EV’s, Hybrids, Petrol, Diesel, What’s Next? CNG?

Gas Fire
Source: Michael Drummond / www.publicdomainpictures.net

Electric cars and hybrids have once again been the focus in the 2012 Detroit Auto Show. Different car companies showcased new technologies and forecasts about the future of present day vehicles. Motorshows are a good indication of what manufacturers see as the more probable vehicles that will be used later on. They are results of not merely guesses but calculated studies about recent trends and developments that seek to unite what consumers want with available resources.

It is interesting to note though that car manufacturers introduce new models that run on alternative fuel, they almost always have a fossil fueled version. This is because they know that majority of the consumers are not yet ready to make that switch. And, they also do not yet have a clear knowledge of what type of fuel will be used in the future.

Greeley, Colorado – Teletech Holdings, Inc.

In Greeley, Colorado – Teletech Holdings, Inc., a business process outsourcing company operating worldwide, is opening a new customer experience center. The new facility will cater to the needs of their financial services client. They are expecting to hire around 500 employees.

                                                                                      

For more information, visit www.teletech.com.

How China is Using Wind Energy Programs to Generate Jobs

Wind Turbine
Source: Petr Kratochvil / www.publicdomainpictures.net

Chinese wind farms are in the news once again as Gamesa, a world renowned manufacturer and constructor of wind farms, has secured another contract with China to install 50 2.0 MW wind turbines in Ningxia, China. This is in addition to the 25 2.0 MW wind turbines that was agreed upon for installation last year.

China presently has a total of 80 wind farms in operation. As of 2010, energy production from wind farms was 41,800 MW and it has been growing at an accelerated rate. In China’s 12th Five Year Plan from 2011 to 2015, wind farms are included in their environmental goals and they are aiming to produce more than 150 billion kWh by the end of 2015.

China, Japan, Nuclear Power and Wind Energy

Nuclear Power Plant

Petr Kratochvil / www.publicdomainpictures.net

In September 2011, China began operating another wind farm in Wuzhong, a city in Northwest China. China made use of their vast available land by constructing a wind farm spread across 215 square miles in the area. Coupled with solar power installations, they were able to produce 400 megawatts with 300 megawatts coming from the wind turbines.

China has many good sites for onshore wind farms due to the large land mass that the country has. The newly constructed one in Wuzhong in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, a semidesert, is just one of the many suitable areas for installing wind turbines.

Charging Cars Without Cables

Electric Cables
Source: Vera Kratochvil / www.publicdomainpictures.net

Wireless charging has been around since the 1990’s. It has been used in mobile phones, consumer gadgets and medical devices. Recently, this kind of technology is being introduced in electric vehicles as well.

Wireless charging is also called inductive charging. It makes use of two pads: a transmitter of electromagnetic fields and a receiver which converts them back to electricity which charges the battery. This technology reduces the risk of electric shocks because the pads can be entirely covered but it is also less efficient in transmitting electricity.

Winn Parish, Louisiana – JELD-WEN

In Winn Parish, Louisiana – JELD-WEN, a leading manufacturer of windows and doors, is opening a new production facility. The new plant will make wood fiber door-casings and is scheduled to begin later in 2012. The company plans to employ 75 people.

For more info, you may visit www.jeld-wen.com.

Why an Electric Vehicle

One of the low selling points for electric vehicles is the relatively long charging time. Most electric vehicles take 8 hours for a full charge with recent developments able to recharge batteries 80% full in 30 minutes.

Electric Vehicle
Source: Peter Griffin / www.publicdomainpictures.net

However, 30 minutes is still a long time for drivers that are used to driving gasoline or diesel powered vehicles. These fossil fueled vehicles take minutes, if not seconds, to refill. Furthermore, range anxiety, the fear that electric vehicles will run out of charge before one can reach the destination is still a very large issue.

New technologies have been trying to combat these problems since the introduction of electric vehicles to the market. More and more recharging stations are being built and battery swapping procedures are being looked into to make electric vehicles more acceptable to the consumers. There are also great efforts being put to increasing their range.

Why electric vehicles is also being developed vis-à-vis ethanol/biofueled vehicles is to increase the options that we will have in the future in case we will have to make that switch from fossil fueled vehicles to alternative fueled ones. Contrary to the notion that electric vehicles contribute almost the same amount of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere as fossil fueled vehicles, the point of electric vehicle proponents is that if electric vehicles become widely used in the future, controlling the source of greenhouse gas emissions will be much easier because monitoring will only be done at the source i.e. power plants.

Much more, if these power plants get their electricity from clean renewable resources like solar or hydrogen, very little greenhouse gas emissions will be produced.