Sat.Aug 16, 2014 - Fri.Aug 22, 2014

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NEVS presents Saab 9-3 EV prototype

Green Car Congress

'Under the hood. Click to enlarge. National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS), the company working to resurrect the Saab brand, presented the Saab 9-3 Electric Vehicle as designed and produced as part of a prototype series in Trollhättan. NEVS halted production of the conventional Saab 9-3 Aero in May as it struggles to sort out its financing. ( Earlier post.).

Sweden 345
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2014 BMW i3 REx Vs Chevy Volt: Range-Extended Electric Cars Compared

Green Car Reports

'Until recently, the Chevy Volt was the only range-extended electric car available in the U.S. I''ve driven a Volt for almost three years now, and it''s been a splendid car--quiet, smooth, peppy, and amazingly economical. New REx on the block But now the Volt has a formidable new competitor: the new 2014 BMW i3, available as both a pure.

Volt 167
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Fund LPG vehicles to counter diesel pollution, says Autogas

Green Cars News

'Leading LPG firm, Autogas is calling on the Government to consider LPG as an alternative to diesel fuel, in the wake of controversy over the UK’s air pollution levels. With rising discontent among motorists peaked by suggestions of an introduction of additional charges for the use of diesel vehicl[.].

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Nissan LEAF drivers pass 850M kilometers driven

Green Car Congress

'The collective electric distance driven by the Nissan LEAF EV worldwide now stands at more than 850 million kilometers (528 million miles), which translates to more than 150,000 tons of CO 2 emissions reduced. Nissan estimates that the billion-kilometer (621 million miles) mark will be passed by January 2015. Rising sales and a rapidly expanding quick charge network mean the target might be beaten even earlier, Nissan suggested.

Nissan 334
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How serious is Norway about climate change? So much that its streetlights self-dim

emissions global warming Norway climate change carbon dioxide youtube lighting

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Texas CNG, LNG motor fuel sales double FY 2014 estimate

Green Car Congress

'As of 31 July, fiscal 2014 tax revenue from sales of compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) motor fuel totaled $2,178,199, according to the Texas state Comptroller’s office. State forecasters projected fiscal 2014 natural gas motor fuel tax revenue of $992,000, equal to sales of 6.6 million gallon equivalents. The 31 July total is 220% of that estimate.

Texas 285
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EPA report shows progress in reducing urban air toxics across US; 50% reduction from mobile sources since 1990

Green Car Congress

'The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released the Second Integrated Urban Air Toxics Report to Congress—the final of two reports required under the Clean Air Act (CAA) to inform Congress of progress in reducing public health risks from urban air toxics (also referred to as hazardous air pollutants or HAPs). HAPs are defined as those pollutants that cause or may cause cancer or other serious health effects, such as reproductive effects or birth defects, or adverse environmental and

EPA 273

More Trending

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United Airlines’ cargo customers can now offset entire carbon footprint

Green Car Congress

'United Airlines has launched CarbonChoice, a new business tool enabling corporate cargo customers to track and offset the emissions associated with their air freight accounts. Cargo customers with large-scale, regular shipments on United can receive customized emissions reports with simple options to offset their company’s carbon footprint through the airline’s partner, Sustainable Travel International.

Carbon 262
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ABB launches first DC fast charger compliant with Chinese GB standard

Green Car Congress

'ABB launched Terra 53 Z, its first high power DC fast charger that complies with the Chinese GB standard. ( Earlier post.) The new chargers will be manufactured locally in Shenzhen at ABB’s recently established base for electric vehicle chargers. Terra 53 Z can be widely used at public charging stations, EV fleet parking lots and highway service stations to charge electric passenger vehicles as well as minibuses and EVs used for logistics.

