Veteran’s Day usually involves lots of flag-waving, parades, and expressions of gratitude for military service… all well-deserved by those who dedicate a portion of their lives to the armed forces. We tend to focus on the concepts of national security and defense in these celebrations… but, equally as important, is the spirit of serving the greater good that these men and women often carry with them after separating from active duty…

Read the rest…

But time is short, and we can “do better” sooner. We can take meaningful action now, every day, starting today.

Leonardo da Vinci inspires me with this quote:

“I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.”

We must do.

I day-dream about the impact of 3/4 million people waking up tomorrow, starting to work, and quietly deciding that today they will not compete with the other drivers on the road for position. Today they will not race to the next stoplight. Today they will try to maintain more distance in front of them to allow a little coasting before braking. Today they will move to the middle or the right on the highway and slow down 5 or 10 MPH. This week those people will go an additional 25 or 50 miles on a single tank of gas – possibly more, maybe enough to skip a fill-up for a day or two.

If all 750,000 squeezed another 50 miles from a full tank of gas this week, that’s 37,500,000 “carbon-free” miles traveled. At $0.12/mile avg. cost that’s $4.5 million dollars saved – ($6/ea) to be saved or spent elsewhere. Repeat that process each week, and you see it can add up to significant numbers very quickly. And that’s ONLY considering 750,000 people – imagine what would happen if each of them told two friends about what they are doing and impressed them to try.

It’s easy to do. You can track your personal per-tank mileage by setting your trip odometer at each fillup. If you want better data, keep your receipts and use a notepad, a spreadsheet, or a free website like FuelClinic to track your MPG over time, and look for ways to improve your score (see links below for additional techniques).

We all feel the urgency. We know what to do. The only questions is – are we willing? If you are willing, then you must DO.

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Learn more fuel-efficient driving techniques here:

http://www.fuelclinic.com
http://www.ecodrivingusa.com
http://www.fueleconomy.gov

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Video: Together We Are More Powerful Than Oil

From The Local:

Porsche unveiled its creation at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show. It claims the car has a top speed of 320 km/h but uses just three litres of fuel for every 100 kilometres – equivalent to 94 miles per imperial gallon.

“We are a sports car manufacturer and that means it’s about driving fast – but at the same time about cutting pollution and conserving natural resources,” Porsche chief Michael Macht said according to the website of news magazine Der Spiegel.

Critically, the Spyder emits an average of just 70 grammes of carbon dioxide, the firm claims. According to Britain’s Department for Transport, the third-generation Toyota Prius – the best-known hybrid car – emits 89 g/km.

500 HP V-8 that get’s 94 miles per gallon?

Read more…

While the filing is an exciting sign of growth at Tesla, there’s a bit of bad news buried in the paperwork for Roadster fans… apparently the current Roadster we’ve all come to love will not be built after 2011… possibly to be replaced with a new Roadster after Lotus re-tools their plant in England.

The Model S coupe is expected sometime in 2012.

From AutoBlogGreen:

For the first time in more than fifty years, a U.S. automaker is holding a public offering. Henry Ford made shares of Ford Motor Company public back in 1956. Tesla, the Elon Musk-owned Silicon Valley electric car company, filed to do so today. There’s no word as to when the shares will be available for public consumption, nor any word as to how much each share will cost…

The press release from Tesla Motors starts…

PALO ALTO, CA. – Tesla Motors, Inc. today announced that it has filed a registration statement on Form S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed initial public offering of its common stock. Tesla Motors designs, manufactures and sells high-performance fully electric vehicles and advanced electric vehicle powertrain components. The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the offering have not yet been determined…

But Wired Autopia Blog finds some discouraging news in the IPO filings, Tesla Motors say they’ll stop building their popular Roadster sometime in 2011. Here’s why:

Wired’s Autopia was digging through the papers filed by Tesla to the Securities and Exchange Commission for its IPO and came across with this nugget:

“We do not plan to sell our current generation Tesla Roadster after 2011 due to planned tooling changes at a supplier for the Tesla Roadster.”

