de Información Energética. Total... Read more →

BMW has developed a new recycling process in its engine plant in Steyr (Austria) that has resulted in the elimination of waste water. Using a new combination of various membrane technologies, all manufacturing waste water in the plant is treated and fed back into the production system for an annual... Read more →

Nissan has priced the 2007 Nissan Altima Hybrid (earlier post) starting at $24,400. The new hybrid sedan is on sale now at Nissan retailers in the eight states that have adopted California emissions regulations: California, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont. Altima Hybrid’s EPA fuel... Read more →

The Arkansas state legislature is considering the Arkansas Alternative Fuels Development Act, a measure that would provide up to $4 million in incentives for biodiesel production and infrastructure in state. A funding bill would appropriate also $2 million to the University of Arkansas agriculture department for research, and up to... Read more →

Maxwell Technologies has received a purchase order for 100,000 square meters of its proprietary ultracapacitor electrode material from Shanghai Sanjiu Electric Equipment Company, Ltd. (Sanjiu). Sanjiu is preparing to introduce a line of ultracapacitor products based on Maxwell’s cell architecture and high-performance electrodes for the Chinese transportation, electric utility and... Read more →

The structural thermal model (STM) of the Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite GOSAT. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is planning a summer 2008 launch for its new Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite (GOSAT). JAXA unveiled a prototype of GOSAT at its space center in Tsukuba on Monday. GOSAT will monitor the... Read more →

The Lotus APX will serve as the basis for the new electric ZAP-X. ZAP and Lotus Engineering are beginning the first phase of an engineering project to use the British consultancy’s APX ("Aluminum Performance Crossover") as a basis for designing a production-ready electric all-wheel drive crossover high performance vehicle for... Read more →

Block flow diagram of a Chemrec Black Liquor Gasification with Motor Fuels (BLGMF) production concept. Click to enlarge. Volvo Technology Transfer AB is investing in Chemrec AB, a company that has developed a technology for gasification of black liquor, a residual product from the pulp industry. Volvo Technology Transfer AB... Read more →

Cars with an engine size of less than 1.6 liters accounted for 60% of Chinese car sales last year, according to industry statistics. About 328,000 cars with an engine size of below 1.0 liters were sold last year, accounting for 8.6% of total domestic sedan sales. Cars with an engine... Read more →

The Oryx GTL (Gas-to-Liquids) plant in Qatar has successfully completed the start-up of the final process unit and has produced final GTL product. The plant will produce 34,000 barrels per day of liquid hydrocarbons (primarily synthetic diesel) from about 330-million cubic feet per day of natural gas from Qatar’s North... Read more →

Malaysia’s Naza Automotive Manufacturing Sdn Bhd (NAM) has developed and will soon begin selling dual-fuel vehicles that use gasoline or compressed natural gas. NAM is the first car maker in the country to do so. The company will outfit two models, RIA and CITRA, with the dual-fuel feature. Petroliam Nasional... Read more →

A Massey University (NZ) scientist has received a NZ$260,000 (US$181,000) post-doctoral fellowship from the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology to develop highly active electrocatalysts for more efficient electrolytic production of hydrogen at low voltages. The award will support a three-year study by Dr Aaron Marshall, a researcher in the... Read more →

SunFuels, Inc., and its operating subsidiary Blue Sun Biodiesel LLC, are executing a reverse merger transaction with M-Wave, a publicly-traded printed circuit board supplier. When the transaction is complete, SunFuels execs will assume control of M-Wave, which will change its name to Blue Sun Holdings, Inc. The operating subsidiary will... Read more →

The city of Fayetteville, Arkansas, plans to begin using B20 in diesel vehicles in the Parks and Recreation, Water and Wastewater, and Street department fleets—about 300 vehicles in all. About 65% of the city’s current fuel usage is diesel. The city hopes to be pumping biodiesel at a new fuel... Read more →

Electrovaya Inc. has received an US$100,000 contract from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) to develop and demonstrate a plug-in hybrid concept using the Ford Escape Hybrid vehicle. The contract is one of four NYSERDA has awarded for PHEV conversions. (Earlier post.) Electrovaya will use its... Read more →

Q Link, a subsidiary of Al Qudra Holding, working with the International Energy Group (IEG), a subsidiary of the UAE business conglomerate, S.S. Lootah Group, will convert its taxi fleet to use compressed natural gas (CNG) fuel this year. “The benefits of conversion to CNG as a clean transportation fuel... Read more →

Shenhua Ningxia Coal Industry Group Co. Ltd. (SNCG) in China has awarded Siemens Power Generation (PG) a €30 million (US$39 million) contract for two entrained-flow gasifiers with a thermal capacity of 500 MW each and further key equipment for a coal gasification plant. SNCG is a subsidiary of the state-owned... Read more →

