Drivers in the UK will purchase more energy-efficient cars, but not at the expense of compromising their driving experience, image or wallet, according to a recent survey commissioned by BMW UK. The survey shows that car owners are focusing on economic rather than environmental factors when choosing to drive low-emission... Read more →

Funded under the UK Research Councils’ SUPERGEN program (earlier post), the Delivery of Sustainable Hydrogen (H-Delivery) project has been awarded an initial grant of £5 million (US$8 million) over four years. The collaboration brings together an interdisciplinary research team spanning the physical sciences, engineering and social sciences from 13 UK... Read more →

China biofuel potential: technical, economic and business-as-usual scenarios. Click to enlarge. Source: GM, Tsinghua University China has the potential to produce about 45-49 billion gallons per year (BGPY) of cellulosic biofuels by 2030, given appropriate supporting economic incentives, according to presentations by both General Motors and Coskata at the 4th... Read more →

Globes. Israel-based Ofer Holdings Group has made a strategic investment in A123Systems, which will develop lithium-ion packs for Better Place’s electric car venture. (Earlier post.) Israel Corporation chairman Idan Ofer made the announcement during a press conference to mark the launch of Better Place in Australia. He added that A123... Read more →

The California Air Resources Board (ARB) published for public comment its latest draft version of a new regulation that, if adopted at the Board’s 11 December hearing, will further reduce emissions from the approximately one million in-use heavy-duty diesel trucks that operate in California beginning in 2010. (Earlier post.) The... Read more →

The 2008 Algae Biomass Summit (23-24 October), organized by the Algal Biomass Organization, drew more than 600 algae producers, scientists, engineers, investors and policy-makers from more than a dozen countries to Seattle to pitch, listen and network on emerging algae-based solutions to global energy, environmental, and economic issues. Amid the... Read more →

Globe and Mail. Toronto Transit Commission’s (TTC) fleet of Orion VII diesel-electric buses have been suffering a spate of early failures of their lead-acid battery energy storage systems. The city councilors who oversee the TTC have voted to buy less expensive, “more reliable” diesel buses, rather than hybrids in 2010.... Read more →

Canada-based courier company Novex Delivery Solutions and electric vehicle conversion company REV Technologies (formerly Envia, earlier post) jointly announced an order for REV’s electric vehicles and a commitment from Novex to a 100% clean fleet by 2012. This initial program between REV and Novex will use 5 Ford Escape SUVs,... Read more →

The European Parliament adopted a mandatory directive proposed by the European Commission that will introduce energy consumption, CO2 and pollutant emissions as mandatory award criteria into public procurement of vehicles. It applies to public authorities and publicly owned undertakings and to undertakings running public passenger transport services. As a result,... Read more →

Tata Daewoo, a fully-owned subsidiary of Tata Motors and South Korea’s second largest truck maker, has developed a prototype of South Korea’s first LPG medium commercial vehicle (MCV). The vehicle was developed by Tata Daewoo in association with the ministries of commerce, industry and energy, Korea Energy Management Corporation and... Read more →

Magna Electronics, an operating unit of Magna International Inc., has acquired BluWāv Systems LLC (formerly Wavecrest Laboratories), a developer and supplier of controls, motors and energy-management systems for hybrid electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid vehicles and battery electric vehicles. (Earlier post.) Magna Electronics says that the acquisition of BluWāv enhances its... Read more →

More than two-dozen advanced biofuel companies, joined by researchers and investors under the aegis of the New Fuels Alliance, submitted a letter to the California Air Resources Board (ARB) questioning ARB’s intent to include indirect land use change (ILUC)—or any kind of indirect effects enforcement against biofuels—as part of the... Read more →

Measured and modeled atmospheric NF3 concentrations and trends from 1978 to 2008. Northern Hemisphere NF3 measurements are shown as filled circles, together with the spline curve Northern Hemisphere trend (solid line) fitted to these measurements. The modeled Southern Hemisphere trend and modeled global mean trend (dotted line) are shown as... Read more →

Mercedes-Benz is introducing the C 350 CGI BlueEFFICIENCY featuring second- generation direct fuel injection as the fourth BlueEFFICIENCY model in the C-Class. Compared to the current C 350, the new saloon reduces its fuel consumption by more than 10%. At the same time, the V6 engine delivers 15% more power... Read more →

Canada-based companies Lignol Energy Corporation (LEC) and Suncor Energy Products Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Suncor Energy Inc., are extending their earlier announced collaboration on a US Department of Energy (DOE)-funded commercial demonstration cellulosic ethanol facility (earlier post) with a new cellulosic ethanol project development agreement. Suncor will assist Lignol... Read more →

The UK Carbon Trust has launched the Algae Biofuels Challenge with the mission of commercializing the use of algae biofuel as an alternative to fossil-based oil by 2020. The Algae Biofuels Challenge is a multi-million pound UK R&D initiative that could see the Carbon Trust commit £3-6 million (US$4.8-9.7 million)... Read more →

