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ETA says plug-in cars could "speed climate change" unless we get off coal

Think that plugging in your vehicle will protect the earth? Sure, this was the message that EPRI and the NRDC sent following a 2008 study that found that, if 60 percent of the U.S. fleet of light vehicles converted to plug-ins by 2050, CO2 emissions would drop by 450 million metric tons annually (the same as taking 82 million cars off the road) while electricity consumption would increase only eight percent. Not everyone is convinced that plugs are the answer. The Environmental Transport Association in the UK, for example, believes that ... Read more →

It's not clean and certainly not green - it's a coal-powered Caddy Sam Abuelsamid

The legacy of experimentation with alternative fuels to gasoline is nothing new. It started back in the earliest days of the car in the late 19th century. Alternatives to piston engines are also not ...

McCain's energy plan: let the market decide Sam Abuelsamid

Now that John McCain has been officially enthroned as the Republican party's choice for the window seat in the Oval Office, it's time to look at his proposals for how to deal with this country's ...

VW is OK with EU CO2 targets, proposes nuclear power Jeremy Korzeniewski

It has been said numerous times that German automakers are upset with European proposals which would limit CO2 output to around 120 grams per kilometer. Perhaps we shouldn't be lumping Volkswagen or ...

The emerging skepticism about carbon capture Domenick Yoney

Despite the drubbing some of us are taking this winter there are still the same CO2-induced global warming predictions being made and so reducing the amount of carbon that's emitted to our skies ...

USA Today: plug-in vehicles may increase air pollution 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

Today's USA Today has an article that talks about two studies on plug-in hybrids, both published last year, that "have yet to trigger alarms." The studies, one by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the other by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, found plug-in hybrids and electric ...

Many presidential candidates support coal-to-liquid fuel 1 year ago on Autoblog Green

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 ...

More coal to liquid fuels research from Penn State 2 years ago on Autoblog Green

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 ...

Making biofuels from the papermaking industry's black liquor waste 2 years ago on Autoblog Green

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 ...

Austrailian lawmakers argue global warming and sequestration 2 years ago on Autoblog Green

This story goes to show that the debate on global warming is still raging. Crucial to the debate in many people's minds is not whether the earth is warming, but whether or not man is causing it. That is the notion that four Australian governing party lawmakers are rejecting. Also up for debate is ...

The DOE, Conoco-Phillips and LSU work to increase ethanol's efficiency, want to make it from coal 2 years ago on Autoblog Green

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 ...

We are going to need electricity for our cars ... but not from coal! 2 years ago on Autoblog Green

Time and time again, from expert after expert, we hear that the nations of the planet must start turning to clean sources of energy, and fast. Vinod Khosla recently suggested that we use solar thermal sources, and he also mentioned that nuclear may be an option for the future. Solar arrays seem to ...

Vinod Khosla writes about imprudent environmentalism and "Scheer nonsense" 2 years ago on Autoblog Green

I have got to tell you that the article linked to here is very long and takes a good while to get through. Then, after you have read the whole thing, you still need time to meditate on all of the points. But, after doing that, feel free to comment on some of the ideas that Vinod Khosla outlines and ...

A call to URGE - Use Renewably Generated Electricity, Efficiently 2 years ago on Autoblog Green

In a lengthy, two-part editorial, David Roberts, a staff writer at Grist, presents his position on unifying the green lobby around the flag of URGE2: Use Renewably Generated Electricity, Efficiently. He is expecting bumper stickers and t-shirts - here's why. Mine negawatts: The cheapest source of ...

Coal-to-liquid diesel fuel discussion at Treehugger 2 years ago on Autoblog Green

There is a movement in Washington that promotes coal-to-liquid fuel as an alternative fuel that would be grouped along with ethanol and biodiesel. If this were the case, U.S. incentives for ethanol production and coal-to-liquid would be split between the farmers and the coal miners. One might think ...

A Resource Investors thoughts on the State of the Union address: Back lithium, thorium, hydrogen and more 2 years ago on Autoblog Green

I am not a resource investor, by any account I am not much of an investor at all, unfortunately. But, there are investors out there who concentrate on our earth's resources. An advisor on the site Resource Investor gave his viewpoints on the technologies and resources required to make the ...

