Autoblog Green http://www.autobloggreen.com Autoblog Green http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/%SiteURL%/media/feedlogo.gif Autoblog Green http://www.autobloggreen.com en-us Copyright 2009 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/Chris Shunk, Sam Abuelsamid and Dan RothThe podcast by the people who obsessively cover the auto industry.<![CDATA[U.S. Air Force cancels plans for coal to liquid fuel project]]>http://www.autobloggreen.com/2009/02/02/us-air-force-cancels-plans-for-coal-to-liquid-fuel-project/http://www.autobloggreen.com/2009/02/02/us-air-force-cancels-plans-for-coal-to-liquid-fuel-project/http://www.autobloggreen.com/2009/02/02/us-air-force-cancels-plans-for-coal-to-liquid-fuel-project/#commentsFiled under:

For a military forces, a steady reliable supply of fuel is critical to success. Given that, the U.S. Air Force has been investigating the idea of putting a coal-to-liquid facility at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana. Coal is readily available in the continental U.S. and being able to economically produce synthetic liquid fuel would be highly beneficial to the military.

The proposals that the Air Force looked at involved having a privately-funded and -operated fuel plant on the site. However, the investigators found that the proposals would have interfered with normal operations at the base and hurt security. There were also safety concerns because of the weapons stored on site. The Air Force has chosen to abandon the idea for now, but it hasn't said whether it will pursue other alternatives for synthetic fuel production.

[Source: U.S. Air Force]

U.S. Air Force cancels plans for coal to liquid fuel project originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Mon, 02 Feb 2009 08:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>coal to fuelcoal to liquidCoalToFuelCoalToLiquidus air forceUsAirForceMon, 02 Feb 2009 08:55:00 EST<![CDATA[Detroit 2008: Toyota's Takimoto talks about <i>all</i> of Toyota's future eco plans]]>http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/01/23/detroit-2008-toyotas-takimoto-talks-about-all-of-toyota/http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/01/23/detroit-2008-toyotas-takimoto-talks-about-all-of-toyota/http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/01/23/detroit-2008-toyotas-takimoto-talks-about-all-of-toyota/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , , , , ,



During the hectic press days of the Detroit Auto Show, AutoblogGreen and a small number of other news outlets were invited to a corner of the Riverfront Ballroom at Cobo Hall. The reason for the meeting was the chance to inteview Toyota Motor Corporation Japan's executive vice president, Masatami Takimoto. Takimoto is responsible for ToMoCo's overall research and development, which means he's in charge of Toyota's hydrogen fuel cell and plug-in hybrid projects. The hour-long interview touched on these two vital topics, as well as the new 35 mpg CAFE rules, battery recycling, cellulosic ethanol and much, much more. You, too, can sit down (aurally) with Takimoto-san here (1 hour, 43MB). Read on after the jump for details on how Toyota plans to continue making green cars just like Takimoto's pin.

Continue reading Detroit 2008: Toyota's Takimoto talks about all of Toyota's future eco plans

Detroit 2008: Toyota's Takimoto talks about all of Toyota's future eco plans originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Wed, 23 Jan 2008 19:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>Masatami-Takimototoyota-Masatami-TakimotoWed, 23 Jan 2008 19:26:00 EST<![CDATA[AutoblogGreen Q&A: Coskata CEO Bill Roe on cellulosic ethanol partnership with GM]]>http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/01/14/autobloggreen-qanda-coskata-ceo-bill-roe-on-cellulosic-ethanol-pa/http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/01/14/autobloggreen-qanda-coskata-ceo-bill-roe-on-cellulosic-ethanol-pa/http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/01/14/autobloggreen-qanda-coskata-ceo-bill-roe-on-cellulosic-ethanol-pa/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , , ,



In the latest AutoblogGreen podcast, we featured an interview with Coskata president and CEO Bill Roe. This is a transcription of that interview. For a way-too detailed look at the GM-Coskata cellulosic ethanol partnership discussed in this chat, check out this post.

ABG: I'm here with Bill Roe, CEO of Coskata, and we just listened to the presentations and had a little tour of the laboratories here on the site. I am a little bit interested in this partnership, that is kind of what we are learning about here today between your company and GM. We heard a little bit about what GM can do for you, some of the promotion, bringing it to other people and you said during lunch that other car did approach you and GM sort of was the best fit for you. Can you talk a little bit, now that the tape is rolling, about how that partnership came to be? And why you are excited to work with GM on this.

