Demand for Smart Car Exceeds Proposed Supply

Includes possibility of diesel-powered fortwos in the future.
from AutoBlogGreen.com:
Posted Dec 4th 2007 2:27PM by Damon Lavrinc

Daimler exec extraordinaire, Dieter Zetsche, sat down with reporters for a breakfast meeting earlier today and discussed the future of the smart brand here in the States. As we're well aware, over 30,000 consumers have put down deposits for the smart before it comes to market next month, and according to Dr. Z, demand will exceed the number of smarts destined for U.S. shores. At the same time, however, he didn't want to give exact figures on how many smarts Daimler expects to sell in 2008.

The talks also centered on the future of smart in the States, including the possibility of diesel-powered fortwos and the testing of a fleet of all-electric smarts in an unnamed urban city, similar to a program in London.

Daimler has 65 dealerships lined up to sell smarts in the U.S., with another nine due to go live before the end of next year. Thirty-three of the stores will be "co-located" within existing Mercedes-Benz franchises, which is similar to how BMW originally launched the MINI brand across the globe.

[Source: Automotive News – Sub. Req.]

Volvo Invests in Diesel/Electric Hybrid for Forestry Trucks

Potential to cut fuel consumption by 50% and thereby also reduce emissions of carbon dioxide.
from AB Volvo (press release):

Volvo Technology Transfer AB is a new part-owner in El-forest AB, based in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden, and is thereby investing in the development of energy efficient and environmentally sound forestry machinery. The investment is part of the Volvo Group’s striving to strengthen its role as a leading supplier to the forestry industry.

The El-forest forwarder is the world’s first forestry machine that uses energy efficient electric-hybrid technology. The technology has attracted great interest and support, among other reasons as a result of its potential to cut fuel consumption by 50% and thereby also reduce emissions of carbon dioxide. Due to its lighter weight, although still able to handle the same load as a conventional forwarder of a comparable size, it facilitates more environmentally sound log hauling. Moreover, it has significantly less impact on the external environment through a patented innovative frame construction that enables all wheels, which are individually electrically powered, to follow the same wheel-track with adapted speed. It has attracted major attention from the large forestry machine customers in the Nordic countries as well as from customers in many of the large forest countries worldwide.

Volvo Technology Transfer’s investment in El-forest will accelerate the introduction of the forestry machine and will enable customers to benefit faster from the economical and environmental benefits that the El-forest forwarder promises. The first machine delivery will be to state-owned Sveaskog, Sweden’s largest forest owner, during 2008.

Volvo Technology Transfer AB is part of AB Volvo and focuses on developing and supporting new business relevant to the Volvo Group. Part of the effort is to invest in companies and projects hat are technically and commercially attractive.

November 27, 2007
For further information, please contact Per Wassén, Investment Director Volvo Technology Transfer AB: +46 31-66 91 68 or +46 708-96 00 55

Peak Oil: How Will You Ride the Slide?

Biodiesel Stands up to Sub-Zero Temperatures

Cold Climate Users Report Biodiesel Success in Winter Months
from The National Biodiesel Board (press release):

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.– When snow falls at a rate of several inches per hour and all signs point to perfect weekend ski conditions, Jim Mersereau knows he has a lot riding on successful operation of his snow grooming equipment. Because thousands of skiers depend on him, he must be confident that his biodiesel-powered Bombardier groomers will operate on the coldest, darkest New Hampshire nights.

“We know that even with heavy snow falling and temperatures hovering around 20 below, we can count on our biodiesel-powered vehicles to start up and perform with no problems at all,” said Mersereau, Operations Director for New Hampshire’s Cranmore Mountain Resort. “We have been very pleased with biodiesel’s performance and have had absolutely no cold weather problems.”

In 2003, Cranmore Mountain, located in North Conway, NH, joined other ski resorts nationwide, such as Aspen, Colo., in fueling its snow grooming fleet with B20 (a blend of 20 percent biodiesel and 80 percent petroleum diesel). A grant from the Granite State Clean Cities Coalition (GSCCC) helped Cranmore make the switch to B20 and install a 4,000-gallon above ground fuel storage tank. Since then, Cranmore has continued to use B20 in its equipment and is now using Bioheat fuel to heat its buildings as well.

Read more>>

Fuel efficiency and the American driver

Congress is poised to finally make cars get better gas mileage. Consumers can expect to pay more for their vehicles but save on their gas bills.



By Steve Hargreaves, CNNMoney.com staff writer
December 1 2007: 1:15 PM EST

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- More hybrids. More diesels. Smaller engines and fancier technology. And an initial sticker price increase that could total a couple thousand dollars.

Those are the likely outcomes now that Congress has decided to increase the national fuel efficiency standards to 35 miles a gallon by 2020, from the current average of 25...