DC 253
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Volvo Trucks introduces new monofuel natural gas version of FE

Green Car Congress

'Volvo FE CNG. Click to enlarge. Volvo Trucks is expanding its model range in Europe with a new version of the Volvo FE running entirely on natural gas. The Volvo FE CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) has been primarily developed for operations involving short driving cycles with repeated starts and stops such as refuse collection and local distribution. The Volvo FE CNG is powered by an all-new 9-liter Euro 6 engine featuring spark plug technology that produces 320 hp (239 kW) and 1356 N·m (10

Volvo 252
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Novelis increases prices for automotive and specialty aluminum sheet products in North America

Green Car Congress

'Novelis, the world leader in aluminum rolling and recycling, announced price increases on its North American Automotive and Specialty aluminum sheet products for all new orders effective immediately. All existing orders and firm agreements confirmed prior to 7 August 2014 will be honored throughout the contract period. The price for 6xxx and 5xxx series automotive alloys is going up by $0.06/lb. 1xxx and 3xxx series alloys are moving up by $0.05/lb and 5xxx and. 6061-O alloys by $0.03/lb.

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Faurecia and Accenture partner on products and services for connected and autonomous vehicles

Brief

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LG Chem says it has won a major Li-ion battery contract from Audi

Green Car Congress

'Reuters reports that South Korea’s LG Chem said on Wednesday that it had won an order from Audi to supply batteries for plug-in hybrid and micro-hybrid electric vehicles. According to Reuters, LG Chem said the deal was “ worth hundreds of millions of dollars ” but declined to give further details. The company also said it expected to win more such orders from Audi parent Volkswagen AG the future.

Audi 250
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Lux Research: “The rush to proclaim driverless cars as the near future for personal transport is, simply, wrong”

Green Car Congress

'In a note following the 2014 Automated Vehicle Symposium, Lux Research said : “ The rush to proclaim driverless cars as the near future for personal transport is, simply, wrong. ” Lux participated in two separate sessions at the conference: the first around regional planning implications, and the second on personal vehicle automation commercialization.

Personal 250
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Highwater Ethanol has begun Phase 1 operation in partnership with Butamax; agreement on bio-butanol production to come

Green Car Congress

'Highwater Ethanol, which is retrofitting its corn ethanol plant in Lamberton, Minnesota in partnership with Butamax Advanced Biofuels LLC (the joint venture between DuPont and BP for the production of bio-isobutanol, earlier post ) began operation of the Butamax corn oil separation system as Phase 1 of the Butamax partnership in mid-April. Butamax’s patented corn oil separation technology is an integral part of a full retrofit to biobutanol production but can also be installed independently as

Minnesota 247
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Terra Motors starting electric two-wheeler sales in Iran

Green Car Congress

'Japan-based Terra Motors, a manufacturer of electric two and three-wheelers ( earlier post ), has started sales of the A4000i electric scooter—with new products to follow—in Tehran, Iran with Jahanro Industrial Co, exclusively for next five years. Jahanro Industrial Co. started from just a small motorcycle shop. But now it successfully became a distributor of Kawasaki, Bajaj, and TVS, with 1,000 employees and 200 dealers in Iran.

Iran 240
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ExxonMobil announces 6th oil discovery offshore Guyana with Ranger-1; Guyana may move from non-producer to regional powerhouse

Oil

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EPA proposes to include Southern Maine in the Federal Reformulated Gasoline Program

Green Car Congress

'EPA is proposing , at the request of the State of Maine, to require the sale of reformulated gasoline ( RFG ) in York, Cumberland, Sagadahoc, Androscoggin, Kennebec, Knox and Lincoln counties in southern Maine starting in June 2015. RFG is required in cities with high smog levels and is optional elsewhere. RFG is currently used in 17 states and the District of Columbia.

EPA 239
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DOE to issue funding solicitation for algal biofuels and bioproducts; targeting <$5 gge by 2019

Green Car Congress

'The US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) intends to issue, on behalf of the DOE Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO), a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) (DE-FOA-0001162) entitled “Targeted Algal Biofuels and Bioproducts (TABB)”. The TABB FOA seeks to reduce the cost of algal biofuels. BETO’s 2019 projected state of technology (SOT) for the cost of algal biofuels is modeled at about $8 per gallon gasoline gallon equivalent (gge) based on a

2019 239
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Saleen introduces $152K FOURSIXTEEN performance version of Tesla Model S

Green Car Congress

'FOURSIXTEEN. lick to enlarge. Saleen Automotive unveiled its FOURSIXTEEN Tesla Model S-based (the 85 kWh performance model) vehicle at the 2014 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance this past weekend. In addition to an enhanced aerodynamics package, the FOURSIXTEEN is propelled by Tesla’s 3-phase, four-pole AC induction motor and copper rotor with an upgraded Saleen drivetrain including an all-new 11.39:1 final gear ratio for quicker acceleration.