Roe: I think that the two companies, and for similar and yet dissimilar reasons, have an understanding of what is going to have to happen if there is going to really truly be a revolution in transportation fuels. General Motors clearly had undertaken a study to determine who is out there and what are the best bets, and who is going to be quickest to market in the next generation ethanol space. We did not know that. But concurrently we were looking at the enormity of what has to happen for the billions of gallons of ethanol that conceiveably can be produced to ultimately get to market because there is a tremendous amount of infrastructure change and infrastructure development that is going to have to take place. And so, when we began to look at, in our partnership model, who the players would be that we would necessarily want to talk to that had a long range, and I would emphasize that word "long-range", long view of what had to be done, obviously, the automotive firms came to mind. It just so happened that when we begun to work our way into General Motors to see who could we talk to about this, we found out that they were doing an independent study of their own of next generation ethanol companies, and so we fit right into that discussion. And, they went through the same diligence process with us that they did with - I think they said 14-16,18 other companies, and said; we like many attributes of many of those companies. But we see in Coskata something that is elegantly simply, fast to market and with economics that look like there is as good or better than anything will be in the perceivable future, and that is when they made their decision to partner. That is when we made, certainly, our decision to say "thank you" for supporting us because, again, these really is going to take lots and lots of collaboration and cooperation between major corporations, entrepreneurial start ups, technology companies, universities, and governments to make happen.

Read much more after the jump.

Continue reading AutoblogGreen Q&A: Coskata CEO Bill Roe on cellulosic ethanol partnership with GM

AutoblogGreen Q&A: Coskata CEO Bill Roe on cellulosic ethanol partnership with GM originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Mon, 14 Jan 2008 11:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>bill-roecellulosic-ethanolcoskatacoskata-bill-roecoskata-gmgm-cellulosic-ethanolMon, 14 Jan 2008 11:46:00 EST<![CDATA[Many presidential candidates support coal-to-liquid fuel]]>http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/01/08/many-presidential-candidates-support-coal-to-liquid-fuel/http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/01/08/many-presidential-candidates-support-coal-to-liquid-fuel/http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/01/08/many-presidential-candidates-support-coal-to-liquid-fuel/#commentsFiled under: ,

American news outlets are certainly full of updates from the voting in New Hampshire today, where the second first presidential primary in the 2008 U.S. election is taking place (UPDATE courtesy of J Jones: Iowa had a caucus, not a primary). Out in Vancouver, British Columbia, Silverado Green Fuel thought that today would be a good time to remind everyone about where the candidates stand on coal-to-liquid fuel (CTL). The company has released a collection of pro-CTL quotes from four presidential candidates (Barrack Obama, Mike Huckabee, Hillary Clinton, Mitt Romney) and Democratic Senator Jay Rockefeller. You can find those quotes in full after the jump.

It's not just some of the leading candidates for president who like CTL. The 2007 Energy Bill that passed in December includes $2.2 billion in tax incentives for clean coal technology applications, something that Silverado's President and CEO Garry Anselmo says means Silverado "is in the right place, and at the right time. [...] Silverado Green Fuel uses low rank coal. America has centuries of domestic supply of low rank coal, an underutilized energy resource." American politicians might be in favor, but China has had second thoughts about CTL.

Related:
[Source: Silverado Green Fuel Inc.]

Continue reading Many presidential candidates support coal-to-liquid fuel

Many presidential candidates support coal-to-liquid fuel originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Tue, 08 Jan 2008 17:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>coalcoal-to-liquidctlGarry-Anselmohillary-clinton-ctlmike-huckabee-ctlmitt-romney-ctlSilverado-Green-FuelTue, 08 Jan 2008 17:15:00 EST<![CDATA[Huckabee tells us God is green]]>http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/11/19/huckabee-tells-us-god-is-green/http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/11/19/huckabee-tells-us-god-is-green/http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/11/19/huckabee-tells-us-god-is-green/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,

Apparently, Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee hasn't met an energy source he doesn't like. According to a new article in Salon, Huckabee "praises just about every energy source you can think of -- nuclear, "clean coal," wind, solar, hydrogen, biomass, biodiesel, corn-based ethanol, cellulosic ethanol, oil from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and other untapped domestic areas, and, yes, conservation too."

