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The other huge problem with the Athabasca tar sands is the way the bitumen is extracted. A huge swath of boreal forest is getting wiped out and poisoned by strip mining of tar sands in areas with minimal overburden. Not that in-situ extraction in Orinoco or central California is clean - not by a long shot - but it doesn't effectively erase a whole bioregion, either. Anybody who thinks strip mining tar sands is a good idea should watch the video Tipping Point. You can find it here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjA7_wgofp4
The person who posted it shouldn't have used such a hyperbolic tagline, but the vid itself is worth watching.
IHS-CERA concludes “no material impact” on US GHG from Keystone XL; heavy crude from Venezuela most likely replacement
The proposed Keystone XL pipeline for transporting oilsands-derived crude to Gulf Coast refineries would have “no material impact” on US greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, according to a new Insight report by IHS CERA. In a June speech at Georgetown University, President Barack Obama said that the...
Lowered suspensions are not so good for the crumbling infrastructure of the US. My '05 VW Golf scraped bottom more than once and my oil pan received a few scratches. I ended up putting stiffer springs on it as well as 10mm lift spacers on the front. The car is about 50mm higher than stock and now sports an 4mm thick aluminum crash plate. Give me better engines and drive trains, more aerodynamic bodies and low-rolling resistance tires, but keep the low rider cars, please.
New Ford Fiesta ECOnetic van offers 71 mpg US
New Fiesta Van. Click to enlarge. Ford is introducing a new version of its Fiesta Van in Europe. All diesel engines in the new Fiesta Van achieve sub-100 g/km CO2 emissions and 3.7 l/100 km (63.6 mpg US) or better (measured according to the technical requirements and specifications of the E...
@ Kit P:
Here is the results of one of several studies associating particulate pollution with increased mortality:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1240569/pdf/ehp109s-000483.pdf
Lots more where that came from. Just Google "health effects of particulate pollution".
Muons and ADNA proposing using accelerator-driven subcritical reactor for heat for production of synthetic fuels and chemicals
Functional elements of the GEM*STAR reactor. Source: Muons, Inc. Click to enlarge. Muons, Inc., a private-sector high-energy accelerator physics firm, and ADNA (Accelerator-Driven Neutron Applications) Corp., are proposing using spent nuclear fuel (SNF), natural uranium, or excess weapons-g...
As for maintenance costs, VW will almost always be higher than Toyota. After having owned two of each, I can vouch for that. They need more repairs and their parts are not cheap.
As with NEDC figures, US EPA fuel economy tests tend to make gasoline/petrol cars look better than they perform in real-world driving, where as diesels tend to do at least as well as EPA. I'm a leadfoot, and my '05 Golf TDI gets 38-42mpg in the city.
Several years ago, I read that diesel fuel requires less energy to refine per volume than gasoline. I have not been able to find hard numbers for newer ULSD, although I'd venture a guess that the gap has closed considerably due to the extra refining steps, including hydrodesulferization.
What sold me on the Golf TDI vs. Prius is the fact that trailer towing will void the Prius warranty. My Golf can comfortably tow a 1200lb/550kg trailer if it has its own brakes.
German automotive companies launch “clean-diesel” marketing campaign in US
Six German automotive companies—passenger car manufacturers Audi, BMW, Daimler, Porsche and Volkswagen, and the supplier Bosch—launched their first joint campaign for diesels in the US. Under the slogan “Clean Diesel. Clearly Better.” they will argue for the advantages of modern diesel passenge...
I own a Golf IV TDI. The mechanical part of the engine has been very reliable, but the rest of the car, especially electrical parts, needs frequent repairs. With all of those new features, keeping the car running after the warranty ends could get expensive. I wish Toyota, Honda and Subaru would sell their diesel cars in the US.
MQB-based 7th gen VW Golf up to 100 kg lighter and 23% more fuel efficient than predecessor; Golf BlueMotion delivers 3.2 l/100km (73.5 mpg US) and 85g/km CO2
World premiere of the new Golf in the New National Gallery in Berlin. Click to enlarge. Volkswagen staged the world premiere of the new Golf in Berlin. The new Golf—the seventh generation of a vehicle that has been on sale since 1974 with sales totaling 29.13 million cars—is based on the Mo...
Hmmmm... lanthanum and cerium. Even though those are the most common rare-earth elements, I wonder how long the easy-to-mine deposits would last. The ore in the Mountain Pass mine in California also contains significant amounts of radium and thorium, which were spilled and carelessly dumped by the previous owner, Unocal. I sure hope the current owner, Molycorp, does a better job of managing that stuff. I have no doubt the mess is much worse in China, where most rare earth metals are mined today.