As everyone’s aware, the current iteration of the Tesla Roadster is built in Hethel, England by Lotus using Elise/Exige underpinnings. Judging by the quote above, that means the Elise/Exige is due to be replaced by a new model (good news for enthusiasts), but that leaves Tesla up a creek without the proverbial paddle.

The other telling line is this:

“As a result, we anticipate that we may generate limited, if any, revenue from selling electric vehicles after 2011 until the launch of the planned model S…”

Read the rest…

Exciting days ahead for the EV enthusiasts for sure.

Millions of people text, talk or e-mail on their cell phones while driving—a recent survey finds that 71 percent of people between the ages of 18 and 49 admit they text or talk on the phone while they drive.

If you think you can call, text and drive at the same time, you cannot. That message you can’t wait to send could kill. Distracted driving is an epidemic that is sweeping through our country, claiming lives and destroying families.

On Monday, she aired an entire episode dedicated to her new cause. While you can’t find the full episode online, here is a short clip available at CNN.

We applaud Oprah along with the many professional driving educators, technology creators, and others working every day to make positive changes in this important effort.

…In a nutshell, FuelClinic.com is “a driver-improvement system that helps create safer, smarter, more efficient drivers,” according to the company Web site. “In consumer applications this system helps families save money on fuel, reduce [carbon] emissions, find deficiencies in inexperienced or young drivers, and helps motorists become generally safer and more professional drivers.”

Bragg also is working on a professional application targeted at businesses and fleet managers that, he said, helps them train employees, reduce fuel expenses and reinforce safety initiatives.

Bragg said one of his goals is to take the idea of fuel savings more mainstream, away from the traditional dedicated, hybrid-driving environmentalist who makes a second career out of saving fuel. Bragg is not telling people that they have to buy a Toyota Prius — he still has that four-wheel-drive truck, in fact — but he is saying that by modifying your driving habits, your routes and other easily manageable changes, you can save a lot of fuel, and a lot of money… ( read the rest )

Judging from new user sign-ups, the article is a huge hit. I’d like to welcome all of the new members, and ask that you let me know what you enjoy about the site, and what you’d like to see changed or improved.

Scope: All the emissions and relevant removals of GHG from the company are included. Consistency: Significant comparisons between the information related to GHG is possible. Accuracy: The inaccuracies and uncertainties are reduced as far as possible. Transparency: Sufficient and appropriate information is revealed so as to allow decisions to be made with reasonable confidence. Relevance: The sources of GHG, data and methodologies appropriate for user requirements of the GHG inventory count are selected and reported.

 
Objectives: Determine the sources of GHG emissions (Kyoto Protocol)  such as: Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Methane (CH4) Nitrous Oxide (N20) Sulfur Hexafluoride (SF6) Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) Perfluorocarbons ( PFCs)

  
DEVELOPMENT OF THE WORK

3. Identification of Sources and Outlets of GHG
The team of consultants will identify and document the sources of  GHG which contribute to the emissions. The same applies to the outlets, when relevant to the company. The sources of GHG are the ones associated with the consumption of electricity (e.g. illumination, functioning of  equipment), burning of gas (e.g. ovens, in the restaurant kitchen), oil combustion (e.g. vehicles), solid fuels(e.g. coal), use of production resources (e.g. chemical products), the use of cooled air, paint solvents, etc. This activity will occur through interviews, documentation and visiting the area.

Scope 3 Mobile combustion Total of air trips. Point to point, we will need to determine the total of KM. Rented cars – Total of KM – Motorization Company cars – total of fuel used Fleet of buses (chartered bus)– Total of KM and motorization LPG for hoists Fugitive Emissions Storage, release from production, processing, transmission and use of fuels. Unintentional release of substances which do not go through chimneys, drains, exhaust pipes… During the use of cooling and air-conditioning machines and equipment, leakage of methane (conveyance of natural gas) Stationary emissions Generation of electricity, steam, or power using equipment in a fixed place

 
After executing the Inventory Count the company should study what opportunities there are for reducing the impacts such as greater efficiency in journeys, reduced consumption of fuel, establishing greater control and applying the concept of eco-drive. Reduction in the quantity of journeys, and means of transport which are more efficient and better adapted to the public modes of transport existing in cities.  Incorporation of technologies which reduce traveling time, such as GPS, control of traffic reduction and avoiding stretches with traffic jams by integrating data with the departments of local transport and Engineering. Adoption of cleaner and more efficient fuels.
 