That's a lot of praise from one man. But using all the energy sources in the world doesn't mean we should use them wantonly, Huckabee says. God, Huckabee claims, wants us to stop global warming. Salon's Amanda Griscom Little called up the former Arkansas governor for a little bit more information on why Christian conservatives should be on the lookout for ways to save energy. Huckabee said a lot of things that AutoblogGreen will be interested in, so I recommend reading the whole interview. I'll pull one quote to whet your appetite:

Not only as a Republican, but as a Christian it's important to me to say to my fellow believers, "Look, if anybody ought to be leading on this issue, it ought to be us." We can't justify destroying a planet that doesn't belong to us, and if we believe that God did create this world for our pleasure and wants us to enjoy it, then all the more reason that we should take care of it.

Right. To me, that means things like not drilling in ANWR. But, hey, the Bible can be read in a lot of different ways, right?

[Source: Salon / Amanda Griscom Little]

Huckabee tells us God is green originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Mon, 19 Nov 2007 10:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>global-warminggodgod-global-warminghuckabeemike-huckabeeMon, 19 Nov 2007 10:22:00 EST<![CDATA[New method to obtain cheap natural gas from coal]]>http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/10/15/new-method-to-obtain-cheap-natural-gas-from-coal/http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/10/15/new-method-to-obtain-cheap-natural-gas-from-coal/http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/10/15/new-method-to-obtain-cheap-natural-gas-from-coal/#commentsFiled under: , ,

GreatPoint, a company made by three enterpreneurs from Boston (Andrew Perlman, Avi Goldberg and Aaron Mandell) has announced that they have created a cheap method to obtain natural gas from coal. Obtaining gas from coal (called syngas) is not the latest technology around: At the end of the 19th century, many cities had gas lights and Germany had syngas-powered vehicles from the '20s until the end of WWII. During the Oil crisis in the '70s, the US Government funded research, until syngas became non-competitive against oil prices.

Nevertheless, syngas is not the cleanest fuel you can burn and it's not very efficient to obtain. GreatPoint claims that their method goes even further and can transform syngas into natural gas by using catalysts (possibly potassium) which also allow to use lower temperatures for the process. Natural gas is much cleaner and it's a proven and reliable source of energy, and a lot of automakers have at least some vehicles that can burn CNG.

GreatPoint is also looking for other raw materials to obtain gas for, such as petroleum coke (a refining byproduct) and other plants, in order to gather data and test the catalyst.

For those of you who recognize the name Vinod Khosla as the Daddy Big-bucks of the ethanol scene, take note about his reasons for investing in GreatPoint: "I'm a pragmentalist, not an environmentalist. I'd love to get rid of coal, but politically it won't happen."

[Source: Forbes (sub's req'd)]

New method to obtain cheap natural gas from coal originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Mon, 15 Oct 2007 18:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>coal to gasCoalToGasGreatpointsyngasMon, 15 Oct 2007 18:43:00 EST<![CDATA[Just how much of a difference could efficiency gains make on oil imports? A lot]]>http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/10/10/just-how-much-of-a-difference-could-efficiency-gains-make-on-oil/http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/10/10/just-how-much-of-a-difference-could-efficiency-gains-make-on-oil/http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/10/10/just-how-much-of-a-difference-could-efficiency-gains-make-on-oil/#commentsFiled under: , , ,



Sometimes you have to step away from the daily updates and take a peek at the larger "domestic and global fuels supply situation.' If you're the DOE Task Force on Strategic Unconventional Fuel that just released a three-volume report on exactly that matter, you'll discover that the "outlook is urgent." The good news is that efficiency gains and other "alternatives" will help reduce the need for oil imports in the coming decades. The task force's "alternatives" to importing oil include: shale oil, heavy crude, tar sands, coal-to-liquids and enhanced oil recovery (EOR) using captured carbon dioxide. Remember, this is a military-based "strategic" fuel document here.

And, as The Energy Blog points out, the report says: "Aggressive development by private industry, and encouraged by government, could supply all of the Department of Defense's domestic fuels demand by 2016, and supply upwards of 7 million barrels per day of domestically produced liquid fuels to domestic markets by 2035." My question, what about the DoD's foreign fuel demand? The U.S. military uses around 312 million barrels of petroleum a day (2006 figure). [UPDATE: that's what the EV World post says, but as you've pointed out in the comments, it can't be right. Daily world petroleum consumption is "just" 84.5 million barrels a day.]

The details, with graphs and analysis, can be found at EV World.

