Opinion by Michael Sivak The mission of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is to protect human health and the environment. However, as the EPA is getting ready to relax the future vehicle fuel economy standards, the time is right to consider whether, under the current administration, this agency’s mission is,... Read more →

I thought my 2013 C-MAX would be a Prius Killer? NOT! As a returning Ford buyer I feel deceived. I want to support US companies and US jobs. What was Ford thinking when they published 47/47/47 estimates? Based on the advertised EPA estimates, I would have been OK with low... Read more →

Perspective by David K.S. Cornwell and Richard D. Coller, III The America Invents Act (AIA) of 2011 is the most sweeping reform of the US patent laws since 1952. The new law seeks in part to harmonize the US with the rest of the world by converting the US from... Read more →

by Steven Pleging, CEO/President of Quantum Solar Power Corp. I believe that the loss of industry players Solyndra, Evergreen, and SpectraWatt opens the market for more innovative solar companies to succeed with smarter tactics and mainstream products that fit into existing manufacturing models. Remember when the dot.com bubble burst in... Read more →

The results of massive plantings of Jatropha worldwide for use as a biofuel feedstock—some 12.8 million ha (49,421 square miles) are expected to be planted by 2015—are “anything but encouraging”, according to Promode Kant from the Institute of Green Economy in India and Shuirong Wu of the Chinese Academy of... Read more →

Perspective by The Townsend Company Figure 1. Typical daily grid demand. Click to enlarge.“Why do you need energy storage on the grid, when the grid is full of power plants that generate all the energy that is needed?” It would seem like a good question to ask and applies the... Read more →

by Dr. Peter Harrop, Chairman, IDTechEx We are in the decade of the hybrid electric vehicle despite the fact that most off-road and underwater vehicles are pure electric. That includes most forklifts, golf cars and mobility vehicles for the disabled plus Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) and personal submarines. Indeed, most... Read more →

Perspective by The Townsend Company RPS policies as of March 2011. Source: DSIRE. Click to enlarge. On May 25, 1961 President John F Kennedy, in a special joint session of Congress, declared, “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of... Read more →

Perspective by The Townsend Company The one topic that all people involved in the electric vehicle industry agree on is that batteries cost too much. This has led to a wave of investment in material science developments by both governments and private investors alike over the past few years. Yet,... Read more →

Perspective by The Townsend Company ...Probably not the battery that you want to put on your vehicle, but that seems to be the battery that most people are trying to buy. It has unfortunately become the cliché that whenever a battery buyer approaches a battery company the first statement heard... Read more →

Perspective by Felix Kramer, Founder, CalCars Reprinted by invitation from the CalCars website [Calling the recent weeks “one of the most emotionally difficult times for me as I’ve seen people with far more clout than I fail to make headway in changing the lackluster, dispiriting and immensely frustrating responses to... Read more →

Perspective by Brian J. Donovan, CEO of Renergie, Inc. Reprinted with permission from The Donovan Law Group website INTRODUCTION Cap-and-trade was first tried on a significant scale twenty years ago under the first Bush administration as a way to address the problem of airborne sulfur dioxide pollution–widely known as acid... Read more →

Perspective by Brian J. Donovan, CEO of Renergie, Inc. PDF version INTRODUCTION An offset is a measurable reduction, avoidance, or sequestration of GHG emissions from a source not covered by an emission reduction program. If a cap-and-trade program includes offsets, regulated entities have the opportunity to purchase the “emission credits”... Read more →

Perspective by Chris Hill, Manager, Central Fleet for the City of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, and author of Hamilton’s Green Fleet Implementation Plan. [Mr. Hill is currently chair of the Ontario Chapter of NAFA Fleet Management Association, and a Green Party candidate for Canada’s Parliament in the next general election. The... Read more →

Perspective by Oliver Hazimeh, Director of the North American Automotive Practice and the Global e-Mobility Practice, PRTM [Management consultancy PRTM was a contributor to the “Electrification Roadmap” released in November 2009 by the Electrification Coalition. Earlier post.] The recall of Toyota’s Prius is causing some observers to question whether the... Read more →

Perspective by Brian J. Donovan, CEO of Renergie, Inc. [Renergie was formed for the initial purpose of raising capital to develop, construct, own and operate a decentralized network of ten modular-designed small advanced biofuel manufacturing facilities (SABMFs) in the parishes of the State of Louisiana which were devastated by hurricanes... Read more →

Perspective by Deron Lovaas, Federal Transportation Policy Director, Natural Resources Defense Council Oil is a strategic commodity second to none—it underlies the global economy and even the American way of life. Of course, other countries benefit from this fact, with about $900 million flowing out of the US to buy... Read more →

by Brian J. Donovan, CEO Renergie, Inc. [This opinion piece originally appeared in the Field-to-Pump blog, published by Renergie, Inc.] Use of Hydrous Ethanol in Brazil The oil price shocks of the 1970s led the Brazilian government to address the strain high prices were placing on its fragile economy. Brazil,... Read more →

by Bill Cooke The Saturn version of the two-mode plug-in hybrid at the Milford Proving Grounds. Click to enlarge. On 11 August, GM invited approximately 75 journalists and auto analysts to spend a day learning about the new GM. The day was split between a morning session at the GM... Read more →

Perspective by Jeff H. Hassannia, Vice President, Business Development Diversified Energy Corporation The commercial viability of algae-based biofuels production is ultimately going to depend on economics. Regardless of whatever advances might come in terms of technological and biological breakthroughs, the fact remains that the commercial marketplace will not have an... Read more →

Perspective by Professor Bruce Dale, Michigan State University Until early last year, it was widely accepted that biofuels such as ethanol significantly reduce total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions compared to gasoline. Then, a high-profile study using indirect land use change (ILUC) analysis suggested biofuels may have worse GHG performance than... Read more →

Perspective by Professor Bruce Dale, Michigan State University I have worked for over 30 years to develop cellulosic biofuels, so I am not particularly interested in corn ethanol. I am, however, very interested in using life cycle analysis (LCA) to show how the environmental performance of biofuels can be improved.... Read more →