Execution of inventory counts which will be available for companies and public organs.
 
Execution of Clean Development Mechanism projects to obtain resources for increasing cleaner transportation.
 
 
The MelhorAr Project performs inventory counts of mobility and studies to make the transportation sector more eco-efficient.
 
For further details:
www.projetomelhorar.com.br <http://www.projetomelhorar.com.br>
 
Lincoln Paiva ( Lincoln@projetomelhorar.com.br )
Conceiver of the MelhorAr ( Improve Air) Project of Sustainable Mobility
+5511 3030 1700

STOCKHOLM – 23 Sept. 2009: The Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America), IBM (NYSE: IBM), Spencer Trask Collaborative Innovations (STCI), and partners announced the results of the ITS Congestion Challenge, a global competition to find the best ideas for reducing traffic congestion. The three organizations announced the selection of iCarpool.com at the 16th World Congress on ITS in Stockholm. iCarpool.com, headquartered in Issaquah, WA, won the competition among more than 116 entries from 20 countries. The organization will receive a cash investment of $50,000 USD, which will be used for further development of its solution. For more info on the ITS Congestion Challenge and the other finalists please see the full Press Release - PDF

We here at FuelClinic would like to say “Well done!” and congratulations to iCarpool on their 1st place finish.

Read the entire press release (pdf).

In a surprising public acknowledgment, Mexican President Felipe Calderon said last week that drug cartels have extended their operations into the theft of oil, Mexico’s leading source of foreign income which finances about 40 percent of the national budget.

At least one U.S. oil executive has pleaded guilty to a conspiracy that involved what prosecutors said was about $2 million in stolen Mexican oil, U.S. Justice Department officials confirmed to The Associated Press.

The Obama administration’s new fuel economy standards for 2011 vehicles, the first industry wide increase in miles-per-gallon requirements since the mid-1980s, were challenged in court Thursday by an environmental group, which said the rules are too weak and still don’t consider the impact of emissions on global warming.

The standards, announced last Friday by the Department of Transportation, would boost average fuel economy requirements to 27.3 mpg for all vehicles, up by 2 mpg from 2010 models. Passenger cars would have to reach 30.2 mpg and light trucks 24.1 mpg.

Some environmental groups have said the new standards are a small step in the right direction, but the Center for Biological Diversity said Thursday they’re actually weaker than the requirements that the Bush administration proposed last year for 2011 vehicles…

Our fuel economy standards have been nearly flat since the early 1980′s – while modern engines are more efficient than older models (fuel injection vs. carburetors is a simple example),  cars and trucks have become bigger and more powerful, and actual fuel mileage – miles per gallon – has not increased. 

…The group asked the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco to declare that the administration violated a federal law requiring that fuel economy standards be set at the maximum feasible level, in light of current technology, economic impact, and the nation’s need to conserve energy. The same court ruled in a similar lawsuit in 2007 that the Bush administration’s fuel standards for light trucks and SUVs for the 2008 through 2011 model years were invalid…

Given the existing “climate of chaos” gripping the government, it’s unlikely that this appeal will make many ripples. The problem is not enough time to do the various impact studies and set the standards based on those findings – while still  giving the struggling manufacturers time to retool and implement the needed technologies. 

…The administration “cooked the books to conclude the maximum fuel efficiency level the United States can achieve in 2011 is the lowest in the world,” Siegel said.