[Source: EV World via The Energy Blog]

Just how much of a difference could efficiency gains make on oil imports? A lot originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Wed, 10 Oct 2007 09:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>Task-Force-on-Strategic-Unconventional-FuelWed, 10 Oct 2007 09:31:00 EST<![CDATA[More coal to liquid fuels research from Penn State]]>http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/08/24/more-coal-to-liquid-fuels-research-from-penn-state/http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/08/24/more-coal-to-liquid-fuels-research-from-penn-state/http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/08/24/more-coal-to-liquid-fuels-research-from-penn-state/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Penn State University has really been on a green roll these last few days, getting three stories featured on our site. One had to do with a novel way to extract hydrogen from water using nanotechnology and sunlight and the second had to do with using coal and papermaking waste to make a liquid fuel. This third story again has to do with coal-based liquid fuels. Instead of looking at paper mills as potential sources for products to add to coal, they are looking to existing fuel refineries. They believe that many different fuels, including jet fuel, gasoline substitutes and diesel substitutes, can be made from coal if you add the correct refinery by-products. Penn State researchers have been working on this idea for a while now, first focusing solely on jet fuel. But, they found that while making the jet fuel they also ended up with certain amounts of fuel oil, diesel fuel and gasoline as co-products.

The refinery by-products of coal tar, refinery solvent and decant oil are being mixed with coal in different fractions. Fuel-grade coke, which is a fuel used in the steel industry, has also been used. Penn State should be familiar with the steel industry being that Pennsylvania is known as the steel capital of the U.S. (and hence the Pittsburgh Steelers football team). No mention was made of the emissions of these various fuels, so we are not suggesting that these are green fuels in any way. In fact, they are almost assuredly not green in any way. None of that means that the fuels will not be used, of course. Hopefully, the nation and the world will be on to bigger and better things by then!

[Source: Penn State]

More coal to liquid fuels research from Penn State originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Fri, 24 Aug 2007 18:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>coalcoal to liquidCoalToLiquiddieselgasolinejet fuelJetFuelpenn statePennStatepennsylvaniapittsburgh steelersPittsburghSteelersrefineryFri, 24 Aug 2007 18:11:00 EST<![CDATA[Making biofuels from the papermaking industry's black liquor waste]]>http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/08/22/making-biofuels-from-the-papermaking-industrys-black-liquor-was/http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/08/22/making-biofuels-from-the-papermaking-industrys-black-liquor-was/http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/08/22/making-biofuels-from-the-papermaking-industrys-black-liquor-was/#commentsFiled under: ,

Sometimes, people just need to make the best with what they have got to work with. This is what paper mills are trying to do by burning the "black liquor" waste which is a leftover remnant of chemicals and the lignin. As part of the Kraft process (.pdf link), the leftovers are burned to create steam which turns large generators, which in turn provide electricity for the plant. In fact, enough electricity is generated that they can feed some back into the grid. This Kraft process is used for about 80% of all paper made. But what if there was a better way to generate power than by burning the black liquor for steam generators?

According to Andre Boehman, professor of fuel science at Penn State, "Black liquor is routinely burned in a recovery boiler, but it has more energy value as a synthesis gas which is then used to create other fuels." The researchers are suggesting that the black liquor instead be turned into a syngas and then into DME or dimethyl ether.

Diesel engines can be configured to run on DME, and Penn State actually has a staff shuttle which runs on the fuel. The researchers found that by adding a coal slurry to the black liquor and processing it into the DME, as opposed to using the Fischer Tropsch method, is the right way to use the waste. The researchers further say that DME is close to gasoline in efficiency, but not quite there. But, the black liquor/coal slurry process that they are suggesting would reduce greenhouse gas emissions much more than if only coal were used to make DME. Since the U.S. has so much coal available, until the country is truly weaned off our current power sources, we should clean them up as much as possible. As much as we would all love to see that coal stay in the ground, realistically we know how unlikely that is to happen. For now, let's use it as cleanly as possible.

