Alt Fuels
-
A government-funded laboratory that helped pioneer the battery technology behind many electric vehicles, including the Chevy Volt, has recently begun to focus on developing technologies to improve natural gas-powered vehicles, in anticipation of government and industry soon seeking to bring consumer-friendly natural gas cars to market. “Our conclusion is that natural gas as a transportation fuel has both adequate abundance and cost advantages that make a strong case to focus interest in the technology as a real game changer in US energy security,” said Mike Duoba, an engineer at...
-
Far-Out Tech Department: Fuel Your Future Car With...Aluminum?
You can virtually throw a stone these days and hit someone developing a "fuel of the future", but some do appear to show more promise than others. Many options for future transportation have their disadvantages, but Alchemy Research believes there's one option that could solve several of our fuel...
Antony Ingram -
RIP Hydrogen Highway? California Takes Back Grant Dollars
Even more so than with electric cars, the future of hydrogen vehicles depends on a network of filling stations to allow people to go about their journeys as normal. That future has taken a blow in California, with the news that $27 million in grants for hydrogen filling stations has been revoked by...
Antony Ingram -
Will U.S. Military's Biofuels Efforts Lose Funding In New Defense Bill?
Politics is never pretty, and the politics of alternative fuels seem even less so. Today, The Detroit News reports that the U.S. military's program to reduce its reliance on oil by using ethanol and other non-petroleum fuels could be de-funded in the military authorization bill that's now working...
John Voelcker -
DoE Fights Back On E15-Hurts-Your-Car Study
The Department of Energy has hit out at the recent Coordinating Research Council study into damage caused by using E15 gasoline. In its rebuttal, the DoE points out several flaws in the CRC's study, and says the Council failed to establish a proper control group to determine the statistical...
Antony Ingram -
E15 Ethanol Fuel Can Damage Engines, New Automaker Study Says
A new study released today by the Coordinating Research Council says that E15 gasoline, which contains 15 percent ethanol, could damage the engines of certain high-volume car and truck models. The two-year study was conducted on eight different engines from the 2001 through 2009 model years, with a...
John Voelcker -
A team of researchers at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York, has opened the door to a future of clean, cheap hydrogen fuel by ditching a popular platinum catalyst in favor of one based on two low cost alternatives, nickel and molybdenum. Until now, the manufacture of hydrogen gas has faced a huge and somewhat ironic obstacle: Though hydrogen gas is produced from a chemical reaction in plain water, one of the cheapest and most abundant substances imaginable, the most efficient catalyst for generating that reaction is platinum - which currently weighs in at a hefty $50,000 per...
-
Which Carmakers Are Still Serious About Hydrogen Fuel-Cell Vehicles?
Hydrogen fuel-cell cars have not progressed as fast as some companies had predicted 10 or 15 years ago. No carmaker sells a fuel-cell vehicle in any kind of volume, but plug-in electric cars are on sale in North America, Europe, and Asia, with tens of thousands sold (and likely more than 100,000...
John Voelcker -
Ethanol Goals Passed By Congress Cannot Be Met: New Study
Ethanol has been problematic for several years now. Promoted as a way for the U.S. to grow its own vehicle fuel, the alcohol was so popular several years ago that Congress passed a Federal Renewable Fuels Standard as part of the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act. Now Hart Energy has issued...
John Voelcker -
NASA Ready To Show Off Algae Biofuel Research Project
NASA has developed a system that captures carbon dioxide and helps to prevent pollution from wastewater while creating renewable algae biofuel, fertilizer and possibly animal feed, too. NASA calls its system OMEGA, for Offshore Membrane Enclosures for Growing Algae, self-contained bags of...
Talking Points Memo -
GM Announces Bi-Fuel Pickup Truck Pricing
If you want a green truck at the moment, your options are limited. By their nature, trucks require large engines, and large engines use a lot of fuel. Until electric and range-extended trucks become a realistic proposition, your best option is either hybrid, or alternative fuels--such as GM's...
Antony Ingram -
Sapphire Energy Gets $144 Million To Turn Algae Into Gasoline
Sapphire Energy, a company that creates algae-based fuel, just announced a whopping $144 million in funding. In recent years several startups have emerged to create fuel out of plant material, all hoping to lure people away from gasoline made from crude oil. Solazyme, Algae.tec, and Sapphire Energy...
