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.

Developing Negative Carbon Gasoline with Cool Planet Biofuels

Biomass is being harnessed to produce biofuels
Source: Alice Birkin / www.publicdomainpictures.net

Cool Planet Biofuels will soon be testing their newly developed negative carbon gasoline on the streets of California. They say that they are able to produce a revolutionary fuel from biomass – woodchips, corncobs and grass. What’s more is that they can alter it to become a blendstock for current E-10 gasoline or even as a drop in fuel that entirely replaces the fossil fuels that run the vehicles that we have today.

Cool Planet Biofuels is backed up by companies such as GE, Google Ventures, ConocoPhillips, NRG Energy and BP – companies who can further assist with the development of their next generation negative carbon and cost competitive fuel.

Should they deliver what they are saying, dependence on fossil fuels will be lessened and atmospheric carbon dioxide target levels are more achievable.

For more information, you may visit www.coolplanetbiofuels.com.

Renewable Energy Surpasses Nuclear Power in Production and Consumption in the US

Solar Energy Generation
Source: Petr Kratochvil / www.publicdomainpictures.net

Renewable Fuels are slowly inching their way as a viable energy source. Based from the recent Monthly Energy Review released by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), they overtook nuclear energy in terms of aggregate production and consumption in the first nine months of 2011, taking a slump only in August and September.

While it is still a long way before renewable energy sources become our main energy source and the likelihood of replacing coal in generating electricity in the near future is dim, it is comforting to know that there are other possible alternatives to fossil fuels that we can tap in case the need arises. In addition, the feasibility of using renewable fuels for energy generation instead of nuclear energy is also shown by this circumstance.

This new development in energy use also addresses the matter that the energy used to power electric vehicles comes from non-environment friendly sources. Current electricity generation may not be green but having a cleaner source of energy is not far from reality.

The renewable sources of energy included in the EIA’s Monthly Energy Review for December 2011 are hydroelectric, geothermal, solar, wind, waste and ethanol.

For more information, you may visit www.eia.gov.

Fairfield, Texas - Green Energy Oilfield Services

In Fairfield, Texas - Green Energy Oilfield Services, a new Texas owned and operated company established in 2011, is holding a job fair on January 19, 2012 at the Fairfield Convention Center from 4:00PM until 8:00PM. Positions are open for drivers, mechanics, office managers and clerks.

For more information, you may visit http://greenenergyoilfieldservices.com.

Superior Township, Michigan - Hyundai America Technical Center, Inc.

In Superior Township, Michigan - Hyundai America Technical Center, Inc. is investing $15 million in building a new Hot/Cold Weather Dynamometer Test facility. The facility will conduct Federal Test Procedures as well as tests on alternative fuel vehicles. They are planning to hire 50 additional employees.

For more information, you may visit http://hyundaiamerica.us.

Edwardsville, Illinois - Employment Expo: Metro East

In Edwardsville, Illinois – The Office of the Comptroller will hold the Employment Expo: Metro East, a job fair that will be participated in by more than 40 employers. In addition to the employment opportunities, there will also be trainings and workshops. It will be held from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm at the Lewis & Clark Community College inside the N.O. Nelson Campus.

For more information, visit www.illinoiscomptroller.com.

BASF, Renmatix and Cheap Industrial Sugars

Hopefully even wood can be a viable
source of industrial sugar
Source: Jiri Hodan / www.publicdomainpictures.net

With the participation of BASF in Renmatix through a $30 million investment, we are keeping our hopes high that somebody, Renmatix in this case, will come up with ways to produce cheap and viable biofuels from wood chips and corn stovers. The biofuels industry, particularly in the US, is in need of innovative companies that can produce ethanol from sources that will not compete against food.

Although current known processes of extracting industrial sugar from cellulosic materials have been expensive, Renmatix claims that they have made breakthroughs in reducing the cost. Now, backed up by BASF, we are hoping that this is true and that Renmatix will soon be able to commercialize their process.

Renmatix is the proprietary of the Plantrose process, a two phase method of extracting sugar from cellulosic materials using supercritical water. For more information, you may visit http://renmatix.com.