[Source: Penn State]

Making biofuels from the papermaking industry's black liquor waste originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Wed, 22 Aug 2007 18:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>andre boehmanAndreBoehmanblack liquorBlackLiquorcoalcoal to liquidCoalToLiquidfischer tropschFischerTropschpaperpapermakingpenn statePennStatesyngasWed, 22 Aug 2007 18:01:00 EST<![CDATA[The DOE, Conoco-Phillips and LSU work to increase ethanol's efficiency, want to make it from coal]]>http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/08/14/the-doe-conoco-phillips-and-lsu-work-to-increase-ethanols-effi/http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/08/14/the-doe-conoco-phillips-and-lsu-work-to-increase-ethanols-effi/http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/08/14/the-doe-conoco-phillips-and-lsu-work-to-increase-ethanols-effi/#commentsFiled under: ,



The headlines for this story indicate that a team from LSU, Oak Ridge National Lab, Clemson, Conoco-Phillips and the Department of Energy are trying to make ethanol a more efficient fuel. I don't know that this is the case, as it seems that what they are trying to do is manufacture ethanol from the U.S. supplies of coal. They appear to be doing this by generating syngas from the coal and then converting the gas to ethanol. The same syngas could potentially be a source for hydrogen as well, but as the story points out, liquid fuels are easier to transport and can fuel vehicles that are already on the roads.

There are many different processes being studied to turn coal into syngas and then into some sort of fuel. This one has plenty of funding, so perhaps people in the know see potential in it. The idea of using the huge amounts of coal here in the U.S. in a way which is cleaner than what we are doing now (and what isn't) has plenty of merit. Using it to move our current fleet of E85 capable vehicles is not a bad start, but hopefully researchers find a good way to use it to generate electricity for our electric cars too.

[Source: LSU]

The DOE, Conoco-Phillips and LSU work to increase ethanol's efficiency, want to make it from coal originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Tue, 14 Aug 2007 15:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>coalethanolhydrogenlsusyngasTue, 14 Aug 2007 15:54:00 EST<![CDATA[Chrysler produces the ultimate green racer]]>http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/07/26/chrysler-produces-the-ultimate-green-racer/http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/07/26/chrysler-produces-the-ultimate-green-racer/http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/07/26/chrysler-produces-the-ultimate-green-racer/#commentsFiled under: , ,


Arguments could be made about the green credentials of any alternative fuel vehicles such as the chemical content and energy required to produce batteries, the problem of producing and storing hydrogen and more. But here is a racer produced by a group of Chrysler employees that is completely green. OK, not including any energy required for the computers used to design it and the machines used to build it, so no one is completely green.

A team from Chrysler's Pacifica Design Center in California designed and built an Extreme Gravity Racing car relies entirely on gravity for propulsion. Extreme Gravity Racing is form of soap box derby that includes steep hills and sharp turns with speeds up to 60mph. The Chrysler team has come out on top in the elapsed time category two years running. Now if only we could make all roads face downhill so that we could just use gravity propelled cars we would never produce carbon emissions or run out of fuel.

[Source: Chrysler]

Continue reading Chrysler produces the ultimate green racer

Chrysler produces the ultimate green racer originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Thu, 26 Jul 2007 13:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>gravity racerGravityRacerThu, 26 Jul 2007 13:04:00 EST<![CDATA[Biodiesel-supporting governor of Montana vetoed biodiesel tax credit bill, but all is not lost]]>http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/06/23/biodiesel-supporting-governor-of-montana-vetoed-biodiesel-tax-cr/http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/06/23/biodiesel-supporting-governor-of-montana-vetoed-biodiesel-tax-cr/http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/06/23/biodiesel-supporting-governor-of-montana-vetoed-biodiesel-tax-cr/#commentsFiled under: , ,



Why did Gov. Schweitzer (D), a long-time supporter of biodiesel, veto a bill designed to give biodiesel users a $500 tax credit? According to Biodiesel Magazine, "Schweitzer said the bill's estimated $3 million economic impact was simply too much to approve without final numbers in place." The veto came back in May and, because it hadn't passed with a two-thirds majority in the first place, a veto override was unlikely.

Still, biodiesel advocates in Big Sky country might take solace in that U.S. Sen. Jon Tester (D) said the compromise energy bill passed this week Thursday will bring help to the state's farmers because it calls for more biofuels. Tester's amendment in said bill, which he inserted at Schweitzer's request, did not survive into the final bill. Biodiesel folks will likely cheer this, too, since the amendment called for $200 million in grants for new coal-to-liquid fuel plants.