Tesla 239
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Plains All American to build $900M, 200K bpd pipeline from Cushing to Memphis

Green Car Congress

'Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. will construct the Diamond Pipeline, a 440-mile (708 km), 20-inch crude oil pipeline that will provide capacity of up to 200,000 barrels per day of domestic sweet crude from the Plains Cushing, Okla. terminal to the Valero Memphis Refinery, and the ability to access Valero Energy Partner’s Collierville pipeline. The total project investment is expected to be approximately $900 million and is expected to be completed in late 2016.

Memphis 236
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JBEI researchers develop “bionic” liquids: ionic liquids derived from lignin and hemicelullose; towards closed-loop biorefineries

Green Car Congress

'Hypothetical process flow for a closed-loop biorefinery using ionic liquids derived from lignocellulosic biomass (“bionic liquids”) for biomass deconstruction. Socha et al. Click to enlarge. Researchers at the US Department of Energy’s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) have developed “bionic liquids”—ionic liquids derived from lignin and hemicellulose, two by-products of biofuel production from biorefineries.

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Western Gulf of Mexico lease sale results in $110M in high bids on more than 400,000 acres

Green Car Congress

'The US Department of the Interior reported that Western Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 238 attracted $109,951,644 million in high bids for 81 tracts covering 433,823 acres on the US Outer Continental Shelf offshore Texas. A total of 14 offshore energy companies submitted 93 bids. The lease sale, which offered 21.6 million acres, builds on five previous sales held under the Obama Administration’s Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2012-2017 (Five Year Program).

Mexico 231
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DOE awards $17M for vehicle technologies; batteries, PEEM, engines, materials, fuel

Green Car Congress

'The US Department of Energy (DOE) is awarding $17.6 million in 14 cooperative agreements with small businesses and institutions of higher education to develop and to deploy efficient and environmentally friendly highway transportation technologies that will help reduce petroleum use in the United States. The awards made under an Incubator Funding Opportunity Announcement (DE-FOA-0000988) issued in January. ( Earlier post.).

Engine 231
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EPA awards Volkswagen Group of America Chattanooga Tennessee Assembly Plant a first annual Rain Catcher Award

Green Car Congress

'The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) awarded the Volkswagen Group of America the regional 2014 EPA Rain Catcher Award in the Commercial Category for the Chattanooga, Tennessee Assembly Plant. The award was given at an award ceremony during the Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4/International Erosion Control Association Municipal Wet Weather Stormwater Conference, in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Tennessee 231
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Federal-Mogul develops line of spark plugs for heavy-duty CNG vehicles

Green Car Congress

'Federal-Mogul Powertrain, a division of Federal-Mogul Holdings Corporation, has developed a range of spark plugs for heavy-duty vehicles that run on compressed natural gas (CNG). Demand for CNG-fueled vehicles for urban transport (buses) and freight distribution (trucks) is being driven by increasing restrictions on emissions and environmental pressures to use more sustainable energy resources.

Plug 225
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NSF awards $20 million to two new testbeds to support cloud computing applications and experiments

Green Car Congress

'The US National Science Foundation (NSF) announced two $10-million projects to create cloud computing testbeds—”Chameleon” and “CloudLab”—that will enable the academic research community to develop and experiment with novel cloud architectures and pursue new, architecturally-enabled applications of cloud computing. Cloud computing refers to the practice of using a network of remote servers to store, manage and process data, rather than a local server or a personal computer.

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Opinion: Ukraine’s Next Crisis? Economic [and energy] Disaster

Green Car Congress

'by Robert Bensh for Oilprice.com (reposted with permission). Ukraine’s next crisis will be a devastatingly economic one, as violent conflict destroys critical infrastructure in the east and brings key industry to a halt, furthering weakening the energy sector by crippling coal-based electricity production. The Ukrainian military’s showdown with separatists in the industrial east has forced coal mines to severely cut production or close down entirely.