The Ohio State University granted $1.6 million by Department of Energy for hydrogen research 2 years ago on Autoblog Green

It is no secret that the "hydrogen economy," as proposed, requires very large amounts of hydrogen if it will ever come to reality. One reason proponents of hydrogen as fuel wish to pursue their ideas is because hydrogen is in no short supply, being that it is a part of water, helping to make it the ...

Switch to green energy to drive Australian power bills higher 2 years ago on Autoblog Green

Australian Federal Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane has stated that converting existing energy supplies to clean and renewable sources will inevitably cost households up to 40 percent more on their power bill. He is concerned that few consumers are aware of the spikes in their power bills that will ...

Newsweek on the new liquid coal car 2 years ago on Autoblog Green

Newsweek has an article on coal to liquid fuel and how it could supply most of our energy needs. Certainly, North America has huge reserves of coal which are fairly easily accessible by simply blowing the tops off of mountains and into the surrounding valleys. The Newsweek piece mentions South ...

China becomes part of FutureGen alliance 2 years ago on Autoblog Green

The FutureGen alliance is a public-private partnership to develop an integrated coal fired power plant that also produces hydrogen and features carbon sequestration. President Bush announced plans to fund a $1 billion, ten-year project to build a demonstration plant in 2003. Since then South Korea ...

China looks towards an alternatively fueled future 3 years ago on Autoblog Green

Considering the rate at which China is industrializing, the thought of just how much oil they'll consume in future years is staggeringly high. With that in mind, Feng Fei, director of the industrial economics research department with the Development Research Center of China's State Council, ...

EPA allows dirtier ethanol production by relaxing environmental rules 3 years ago on Autoblog Green

This Chicago Tribune article almost slipped through the cracks, but thankfully Plenty Magazine caught it for the rest of the green blogosphere. The article reports that the Environmental Protection Agency will be relaxing pollution rules for new ethanol production plants by changing the way those ...

Green scientist favors coal-to-fuel plant 3 years ago on Autoblog Green

Susan Barrows of the Harrisburg University of Science and Technology explains the technology behind a proposed $725 million plant in Pennsylvania to covert waste coal into clean diesel fuel. In her essay, Barrows says contaminants in coal such as mercury and sulfur must be contained and removed to ...

Energy official says fossil fuels can be less polluting, more efficient 3 years ago on Autoblog Green

Jeffrey Jarrett is the assistant secretary for fossil energy in the Department of Energy. Previously he was in the Department of Interior, working in the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement. His commentary in San Jose Mercury-News stresses that fossil fuels will be with us for ...

A poor argument for coal liquefaction 3 years ago on Autoblog Green

On Monday, The American Thinker posted an article by Jonathan D. Strong titled A Proven Way to Lessen Dependence on Foreign Oil. In the article, he argues that obtaining oil from coal liquefaction is a proven, clean process that would eliminate our dependence on Middle Eastern Oil. I'm by no means ...

'Hoosiers Homegrown' includes more flex fuel, ethanol vehicles, coal 3 years ago on Autoblog Green

Continuing our post on Indiana's energy policy, state governor Mitch Daniels announced his plans to the media last week. Calling it the "Hoosiers Homegrown" energy policy, his plans include the purchase of more alternative fuel vehicles by government agencies as well as ways to power such agencies ...

Just say no to coal to liquid 3 years ago on Autoblog Green

While the coal industry in the U.S. is working hard to promote coal to liquid fuel as the way towards energy independence, an article in the International Herald Tribune points out the potential environmental impact of such a strategy. According to a National Coal Council report, America could ...

Shell invests in coal to diesel in Australia 3 years ago on Autoblog Green

Australian Bus and Coach reports Shell is investing in a coal to diesel plant which could eventually produce 60,000 barrels of diesel a day from Victoria brown coal. Victoria's Latrobe Valley provides easy access to brown coal, which makes it an attractive site for a coal to diesel plant. The plant ...

Fly ash bricks: One man's trash, an other man's treasure 3 years ago on Autoblog Green

Since we no longer heat our houses with coal furnaces, most of us are probably unaware of how burning coal creates ash. The vast majority of electricity in the U.S., however, is still generated in coal-burning plants. These power plants capture and dispose of the fly ash, since it is loaded with ...


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