Gulf Oil, LP, one of the largest wholesalers of refined petroleum products in the Northeast, has opened its first e85 fueling station in New England, located at Logan Airport in Boston. There are more than 75,000 flexible-fuel vehicles (FFVs) registered in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, about 4,000 of which are... Read more →

Royal DSM N.V., a Netherlands-based life sciences and materials sciences company, executed a cooperative funding agreement with the US Department of Energy (DOE) to underwrite a portion of research and development costs aimed at developing new approaches to improve enzymes for the conversion of pre-treated lignocellulosic biomass into sugars suitable... Read more →

The Shenhua Ningxia Coal Industry Group and its partner Sasol contracted with Foster Wheeler International Corporation and Wuhuan Engineering Company to carry out the Feasibility Study for the 80,000 bbl/day coal-to-liquids (CTL) plant at the Ningdong Chemicals Base in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region of China. (Earlier post.) Sasol and... Read more →

Better Place is partnering with AGL Energy and financial advisor Macquarie Capital Group to raise A$1 billion (US$665 million) and to begin deploying an electric vehicle (EV) network powered by renewable energy. With the world’s seventh highest per capita rate of car ownership, Australia has nearly 15 million cars on... Read more →

Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) of California plans to deploy as many as 3.3 million GE meters equipped with SmartMeter technology to utility customers in northern and central California. Overall, PG&E plans to deploy 10.3 million SmartMeter gas and electric meters by the end of 2011 to virtually all of... Read more →

The California Air Resources Board (ARB) is holding a public consultation meeting to discuss ARB’s proposed research contract titled “Potential Design, Implementation, and Benefits of a Feebate Program for New Passenger Vehicles in California” at the CalEPA Headquarters Building, in Sacramento, California, 5 November. As described in the Proposed Scoping... Read more →

GE is making its sixth equity investment in lithium-ion battery manufacturer A123Systems, putting $30 million into A123’s $102 million Series E financing. GE is the battery manufacturer’s largest single cash investor, with 9% ownership. The investments were made by GE Commercial Finance - Equity and GE Energy Financial Services, bringing... Read more →

Researchers at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (Québec City) investigating the short-term impacts of a no-tillage practice in a heavy clay soil found that within the first five years of the practice, nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions could offset the soil carbon dioxide sink. N2O is a greenhouse gas with a global... Read more →

The German government has reduced the biofuel blend target for 2009 to 5.25%, down from its initial 6.25%, according to the Environment Ministry (BMU, Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz und Reaktorsicherheit). The 2010 target will be back up to 6.25% and remain fixed at that level until 2014. The quotas will... Read more →

Italy-based energy groups Eni and Enel have signed a strategic cooperation agreement to develop technologies for the capture, transport and geological sequestration of carbon dioxide (CO2) and for the joint construction of Italy’s first project in this area. The initial integrated pilot project will test the entire process, from CO2... Read more →

The Detroit News reports that the Renault-Nissan alliance is proposing to acquire around 20% of Chrysler LLC and bring the Auburn Hills automaker into the French-Japanese automotive partnership. The offer is now before private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP, which also is in talks with General Motors Corp. about... Read more →

Working principles of the MEC-MFC-coupled system. Click to enlarge. Credit: ACS. Researchers in China report on the development of a coupled microbial fuel cell (MFC)/microbial electrolysis cell (MEC) system for the production of biohydrogen from acetate. Hydrogen was produced in an MEC, with the requisite power supplied solely by an... Read more →

DENSO Corporation has developed a new air conditioning unit which is approximately 20% smaller in volume than the conventional product. The new system will be installed on Toyota’s new iQ compact car to be launched in Japan in November and in Europe in early 2009. The new DENSO AC unit.... Read more →

Air Products has entered a long-term supply contract and plans to construct a major new SMR (steam methane reforming) hydrogen production facility, which will be connected to Air Products’ Louisiana Hydrogen Pipeline Network, to serve ExxonMobil’s Baton Rouge, Louisiana refinery and additional customers in the region. The facility is expected... Read more →

Rhodium-palladium nanoparticles (left) and platinum-palladium nanoparticles (right), as revealed by transmission electron microscopy, morph as their surroundings change. Click to enlarge. Source: Berkeley Lab Using a state-of-the-art spectroscopy system at Berkeley Lab’s Advanced Light Source, a team of scientists from the US Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory observed... Read more →

According to a new report from the Minnesota SmartFleet Committee, E85 use in the state fleet during the first three quarters of 2008 is 79% greater than during the same period in 2007. In the first nine months of 2008, 529,000 gallons of E85 were used to fuel the state’s... Read more →

Korea-based Leo Motors, Inc. has signed a contract with the city government of Puerto Princesa, of the Republic of the Philippines, to form a company to produce electric vehicles to sell in Puerto Princesa, and also throughout Asia. The city government of Puerto Princesa, the capital of the province of... Read more →

