natural gas
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Tech has lagged for light-duty engines designed to use gaseous fuels, like natural gas, propane, and biogas; an EU project has aimed to address that.
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What topic should we have covered less in 2017? Twitter poll results
Over the nine years this site has published daily news about green cars, the focus of our coverage has shifted significantly. In February 2009, when we started daily coverage, our most popular topics were hybrid cars and the Toyota Prius. With Prius sales in 2017 less than half what they were just...
John Voelcker -
What topic should we have covered less in 2017? Take our Twitter poll
No single definition exists for the idea of "green car," and very few shoppers set out to go buy a green car. Instead, car buyers look for vehicles that meet their needs—with fuel economy or energy efficiency somewhere in that list of needs, whether higher or lower. Certainly the definition...
John Voelcker -
Which alternative fuels will survive long-term? Twitter poll results
Building a fueling network turns out to be more of a challenge than many advocates, regulators, and drivers may have anticipated. The attempt to boost passenger vehicles fueled by cheap, abundant U.S. natural gas is now essentially over, with a mere 942 public natural-gas fueling stations...
John Voelcker -
Which alternative fuels will survive long-term? Take our Twitter poll
You just don't hear the phrase "alternative fuels" as much as you did, say, 10 years ago. With a couple of million plug-in electric cars now on the world's roads, the idea of swapping in one hydrocarbon fuel for another may have passed its time. Admittedly biodiesel continues to make quiet inroads...
John Voelcker -
When fueling stations shut down for your natural-gas car: one reader's experience
Let's say you buy the greenest car you can, one that uses a different kind of fuel, and drive it happily for several years. What happens when the supply of your fuel suddenly ends, and you can no longer fill up your car? That's just what happened to Duncan Chalmers of Seattle, who can no longer...
John Voelcker -
Audi’s vision of future mobility primarily centers around an array of long-range electric cars scheduled to debut in the coming years under the "e-tron" badge. These are intended to be Tesla killers, as they’re often called in Germany. But there’s another kind of tron with a “made in Germany” label as well, and it’s not a robot from a 1990s science fiction movie: Audi’s g-tron cars run on compressed natural gas (CNG) as well as gasoline; running on natural gas emits less carbon dioxide per mile. DON'T MISS: Audi A5 is third model to run on natural...
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RIP natural-gas cars, doomed by cheap gas and electric cars
Natural gas vehicles were first promoted starting in about 2000 as a way to reduce reliance on imported oil and cut tailpipe emissions. Their promise appeared to grow near the height of the global financial crisis, when gas prices hovered around $4 per gallon across much of the United States. The...
Sean Szymkowski -
'Fossil fuels are dead,' says CSX railroad chief: no more new trains for coal, ever
The industrial revolution that began around 1750 was powered in large part by coal, and the carbon-rich fuel had 200 good years after that. By the middle of the last century, however, serious studies had begun of its deleterious effects on human health—and that was before the climate-change...
John Voelcker -
How do you service a hydrogen fuel-cell car at a dealer?
Over the past century, gasoline-powered vehicles have gotten simultaneously more complex and more reliable. Service intervals have lengthened, drivers no longer check a car's fluids daily or weekly, and many new-car owners will never once open the hood. Reliability data shows that some of them...
John Voelcker -
Coal-country voters laugh at politicians who deny climate change
The "war on coal" has long been a talking point of politicians running for elected office in the state of Kentucky. The state was once home to a booming coal industry that has floundered over the years as cheaper fracked natural gas has supplanted coal for electricity generation. The state's coal...
Sean Szymkowski -
Google Street View car used to spot, quantify methane leaks
Natural gas is growing as a part of the world's grid mix, because its carbon per kilowatt-hour is much lower. But methane leaks that emit large volumes of climate-change gas into the air may offset that advantage. Now, a Google Street View car has allowed researchers to pinpoint and quantify the...
Green Car Reports -
While renewable energy gets significant press as an alternative to coal in electricity generation, it isn't the main factor in decreasing the use of that carbon-intensive fuel. Thanks to its generally lower cost, natural gas is quickly displacing other fuels in the nation's power plants. In addition to its cost benefit for electric utilities, natural gas comes with the environmental advantage that burning it to generate electricity generates significantly lower carbon emissions per kilowatt-hour than coal. DON'T MISS: Methane from livestock nearing worst-case scenario for climate change...
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UPS to spend $90 million more on natural-gas vehicles, fueling stations
Natural gas has not proven popular for vehicles bought by individual consumers, but some fleet operators continue to find it an attractive alternative to gasoline and diesel. That's because the lack of public fueling infrastructure proves a major drawback for natural-gas passenger cars, but fleets...
Stephen Edelstein -
Audi A5 is third model to run on natural gas, for Europe only
New natural-gas passenger cars from major carmakers have disappeared from the U.S. Natural-gas options are available for large pickup trucks and vans but only exist for cars through aftermarket conversions offered by specialty firms. In Europe, though, the German luxury maker Audi remains committed...
Stephen Edelstein -
SimpleFuel home hydrogen fuel dispenser wins $1 million DoE prize
Last week, the U.S. Department of Energy awarded a $1 million prize to a little-known team for what you might call a new garage appliance. The SimpleFuel team—actually a collaboration of three separate companies—won the prize, first offered in November 2014, for its hydrogen...
John Voelcker -
More solar energy was added in 2016 than natural gas or wind
Renewable-energy growth has accelerated in 2016, but this may go down as a milestone year for one renewable-energy source in particular. Together, all renewable-energy sources are expected to account for 8 percent of U.S. electricity-generation capacity in 2017, according to the Department of...
Stephen Edelstein -
No, coal isn't coming back: the reasons in 5 charts
Various market forces have contributed to the decline of coal.
Stephen Edelstein -
Rhode Island could become a leader in renewable energy.
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LNG-powered cruise ships to enter service in 2019
Carnival plans to launch a pair of LNG-powered cruise ships in 2019.
Stephen Edelstein -
Nikola unveils how its electric truck works: custom hydrogen fuel cell
Nikola Motor Company now says its Class 8 semi truck will use hydrogen fuel cells.
Stephen Edelstein -
Oil and gas fracking industry targets Millennials for support
A Texas fracking advocacy group uses social media to target Millennials.
Stephen Edelstein -
Ending $4 billion U.S. oil, gas drilling subsidies would have low impact: study
U.S. subsidies to the oil and gas industries are often a flashpoint among electric-car advocates and environmentalists. They see a conflict in the government providing billions of dollars in incentives for drilling while simultaneously attempting to lower consumption of carbon-emitting energy...
John Voelcker -
Tesla Gigafactory energy: no solar panels yet, but no natural gas at all
Tesla plans to make the gigafactory a net-zero facility.
Stephen Edelstein