Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 28, 2012

Functional elements of the GEM*STAR reactor. Source : Muons, Inc. Click to enlarge. Muons, Inc. , a private-sector high-energy accelerator physics firm, and ADNA (Accelerator-Driven Neutron Applications) Corp., are proposing using spent nuclear fuel (SNF), natural uranium, or excess weapons-grade plutonium (W-Pu) in a proposed GEM*STAR accelerator-driven subcritical reactor (ADSR) to provide the process heat and steam for the Fischer-Tropsch production of synthetic diesel from natural gas and ot

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Molten Salt Fuel Production Coal 320

Green Car Reports

DECEMBER 28, 2012

Honda's 2014 Accord Plug-In Hybrid has become the first vehicle to meet California's latest new emissions standard. The plug-in Accord's per-mile output of only 20 milligrams of smog-forming emissions allows it to meet the California Air Resources Board's new SULEV20 standards. SULEV20, or "Super Ultra Low Emission Vehicle 20" is one-third cleaner.

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2014 Plug-in Honda Standards 144

DIY Electric Car

DECEMBER 23, 2012

All major car makers use AC propulsion systems for a reason. That reason is simplicity, robustness and excellent, programmable. operating parameters. For the past year, there has been a group of people studying. AC propulsion systems. They all eventually noticed the huge. gap in the AC motor offerings from the many motor manufacturers. The present AC50 and soon to be AC75 systems are at the top of. the "lower" cost systems out there for DIY people.

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DIY Motor Motors Motoring 100

Green Cars News

DECEMBER 28, 2012

It’s not often we talk about vans on TheGreenCarWebsite.co.uk: however, when it comes to green vans there has arguably never been a more attractive option than the new Ford Fiesta Van (pictured). The vehicle features diesel engines, all of which have emissions below 100g/km of CO2 with fuel economy figures topping 76mpg. The standout model [.].

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Fuel Economy Economy Ford Fuel 62

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Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 26, 2012

Average external costs from cars per 1,000 vkm by country. Click to enlarge. A recent study from Technische Universität Dresden (TU Dresden) commissioned by the Greens/European Free Allianace (EFA) in the European Parliament concluded that the cars used within the EU-27 externalize up to about €373 billion (US$493 billion) per year (high estimate) of costs on to other people, other regions and other generations.

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Cost Of International Transportation Price 284

Green Car Reports

DECEMBER 26, 2012

According to the 2010 Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors (GBD) Study published this month in The Lancet, high blood pressure, tobacco smoke, and alcohol abuse are the world's most dangerous risk factors for disease. Among the other top-ten items on that grim list, we also find air pollution -- largely ambient particulate matter.

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Pollution 2010 Global 137

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 23, 2012

American Commercial Lines (ACL) will begin transporting crude oil by barge on the US inland waterways for MEG Energy (US) Inc. (MEG Energy), a subsidiary of the Canadian oil sands company MEG Energy Corp. Crude oil will arrive primarily via pipeline and will be transferred to barges at storage terminals located on the inland waterways for transport by ACL to the Gulf Coast.

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Oil-Sands Oil Transportation Companies 257

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 27, 2012

Ford is embracing the use of “3D printing”—additive manufacturing—in its design work. Many of the components for the Ford 3.5-liter EcoBoost engine in the all-new Transit Van (earlier post) were developed with the aid of 3D rapid manufacturing. Cast aluminum oil filtration adaptors, exhaust manifolds, differential carrier, brake rotors, oil pan, differential case casting and even rear axles were prototyped with the technology, specifically utilizing selective laser sintering, stereol

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Oil-Sands Ford F-150 Escape 252

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 22, 2012

Global automotive supplier DENSO has developed the first integrated, in-vehicle wireless cell phone charger in collaboration with Philips & Lite-On Digital Solutions (PLDS). DENSO’s Qi-compatible wireless cell phone charger will make its world debut in North America on the 2013 Toyota Avalon Limited as part of a technology package available for both the gasoline and hybrid versions.

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North America 2009 Vehicles Google 252

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 25, 2012

The United States has at least 2,400 billion metric tons of possible carbon dioxide storage resource in saline formations, oil and gas reservoirs, and unmineable coal seams, according to a new US Department of Energy (DOE) publication. This resource could potentially store hundreds of years’ worth of industrial greenhouse gas emissions, preventing their release into the atmosphere, says the 2012 edition of the Carbon Utilization and Storage Atlas ( Atlas IV ).

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Carbon CO2 United States Climate Change 250

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Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 23, 2012

In a new study in Nature Climate Change , climate modelers at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory predict a 10% drop in the Colorado River’s flow in the next few decades, enough to disrupt longtime water-sharing agreements between farms and cities across the American Southwest, from Denver to Los Angeles to Tucson, and through California’s Imperial Valley.

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Colorado Las Vegas Climate Change Los Angeles 247

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 24, 2012

Eni and Anadarko Petroleum Corporation signed a Heads of Agreement (HOA) establishing foundational principles for the coordinated development of common natural gas reservoirs in the offshore Mozambique. The two companies also agreed jointly to plan and to construct common onshore LNG liquefaction facilities in the Cabo Delgado Province of northern Mozambique with an eventual capacity of 50 million tonnes per year.

