Filed under: Legislation and Policy

Democratic Illinois Senator and presidential hopeful Barack Obama today called for a reduction in carbon emissions in the U.S., basically by taking California's Low Carbon Fuel Standard, which California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger issued an order to start in January, nationwide. His Earth Day catchphrase: "end the tyranny of oil."

According to the AP, Obama said during a campaign stop in Durham, New Hampshire that, "I believe we still have a chance to pass on a planet to our children that is cleaner and safer and more prosperous than we found it., This is our generation's moment to save future generations from global catastrophe.''

The candidate's official statement on the initiative can be found here. The details, as released, are as follows:

Obama's proposal would require that all transportation fuels sold in the U.S.contain 5 percent less carbon by 2015 and 10 percent less carbon by 2020. By requiring less carbon intensive fuels, this national standard has the following benefits:

1. The market, rather than the government would determine which fuels are used by fuel distributors and blenders to meet the NLCFS. Because biofuels are less carbon-intensive than gasoline, the NCLFS would spur greater production of renewable fuels.
2. The NCLFS would also create an incentive for the production of more flexible-fuel vehicles that can run on ethanol and more plug-in hybrid vehicles that run on electricity.

The Obama proposal includes a banking and credit trading mechanism to allow providers of cleaner burning fuel to trade allowances to other producers or bank allowances against future carbon reductions.

Related:

• As president, Chris Dodd would enact Corporate Carbon Tax

[Source: Guardian Unlimited / AP]

 

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Filed under: Hybrid, Toyota

Wish you could have a minivan and a hybrid, too? The combination has been available in the Toyota Estima in Japan for six years, and the Union of Concerned Scientists and HybridCenter.org think it's high time this vehicle is available stateside. As part of an Earth Day push, the two organizations have set up an online petition calling on Toyota to make the Estima hybrid available for sale here.

It's called the "Earth Day Challenge," and it's available here. If you don't get around to adding your name by Sunday, no worries. The campaign continues until May 28th. If you truly believe the Estima would be a nice addition to US highways, then get your friends to sign, too. The Better World Club and HybridCenter.org will offer prizes to some of the people who get five friends to add their name to the list.

Related:

• Toyota Estima Hybrid gets a full redesign

[Source: Scott Nathanson / Union of Concerned Scientists and HybridCenter.org]

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

Filed under: Emerging Technologies, SAE World Congress

Over at the SAE Congress in Detroit, freelance writer Tim Moran got the perspective of Margo Oge, director of the EPA Office of Transportation and Air Quality, who said that the EPA expects the automakers to be able to achieve tremendous leaps in cleaner vehicle technology, similar to the shift that occurred in the 1970s. The SAE Congress was the right place to make this pronouncement, because the Society of Automotive Engineers has adopted the theme "Engineering for Global Sustainable Mobility -- It's Up to Us" this year.

Oge said, "Not only were you [auto engineers] able to do it; you were able to meet emissions standards and regulations put forward for the past 30 years and do it better than the regulations required you to do, and do it earlier than what the regulations required you to do, and to do it in a very cost-effective way."

Note, Automotive News is usually behind a subscription wall, but until Sunday they're opening their doors to anyone willing to give up an email address. So if you want to read this entire article, now's your chance.

[Source: Tim Moran / Automotive News]

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

Filed under: Hybrid

At the Shanghai Motor Show at least two Chinese manufacturers are reportedly showing "homegrown" cars with hybrid drivetrains. Shanghai Automotive is again showing a hybrid version of the Roewe 750 which is derived from the Rover 75 design they bought the rights too when Rover when belly up in England. The Roewe was first shown at the last Beijing Motor Show. Previous indications were that the 750 used a mild hybrid system of the type used by GM, but it now appears to be a full parallel hybrid system and is expected to be in production by 2010.

Chery is displaying a diesel hybrid variant of the A3 model. The A3 has a dual clutch ISG or optional CVT and an in-house created 1.3L diesel engine and 30kW electric motor. Chery is claiming their parallel hybrid system can achieve 3L/100km and meet Euro V emissions standards.

[Source: Just-Auto.com - Sub. req'd]

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

Filed under: Etc., Green Culture, SAE World Congress

While walking the halls of the SAE Congress show at Cobo Hall in Detroit, I was stopped by one of the many exhibitors in attendance so he could give me the rundown of what it is that he is offering visitors of the show. Usually, the exhibitors stopped when I said that I was focusing on green technology in the automotive sector, but not David Darbyshire of DASI Solutions. He showed me a brand new magazine that he is a part of, which is supposed to focus on blending "technology and lifestyle", and the first issue was released for the Winter 2007 quarter. It's the next issue which may be of interest to our readers, however. "Automation Alley" is what the magazine is calling the counties of Genesee, Livingston, Macomb, Monroe, Oakland, St. Clair, Wayne and Washtenaw in Southeast Michigan, an area which is obviously tied in with the automotive industry. What green initiatives are going on from that area of the world? Find out in the next issue of X-Ology.