KIT researchers develop fluoride-ion batteries; potential for much higher energy densities than conventional Li-ion batteries
Setup of the fluoride-ion battery: A fluoride-containing electrolyte separates the metal anode from the metal fluoride cathode. Click to enlarge. Researchers from the Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT) have developed and demonstrated secondary (i.e., rechargeable) battery cells based...
The I-use-my-truck-on-weekends argument is sort of lame, IMHO. When I was 20, I drove a '65 GMC 3/4 ton pickup as my daily driver. It got 11mpg around town, 14mpg highway. Other than using it to move things once in a while, I mainly drove it empty and solo. It was a prop, decoration, manly jewelry. I got rid of it and bought a new '82 VW diesel pickup that got 46mpg. That had plenty of room for my cargo 98% of the time. Some of my friends thought I had lost my mind. One guy told me that getting that kind of fuel economy was un-American. I merely decided it was really stupid to spend so much money on fuel, especially with the kinds of miscreants and sociopaths who profit by selling the stuff.
Today I drive a Golf TDI (only 43mpg because I'm lead footed) and when I need to haul something large, I hook up my trailer. If I need more room, I rent a truck. I feel no need to waste fuel just because I can, and I see no point in making it more expensive for farmers and truck drivers who are barely scraping by. Anybody who buys a guzzler and then complains about fuel economy is willfully ignorant.
3.5L EcoBoost leading Ford F-150 sales; highest volume EcoBoost vehicle
The 365 hp (272 kW) 3.5-liter twin-turbocharged V6 Ford F-150 EcoBoost (earlier post) is outselling all other competitive six-cylinder trucks combined, according to Ford. In addition, the F-150 EcoBoost is now the highest volume vehicle in Ford’s growing global lineup of cars, trucks and SUVs av...
After seeing a couple of Aerotecture's turbines get taken down, I figured they didn't work. Maybe those were early units which still had bugs. Like any other wind generator, location and installation have to be right or the project is a disaster. I'm glad to see Bil Becker has had a few good design wins. I'd like to see the data sets from his instrumented installations to see how actual production compares to predictions.
Study suggests arrays of closely-spaced counter-rotating vertical-axis wind turbines could enhance power density of wind farms by up to an order of magnitude
Dabiri suggests using optimized arrays of smaller vertical-axis wind turbines to increase the power density and reduce the cost, and visual, acoustic, radar and environmental impacts, of wind farms using giant horizontal-axis turbines. Source: Dabiri 2010. Click to enlarge. Research by Prof....
Like any other market, supply and demand affect price. When fuel prices were high before the housing bubble burst, VW dealers were selling diesel Golfs and Jettas at $1500 over sticker, as Toyota and Honda dealers did with hybrids.
Diesels, even "clean" ones, have dirtier tailpipe emissions. In smog-trapping crowded coastal cities, health effects from higher NOx and PM are magnified.
California gasoline demand flat, diesel declined in Feb 2011
California gasoline consumption remained flat in February 2011, while diesel fuel consumption in California declined, according to the monthly report from the California State Board of Equalization. California’s gasoline consumption remained flat in February 2011 with 1.131 billion gallons of ga...
Asthma attacks and cancer are expensive, too.
APL first shipping line to cold-iron in Oakland
Singapore-based container shipping line APL became the first to cold-iron a vessel’s engines to eliminate exhaust emissions at the Port of Oakland, California. As others follow suit—as regulators require—cold-ironing will become a staple on California’s coast. The 900-foot (274-meter) APL Singap...
Anne,
While diesel contains more carbon per volume than gasoline, it is also less energy-intensive to refine. Well-to-wheels CO2 emissions from gasoline and diesel are comparable. Tailpipe emissions of NOx and soot from diesel are almost always higher, even for "clean" diesels. Well-to-wheel emissions may or may not be comparable depending on where the oil comes from and which refinery makes the fuel.
Toyota previews Prius v; first expansion of planned Prius “family”
by Jack Rosebro The Prius v. Click to enlarge. Seeking to build upon the “mystique and persona”, in its words, of the current Prius, Toyota introduced the Prius v, its new hybrid wagon/crossover and the second vehicle in a planned family of at least four carrying the Prius nameplate, to jour...