VentureBeat's GreenBeat -
Progress comes slowly to the world of commercial shipping, but it is coming. Three years ago, we noted that one giant cargo ship emits as much as 50 million cars. Now, shipping lines are starting to experiment with biofuels, which offer several advantages: They contain no sulfur or so-called aromatics--emissions of which will be globally limited starting in 2015--and if spilled in the ocean, they are biodegradable. In an informative blog post by green industry analyst Pike Research, author MacKinnon Lawrence notes that the UN agency that regulates global shipping adopted rules last year that...
-
Will Poop Power Electric Cars? Sure Will At Denver Zoo
In terms of renewable energy, you have to give credit to the first person who thought of using excrement as a source of fuel. At the risk of dragging things down to gutter-level, one place you'll find one heck of a lot of excrement is at a zoo. You don't need us to tell you that big animals produce...
Antony Ingram -
Food Or Fuel? Researchers Critical Of Biofuel Targets
On the face of it, biofuels seem like an ideal short to medium-term solution for reducing our reliance on fossil fuels. After all, they could not only be grown at home--reducing dependence on foreign oil--but growing crops is also a renewable process, and net CO2 emissions are lower than burning...
Antony Ingram -
The Next New Fuel You've Never Heard Of: Methanol, In China
You'll already be familiar with ethanol-powered cars, but what about methanol? Both are alcohols, but methanol is even simpler than ethanol, containing only one carbon atom. It has less energy content than ethanol, and only half that of gasoline, but it's easier to produce. The fuel is now...
Antony Ingram -
Alt-Fuel With Flair: Propane-Powered 1982 Morgan Plus 8
In case you thought we just reported on cars that are green in their energy sources, this 1982 Morgan Plus 8--available on eBay with 1 day left, and first brought to our attention by BringATrailer.com--qualifies both in the figurative and literal senses. Classic roadsters almost always look fine in...
Thomas Bey -
E15 Gasoline Could Be Heading To Your Local Gas Station Soon
In the not-so distant future, you might find you’ll find an extra choice when you fill up at the gas station, alongside the current choices for Regular or Premium. That’s because the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has approved a set of guidelines from the Renewable Fuels...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
We missed it last week while we were covering all the new cars at the Geneva Motor Show, but Chrysler has officially stepped forward into the world of natural-gas vehicles. Its Ram truck brand announced that it would offer a bi-fuel version of its 2500 Heavy Duty pickup, to be known as the Ram 2500 HD CNG (for compressed natural gas). The news followed--by one day--a very similar announcement from GM, which said it would sell bi-fuel versions of its 2013 Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup trucks. Chrysler's differs, however, in that the CNG Ram will be built right in the company's pickup...
-
Obama: Add Rebates On Natural-Gas Cars, Oil Is 'Fuel Of Past'
Continuing his efforts to reduce U.S. dependence on imported oil, President Barack Obama yesterday proposed expanding tax credits now offered to buyers of plug-in cars to those who buy natural-gas vehicles as well. Given the ugly politics around electric cars and the presidential election season...
John Voelcker -
2013 Chevy, GMC Natural Gas Bi-Fuel Pickup Trucks Announced
General Motors announced today it will offer bi-fuel versions of its 2013 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup trucks that run either on gasoline or natural gas. The two trucks are the 2500 HD (heavy duty) model, and can be ordered in rear-wheel or four-wheel drive and with a standard or long...
John Voelcker -
Kill (Gas) Bills: Daryl Hannah’s Bio Diesel El Camino Sold At Auction
For years, the great and the good of Hollywood have helped encourage people to ditch gas guzzlers by turning up to red-carpet events and driving around Beverly Hills in an eclectic mix of trendy eco-cars. But when those cars are traded in for the latest, greenest model, or perhaps swapped for...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Five Ways To Find Places To Refuel Your CNG, E85, Diesel Car
If you choose to run your car on an alternative fuel or electricity, it's not always as easy to find somewhere to refuel or recharge as it might be with a normal gasoline vehicle. Luckily, you have technology on your side in the modern age. So below you'll find the best five ways of locating that...
Antony Ingram -
Flex-Fuel Ferrari? So What? Makes No Difference At All
Ferraris aren't typically known for their green credentials. In fact, they tend to be known for everything but green credentials: High performance, for example. High-revving V-8 and V-12 engines. Being painted very, very red. Not being painted green. Most methods of extracting greater power from...
Antony Ingram