[Source: Biodiesel Magazine, Great Falls Tribune]

Biodiesel-supporting governor of Montana vetoed biodiesel tax credit bill, but all is not lost originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Sat, 23 Jun 2007 15:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>montana biodieselMontanaBiodieselschweitzer biodieselschweitzer veto biodieselSchweitzerBiodieselSchweitzerVetoBiodieselSat, 23 Jun 2007 15:23:00 EST<![CDATA[Shell cancels oil-shale mining permit request in Colorado]]>http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/06/18/shell-cancels-oil-shale-mining-permit-request-in-colorado/http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/06/18/shell-cancels-oil-shale-mining-permit-request-in-colorado/http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/06/18/shell-cancels-oil-shale-mining-permit-request-in-colorado/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Oil from shale is one of the many alternative sources of petroleum that has been researched for the past several decades but to date no one has actually brought it to mass production. As with the tar sands in Alberta, Canada, there are huge quantities of petroleum locked in other materials in North America. Unlike traditional oil drilling, shale and tar sands development is not as simple as just poking a hole in the ground.

Shell is one of the companies trying to develop shale oil, but extracting the oil requires actually heating the shale to high temperatures to literally melt out the oil. The company has now withdrawn one of its three permit applications for shale development because the process requires so much more work. In order to keep the oil from leaking into ground water and keep the water out of the shale, the ground water below the shale deposit has to be frozen. All this heating and cooling requires a great deal of energy input and that drives up the cost of the oil.

In our recent dinner discussion with Gary Smyth and Nick Zielinski, Gary talked about shale, coal and other potential petroleum replacements and he didn't think any of these would ever be economically viable. Shale oil in particular is likely to cost well over $100/barrel, a price point that makes almost any alternative much less expensive. In discussions with people in the auto industry, no one seems to believe shale, coal to liquid or any of these synthetic oil projects are viable or desirable replacements for crude. Throw in the potential environmental disaster that is likely to accompany any shale oil development and all of these projects should be abandoned now.

[Source: Denver Post]

Shell cancels oil-shale mining permit request in Colorado originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Mon, 18 Jun 2007 15:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>oil shaleOilShaleshell oil shaleShellOilShaleMon, 18 Jun 2007 15:12:00 EST<![CDATA[RPS vs. CPS]]>http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/06/15/rps-vs-cps/http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/06/15/rps-vs-cps/http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/06/15/rps-vs-cps/#commentsFiled under: , ,


Many ABG readers may know that the Senate is debating energy issues this week and next. I have snuck into the Senate chambers several times (via C-SPAN) to check on their progress.

As you know, electric vehicles keep appearing on ABG. Some have electricity generated on board only, but the trend is on plug-in hybrids or pure EVs. That means electric power has to be generated. How? Will it be clean or dirty? Will it be renewable like sun or wind or consumable, like coal or gas or nuclear? Will it be cheap or expensive?

The Senate created the Renewable Portfolio Standard in the 1990s to encourage utilities to use at least some renewables in their mix of energy sources. This has proven successful. The electric utilities have dipped their toes in the renewable marketplace and the states have encouraged this practice as well. Many (actually 23) have set goals for their regulated industries such as "20 by 20" - 20 percent generation using renewables by 2020.

Renewables are not, however, identically equal to clean energy, and not all states have sufficient wind or sun to make economic sense. Renewables can be dirty such as improper burning of wood. And clean fuel need not be renewable such as clean coal (burning coal with sequestration of CO2) or nuclear power (clean when being used but not clean when the fuel is expended.) Hence, some Senators have proposed a new standard focusing on clean, not renewable. Hence the new term "Clean Portfolio Standard" or CPS.

Related:

[Source: US Congress]

RPS vs. CPS originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Fri, 15 Jun 2007 16:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>Clean Portfolio StandardCleanPortfolioStandardCPSRenewable Portfolio StandardRenewablePortfolioStandardRPSFri, 15 Jun 2007 16:24:00 EST<![CDATA[AutoblogGreen Q&A: Nick Zielinski and Gary Smyth of General Motors]]>http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/06/11/autobloggreen-qanda-nick-zielinski-and-gary-smyth-of-general-moto/http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/06/11/autobloggreen-qanda-nick-zielinski-and-gary-smyth-of-general-moto/http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/06/11/autobloggreen-qanda-nick-zielinski-and-gary-smyth-of-general-moto/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Following the Challenge-X presentation presentation at General Motors headquarters last week, a group of bloggers including myself, Matt Kelly of The Next Gear, Lyle Dennis of gm-volt.com, Todd Kaho of Green Car Journal, Scott Anderson of Hydrogen Forecast, Philip Proefrock of Ecogeek, and Matt Mayer of GroovyGreen.com were invited to sit down to dinner with Nick Zielinski and Gary Smyth of General Motors.