We're already using more nat-gas-derived hydrogen than we used to in order to desulfurize diesel. I think we'll need even more hydrogen to refine heavy oils, and still more to produce gasoline. Stripping H2 from methane via steam reforming wastes part of the energy from gas, which could be part of the reason diesel is less energy-intensive to refine than gasoline. Heavy oils contain less hydrogen, so it has to come from somewhere.
Diesel contains less hydrogen per energy unit than gasoline, yet total carbon emissions per energy unit are comparable.
Any petroleum engineers out there who can add to or correct this?
Volkswagen introducing new Tiguan SUV; fuel consumption of 5.3 L/100km (44 mpg US) in Bluemotion variant with Stop/Start
The new Tiguan. Click to enlarge. Volkswagen is introducing the new Tiguan, announced earlier this year and shown at the Geneva Motor Show in March. In Germany, the 2012 Tiguan will arrive on the market in mid-June; other European countries will follow at the beginning of August, and oversea...
I don't know if this is still the case or not, but at one time, we were importing gasoline/petrol from the EU (especially France and Netherlands) while exporting diesel. Again, this is older info, but many EU refineries used hydrocracking, which produces a greater proportion of middle distillates (diesel/kerosene/heating oil/jet fuel) and US refineries have used catalytic cracking, which produces more gasoline (and lower-grade diesel with more aromatics).
New heavy oil and bitumen oil refining technologies may have shifted these proportions in recent years. As we deplete the easy-to-get light crude, we may see those proportions change.
Volkswagen introducing new Tiguan SUV; fuel consumption of 5.3 L/100km (44 mpg US) in Bluemotion variant with Stop/Start
The new Tiguan. Click to enlarge. Volkswagen is introducing the new Tiguan, announced earlier this year and shown at the Geneva Motor Show in March. In Germany, the 2012 Tiguan will arrive on the market in mid-June; other European countries will follow at the beginning of August, and oversea...
@Reel$$ - I think Dr. Winterkorn may have skipped citing a precise CO2 emissions figure for the PHEVs because of the different levels of CO2 emissions from the various methods of electrical energy generation and unpredictable percentage of plug-in-powered vs. liquid fuel powered driving.
As for using E85, I'd be more in favor of it if we weren't strip mining coal or blasting the tops off of mountains to mine it to provide process heat for some ethanol producers. Also, corn is not the best feedstock for ethanol. It takes lots of chemical inputs, including increasingly imported nat-gas-derived nitrogen fertilizer plus some pretty nasty pesticides and herbicides.
This release also states the E85 TSI is initially destined for Sweden and Finland. We probably haven't seen the current gasoline TSI here in the US yet because of EPA regs. It's a great engine and I hope VW figures out how to fix that at reasonable cost.
Volkswagen putting range of plug-in hybrids into production starting in 2013/14
At the Vienna Motor Symposium, the Chairman of the Volkswagen Group, Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn, announced that the Volkswagen Group will be going into production with a range of models with plug-in hybrid technology starting in 2013/14. In his announcement, Winterkorn said that over the mid-t...
I went to their web site to find out more about their process, but it only gives very general information. I wonder what happens to chlorinated and fluorinated plastic and rubber in this process (PVC, PTFE, chloroprene, etc.) as well as brominated flame retardants (penta-, octa- and decabromodiphenyl ethers), which were used very heavily until a few years ago. Those materials can create dioxins/dibenzofurans and/or strong acids upon pyrolysis. I can't believe those feedstock materials can be easily sorted out.
SITA UK and Cynar to build UK’s first commercial plants to convert waste plastic to diesel
SITA UK, one of the country’s leading recycling and resource management companies and a subsidiary of Suez Environment, has signed an exclusive agreement with Cynar Plc to build Britain’s first fully operational plants to convert end of life plastic into diesel fuel. Cynar is a UK company establ...
The claim is that GDiesel yields better fuel economy than ULSD and lowers emissions as well, both because of more complete combustion. Does the fuel economy improvement offset the the energy used in processing? Would using this new fuel decrease emissions enough to allow trucks in areas with bad air quality to avoid installing soot traps?
With lower molecular weight, this fuel should have lower pour/cloud/gel points. Would it be a more efficient fuel than #1 ULSD?
Because leaded avgas is so expensive and in some areas unavailable, several companies are now building diesel aircraft engines. Using #2 diesel in aircraft is a bad idea since one gelling incident would ruin somebody's whole day. That's why most diesel planes run on jet A. If this new fuel flows in subzero temperatures and has higher heat value than jet A or #1 (which are about the same but for purity specs and additives), it would be a good aviation fuel for diesels.