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Mozambique Gas Qatar USA 246

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 24, 2012

A new study by the RAC Foundation and the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA) examines the potential for alternatives to new car ownership models to kick-start the electric vehicle market. The paper, “Car Rental 2.0”, summarizes the findings from a joint seminar held by the RAC Foundation and BVRLA earlier this year on alternatives to car ownership: car rental, traditional and one-way car clubs, and ridesharing.

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Market Cars Recharge Transportation 244

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 28, 2012

Carbon is seen as an attractive potential cathode material for aprotic (non-aqueous) Lithium-air batteries, which are themselves of great interest for applications such as in electric vehicles because of the cells’ high theoretical specific energy. However, the stability of carbon and the effect of carbon on electrolyte decomposition in such cells are not deeply understood at this point.

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Carbon Li-ion Batteries Battery 240

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Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 27, 2012

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has formally granted a California Air Resources Board (CARB) request for a waiver of preemption for its Advanced Clean Car (ACC) regulations. ( Earlier post.) The ACC regulations revise California’s Low Emission Vehicle (LEV) program (which includes both criteria pollutant and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission standards) as well as the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) program.

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EPA Grant Clean Cleaning 240

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 27, 2012

The Ukraine state oil and gas company Naftogaz signed a US$3.656-billion credit agreement with the state-owned China Development Bank to finance the program of substituting natural gas with locally produced coal. The program is aimed at improving Ukraine’s energy security and alleviating dependence on foreign natural gas. The contract, guaranteed by the Ukrainian government, stipulates implementation of four separate investment projects, which are to transfer national thermal energy production f

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Ukraine Coal Financing Gas 236

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 25, 2012

Crown Royal Saloon G (Hybrid model, rear-wheel drive with options). Click to enlarge. Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) launched in Japan the redesigned Crown Royal and Crown Athlete sedans; production of a new hybrid version of the sedan will begin in late January 2013. The original Crown made its debut in 1955; the new release represents the 14th generation.

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Japan Toyota Hybrid NiMH 236

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 27, 2012

Renewable chemicals and fuels company Amyris, Inc. has completed a $42.25 million private placement of its common stock. In addition, Amyris announced its purpose-built industrial fermentation facility in Brazil has successfully begun production of Biofene, Amyris’s brand of renewable farnesene. The company sold 14,177,849 shares of common stock in a private placement to existing Amyris investors.

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Brazil Financing Production USA 231

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 27, 2012

Toyota has agreed to a settlement valued between $1.2 and $1.4 billion in a class action suit by Toyota vehicle owners who claim that their vehicles are prone to sudden, unexplained acceleration. The estimated settlement is the largest of this type in US history in terms of dollars paid out and number of vehicles involved. The settlement includes direct payments to consumers as well as the installation of a brake-override system in an estimated 3.25 million vehicles.

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Toyota Legal 2010 North America 231

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 27, 2012

The California Air Resources Board has approved the 2014 Honda Plug-in Hybrid Accord as the first car for sale in California that meets ARB’s LEV3/SULEV20 standard—the most stringent smog-emission standard to date. ( Earlier post.). The 2014 Honda Plug-In Hybrid Accord produces only 20 milligrams of NMOG+NO x emissions per mile. In addition, this Honda model has lower greenhouse gas emissions than the fleet average standard required by all cars in 2025, the equivalent of a 50% reduction fr

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Honda 2014 Plug-in California 231

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 24, 2012

A new study using a computer model of the atmosphere and a numerical analysis method to fill in gaps in collected data from the Byrd Station outpost finds that the central region of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) is experiencing twice as much warming as previously thought. Due to its location some 700 miles from the South Pole and near the center of the WAIS, conditions at Byrd Station are an important indicator of climate change throughout the region.

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Ohio Climate Change Universal Wisconsin 231

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 22, 2012

The GREET team at Argonne National Laboratory has released a new release of the GREET fuel cycle model (GREET 1 2012 rev2) as well as a GREET (Beta) featuring a fully graphical toolbox to perform life cycle analysis simulations of alternative transportation fuels and vehicle technologies in a matter of a few clicks. The Greenhouse gases, Regulated Emissions and Energy use in Transportation (GREET) full life-cycle model is used to evaluate and compare the environmental impacts of new transportati

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Oil-Sands Fuel Oil Gas-Electric 231

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 24, 2012

Chevron Corporation’s indirect Canadian subsidiary, Chevron Canada Limited, will acquire a 50% operating interest in the Kitimat liquefied natural gas (LNG) project and proposed Pacific Trail Pipeline (PTP), and a 50% interest in approximately 644,000 acres of petroleum and natural gas rights in the Horn River and Liard Basins in British Columbia, Canada.

