This is an email I sent to friend who had asked about the concept of green cars and expressed concerns about batteries in electric vehicles. Based on his response, I thought others might find it of interest.
Live Sustainably
Dave
For starters, let's get one thing straight, anything that calls itself a "green" car (other than the Gremlin of course) is an absolute fabrication. The very nature of an automobile is the antithesis of everything that "green" has come to stand for. Most people don't realize that more greenhouse gases are released from the making of a vehicle than from driving it, so it's very existence is worse than it's operation. Along those lines, i think the whole "green" thing has been co-opted for business purposes which the Detroit auto show has done a great job of doing. Want a truly green car? Park it out back, smash the windows, fill it with manure and topsoil, and plant some flowers in it.
Now having said that, perhaps on to something of substance. As we know, Fossil fuels are the big problem out there as a) they are running out and b)they release massive amounts of CO2 which as Mr. Gore has pointed out, are not so good for the folks on mothership earth. Both points can of course be argued, but bottom line, fossil fuels are finite so if we are not presently at peak oil we will be, we are fighting wars (both known and unknown) all over the globe for oil rights, and even if you want to argue against the IPCC and say we are not causing Global Warming, I can come up with 30 other environmental and societal reasons why petroleum is bad.
Two-thirds of all the petroleum brought into this country is used for transportation, much of it in the trucking industry, so obviously, transpo is a place we need to look at. First off before we hit up "alternatives" (I italicize that because in 1900 Diesel invented his engine to run on peanut oil and Fords dream was for all his T's to run on ethanol....so which is alternative petroleum or biofuels?) let's look at efficiency. According to the UCS, if we were today to pass a law stating that by 2015 all cars would need to have 40 mpg minimum consumption ratings, we'd save more oil than will ever be pumped out of ANWAR and then the savings would continue. Pretty much all the car companies agree that 40 mpg by 2015 is doable. In Europe you can buy an off the shelf VW Lupo 3 cyclinder diesel that gets 83 mpg and has been proven to get as high as 116 mpg. So while we need to "green" our cars by going "alternative", most of which are not around the corner due to infrastructure (ethanol, biodiesel and the myth of hydrogen that we are being sold) and customer acceptibility (electric), there's a whole mess of things we can do right now using off the shelf technology that should be explored first.
Moving towards "alternatives", I drive a veggie car simply because it is the best solution available right now, barring not driving, which I do quite a bit. That said, food should be for eating, not dragging stuff and us from one place to the next. Biodiesel, if made from waste veggie oil is a great thing, but there isn't nearly enough to make a dent in the overall picture. Due to demand for bioD, huge swaths of rainforest are being cut down to cheaply grow soybeans. Just like us to take something good and figure out how to make it bad. Ethanol is a scam. Problems range from cellulosic ethanol (the one that works) not being achievable on a large scale, to massive problems with storage and transportation of the stuff due to water content. Most people talk about Brazil, which is great, but they use sugar cane which grows like a weed, and are having massive rust problems due to the water content in the fuel.
Hydrogen makes no sense due to the fact that it has no energy. It's an energy carrier so it all comes down to how are you compressing the hydrogen. Right now it takes roughly four times as much petroleum to move a mile on hydrogen than it does on petroleum. Also, an entirely new infrastructure will need to be built which is insanity. Hydrogen vehicles are essentially electric vehicles that get their energy from a fuel cell. Every time you take a form of energy and transfer it from one state to the next, you lose roughly 10%. So let's say you are using the sun to compress hydrogen. Great clean source right? In compressing the hydrogen you lose 10% of the energy you've amassed. It heads into the fuel cell and gets turned into electricity and you lose another 10%. So why not just have an EV where you don't lose that 20% energy?
EVs are the only solution. First of all, the technology is here, and it's improving at a remarkable rate. It's a heck of a lot easier to clean up the grid than it is a thousand tailpipes so for that reason EVs make sense. They require less maintenance, are better cars to begin with (I've driven hydrogen vehicles and they are nothing to scream about) and don't require a new infrastructure. As far as electricity goes, The Northwest Energy Labs Study a while back is just one of many that illustrates that if 70-80% of all cars and light trucks in the US were EVs today, we would need no new power. That's because they would be charging at night when an amazing amount of energy is dumped off the grid due to the fact that you can't turn power stations on and off as you need. So power wise, we're good right now. We need to improve, but there is time.
The batteries are a problem but they are getting better. Smart companies like Tesla have the price of recycling built into the battery and the future, which is right around the corner, are ultra capacitors. These things are half as light, half as expensive, completely recyclable, and will fuel EVs to come. EEstore is the company in the lead right now and their recent deal with Lockeed Martin suggests that they may be closer than anyone thought to a working prototype.
