energy
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It's well established by now that the energy required to extract raw materials and turn them into a finished car is considerably less than the energy that car will consume over its lifetime to move itself around. But that isn't stopping manufacturers from chipping away at the huge amounts of energy consumed in and around their assembly plants. Last month, Honda's North American operating unit unveiled a initiative called "Green Path" to reduce the total life-cycle carbon emissions of vehicle manufacturing. DON'T MISS: As Gas Mileage Rises, Energy To Make Cars Gets More Important Thus far, its...
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From Sunlight To Electricity: First Optical Rectenna Created In Lab
Researchers claim to have created the first "rectenna" to operate on optical wavelengths.
Stephen Edelstein -
Big Coal Doomed: Not By Climate Rules But Fracking & Finance
Coal is the worst fossil fuel, that much is clear. Its carbon footprint per kilowatt-hour of electricity when it's burned by electric utilities to make electricity is far, far higher than that of natural gas. And that's even before the slowly improving economics of renewable sources come into play...
John Voelcker -
Even More Coal-Fired Power Plants To Be Retired Under Proposed EPA Rules
Coal power-plant retirements will accelerate in the next few decades, analysts say.
Stephen Edelstein -
State With Dirtiest Power Grid Had Highest Electric-Car Incentive, But Now Only For Natural-Gas, LPG Cars (UPDATED)
Life is full of little ironies. And life in the 50 states that make up the United States of America is full of inconsistencies, including those among electric-car incentives from state to state. West Virginia, for instance, turns out to have offered offer a remarkably high income-tax credit of up...
John Voelcker -
New West Coast Oil Refinery Proposed To Meet Clean-Fuel Demand
A new refinery would satisfy demand for biofuels, but also increase crude-oil production.
Stephen Edelstein -
Mercedes-Benz will sell batteries for energy storage, a new report says.
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Small Islands Are Biggest Beneficiaries Of Renewable Energy
A wind farm for an island off the New England coast is expected to dramatically lower residents' electricity bills.
Stephen Edelstein -
Computers To Heat Your Home? Startup Nerdalize Distributes Server Farms To Dutch Residences
A Dutch startup uses servers to heat homes.
Stephen Edelstein -
How Shell Oil Sees The Future Of Energy And Vehicle Fuels In 2050
It's always good to understand how the huge global energy industry views the worlds of today and tomorrow. At last month's Shell Eco-Marathon fuel-efficiency competition, sponsor Shell Oil provided seminars for attending journalists to explain how the company views the energy landscape from now...
John Voelcker -
Big Oil To 'Lose Control Of Auto Industry': Energy Conference
Bloomberg predicts the car industry will leave Big Oil behind.
Stephen Edelstein -
Wind, Natural Gas, Solar Provide More U.S. Power, Replacing Coal
Wind, natural gas, and solar power generation are set to increase in 2015 while coal decreases, government figures say.
Stephen Edelstein -
Many of the cars are more like enclosed bicycles, and virtually none of them could operate on public roads or highways. But the Shell Eco-Marathon offers some useful lessons for the more than 100 high-school and college teams that compete in it--many of them having little to do with the cars themselves. DON'T MISS: Shell Project M Concept City Car: Huge Efficiency Gains Possible, Designer Gordon Murray Says Held under the harsh overhead lights of Detroit's Cobo Center convention hall--more often seen as the lavishly decorated home to the North American International Auto Show every...
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New Metric For Car Efficiency: Miles Per Dollar Spent On Energy?
It's downright confusing trying to calculate how much it costs to run green cars, whether it's a 50-mpg Toyota Prius or a highly efficient electric car like the 124-MPGe BMW i3. One of the problems is how to use different efficiency ratings for various powertrains--gasoline, hybrid, electric--to...
John Voelcker -
New Study Doesn't Say 'Electric Cars Aren't Green' (Headlines To The Contrary)
Brace yourself, electric-car fans and advocates. It may be a bumpy ride for the next few days. Yesterday afternoon, the Associated Press covered a new study put out by the University of Minnesota that calculates the environmental impact of manufacturing and refueling vehicles with various...
John Voelcker -
Not Just Turbocharging: Exhaust Gases Can Generate Electricity, Too
A Japanese company unveils a prototype hybrid system with an exhaust-powered generator.
Stephen Edelstein -
Which States Have The Most Efficient Cars And Homes? Study Ranks Them
A new study ranks states based on energy efficiency.
Stephen Edelstein -
Some Solar, Wind Power Competes With Natural Gas Without Incentives: Study
Fossil fuels have been an integral part of the industrialized world since it began 250 years ago. While renewable, carbon-free energy sources have long been viewed as the ideal solution, they were always more expensive than pumping carbon into the air. That may now have changed, according to a new...
John Voelcker -
Ohio's push for renewable energy loses momentum with new legislation.
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Elon Musk Takes Solar City From Silicon Valley To...Buffalo ?!?!?
When he's not running electric-car startup Tesla Motors, its CEO Elon Musk has a couple of other jobs on the side. In fact, he's not only involved in CEO of one startup, but three--the other two being SpaceX (privately-funded rockets) and Solar City (solar-panel leasing), where he's chairman of the...
John Voelcker -
Do New EPA Emission Rules Just Hasten Coal's Inevitable Death?
Take a deep breath and relax. It is highly unlikely that "millions of Americans will be freezing in the dark" (in the words of a critic) once new EPA rules lowering carbon emissions from power plants go into effect. In fact, some analyses suggest that the rules issued last week by the U.S...
John Voelcker -
California To Use 1 Billion Gallons Less Gasoline In Six Years?
Analysts predict stricter regulations will cut California gasoline consumption.
Stephen Edelstein -
As Gas Mileage Rises, Energy To Make Cars Gets More Important
As vehicles all over the world slowly get more fuel-efficient, the energy required to make them--and their thousands of parts--is coming to represent a higher proportion of their lifetime energy footprint. And this, in turn, is leading carmakers to focus on cutting the energy required to...
John Voelcker -
Electric Cars & Solar: Will They Make Gasoline & Utilities Obsolete?
These are interesting times in the automotive and electric-utility businesses. While the reasons are different, it turns out they may intersect. It's been quietly discussed among electric utilities that increasing amounts of distributed solar power and other renewable energy may destroy their...
John Voelcker