Critics of Obama’s “Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry” pointed out early that the members of the task force generally seem a little out of touch with the importance of improved fuel economy – another example of this administration’s disappointing “do as I say, not as I do” approach to the subject of energy efficiency.

Some encouraging news earlier today…

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama opened an ambitious, double-barreled assault on global warming and U.S. energy woes Monday, moving quickly toward rules requiring cleaner-running cars that guzzle less gas — a must, he said, for “our security, our economy and our planet.”

He also vowed to succeed where a long line of predecessors had failed in slowing U.S. dependence on foreign oil…

…Obama directed federal transportation officials to get going on new fuel efficiency rules, which will affect cars produced and sold for the 2011 model year. That step was needed to enforce a 2007 energy law, which calls for cars and trucks to be more efficient every year, to at least 35 miles per gallon by 2020.

While I have worked very hard over the last 8 months to help users improve fuel efficiency, and strongly support higher efficiency standards (it’s a disgrace that fuel efficiency for modern vehicles is basically unchanged from those of the early 1980′s), I am concerned about the potential confusion of having each state able to set their own standards for vehicle emissions, and so are the automakers…

The auto industry responded warily. Reducing planet-warming emissions is a great idea, car makers and dealers said, but they expressed deep concern about costly regulations and conflicting state and federal rules at a time when people already are not buying cars. U.S. auto sales plunged 18 percent in 2008.

And industry analysts said the changes could cost consumers thousands of dollars — for smaller, “greener” cars.

Obama on Monday directed the Environmental Protection Agency to review whether California and more than a dozen states should be allowed to impose tougher auto emission standards on car makers to fight greenhouse gas emissions. The Bush administration had blocked the efforts by the states, which account for about half of the nation’s auto sales. 

We have a national auto-industry, not state-specific cottage industries. Our auto makers need to be able to efficiently build automobiles that can be sold anywhere in the country. America simply does not have “time or money” to mitigate a jumbled quagmire of new emissions regulations for the automakers. We need to act more quickly.  

Instead of creating a confusing new collection of tighter tail-pipe emission standards, maintaining the current established emissions standards while increasing fuel efficiency standards will have a greater and more immediate effect – creating and securing jobs, saving consumers after-tax money (which is an economic-stimulus method that works), cutting fuel consumption (and foreign oil dependence), and cutting emissions more aggressively – without cumbersome tailpipe testing.  

This approach will also reduce the engineering costs by allowing automakers to focus all their talents on improving fuel efficiency, so they can create automobiles that are competitive with the higher-mileage imports,  instead of trying to improve efficiency while also managing to meet a variety of emissions-only regulations. 

At the same time, Obama should hold American automakers to their promise of building-in the Flex-Fuel components needed to “future-proof” these new vehicles, to allow consumers to have a choice to take advantage of the growing alternative fuels market. These systems add very little to the cost of building a new car (about $100/ea. is the last estimate I’ve heard), are well-proven (they’ve been around for 10 years or so), and empower drivers to reduce their own emissions even further by choosing to use alcohol-blended fuels.

I also suggest shifting the impetus for new efficiency standards from global warming for the time being, and concentrate on economic and security related benefits of higher fuel efficiency standards. Regardless of your position on the issue of man-made global warming, the consuming public (who put their hard-earned money on the line) is simply not very worried about global warming, according to the recent Pew survey (among others).

Why try to force-feed the customers a solution to a problem they aren’t concerned about? I think there is much more potential for progress by explaining the economic and national security advantages of higher-fuel-efficiency vehicles – with the added benefit of reduced emissions.

As far as I’m concerned, the best news from today is apparently Obama’s not going to let the temporary downturn in oil prices sway his resolve…

Obama also meant to set a tone with his promises: Science will trump ideology and special interests, attention will stay high even when gas prices fall.

We all know these prices are bound to rebound. Prices are already making upticks at retail gasoline stations (+$0.20 this last month), even as excess oil sits idly in storage tanks and tanker ships around the world. 

What do you think about Obama’s announcement today?

What do you think of my own proposals?