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Chevron Canada Corporation Gas 225

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 23, 2012

Statoil has made the investment decision to develop the Mariner heavy oil field development in the UK North Sea. The project entails investments of more than US$7 billion and is the largest new offshore development in the UK in more than a decade. The Mariner Field is located on the East Shetland Platform of the UK North Sea approximately 150 km east of the Shetland Isles.

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Mariner Oil Oil-Sands 2007 225

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 28, 2012

ITOCHU Corporation signed a capital/business partnership with materials company Toda Kogyo through which ITOCHU will own 20.7% of Toda Kogyo’s issued shares (22.1% ownership of voting shares), placing Toda Kogyo as an equity-method affiliate of ITOCHU. ITOCHU will utilize the technological capability and production facilities of Toda Kogyo to strengthen its trade business in Li-ion cathode materials—a market expected to exceed ¥300 billion (US$3.5 billion) in 2015—and in the electron

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Li-ion Lithium Ion Market North America 218

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 24, 2012

Teekay LNG Partners L.P. (Teekay LNG), an offshoot of Teekay Corporation, the international shipping group, has placed an order for two LNG carriers powered by 2 × 2 5G70ME-GI dual-fuel, two-stroke, gas-injection engine, including an option for three further ships. The newbuildings will be constructed with M-type, Electronically Controlled, Gas Injection (ME-GI) twin engines, which are expected to be significantly more fuel-efficient and have lower emission levels than other engines currently be

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Diesel Engine Fuel South Korea 218

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 22, 2012

On 20 December, Neste Oil Oyj sued Syntroleum Corporation for alleged patent infringement regarding US Patent No. 8,212,094 on the production process for NExBTL renewable diesel. ( Earlier post.) Syntroleum denies any infringement of Neste’s alleged patent rights and says it will continue to vigorously defend against Neste’s allegations. The ’094 patent covers similar subject matter and shares a common inventor with prior Neste patents (US Patent Nºs 7,279,018 and 8,187,344), as they are directe

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Delaware 2012 Diesel Corporation 218

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 27, 2012

New Fiesta Van. Click to enlarge. Ford is introducing a new version of its Fiesta Van in Europe. All diesel engines in the new Fiesta Van achieve sub-100 g/km CO 2 emissions and 3.7 l/100 km (63.6 mpg US) or better (measured according to the technical requirements and specifications of the European Regulation (EC) 715/2007 as last amended). The 1.6L diesel Fiesta ECOnetic Van variant, featuring enhanced fuel-saving technologies, delivers fuel consumption of 3.3 l/100 km (71 mpg US), equivalent t

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MPG Ford Diesel 2007 210

Green Car Congress

DECEMBER 24, 2012

Colorado-based Elithion has shipped a production order for Lithiumate Pro Li-ion battery management systems (BMS) to Russian automaker AvtoVaz for inclusion in its all-electric car EL LADA. The shipment includes 110 masters and more than 10,000 cell boards. The Lithiumate Pro BMS supports all cell form factors—prismatic, small and large cylindrical, pouch—and is targeted for mid-voltage Lithium-ion chemistries: Lithium iron phosphate (LFP): LiFePO 4 , LiFeYPO 4.

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Li-ion Lithium Ion Batteries Battery 210

Green Car Reports

DECEMBER 24, 2012

The 2013 Tesla Model S comes with one feature no other electric car can match: free quick-charging at an expanding network of Supercharger stations, usable only by Tesla owners. Following its October launch between the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles, the network now includes a station along the Northeast Corridor between Boston and.

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San Francisco Los Angeles Boston Tesla 137

Green Car Reports

DECEMBER 28, 2012

Remember the Porsche Boxster E? The German sports car maker previewed the electric concept back in 2011, giving car enthusiasts a glimpse into what an official Stuttgart electric vehicle might be like. The Boxster E has since faded from memory, though Porsche's 918 Spyder supercar will use plug-in hybrid technology--so not all the lessons have.

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Porsche Convert 2011 Plug-in 121

Green Car Reports

DECEMBER 24, 2012

It's quite easy to forget that cars have been using batteries for years before hybrids and electric vehicles arrived. The humble lead-acid battery, the planet's most recycled product, has been starting engines and providing power for car electrics ever since such a thing was required. Now, battery startup Energy Power Systems (EPS), fronted by.

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Lead Acid Hybrid Batteries Battery 121

Green Car Reports

DECEMBER 27, 2012

Android and iPhone users can now find any electric vehicle charging station in the country, thanks to a new app from ChargePoint. The ChargePoint EV app doesn't just let drivers locate ChargePoint's own stations, but those from other providers, too. Compatible with all Android and iOS smartphones, the app lets drivers find stations nearby or.

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Charging All-Electric Electric Vehicles Vehicles 121

Green Car Reports

DECEMBER 27, 2012

It isn't just Hyundai and Kia in deep water over misleading MPG claims--now Ford is the subject of a lawsuit over the MPG of its hybrid models. The federal lawsuit concerns the fuel economy of its most recent hybrid models, the C-Max Hybrid and Fusion Hybrid. Filed on December 7, the lawsuit says Ford's marketing campaign highlighting the.

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Ford Hybrid 2013 Fusion 118