Think that the cost of moving to vehicles with new technologies that meet strict emission goals will outweigh any potential fuel savings? A new report suggests it’s time to think again. MORE

Germany’s Manager Magazin reports that Volkswagen AG’s internal analysis puts the cost of the diesel emissions scandal at more than €30 billion (US$33 billion). As part of the new austerity program ( earlier post ), Volkswagen reportedly will freeze promotion for 2016, and try to use as many current components as possible for the next generation Golf. In addition to cost-cutting, the Group will put an increased emphasis on improving efficiency, the report said. MORE

ITM Power has provided an update on the cost structure of hydrogen generated by its HFuel electrolysis platform. The new estimated cost —US$4.13/kg after capital amortization—incorporates efficiency improvements, cost reduction of its HGas platform and data provided by Hyundai for the ix35 fuel cell electric vehicle ( earlier post ). ITM Power projects hydrogen cost at £4.19/kg (US$6.44/kg), a 32.7% 5% of sale price. MORE

UPS plans to invest approximately $50 million to build an additional nine liquefied natural gas (LNG) fueling stations, bringing the total number of stations to 13. Four were announced in April, and all should be operational by the end of 2014. The enhanced LNG fueling infrastructure will support the operation of approximately 1,000 UPS LNG tractors that will displace more than 24 million gallons of diesel fuel annually. MORE

Production costs per barrel of oil equivalent. The cost of electrofuels—fuels produced by catalyst-based systems for light capture, water electrolysis, and catalytic conversion of carbon dioxide and hydrogen to liquid fuels—remains far away from viable, according to a new analysis by Lux Research. are various sources of hydrogen, such as steam methane reforming of natural gas and gasification of biomass into syngas that can make hydrogen cheaper. MORE

That's the conclusion of a new report released Thursday by the Consumer Federation of America, in anticipation of a meeting between President Donald. Cars that get good gas mileage aren't unsafe. In fact, gas savings have more than paid for safety improvements in modern cars, as well as for the technology needed to make the gains in fuel economy. MORE

A study by scientists at NYU Langone Medical Center estimates that 3.32% of pre-term births (PTBs, birth at 2.5 Attributable PTBs cost were estimated at $4.33 The sum includes $760 million spent on prolonged hospital stays and long-term use of medications, as well as $3.57 attributable fraction (AF) of PTB was highest in urban counties, primarily in Southern California and the Eastern U.S., exposure and the number of premature births per county. MORE

The cost of misclassification on businesses and what organizations can do to minimize risk Employee misclassification affects business owners, workers, and the government. MORE

Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, with colleagues from Los Alamos, Sandia and NREL, are working to lower the cost of producing biofuels from algae. Numbers in red designate the number of strains tested at each TIER. MORE

OnStar is testing a smartphone app that tells Chevrolet Volt owners how much it costs to charge their battery and compares their Volt’s energy use with the total energy consumed in their home by day, month or year. The new app, called EcoHub, will initially be tested with and available to residents of the Pecan Street demonstration project, a smart grid living community in Austin. Down the line, we hope this app can be a beneficial tool for all drivers of electric vehicles. MORE

The projected cost of the Olin Yo’l GTL project in Uzbekistan ( earlier post ) will hit $5.6 As originally outlined by founding project partners Sasol, Petronas and Uzbekneftegaz, the project was estimated to cost some $4.1 MORE

The Times has story of the consequences of crop production for bio-fuels: higher food prices and tragic irony.last year, 98 percent of cassava chips exported from Thailand, the world’s largest cassava exporter , went to just one place and almost all for one purpose: to China to make biofuel.It can be tricky predicting how new demand from the biofuel sector will affect the supply and price of food. In 2007 the government banned the use of grains to make biofuel. MORE

The low-emission process, selected for funding as part of the H2@Scale initiative ( earlier post ) by the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Fuel Cell Technologies Office (FCTO), will create both hydrogen that can be used in fuel cell vehicles and industrial processes, as well as carbon fiber used in applications from medical devices and aerospace structures to building products. —Yuri Freedman, SoCalGas senior director of market development. Southern California Gas Co. MORE