If the measures are enacted, the auto industry would give a strong push to its hybrid vehicles. Hybrids, which run on a combination of gasoline and electric power, usually cost about $2,000 to $3,000 more than conventional vehicles.

Detroit would also likely roll out more diesel vehicles, which would also cost $2,000 to $3,000 more than similar gasoline-powered vehicles but would get much better gas (sic) mileage.

Read More>>

San Francisco Fleet Is All Biodiesel

By CAROLYN MARSHALL
Published: December 2, 2007

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 30 — Claiming it now has the largest green fleet in the nation, the city of San Francisco this week completed a yearlong project to convert its entire array of diesel vehicles — from ambulances to street sweepers — to biodiesel, a clean-burning and renewable fuel that holds promise for helping to reduce greenhouse gases.

Using virgin soy oil bought from producers in the Midwest, officials said that as of Friday, all of the city’s 1,500 diesel vehicles were powered with the environmentally friendlier fuel, intended to sharply reduce toxic diesel exhaust linked to a higher risk of asthma and premature death.

Read More>>

Oil from Algae? Scientists Seek Green Gold

Microorganisms can be turned into biodiesel, and the cost is going down
from MSNBC.com:

ST. PAUL, Minn. - The 16 big flasks of bubbling bright green liquids in Roger Ruan's lab at the University of Minnesota are part of a new boom in renewable energy research.

Driven by renewed investment as oil prices push $100 a barrel, Ruan and scores of scientists around the world are racing to turn algae into a commercially viable energy source.

Some varieties of algae are as much as 50 percent oil, and that oil can be converted into biodiesel or jet fuel.

...Ruan's researchers grow their algae in sewage plant discharge because it contains phosphates and nitrates — chemicals that pollute rivers but can be fertilizer for algae farms. So Ruan envisions building algae farms next to treatment plants, where they could consume yet another pollutant, the carbon dioxide produced when sewage sludge is burned.

Jim Sears of A2BE Carbon Capture LLC, of Boulder, Colo., a startup company that's developing fuel-from-algae technologies that tap carbon dioxide from coal-fired power plants, compared the challenges to achieving space flight.

"It's complex, it's difficult and it's going to take a lot of players," Sears said.

Read More>>

Fuel MPG Standards Deal May Be Revealed Today

Pelosi Seeks Vote Next Week on 35mpg Standard by 2020
from freep.com (Detroit Free Press):
November 29, 2007
BY JUSTIN HYDE - FREE PRESS WASHINGTON STAFF

Congressional staffers have hammered out the outlines of an agreement for increasing U.S. fuel economy standards to 35 miles per gallon by 2020, and a deal could be announced as soon as today if House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other lawmakers approve.

...As expected, the deal would require federal regulators to treat cars and trucks differently under fuel economy rules, and preserve some kind of credits for selling vehicles capable of burning ethanol or other alternative fuels. Both were key concerns of Detroit automakers, which will face higher costs for meeting tougher standards than their foreign competitors.

Read More>>

ASA Raises Concerns About Farm Bill Priorities

from American Soybean Association press release:

...In the Energy Title (of the Senate's proposed Farm Bill), ASA is very concerned with the level of funding provided for payments to domestic biodiesel producers under the Bioenergy Program for Advanced Biofuels. Biodiesel producers have seen prices for their feedstocks, including soybean oil, more than double in the past year as aggressive policies to raise ethanol production have shifted nearly 12 million acres from soybeans to corn this year. As a result of higher feedstock costs, the biodiesel tax credit is not sufficient to ensure competitiveness of domestic biodiesel in the U.S. market.

"An additional payment is essential to ensure the viability of our fledgling domestic biodiesel industry in the current volatile energy market," Hoffman said.

Unfortunately, the funding level provided in the proposed bill would not allow a payment sufficient to make domestic biodiesel competitive. Also, and for the same reasons, the proposed bill should provide payments on all biodiesel production, as has been done in the past, not on incremental production. In addition, the proposed requirement that biodiesel producers choose between biodiesel payments under the Bioenergy Program and the small biodiesel producer tax credit would be a disincentive for start-up biodiesel companies, and should be eliminated.

Read More>>

Imperium Looks to Algae for Fuel, a Future in Farming?

Algae "could contribute 100 million gallons of biodiesel by 2011."
from SeattlePI.com (blog):

In a BusinessWeek story titled "Here comes pond scum power," Imperium Renewables Chief Executive Martin Tobias and others discuss the promise of algae in biofuel production.

Tobias says that algae could contribute 100 million gallons of biodiesel by 2011. And he hints that Imperium -- which already has a deal with South San Francisco algae producer Solazyme and recently invested in Tacoma algae-to-fuel producer Inventure Chemical -- may spend more money on the emerging fuel source.

"The only thing missing is the farms. I prefer not to operate a large-scale farm myself, but I may have to do it," Tobias tells BusinessWeek.

Read More>>