ClearRefining Process Upgrades ULSD to Lighter, Cleaner-Burning Fuel; Nevada Designates it an Alternative Fuel
Nevada-based Advanced Refining Concepts, LLC, (ARC) has developed a process—called ClearRefining—for the upgrading of ultra-low sulfur diesel to a lighter, cleaner burning, higher quality fuel. The GDiesel product was recently designated as an alternative fuel by the Nevada Division of Environme...
HG,
That London Daily Telegraph article about thorium reactors that you like to keep quoting has got a few concepts about them wrong. If only it were that simple to do. Have a look at this blog page, written by a nuclear physicist:
http://helian.net/blog/2010/09/01/nuclear-weapons/subcritical-thorium-reactors-dr-rubbias-really-bad-idea/
German Military Study Warns of a Potentially Drastic Peak Oil Crisis
Der Spiegel. A study by a German military think tank, leaked on the Internet, has analyzed how peak oil might change the global economy. The study is a product of the Future Analysis department of the Bundeswehr Transformation Center, a think tank tasked with fixing a direction for the German m...
@ Goracle,
I didn't call you anything. Better check it again.
I never thought much of Al Gore, especially after he let ol' W steal the election. I think he's OK for doing some high visibility cheerleading to help combat AGW, but I don't worship anybody or anything. Nothing he said ever swayed me one way or the other. If the Nobel jury was serious about delivering a high-profile slap to W and his oil billionaire friends, they should have awarded a prize to James Hansen. Obama might be worthy of one in a few years if he can deliver at least a few of the things he's promised.
Myself, I worry that CO2 and other anthropogenic emissions will greatly exacerbate natural natural upswings and may cause instability and a metastable runaway condition. I don't do atmospheric science for a living (do you?), but what we're doing sounds like a recipe for inducing a positive feedback mechanism to me.
Can you post the article that proves CO2 isn't the leading factor? How 'bout some light reading?
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Cutting Non-CO2 Pollutants Can Delay Abrupt Climate Change; The “Fast Action” Climate Agenda
Probability distribution for the committed warming by GHGs between 1750 and 2005. Shown are the tipping elements [large-scale components of the Earth’s system] and the temperature threshold range that initiates the tipping. From Molina et al. (2009), reproduced from Ramanathan and Feng (2008)...
@ Goracle, ESabre and Reel$$,
You guys really do build strong, well-supported arguments. I strongly suggest that at least one of you publish a paper in a peer-reviewed journal and prove all of those myopic, shallow-minded atmospheric scientists wrong. How hard can it be?
Cutting Non-CO2 Pollutants Can Delay Abrupt Climate Change; The “Fast Action” Climate Agenda
Probability distribution for the committed warming by GHGs between 1750 and 2005. Shown are the tipping elements [large-scale components of the Earth’s system] and the temperature threshold range that initiates the tipping. From Molina et al. (2009), reproduced from Ramanathan and Feng (2008)...
Hey Goracle,
Congress didn't ban diesels. They banned dirty car exhaust. Now that European emission standards are catching up to the ones in the US, and fuel prices are sure to rise again, the cost of making diesel models comply with our various regulations has become worth their investment. Why would Honda, Nissan, Mazda and Toyota spend money to roll out models that would barely sell when they were able to make tons of money (until recently) selling big, expensive, thirsty machines?
The difference between the Japanese auto companies and our own now-not-so-big 3 is that they have been successfully selling cars like this in other markets, where they would have gotten creamed trying to pedal Sequoias (way too much irony in that name for me to handle) and Titans. Instead of having to design the small, efficient platforms from the ground up, they merely had to adapt them. If you haven't seen any announcements, it's because Japanese companies typically don't say much about new models until they're about ready to release them. Those cars are coming. http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9712548-7.html
I'm still trying to figure out why Ford isn't working on making US versions of their EU diesel cars. I'd much rather buy a partly US-made Focus diesel than another Brazilian Golf with a Polish TDI (fun to drive, but the upkeep is horrendous), although I'd definitely consider the Honda before either of those two.
The other thing to consider is the difference in refining infrastructures between the US and EU. Most of their refineries utilize a cracking process which yields proportionately more of the middle distillates, i.e. kerosene, jet fuel, heating oil and diesel. Most of our refineries utilize other forms of catalytic cracking which are tuned to produce a greater proportion of gasoline. A sudden drop in oil consumption due to 62MPG diesel cars plus the sudden gasoline/diesel supply imbalance would make for an entertaining predicament for our beloved oil companies. Could they have been leaning on the big 3 about this?