The Yellow Cab company in Lincoln, Nebraska, is adding six Prius hybrids to its fleet. Trading up older cabs which require more maintenance to the fuel-efficient hybrids just made economic sense, according to one of the co-owners. The older vehicles averaged 10 to 20 mpg, with some logging 100,000 miles... Read more →

TNA. The Thai Energy Ministry has set a revised biodiesel consumption target for the country of 500,000 liters (132,000 gallons US) per day for 2007, increasing to 4 million liters (1.06 million gallons US) per day by the end of 2011. That would offset as much as 7% of diesel... Read more →

Click to enlarge. According to the data in the just-released Monthly Energy Review by the Energy Information Administration, consumption of bio-energy (e.g., ethanol) by the transportation sector jumped 34% in the first ten months of 2006 compared to the year prior, accounting for 371 trillion BTU. Total primary energy consumption... Read more →

by Felix Kramer, CalCars.org Jon Wellinghoff of FERC is promoting the “Cash-Back Plug-In” Think you’ve heard all there is about the benefits of plug-in hybrids? Sure, substituting “cleaner/cheaper/domestic” electricity for gasoline that has none of those characteristics is good enough reason to evolve cars. It turns out there’s much more.... Read more →

Mayors attending the 75th Winter Meeting of The US Conference of Mayors have called for $4 billion in an Energy and Environmental Block Grant to help cities combat global warming. The mayors also launched a major campaign to create a “climate of change” in Washington. The US Conference of Mayors... Read more →

Children who live near a major highway are not only more likely to develop asthma or other respiratory diseases, but their lung development may also be stunted, according to a study by the University of Southern California. In a study that will appear in the 17 Feb issue of The... Read more →

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have devised a new process that can improve the efficiency of corn-based ethanol production using advanced process design methods combined with mathematical optimization techniques. The core of the Carnegie Mellon strategy is redesigning the distillation process by using a multi-column system together with a network... Read more →

Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue has introduced a bill that would give a 4% sales tax exemption for materials and equipment used in the construction of biofuel facilities in Georgia. The tax incentive will be available to facilities producing and processing certain biofuels (ethanol, biodiesel and butanol) derived from Georgia-grown agriculture... Read more →

US Sustainable Energy Corp. (USSEC) has completed the first reactor system at its new plant in Natchez, Mississippi. Named FREEUS, the reactor includes a number of refinements, component upgrades, and process improvements designed by management and consulting engineers since introducing the prototype last year. The new reactor tube is capable... Read more →

The World Economic Forum announced today the formation of a new international partnership of seven organizations to establish a generally accepted framework for climate risk-related reporting by corporations. Founding members of the institutional consortium—the Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB)—include the California Climate Action Registry, Carbon Disclosure Project, Ceres, The Climate... Read more →

Alabama’s state motor pool will be the first state agency to operate its vehicles on E85. Of 207 vehicles in the motor pool fleet, 132 are already equipped to run on the ethanol blend. The state is building a 12,000-gallon E85 refueling station and two fueling pumps. The next agency... Read more →

Compared by the population density, China’s expressway mileage per 10,000 population in 2005 was 10%, 17% and 25% of that of the US, France and Germany, respectively. Expressways in the US have connected all cities with populations pf more than 50,000; in Germany, all the cities with populations of more... Read more →

Prometheus LFG to LNG plant at Bowerman Landfill. Click to enlarge. Prometheus Energy Company has begun producing liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the world’s first landfill gas-to-LNG plant. The plant was installed in late 2006 at the Frank R. Bowerman Landfill in Orange County, California. The entire output of the... Read more →

by Rafael Seidl A gigaliner from Boll-Logistik-Gruppe under testing. Click to enlarge. Several German Länder (states) are presently conducting trials of so-called gigaliner heavy duty vehicles (HDV). These consist of a tractor-trailer towing a second large trailer, for a combined length of up to 25.25m (82.8ft). Costing little more to... Read more →

Xinhua. The Chinese government plans to use liquid biofuels produced in rural areas to cut the country’s consumption of petroleum products by 10 million tons, or more than 25%, by 2020. China is the world’s third largest oil importer after the United State and Japan, and imported a record-high 36.38... Read more →

Whirlpool Corporation has joined SmartWay Transport Partnership, a collaboration between the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the freight industry designed to increase energy efficiency while reducing greenhouse gases and air pollution. Whirlpool has committed to utilize SmartWay Transport Carrier Partners for a greater portion of its freight in the... Read more →

The green dots in this Low Energy Electron Diffraction pattern for a single crystal of Pt3Ni(111) reveal a tightly packed arrangement of surface atoms that wards off platinum-grabbing hydroxide ions and boosts catalytic performance. Click to enlarge. Researchers with the US Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab)... Read more →

Sector revenue 2005 and 2006. Click to enlarge. Novozymes, a global biotech-based world leader in enzymes and microorganisms, saw its earnings increase 11% in 2006 on a sales increase of 8%. Much of the growth occurred in its technical enzymes sector, specifically driven by sales for ethanol production. Total sales... Read more →