Nick is the Chief Engineer for the Volt program and Gary is the Director of Powertrain Systems Research and Development. Each will play a major role in shaping the direction and leading the teams that define the future of transportation at GM. We had a wide ranging discussion that covered topics ranging from a certain concept car as it advances toward production, battery and engine technology, various fuels including coal to liquid and more. I'm not providing a transcript for this one because of the number people in the discussion, and the length but it's definitely worth listening too. Unfortunately a jazz band started playing in the next room about 40 minutes in and that lasts about twenty minutes but you can still hear the discussion. The whole recording runs a few minutes shy of two hours and it's unedited.

Lyle gives his take on the discussion here, and you can listen to the whole thing here.

AutoblogGreen Q&A: Nick Zielinski and Gary Smyth of General Motors originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Mon, 11 Jun 2007 15:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>gary smythGarySmythNick ZielinskiNickZielinskivoltMon, 11 Jun 2007 15:36:00 EST<![CDATA[China may abandon liquified coal projects]]>http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/06/10/china-may-abandon-liquified-coal-projects/http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/06/10/china-may-abandon-liquified-coal-projects/http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/06/10/china-may-abandon-liquified-coal-projects/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

China has been moving aggressively to wean itself from reliance on petroleum both because of terrible pollution problems in the big cities like Beijing an Shanghai and because it has few domestic petroleum reserves. Recently the Chinese government has put a lot of emphasis on coal to liquid synthetic petroleum, but now appears to moving away from that path.

Coal to liquid production facilities take a huge amount of investment to build, consume a lot energy themselves and ultimately are not renewable. Instead, the Chinese government will be refocusing on biomass fuels. All of this is good because coal to liquid is probably one of the worst possible options from an environmental standpoint. 119 percent worse.

[Source: Xinhua]

China may abandon liquified coal projects originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Sun, 10 Jun 2007 16:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>chinacoal to liquidCoalToLiquidSun, 10 Jun 2007 16:32:00 EST<![CDATA[EPA says coal to liquid could cause 119% INCREASE in greenhouse gases]]>http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/05/30/epa-says-coal-to-liquid-could-cause-119-increase-in-greenhouse/http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/05/30/epa-says-coal-to-liquid-could-cause-119-increase-in-greenhouse/http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/05/30/epa-says-coal-to-liquid-could-cause-119-increase-in-greenhouse/#commentsFiled under: ,



Even if you disregard the environmental catastrophe that is mountaintop removal, the reasons not to increase the use of coal are numerous. The current popular idea for using coal is convert it to liquid fuel via the Fischer-Tropsch process for use in transportation. Like petroleum, coal is a fossil fuel so burning it or any derivative of it is taking carbon that is trapped in the earth and releasing it into the atmosphere.

While coal to liquid diesel fuel is definitely an alternative fuel, it is most definitely definitely not renewable and absolutely not green. According to the EPA even if coal to liquid production is combined with carbon capture and storage, greenhouse gases will rise by four percent compared to petroleum. Since no one has done a commercial scale coal to liquid plant with carbon capture it is likely that at least early plants will not have it. Without carbon capture, coal to liquid could increase well to tank greenhouse gas emissions by 119% compared to petroleum.

It would appear that the only advantage of coal to liquid technology is the security issue since we have lots of coal. Beyond that it is even more of a boondoggle than corn ethanol.

Update: Hank the EcoGeek has more on this on this story as well.

[Source: New York Times via TreeHugger]

EPA says coal to liquid could cause 119% INCREASE in greenhouse gases originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Wed, 30 May 2007 11:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>boondogglegreenhouse gas reductionsGreenhouseGasReductionsWed, 30 May 2007 11:28:00 EST<![CDATA[DOE releases feasability study for Illinois Coal to Liquid plant]]>http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/05/22/doe-releases-feasability-study-for-illionois-coal-to-liquid-plan/http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/05/22/doe-releases-feasability-study-for-illionois-coal-to-liquid-plan/http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/05/22/doe-releases-feasability-study-for-illionois-coal-to-liquid-plan/#commentsFiled under:



The Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory has completed a feasibility study for a proposed Coal to Liquid fuel production facility in Illinois. The proposal would include a plant that would convert 24,500 tons of coal daily into 50,000 barrels of fuel along with 124 MW of electrical power that would go back into the grid. The output would include almost 28,000 barrels per day of diesel that would still require additional additives before it could be used. The rest would be naptha for use as a chemical feedstock.