Ukraine 225
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3rd generation Audi TT reduces full lifecycle GHGs by 11% compared to predecessor

Green Car Congress

'Lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions for 2 nd and 3 rd generation TTs. Click to enlarge. Audi’s new third-generation TT reduces life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions by 11% compared to its predecessor. This results in a reduction of around 5.5 tonnes of GHGs—CO 2 , methane, nitrous oxide and halogenated organic emissions—over its entire lifecycle.

Audi 225
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U. Alberta team developing new high power and energy lithium-carbon battery system using induced fluorination; dual storage mechanism

Green Car Congress

'Ragone plot, comparing Li-CNT-F batteries with other batteries in terms of weight of cathode materials. The highest energy density for Li-CNT-F batteries, 4,113 Wh kg carbon ?1 is presented as a red star. Cui et al. Click to enlarge. Researchers at the University of Alberta are developing , and, via their spin-out AdvEn Solutions working to commercialize, a new high power- and -energy density battery system: lithium-carbon-fluorine (Li-C-F).

Li-ion 225
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2015 Honda Fit earns IIHS Top Safety Pick with improved small overlap test results

Green Car Congress

'The redesigned 2015 Honda Fit earned an acceptable rating in the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s challenging small overlap front test, a significant improvement over the 2009-13 model, which was rated poor. With good ratings in the Institute’s four other crash tests, the minicar qualifies for the IIHS TOP SAFETY PICK award. The Institute conducted two small overlap tests of the new Fit.

Honda 218
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Neste Oil’s renewable diesel used to generate elecricity at two events in Finland

Green Car Congress

'Neste Oil’s NEXBTL renewable diesel was used to generate electricity at two major events in Finland this summer: the Flow Festival in Helsinki and the Neste Oil Rally Helsinki Battle street circuit race. NEXBTL diesel generated 45% of the electricity used at the Flow Festival and powered the machinery at the festival site. Using the fuel resulted in a 22 ton reduction in emissions, equivalent in emission terms to nearly three round-the-world flights.

Finland 218
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Opel using 40 3D-printed assembly tools in production of ADAM ROCKS

Green Car Congress

'For production of Opel’s ADAM ROCKS, the company will use 40 assembly tools from a 3D printer. Among these will be an assembly jig—a specific, fixed frame—made by a 3D printer to produce the vehicle name logotype on the side window. For the windshield, a 3D-printed inlet guide is also used to simplify the mounting process and help ensure a precise alignment.

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U. Mich study: natural-gas-based ICE, BEV and FCV all show promise for environmental benefits relative to conventional ICE

Green Car Congress

'Results of a lifecycle analysis by a team at the University of Michigan suggest that multiple types of natural gas-powered vehicles—i.e., natural-gas burning ICE vehicles; battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) recharged with gas-generated electricity; and fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) using hydrogen produced from natural gas—all show promise for reducing environmental impacts, energy demand and climate change impacts relative to conventional petroleum-fueled internal combustion engined vehic

Gas 218
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GE Capital Fleet Services and VNG.co to support expansion of CNG fueling infrastructure

Green Car Congress

'GE Capital Fleet Services and VNG.co , a US CNG fueling facility provider, are partnering to support the expansion of the CNG refueling infrastructure for light-duty fleet vehicles. VNG offers the benefits of fast-fill CNG fueling within existing retail gasoline stations, eliminating the need for fleets to own and maintain their own refueling stations.

Fleet 210
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Petrobras proves potential of the Moita Bonita area in the ultra-deep Sergipe-Alagoas Basin

Green Car Congress

'Petrobras announced that its third well in the Moita Bonita area, in the BM-SEAL-10 concession block of the Sergipe-Alagoas Basin, has proved the extension of the gas and light oil discovery made in that area, as released to the market on 24 August 2012. The Moita Bonita accumulation is part of the Sergipe-Alagoas Basin ultra-deepwater development program.

Oil 210
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PNNL study uncovers role of water in forming impurity in bio-oil upgrading; insight into fundamentals of biofuel catalysis

Green Car Congress

'In working to elucidate the chemistry of hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) for the catalytic upgrading of pyrolytic bio-oil to fuel-grade products, researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) have discovered that water in the conversion process helps form an impurity which, in turn, slows down key chemical reactions. Results of the study, which was reported in the Journal of the American Chemical Society , can help improve processes that produce biofuels from plants.

Water 210