Panama. sales of hybrid SUVs and other fuel efficient vehicles will prove interesting to watch this year, especially if fuel prices remain relatively low. Expert predictions about where oil and gas prices are headed vary widely. MORE

The researchers used results from a six-year experiment in a rainforest at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, Central America, to study how increases in litterfall—dead plant material such as leaves, bark and twigs which fall to the ground—might affect carbon storage in the soil. MORE

Today on Green Car Reports: The 2015 Kia Soul EV electric car and 2015 BMW X3 crossover are unveiled at the 2014 Chicago Auto Show, and an attempt to drive a Tesla Model S from Texas to Panama. All this and more on Green Car Reports. The 2015 Tesla Model X electric crossover will have all-wheel drive only, the company confirms. The 2015 Chevrolet MORE

Major chokepoints in addition to the Suez Canal include: Strait of Hormuz; Strait of Malacca; Bab el-Mandab; Bosporus/Turkish Straits; Panama Canal; and the Danish Straits. MORE

Bubbles under the vessel bottom of the new bulk carrier with MALS. Click to enlarge. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. MORE

New Panamax is the term for the size limit of ships that will be capable of traveling through the Panama Canal after its planned expansion is completed in 2014: 366m in LOA, 49m in width and 15.2m Top : rendering of the continuous tank cover type LNG carrier Sayaendo Series. MORE

Currently in closed beta test (tested in multiple makes/models/years of cars, as well as city, rural environments, as well as internationally in Panama, Canada, UK and France), with a Q1/2 2013 launch date. The public voting period for the final round of the US Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) $50,000 Apps for Vehicles Challenge began on 18 March, and runs through 25 March. Earlier post.). MORE

and a Landing Craft, Air-Cushioned vessel demonstration scheduled for early December at Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City, Panama City, Fla. The US Navy successfully concluded its largest demonstration of shipboard alternative fuel use with the successful arrival of the Self Defense Test Ship (SDTS) to Naval Surface Warfare Center Port Hueneme. The SDTS is a decommissioned Spruance-class destroyer ex-Paul F. MORE

The new apple-shaped tanks constitute an improved version of high-reliability Moss-type tanks, and they have been adopted on the Sayaringo STaGE as part of MHI’s initiative to develop a vessel in the New Panamax category, i.e. capable of passing through the newly expanding Panama Canal which is expected to go into service early in 2016. Sayaringo STaGE. Click to enlarge. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. MORE

The design is future compliant with new IGC code, Panama requirements as well as significant advances in a range of features, including the speed-range flexibility, hull form and boil-off rate. MORE

It was only a matter of time. Produce an electric car with enough range, and the journeys it can realistically achieve become almost limitless. There have been a flurry of coast-to-coast trips recently as Tesla opens up its countrywide Supercharger network, but perhaps the most impressive trip undertaken is that of Randy Denmon and Dean MORE

The US Department of Energy (DOE) is launching SuperTruck II, an $80-million funding opportunity ( DE-FOA-0001447 ), subject to congressional appropriations, for research, development and demonstration of long-haul tractor-trailer truck technology. MORE

Panama City, Fla.; The riser insertion tube. Source: BP. Click to enlarge. MORE

Panama) - $30,250 Vessel name: Dumun. The California Air Resources Board has fined 12 shipping companies a combined $476,750 for failure to switch from high-sulfur diesel “bunker” fuel to cleaner, low-sulfur marine distillate fuel upon entering Regulated California Waters, as required by state law. ARB said that all companies cited took prompt action after being notified of the violations and, under ARB’s supervision, began complying with state law. MORE

According to the report, potentially large increases in BC emissions may occur in the Arctic, further exacerbating warming, if ships are diverted from the Panama and Suez canals to take advantage of shorter routes to and from Asia, Europe, and North America. MORE

And that market’s population is 8 times the size of the Tampa/Orlando market.Rather than investing in a high-risk rail project, we should be focusing on improving our ports, rail and highway infrastructure to be in a position to attract the increased shipping that will result when the Panama Canal is expanded when the free trade agreements with Colombia and Panama are ratified and with the expansion of the economies of Central and South America. MORE

This is a key milestone toward commercial scale production, with initial results showing comparable system performance in the scale-up from our 4 barrel/day pilot system in Panama City, Florida to the 100 BBL/day demonstration system in St. Blue Sun Energy, ARA Inc. and Chevron Lummus Global (CLG) achieved a key development milestone with their 100 barrel/per day (4,200 gallon/per day) demonstration-scale Biofuels ISOCONVERSION (BIC) facility in St. Joseph, Missouri. Earlier post.) MORE

Panama Canal. The United States is the primary country of origin and destination for all commodities transiting through the Panama Canal, however, it is not a significant route for US petroleum trade. The Trans-Panama Pipeline (TPP - Petroterminal de Panama, S.A.) MORE

It will be the largest ship in its class that can pass through the expanded Panama Canal which is scheduled for completion in 2014, while maintaining a hull size allowing it to call at major LNG terminals around the world. Mitsui OSK Lines, Ltd. MORE

The low-diversion scenario assumes 2% diversion from the Panama and Suez canals between July and November of 2025. Comparison of the potential reduction in emissions with the application of lower sulfur 0.5% and 0.1% fuel for Arctic vessels assuming a low-growth scenario. Source: ICCT. Click to enlarge. MORE

April 18, 2009 1:03 pm Link Writing from Panama where we could use a few more electric cars to reduce pollution. We need electric buses to replace the diablos rojos, these are old, old US school buses that are the rusting backbone of public transportation in Panama. MORE

In a paper published this month in the International Journal of Maritime Engineering , Paul Stott and Dr Peter Wright of Newcastle University, UK, suggest that the $6-billion Panama Canal expansion program offers the marine industry as a whole an opportunity to reduce its environmental impact. Expanded sections of the Panama Canal are due to open in 2014 following an eight-year program to widen and deepen the waterway in order to increase capacity for liner shipping. MORE

Incremental well-to-wheels GHG emissions from WCSB Oil Sands Crudes Compared to Well-to-Wheels GHG Emissions from Displacing Reference Crudes Click to enlarge. MORE

and its partners will demonstrate and adaptive management strategy of subsurface pressure, fluid movement, and differential pressure plume behavior using existing wastewater disposal wells and new wells at Plant Smith near Panama City, Florida, operated by Gulf Power Company. The US Department of Energy (DOE) has selected two projects that will test emerging enhanced water recovery (EWR) technologies for their potential to produce useable water from CO 2 storage sites. MORE

The STREAM 4200 LNG’s 32.25-meter beam allows passage through the existing Panama Canal locks. MORE

The wicker-bodied electric vehicles were designed to parade around the Panama-California Wicker might not be your first choice of construction material when designing a vehicle, but the world was a very different place in 1915. If you lived in San Diego at the time, the sight of an Electriquette silently whirring past may have been quite familar. MORE

has started shipping crude oil bound for the US West Coast through Petroterminal de Panama ( PTP )’s trans-Panama pipeline, marking the start of a seven-year transportation and storage agreement between BP and PTP. million barrels of PTP’s storage located on the Caribbean and Pacific coasts of Panama and committed to east-to-west crude oil shipments averaging 100,000 barrels per day through PTP’s trans-Panama pipeline. BP Products North America Inc. MORE