Adam's Green Blog (11-6-09)

There are some really cool ways to be green and one of the coolest I have heard of recently is the EPA's development of 'green pavement'. No, I am not just talking about dumping some green paint on your driveway, what I really mean is that the EPA is developing a pavement designed to suck up nasty pollutants from vehicles and fertilizers from rainwater runoff. Over the next several years, the EPA will be testing various porous pavement materials designed to filter and absorb parking lot pollutants. The main aim is to reduce the impact of water pollution due to rainwater runoff in urban areas.

BP has been partnering with Verenium Corporation to become the first major energy company to start commercial scale production of cellulosic ethanol in 2010. Verenium has been running a demonstration plant in Louisiana that can produce 1.4 million gallons of ethanol annually using grasses as a feedstock to the plant. The process relies on enzymes to break down cellulose allowing the cellulose to be converted into alcohol.

This isn't BP's only green venture either. They are also actively involved in a number of other biofuel projects including algae diesel and butanol. Butanol's energy content is closer to that of gasoline than ethanol is and can be used in most existing engines without modification. BP is planning to begin producing biobutanol in 2012/2013 at a plant in Britain.

With the emergence of electric vehicles and their steady takeover of the gasoline powered engine, sometimes we have to wonder when and where there will be an infrastructure to support the continuing use of EVs. Abroad we have seen some infrastructures already put in place while here in the United States, we lack that certain infrastructure. The Basque Government in Spain has announced an agreement with Repsol to install recharging points for EVs at gas stations across the country. Repsol is Spains largest gasoline distributor and the worlds fifteenth largest oil company.

Check out this link to get an understanding of the 'from GUI to NUI' movement. Microsoft CEO Craig Mundie has been visiting some of the country's most prestigious universities showcasing his natural user interface and computational science software. Mundie has proposed that computer software will be a way to make significant changes in the world. Mundie's technologies include a natural user interface that tracks eye movement and also responds to hand gestures. Pretty amazing stuff. Check it out!

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/presskits/collegetour/default.aspx

Adam's Green Blog!!!!!

UNFCCC climate talks currently being held in Bangkok, Thailand today brought some exciting and innovative news. Norway has pledged a commitment to reduce their greenhouse emissions by 40% by 2020. The 20% goal set by the European Union was ambitiously doubled in a worldwide effort to decrease negative climate consequences occurring around the world.

Sometimes it's good to step back and take a look at the big picture. This article will hopefully serve as a reminder to everyone why some of the most drastic and innovative green technologies are being developed in today's society. If you do some research on global warming, you can find some astonishingly awful news.

• The ice sheets in the Arctic, Antarctica, and Greenland are melting twice as fast as earlier projections from a year ago. This means the sea level is rising at about a foot every 20 or 25 years. While this may seem miniscule, a three foot rise by the end of the century would be enough to wipe out some island nations and flood other low-lying countries.
• Scientific projections that have taken into consideration all of the emission cuts predict that the average world temperature will rise by 6 degrees by the end of the century. The consequences of this are mind blowing. This means extreme weather events: drought, agriculture disruption, water stress, population dislocation, and an increase in spread of disease.

Nicholas Stern is a British climate economist and academic who has become widely known for the Stern Review (a 700 page report released by the British government which discusses the effects of global warming).  Recently Stern endorsed a 350 ppm (parts per million) target for CO2 limits in our atmosphere. Today we're hovering around 390 ppm and need to get back to 350 ppm to avoid runaway climate change. Sterns endorsement should help stiffen the push for real measures at the climate talks in Copenhagen in December.

On a more positive note, the Waxman/Markey energy bill has passed the House of Representatives and is said to have some good support in the Senate. The production of alternative energy is increasing (thanks in part to Rose-Hulman's awesome EcoCar team) and close to $60 billion in US stimulus packages and other alternative energy sectors are increasing also.

The upcoming Copenhagen conference has been widely publicized and is set to include and develop important proposals to share technology and costs for poorer countries.

Adam's Green Blog

10-23-09

If any of you are looking to buy a brand new Tesla Roadster, now may be the time to pounce! The state of Colorado is offering a 42,083 dollar rebate on the 2009 Tesla Roadster until the end of the year. If you do the math, that comes out to a crazy thirty-eight percent.

Before, I had heard of solar paneled parking lots at Google headquarters, now Dell seems to be following suit. Dell recently completed the construction of a Solar Grove at their corporate headquarters in Round Rock, Texas. These panels are rated to produce 131,000 kWh a year, composed of 516 individual solar panels.

A constant debate among alternative propulsion enthusiasts circles around the use of batteries versus fuel-cell technology. This week, Honda CEO Takanobu Ito weighed in with his opinion. Although Honda has just developed a plug-in vehicle to help meet California zero emissions standards, Ito still stands firm on hydrogen fuel-cell technology. Because there is little movement to develop a hydrogen infrastructure, a small urban battery driven vehicle is the best current development option. Mr. Ito believes that once people become more aware of the limits of Battery Efficient Vehicles, we will surely circle back to hydrogen fuel cells.

With the release of the Chevy Volt fast approaching, GM higher-ups are looking for a way to make electric vehicles more marketable than gas-powered vehicles. Some believe that consumers need incentives to be increased for plug-in vehicles to start gaining a real foothold in the market. The Volt is expected to go for around 40k. Even with a federal tax credit, the Volt is likely to stay priced above 30k. Maybe we will see some larger government incentives to stimulate sales.

As we know, there are tons of choices when it comes to deciding on an automotive fuel. Gasoline, ethanol, methanol, butanol, and natural gases all have their different reasons to choose them. Argonne National Laboratory are developing an "omnivorous" engine designed to run on a diverse range of fuels. To make this happen, a sophisticated computer keeps track of what is being put into the engine and dynamically changes controls such as valve timing, fuel injection metering, and compression ratio. You can check out a video about the engine here!

http://green.autoblog.com/2009/10/21/video-argonne-national-lab-developing-omnivorous-engine/

Check out the Green Garage Blog for more cool Green stories!

http://green.autoblog.com/