[Source: X-Ology magazine]

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

General Motors Unveils Second Propulsion System for Chevrolet Volt

Filed under: Biodiesel, Etc., Ethanol, Green Culture

There's no shortage of pro-hemp advocates in the car world, and right now is the perfect time to mark their influence on the way automakers build cars and how some people power them. Of course, weed and hemp are not the same thing, but this is the best we can do to mark the occasion. Here are the hemp+car stories we've had on AutoblogGreen over the past year. Enjoy.

• Ford's 1930s Hemp Car on YouTube
• Update on Ford Hemp car YouTube video post
• Hemp in the gas tank
• Potato car makes debut at Sexy Green Car Show
• Anthony J. Gerst from Planetsave.com gives his opinions on hemp's suitability as a fuel source
• You put your weed in here - the Mercedes Hempcar on YouTube
• The tricked out Fall Out Boy Honda Civic Hybrid revealed
• Fall Out Boy announces Honda Civic tour dates, tricked out Civic hybrid
• Honda Civic Tour to show off hemp-customized Civic hybrid from Fall Out Boy

I've included the videos of the Mercedes HempCar and Ford's Hemp car after the break. Feel free to add your own related stories (car stories, car stories) in the comments.

The Mercedes HempCar


The Ford Hemp Car

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

Filed under: Biodiesel, Etc., Green Culture

Pretty soon there won't be a single living organism on earth from which someone won't be trying to extract a biofuel. We've talked about algae, corn, switchgrass, soybeans, wood chips, seaweed, chickens and even liposuction waste. (I wish ants were a biomass source.) So it wasn't much of a surprise when I found this story out of England that says an oil firm and food processing company will produce biodiesel from pig fat. ConocoPhillips says it can produce up to 175 million gallons of animal diesel a year, or about three percent of the United Kingdom's total diesel output.

But towards the end of this story, flags were raised about the ethics of replacing the tiger in your tank (oh, sorry, that's ExxonMobil) with Arnold the pig. Officials said they have yet to discuss the idea with animal rights groups or religious leaders. But PETA did come out with a statement.

"Clearly, the answer to global warming isn't to fill gas guzzling cars with ground up remains of tortured animals, it is to go vegetarian, which is something every person can afford to do and should do for the sake of their own health, animals and the environment," said PETA.

Any fuel made with swine extracts would be mixed with other types of diesel. No one would be able to tell if any bacon diesel was actually in their tank. But there is always the possibility of complaints and lawsuits. I remember the case of a man whose religion prohibited the eating of beef, and he sued a restaurant because of a slight amount of beef flavoring in the oil used to cook french fries. He claimed severe mental distress because he wasn't told.

Part of living in a multicultural society is that you must respect others, but you must also have tolerance for others. I don't foresee the day when fuel will have to be blessed or approved by religious leaders, but this issue will not go away quietly. In the end, leaded gasoline will probably get a better reputation than animal-seasoned biofuel.

[Source: BBC]

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

Filed under: Ethanol

Now we're getting somewhere. And by "we" I mean BioTown, USA (Reynolds, Indiana). While last year we had stories about how this small town in Indiana is trying to grow and make all of its own energy but still didn't have any ethanol pumps (so all the flexible-fuel vehicles in the town were cruising on gasoline), now we can report that the town can soon check off making ethanol from their To Do list.

The Dakota-based VeraSun Energy Corp. officially announced this week it plans to build an ethanol biorefinery in town. Construction prep will start in May and should be finished 16 months later. Add this to the recent announcement of the biomass-to-electricity generator and the town's goal looks more likely now than ever.

Related:

• BioTown, USA's latest upgrades include biomass-to-electricity generator
• CSNY buses visit BioTown, USA
• Why BioTown, USA doesn't have any ethanol
• BioTown, USA

[Source: VeraSun Energy via Domestic Energy]

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.

Filed under: Etc., Transportation Alternatives

Flying cars, the dream of many a crack inventor, have never really gotten off the ground (hee hee). Sure, there have been a few that have actually been produced and offered to the public, but none has ever been even close to what most would consider a success. So, Larry Neal, a maker of kit gyroplanes, as decided to go a different route altogether and forgo the car completely. Larry has chosen to start off with a motorcycle as the basis for his personal flying transportation option. A quote from the inventor, taken from the article linked to below: "The problem with flying cars in the past was what to do with the wings once you were on the ground," said Neal. "With a 'fly-drive' gyroplane, just fold the rotor blades and drive on down the road. Using rotor blades for the wings of a flying car makes the fly-drive Super Sky Cycle a new kind of vehicle." Neal said. "There's nothing else like it, a gyroplane that can fly at better than freeway speeds, land in 20 feet, be driven home as a motorcycle, and fit in your garage."

Interested in adding both a motorcycle and a gyroplane to your vehiclular stable with just one vehicle? Save up $40 grand and you'll still have some left over for motorcycle gear and some flight lessons. Good luck.

[Source: Gizmag]

 

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD Step behind the curtain at Ford Motor. Experience the documentary first-hand.