The reversible capacities of (A, green) pristine and (B, red) nitridated Li4Ti5O12 with different charge/discharge current densities during cycling. Click to enlarge. Credit: ACS Researchers at Korea’s Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT) and Sungkyunkwan University report that the thermal nitridation of lithium titanate (Li4Ti5O12, LTO) to modify the oxide... Read more →

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. launched the micro-hybrid stop-start FuelSmart system for Scorpio M2DI and Bolero SLX BS3 SUV variants in the Indian market. Representation of the FuelSmart stop-start system. Click to enlarge. Developed by the Mahindra Research & Development team with the support of Bosch, the FuelSmart system switches off... Read more →

Daimler AG is launching a new car-sharing concept—car2go—using a fleet of 50 smart fortwos in the city of Ulm, Germany. The fleet of fortwos will be made available within the city as a vehicle pool that can be accessed at any time, from any location. Following a one-off registration process,... Read more →

The Audi Mileage Marathon, comprising a fleet of 23 Audi diesel TDIs driven by 184 drivers from 15 countries on a 4,887-mile (7,865-kilometer) route from New York City to Los Angeles, California, concluded on Sunday. The best Audi A4 3.0 TDI quattro had an average fuel consumption of 5.3 L/100km... Read more →

The HOTFIRE head on the 3-cylinder demonstrator engine. Click to enlarge. Source: Lotus Engineering Project HOTFIRE has taken the top award in the automotive sector in ‘The Engineer Technology + Innovation Awards 2008’ in the UK. The project team, comprising engine designers from Lotus Engineering, fuel injection specialists from Continental... Read more →

The state of Wisconsin recently awarded $7.3 million in grants and loans from the Wisconsin Energy Independence Fund (WEIF) for research and development and commercialization or adoption of new energy technologies, including biofuel and renewable hydrocarbon production. The Wisconsin Energy Independence Fund is part of Clean Energy Wisconsin, Governor Jim... Read more →

Shipments of low-emission vehicles in Japan dropped 3.9% to 3,929,047 units in Fiscal Year 2007 (which ended March 2008), according to figures from the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA). This marks the second consecutive annual drop in such shipments, and reflects the slowdown in overall demand for automobiles in the... Read more →

FedEx Express, a subsidiary of FedEx Corp., broke ground on its largest solar facility and first outside the US, when it began construction of its new Central and Eastern European gateway at the Cologne/Bonn, Germany, airport. The hub is slated for completion in 2010. The Cologne hub installation will be... Read more →

The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) have commissioned the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to conduct the first comprehensive national study of how carbon dioxide emissions absorbed into the oceans may be altering fisheries, marine mammals, coral reefs, and other natural resources.... Read more →

California-based Cobalt Biofuels has raised $25 million in equity to accelerate the commercialization of its cost-effective biochemical process for biobutanol production. Cobalt says that the advantages of its process are based on advances in microbial strain improvement, fermentation reaction management, and separation technology. The Series C equity round was co-led... Read more →

The MPC5674F is targeted at fuel-efficient, lower-emission applications in high-volume automobiles. Freescale Semiconductor has introduced a new high-performance microcontroller (MCU) that it says is the industry’s most powerful for engine control in mainstream, high-volume automobiles. The new MPC5674F is the latest addition to the company’s growing portfolio of 32-bit automotive... Read more →

Odyne Corporation, a developer of plug-in hybrid propulsion systems, has retained Matrix USA, LLC as its financial advisor to evaluate the company’s strategic alternatives, including a possible sale of the company, a strategic partnership, a technology licensing agreement, or an additional raise of equity capital. Odyne said there can be... Read more →

Bühler Motor, Inc., has finalized contracts with General Motors to provide custom 12W and 50W auxiliary water pumps for the Chevrolet Volt Extended-Range Electric Vehicle and some GM hybrid vehicles. Bühler says that the two companies have been working together in a technology partnership since mid-2007 to engineer the customized... Read more →

Battery and motor packaging in the eRUF. Click to enlarge. Source: CalMotors The recently introduced eRUF Porsche-based all-electric sports car is being powered by a UQM PowerPhase 150 electric propulsion system. The eRUF is being developed by RUF Automobile GmbH, a manufacturer of high-performance automobiles and producer of the renowned... Read more →

Finding that current spending and activity levels to advance carbon dioxide capture and storage are “nowhere near enough to achieve the G8 goals”, a new report from the International Energy Agency calls for up to $20-billion in near-term demonstrations, in addition to plant base costs. Despite being identified as one... Read more →

Hitachi, Ltd. and Hitachi Vehicle Energy, Ltd., which manufactures lithium-ion batteries for hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) and other uses (earlier post), have been awarded an order from Eaton Corporation to supply motors, inverters, lithium-ion batteries and other components for Eaton’s hybrid power systems to be delivered through 2011. Plans call... Read more →

Financial Times. Geely, the Chinese automaker which owns about 23% of Manganese Bronze, parent of LTI Vehicles, one of the main manufacturers of London black cabs, is proposing converting the iconic cabs to electric. “One of our ideas is to convert London taxis into electric,” Li Shufu, the company’s chairman,... Read more →