The input to the plant would be high-sulfur bituminous coal which would be gasified and then the gas would be converted to liquids by the Fischer-Tropsch method. The study projected the $3.65 billion plant would have a twenty percent annual return on investment. The problem remains, though, that coal is a fossil fuel and any fuel you make from it will be releasing carbon from the earth into the atmosphere. While the fuel may displace some imported fuel it does nothing at all about environmental concerns.

[Source: NETL]

DOE releases feasability study for Illinois Coal to Liquid plant originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Tue, 22 May 2007 15:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>Fischer-TropschTue, 22 May 2007 15:31:00 EST<![CDATA[Silverado Green Fuel is creating liquid coal fuel for cars at half the cost of oil]]>http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/03/29/silverado-green-fuel-is-creating-liquid-coal-fuel-for-cars-at-ha/http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/03/29/silverado-green-fuel-is-creating-liquid-coal-fuel-for-cars-at-ha/http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/03/29/silverado-green-fuel-is-creating-liquid-coal-fuel-for-cars-at-ha/#commentsFiled under: ,

Coal is a dirty word. Coal is also a four letter word. That is never going to change, or is it? If Silverado Green Fuels has its way, it just might. I don't have a great understanding of coal power to begin with, and reading this information didn't help too much. But, from what I can tell, the reason they are referring to this as a green fuel is that the fuel burns clean, giving a "carbon burnout of over 99%", as opposed to 97 percent for standard coal in their tests. Additionally, the fuel is cheap, because they are able to use a type of coal previously unwanted. The coal they use contains much higher concentrations of water than more desirable coal types, and the water is reused in the making of the liquid fuel. It appears that the main use of this "Greenfuel" is for burners set up to use coal gasification. I will take a "wait and see" attitude towards this new fuel, but if what they are claiming is true, the U.S. in particular could gain much from the use of this new fuel source.

The company has set up operations in Mississippi and has begun building a plant in that state. The Department of Defense plans to purchase fuel from this new plant, and the Department of Energy is keeping tabs on their progress.

[Source: Silverado Green Fuels via News.com]

Silverado Green Fuel is creating liquid coal fuel for cars at half the cost of oil originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Thu, 29 Mar 2007 18:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>brown coalBrownCoalclean coalCleanCoalcoal gasificationcoal to liquidCoalGasificationCoalToLiquidliquid coalLiquidCoalSilverado Green FuelsSilveradoGreenFuelsThu, 29 Mar 2007 18:23:00 EST<![CDATA[Purdue working on 'carbon-free' production method for liquid fuels, but it requires hydrogen]]>http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/03/15/purdue-working-on-carbon-free-production-method-for-liquid-fue/http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/03/15/purdue-working-on-carbon-free-production-method-for-liquid-fue/http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/03/15/purdue-working-on-carbon-free-production-method-for-liquid-fue/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,



Chemical engineers from Purdue University are proposing an environmentally-friendly process for producing liquid fuels from biomass. It involves adding hydrogen during the gasification step, which suppresses the formation of carbon dioxide and converts all the carbon atoms to fuel. Normally when you break down a biomass or coal by gasification, 60 to 70 percent of the carbon atoms are lost to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, unless it's captured or sequestered. Using the Purdue process, which is called H2CAR, no carbon atoms would be lost.

Engineers say the idea is to treat the biomass as a supplier of carbon atoms, not just as an energy source.

The problem, of course, is that you need an efficient supply of hydrogen for this process, and that means using energy to pull it away from another source such as water. We've gone through this argument with those proposing a hydrogen economy. I wonder, if we eventually find a carbon-free method or renewable energy source to produce hydrogen, why not just put the hydrogen in a fuel-cell vehicle? It would seem to be an unnecessary extra step to cultivate the biomass material and process it into fuel, and then have to distribute it to vehicles that eventually will burn it and create CO2 emissions.

Purdue officials say hydrogen vehicles would require a major change in the infrastructure and advancements in battery and fuel cell technology. My point is that we're supposed to be striving for carbon-free emissions from vehicles. Using internal-combustion engines to burn carbon-based fuel, regardless of how clean it was produced, continues the problem.

[Source: azom.com]

Purdue working on 'carbon-free' production method for liquid fuels, but it requires hydrogen originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Thu, 15 Mar 2007 12:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>gasificationThu, 15 Mar 2007 12:32:00 EST