The design and testing of this new Ricardo 48V e-motor and inverter was carried out as a part of the company’s contribution to the European COmpetitiveness in Commercial Hybrid and AutoMotive PowertrainS ( ECOCHAMPS ) project. MORE

The cost of producing electricity from renewable sources such as wind and solar has been falling for several years. The report calculates the cost of producing electricity from different types of new power plants. MORE

The Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and General Motors (GM) are partnering on a multi-year, multi-million dollar joint effort to accelerate the reduction of automotive fuel cell stack costs through fuel cell material and manufacturing research and development (R&D). The effort includes staff collaboration and the exchange of equipment, knowledge, and materials. MORE

The 2013 version of the Nissan LEAF (pictured) will not just be more advanced than ever (see article), it will also be cheaper than ever too. MORE

A new study by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) forecasts that sales of electric vehicles will hit 41 million by 2040, representing 35% of new light duty vehicle sales worldwide. This would be equivalent to nearly 8% of global electricity demand in 2015. MORE

Consumers who purchase an electric vehicle will find that lifetime costs to own the vehicle are competitive with conventional and hybrid vehicles, according to an analysis conducted by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). The baseline analysis relies on a cost-of-ownership model that examines only current vehicles; current fuel prices; and a relatively conservative set of customer values. —“Total Cost of Ownership for Current Plug-in Electric Vehicles”. MORE

The highly efficient approach devised by Professor George Huber and collaborators is much cheaper than a previously reported method—direct hydrogenolysis of tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol (THFA)—and represents the first economically viable way of producing 1,5-pentanediol from biomass. MORE

Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have discovered that the reactions underlying the transformation of ethanol into higher-grade hydrocarbons unfolds in a different manner than previously thought. The research, supported by DOE’s BioEnergy Technologies Office (BETO), has implications for the energy efficiency and cost of catalytic upgrading technologies proposed for use in bio-refineries. Although a higher concentration of ethanol containing fuel (e.g., MORE

The car itself has to meet the buyer's needs, but it's also important to consider long-term ownership costs—often more important than many people realize. The expenses of owning a car include not only things like fuel and insurance, but also maintenance over the life of a. Maintenance ownership Reliability ownership costs Cost Of OwnershipWhen it comes to buying a new car, there are many factors to consider. MORE

The corresponding range for GHG savings with corn stover was 57% to 95% and marginally below the threshold of at least 60% for biofuels classified as cellulosic biofuels under the Renewable Fuels Standard. Production cost of ethanol is annualized over the simulation period. MORE

The United States uses 360 million gallons of gasoline each day. One tanker-truck load, a mere 8600 gallons of gasoline, exploded on a San Francisco Bay Area Freeway early Sunday morning, and the consequences will be felt for months. The effect of this one accident is being compared to the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, which also caused the collapse of Bay Area freeways. MORE

The low cost of electricity compared to gasoline or diesel means driving an electric car typically comes with significant savings per mile, even if not necessarily in purchase price. What could be better than dramatically reduced operating costs? Green Cost Of Ownership costs ownership costs plug-in cars MORE

Diesel vehicles generally saved owners between $2,000 to $6,000 in total ownership costs during a three to five year period when compared to similar gasoline vehicles, according to data compiled by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI). Fuel Costs. MORE

The material, a metal-organic framework (MOF) modified with nitrogen compounds called diamines, can be tuned to remove carbon dioxide from the room-temperature air of a submarine, for example, or the 100-degree (Fahrenheit) flue gases from a power plant. MORE

The Lux analysts ran scenarios associated with operation and ownership, broken out into fuel cost alone; fuel cost plus operation, but excluding purchase or lease; and fuel cost plus operation, including purchase or lease (total ownership cost). MORE

In a new report , Lux Research analysts have examined the costs and availability of cellulosic biomass sources for use as feedstock in bio-based fuels and chemicals. billion tons of cellulosic biomass available today—led by 1.2 billion tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) costs vary widely. Corn stover costs $91/MT, palm fruit bunches and fronds vary from $75/MT to $105/MT, while wood residues at $33/MT and bagasse $38/MT. MORE

