Life after cheap oil: March 2009 Archives

A wind-only powered speedrecord, over 200 kph (Gas2.org).

Mitsubishi cleverly uses Youtube to create a viral marketing campaign for it MIEV electric car.

Amsterdam has great ambitions to introduce eletric cars in the city. In 2040 all transport by cars should be electrified.

There seems to be somewhat of a race for who will deliver the first plug-in electric (or hybrid) car, both in Europe as in the US. In both regions the Chevrolet Volt (or Opel Ampera) was seen as the winner, but recently in the US a Piaggio Scooter was announced as potential winner, while for Europe the Tata indica is now tipped, to be launched in Norway later this year. An interesting development, when relative 'outsiders' take the market and beat the traditional big car makers to the market. Real question is whether they will survive or end up like Netscape in the internet-age, with Microsoft gloriously winning the browser-war. 

Paris appears to be determined to support electric propulsion. Not just for scooters, but also for cars. Look at the map on their city page with charging stations....

Où sont les bornes de recharge pour véhicules électriques? Consultez la carte et trouvez les bornes sur la voie publique, dans les parcs souterrains de la ville ou dans les stations service. Des bornes pour les deux-roues ou les poids-lourds électriques existent également. 

Shipping contributes about four percent of global emissions from burning fossil fuels, about double the emissions from aviation.

But the industry is less visible to most people than aviation and only very recently faced limits on some of the pollutants in funnel emissions, particularly nitrogen oxides (called NOx) and sulphur dioxide.

Just a few kilometres from one of the busiest ports in the world, a Singapore firm says it has the answer that can help the shipping industry clean up its act.

Ecospec says it has invented and tested a patented method that removes planet-warming carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide, which causes acid rain, and soot from ship exhausts.

The intensive trials, which would have taken place at Rolls-Royce's Derby facility, would have involved the engine being powered by both ordinary kerosene and the alternative fuels, and operated through its full range of power settings, including idle, acceleration, take-off and cruise.

Technology, Entertainment, Design started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader. The annual conference now brings together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes).

Shell has publicily announced it will move away from solar, wind and hydrogen energy. George Monbiot gives an interesting review of his discussion with CEO Jeroen van der Veer on the subject. And suggests that Shell never was really committed in the past, but merely had their renewables business for commercial reasons. In that sense, Shell is becomming more open and honest now, admitting that they are an oil company and nothing else. Well, maybe bio-oil. But Monbiot does raise the big question: without a strong carbon price, who is going to invest in renewables. This is something more informed people have already told me. If only the governments could agree on a strong carbon tax, the development of renewable energy would be progressing much faster. Sad. 

The BMW Group Forschung and Technik has announced that, in co-operation with researchers from Austria they have developed a hydrogen combustion engine that achieves an efficiency level of up to 42 percent, which is equivalent to the best modern diesel engines.(source: greencarwebsite). Several remarks are in order here. First of all we must clearly distinguish hydrogen combustion engines, where hydrogen is burnt in a more-or-less conventional combustion engine, from fuel-cell driven vehicles. Here hydrogen is used in a fuel-cell to generate electricity which powers the car. While the efficiency of a fuel cell is often reported to be 50% and above, there is only limited data on real world tests and the efficiency is likely to be less high. Secondly, for a true comparison one should look at the whole loop, including the production efficiency of hydrogen. This will then depend on the purity of the hydrogen needed, which is much higher for a fuel cell than for a combustion engine. Personally, I believe that in the long run the fuel cell might be the right bet, but for the short term, the BMW development is promising. But the biggest issues still remains open: how do we distribute the hydrogen, how do we store it and how do we produce it. 

Researchers at the the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology (ICT) in Pfinztal, German, have created a substitute for plastic for injection moulded components.  

The cellulose industry separates wood into its three main components -- lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose," ICT team leader Emilia Regina Inone-Kauffmann told DPA. "The lignin is not needed in papermaking, however. Our colleagues mix that lignin with fine natural fibers made of wood, hemp or flax and natural additives such as wax. From this, they produce plastic granulate that can be melted and injection-moulded."

RenewableEnergyWorld reports that H2Herten GmbH, a subsidiary of the Solar Millennium Group, has started to lay the foundation stone of the Blue Tower demonstration plant in the town of Herten, Germany. This will be part of the H2Herten Hydrogen Competence Center. The 42-meter plant will use roadside green cuttings from the Ruhr area to produce hydrogen and electricity. In the Blue Tower, roadside green cuttings are transformed into a hydrogen-rich product gas -- called "Blue Gas" -- which can be used in a combined heat and power plant to produce electricity. In addition, the Blue Tower can produce up to 150 cubic meters of hydrogen per hour during its primary expansion stage. This project requires an investment of almost 25 million Euros, more than 7 million of which have been funded by the Government. Although the technological aspects of this project might not be as revolutionary as some fuel-cell projects, it definitely is a very practical step in getting the hydrogen economy a bit further. And it is located in a very industrial area, the Nördliches Ruhrgebiet.

While other startups are working to grow oil-rich algae to make biofuel, it has proven difficult to do cost effectively or in large enough quantities to be useful. Companies face the difficulty of maintaining productivity rates as temperatures change, distributing nutrients throughout the pond and keeping contaminants -- including other algae strains- out. Algae tends to grow fairly thinly on the surface of a pond, with top layers choking lower layers out, and distributing light and nutrients can be energy- and cost-intensive. "Everyone thinks they can grow algae because they've seen it in an aquarium," Walsh said. "But it's been a real challenge."

A good education lasts a lifetime. As a MSc. I like to see numbers and raw data supporting a claim, order-of-magnitude calculations and references, the basic physics. They give me grip and the ability to discriminate clever "spinning" from honest efforts.

- energy costs : Euro 2,87

- electrolyser  :  Euro 0,51
- facility costs, overhead :  Euro 0,20

- pipelines and storage  :  Euro 0,30
- compressors and energy :  Euro 0,41
- trucking :  Euro 0,25     

- stations : Euro 0,42