Finally, here's a link to a really good well to wheels program. If you play around with the configurations, you'll see that an EV charged by the sun is the cleanest way to go.
That said, you're car as a flower pot is even greener.
Monday, February 4, 2008
What Are Green Cars Anyway?
Where do the Candidates stand on the environment
Brief no doubt, but this gives you a little bit of an overview of where the candidates stand and what's important to them. You can also click the links to hear them talk about their views. Rhetoric of course, but when that's all you've got, at least it's something. For those of you in voting States in the US good luck on Super Tuesday.
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Our Plastic Seas - The Pacific Gyre
As i mentioned a while back, my friend Anna and Marcus are on a trip through the Pacific Gyre, a twice the size of Texas patch of plastic debris that is floating in the Pacific Ocean. Due to illnesses and everything else, I've been behind, so here are the first posts they have put up. I highly recommend following their voyage. The above video was made by the foundation they are working for and explains the problem at hand.
Live Sustainably
Dave
While i would highly suggest reading all the post, if you are short of time, I'd check out "First Day at Sea", "Entering the Plastic Soup" and Fundamental Properties".
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
The 300 MPG Aptera (and it's EV cousin) May Finally Be On The Way
The Aptera is the car of the future that I have been watching with interest for quite some time. At under $30,000 it seemed too good to be true, and many thought that to be the case. Thankfully, as you'll see in this video from Popular Mechanics, it seems like the future may be coming sooner than we think.
Ok, so this may not be every one's idea of the perfect car. It's a side by side 2 seater, it only has three wheels, and it has limited trunk space (although in classic California style, it'll fit a surfboard just fine). That said, it's a huge step in the right direction and, as would be expected in the climate we are in, comes from an entrepreneur rather than a Detroit bigwig.
Aptera plans to release two models as early as the end of this year, a gas electric hybrid that can achieve 300 mpg and an all electric version with a 120 mile range and a 4-6 hour recharge time. One of the ways they achieve this is by basically eliminating anything that can cause drag which translates to lower gas mileage/range. Instead of side mirrors, there are streamlined video cameras. When not in use, the windshield wipers are hidden in a specially designed enclosed compartment. Solar panels on the roof help expel hot air while the car is parked, increasing efficiency and comfort while driving. These are just a few of the improvements they've made and if they sound insignificant, consider this - the drag created by the windshield wipers on a normal car is greater than the drag created by the entire Aptera vehicle.
The car is highway safe, has a top speed of 90 mph and will meet all federal safety regulations. Presently there are only plans to sell them in California (where the company is) as this is the best way that they can assure adequate maintenance, but eventually they'll be branching out. They already have over 400 deposits in hand and expect that number to rise.
Pretty cool. And if this isn't the car for you, fear not, we're only seeing the tip of the iceberg.
Live Sustainably
Dave
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Excuse the absence
Due to traveling, visits from the inlaws, and now the flu (which i am just barely recovering from) I apologize for being so absent as of late. Hopefully in a few days I'll be back up to speed.
Thanks
Live Sustainably
Dave
California Clean Car Discount Bill
For those of you who live in California, check this posting out from the Union of Concerned Scientists about AB 493. It's a fairly simple concept that i think really may have some legs. The bill would create rebates up to $2500 for cars that emit less global warming gasses and the money would come from a surcharge on new vehicles that emit excess global warming gasses. Studies show that such a bill could reduce global warming pollution from new cars and trucks by up to a third due to customer choices.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Think your power is clean? Think again.
Holy connect the dots batman. I just came across this great site where you can type in your zip code and it will give you detailed info about where your local power is coming from and if it is involved in mountaintop stripping, a massively destructive coal extracting method that turns mountains into mole hills. We pay extra for green power so I need to run this by my power company to see what's what.
That said, apparently DWP buys power from Intermountian Power in Utah, who get their coal from Cumberland River Coal in Virginia and Black Thunder in Wyoming. So every time a regular DWP customer turns on the TV, it starts a chain where these companies destroy mountains in other states, ship coal across the country, turn it into electricity in Utah, and shoot it over the grid to their house so they can enjoy Sweatin' With The Oldies.
Makes sense huh?
If only there were some magical roof covering that could us a local power source, ya know, like the sun for instance, and turn it into electricity that would only have to be passed on down to the living room. If only......
Check it out, sign their petition, contact your local electric company, and pass it on.
Live Sustainably
Dave