UPS plans to deploy 50 plug-in electric delivery trucks that will be comparable in acquisition cost to conventional-fueled trucks without any subsidies—an industry first that would breaki a key barrier to large scale adoption of electric fleets. MORE

Subaru is using NI (National Instruments) hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) technology to simulate actual road conditions for electric vehicle testing, eliminating environmental factors to reduce test time and costs. MORE

The Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) has selected seven projects to receive funding through NETL’s Gasification System Program. This program supports a wide range of research and development activities aimed at improving fuel and product versatility, efficiency, and economics of gasification processes. Bio-gasification of Coal to Methane. DOE: $650,000 Non DOE: $162,500 Total: $812,500 (20% cost share). MORE

A new report produced by the American Lung Association concludes that over-reliance on petroleum-based fuels for transportation costs the 10 ZEV states in the US (California and nine other states that have adopted the California Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) program) an estimated $37 billion in health expenses and climate costs every year—with California costs alone hitting $15 billion. For the average driver, every tank of gas burned costs $18.42 MORE

The US DRIVE Cradle-to-Grave Working Group has published the “Cradle-to-Grave Lifecycle Analysis of US Light-Duty Vehicle-Fuel Pathways: A Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Economic Assessment of Current (2015) and Future (2025–2030) Technologies” Argonne National Lab Report. MORE

Potential harmful effects of air pollution are well known – but just what is the monetary cost of Europe’s largest polluting facilities? According to a new report from the European Environment Agency (EEA), air pollution from the 10,000 largest polluting facilities in the continent cost citizens between €102billion and €169billion in 2009 alone. MORE

Though there are some exceptions to these positive results for some of the diesel versions of vehicles from a total-cost-of-ownership perspective, the overall direction of the results supports the idea that diesel vehicles are competitive within the U.S. MORE

While diesel vehicles have received a black eye in the form of the Volkswagen emissions scandal, they often still deliver better fuel economy than comparable gasoline models. But does a lower volume of fuel consumed necessarily translate into lower ownership costs? Fuel Economy Cost Of Ownership MORE

Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh have found that the air pollution and greenhouse gas costs of shipping crude by rail are nearly twice as large as those for oil pipelines. MORE

Many of their arguments center on costs—not only to the carmakers themselves, but also to car buyers. costs Fuel Economy transportation policy Cost Of OwnershipAutomaker lobbyists continue to push back against the stricter fuel-economy and emissions standards scheduled to take effect in the U.S. over the next decade. Regulators and automakers together acknowledge that complying with tougher. MORE

A commercial dewatering enzyme could reduce overall costs linked with producing ethanol from grain, and also reduce associated emissions of greenhouse gases, according to a study by US Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists and colleagues. This could significantly reduce the amount of electricity, natural gas, energy and water needed for production of grain ethanol and its marketable byproducts. MORE

Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have quantified the fuel economy effects of some common driver practices and vehicle accessories or alterations—including underinflated tires, open windows, and rooftop and hitch-mounted cargo. In addition, two minivans were subjected to coastdowns to examine the similarity in derived coefficients for two duplicate vehicles of the same model. l/100 km)—a drop of 9%. MORE

The Volkswagen diesel scandal no longer gets much U.S. media coverage. Engineer James Liang has been sentenced to 40 months in jail for his role, while executive Oliver Schmidt will be sentenced December 6. Buybacks and modifications are underway for more than half a million TDI diesel vehicles sold by Volkswagen, Audi, and Porsche. Now, other. Financial Volkswagen diesel scandal MORE

Over five years after they first went on sale, Nissan electric cars have racked up an impressive amount of mileage: more than 2.5 The Nissan Leaf has proven that electric cars can handle the rigors of daily driving just as well as internal-combustion models. Canada costs plug-in cars Cost Of Ownershipbillion kilometers (1.6 billion miles). MORE