Mazda to Introduce Clean Diesel CX-7 with SCR at the Frankfurt Motor Show
Mazda CX-7 equipped with a MZR-CD 2.2-liter clean diesel engine (European specifications). Click to enlarge. Mazda Motor Corporation will exhibit freshened CX-7 SUVs with European specifications at the 63rd Frankfurt Motor Show, which will be held from 15-27 September. Newly added to the updat...
Nobody can predict future climate change based on a range of scenarios with absolute certainty. I think all of the top researchers working on GCC would freely admit that. However, with my limited knowledge about climate science, I find the theories of anthropogenic GCC caused by CO2, HFCs, soot, etc. far more compelling than those of the denialsts.
Here is something for the denialists to consider: If mankind significantly reduces its output of those chemicals by replacing oil and coal energy with as much renewable energy as is practical while practicing as much conservation as possible, the worst outcome will be a cleaner, safer and much more peaceful existence for all. If the denialists lose their bet, well, who's gonna pay?
Preliminary Data Shows June 2009 Second Warmest on Record Globally; Global Sea Surface Temperature Hits June Record
Based on preliminary data, the globally averaged combined land and sea surface temperature was the second warmest on record for June 2009 and the January-June 2009 year-to-date tied with 2004 as the fifth warmest on record, according to the US National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), part of NOAA (...
Some of the nastier components of non-catalyst-equipped diesel exhaust are certain species of PAH (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons). Certain compounds of this type are harmless, but others are very carcinogenic. It would be interesting to compare the PAH profiles of both fuels in exhaust from a variety of engines.
I have read that simple PM levels only tell part of the story about the health hazards of various emission sources. Besides the fact that particle size matters greatly (smaller is worse, all other factors being equal), what is in soot particles besides carbon also has a large effect on health hazards. If the submicron soot picks up hazardous HC, such as benzene or PAH, it can carry these compounds into the body. Very small PM can go through the lungs and into the blood, carrying these other compounds with it.
All PM is harmful when inhaled. It would be useful to know whether biodiesel PM is more or less of a hazard than petrodiesel PM, and whether it contains any new hazards.
Study Finds Environmental and Tailpipe Pollutants Benefits in Using Biodiesel in Construction Vehicles
Using biodiesel in construction vehicles offers promising environmental benefits in terms of reduced tailpipe emissions as well as reductions in fuel cycle emissions of selected pollutants, according to a new study by researchers at North Carolina State University. A paper on their work was publ...
@Rob H.
Current theory states that disrupting the thermohaline circulator, as it's called, would effectively reroute the gulf stream and, as most of the rest of the planet heats up, northern Europe would face a "mini-ice age". The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute has conducted much research and published a number of articles on this. See http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=12457&tid=282&cid=7115 for example. Lately, it appears as though the recently slowing circulator has sped up again http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=12455&tid=282&cid=54347
Before the denialists jump on this and tell us the original theory is invalid and the new evidence proves it, I'd like to point out that ANY major changes to such a fundamental part of our climate regulation mechanism ought to scare the living daylights out of any thoughtful person.
Researchers Find Significant Increase in Freshwater Content of Arctic Ocean
A team of US researchers has found a significant increase in the amount of fresh water in the Arctic Ocean as well as a significant change in the distribution of fresh water, as compared with average winter values. Fresh water flowing into or out of the Arctic Ocean plays an important role in oc...
Manufacturing silicon carbide wafers is also extremely energy intensive, more so than silicon. This is because of the much higher temperature required during zone purification of ingots. Also, there is currently no source of larger size SiC wafers necessary for more cost-effective device manufacturing.
I don't know how much energy is required to create and purify raw GaN material, but I do know that gallium is far less plentiful than most materials. It could be used to make extremely efficient photovoltaic cells, but I was told by a semiconductor physicist that there isn't enough of it available on the earth's crust to support mass production as currently envisioned. Using it for super efficient power switching devices and LEDs is probably a much better use for it.
International Rectifier has recently developed smaller GaN switching MOSFETs,
http://www.irf.com/whats-new/nr080909.html
so IGBTs are a logical next step.
Fuji Electric and Furukawa Partner on GaN Power Devices
Fuji Electric and Furukawa Electric Co. have formed a research association for cooperative research and joint development of GaN-on-Si-based (gallium nitride on silicon) wide bandgap power devices which can be used in more efficient and capable power electronics for hybrid and electric drive veh...
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