Comments are greatly appreciated and all view points (thoughtfully delivered) are welcome.

From the Indian Ocean to the South Atlantic to the Gulf of Mexico, giant supertankers brimming with oil are resting at anchor or slowly tracing racetrack patterns through the sea, heading nowhere.

The ships are marking time, serving as floating oil-storage tanks. The companies and countries leasing them for that purpose have made a simple calculation: the price of oil has fallen so far that it is due for a rise.

Some producing countries are trying to force that rise by using the tankers to withhold oil from the market, while traders are trying to profit by buying cheap oil now to store and sell at a higher price later. Oil storage has become so popular that onshore tank capacity is becoming scarce.

The crude oil markets are none-to-worried about the “unrest” in the middle east either, it seems. Normally a war (or threat of a war) in that area results in a spike in the price of crude, as futures traders bet on a resulting shortage resulting from direct action or political punishment. But not this time. There was a blip last week, just a hint of warming… but it didn’t last long. 

OPEC lowered its energy demand forecast for 2009, with investors already shrugging off production cuts of 4.2 million barrels a day by member countries. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said in its January report that it expects world demand for crude will fall 180,000 barrels per day in 2009, compared with the previous year.

Is Gaia herself giving us a glimpse into our financial future? Do the record low temperatures foretell the continued glacerialization of world economies, the freezing of credit, and the icing-over of hope?

Even Hugo Chavez can’t believe his eyes, or the bottom line. He’s busy eating a little crow at the moment, hoping to court western oil companies to help bail him out of the mess he’s created in his oil-rich but cash-starved 

President Hugo Chávez, buffeted by falling oil prices that threaten to damage his efforts to establish a Socialist-inspired state, is quietly courting Western oil companies once again.

Until recently, Chávez had pushed foreign oil companies here into a corner by nationalizing their oil fields, raiding their offices with tax authorities and imposing a series of royalties increases.

But faced with the plunge in prices and a decline in domestic production, senior officials here have begun soliciting bids from some of the largest Western oil companies in recent weeks — including Chevron, Royal Dutch/Shell and Total of France — promising them access to some of the world’s largest petroleum reserves, according to energy executives and industry consultants here.

This economic slowdown, recession, adjustment (whatever you’d like to call it) seems bigger than currently imagined.

Meanwhile, U.S. oil inventories have been rising for months, suggesting that the recession severely cut into energy demand. The Energy Information Administration said Wednesday that crude inventories grew by 1.2 million barrels for the week ended Friday after jumping 6.7 million barrels the previous week…

Refineries are cutting back production because profit margins are next to nil.

Flynn said any existing storage facilities could be flooded with crude as the February contract comes to a close Tuesday, leaving little excess capacity.

“We’re running out of places to put it,” he said. “There’s more oil out there now than we’ve had in a long time.”

ComEd meter readers in Chicago and the company’s Maywood office will drive the 50 new Priuses, including 10 Priuses that have been specially converted into electric plug-in hybrids. The plug-in conversion is expected to significantly increase fuel-efficiency by providing greater electric-drive capability.

Plug-in electric vehicles and smart charging technology are enabled by building the Smart Grid of the future, an initiative ComEd is actively working on in collaboration with the Illinois Commerce Commission and other stakeholders.

“These new vehicles not only use electricity to improve fuel economy and reduce emissions but may eventually be used as back-up power sources,” said Terence Donnelly, ComEd senior vice president of Transmission and Distribution. “Deploying advanced metering and other Smart Grid technologies will help us understand and manage impacts to the grid from plug-in electric vehicles but more importantly will improve reliability and enable customers to make more efficient choices about their electric usage.”

Traditional hybrids run on a combination of gasoline and electricity. Compared to an average subcompact, the Prius hybrid and plug-in electric version consume about 30 and 65 percent less fuel, respectively. ComEd estimates this will reduce its gasoline use in 2009 by 6,500 gallons and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 60 metric tons.

“Most major vehicle manufacturers have committed to bringing plug-in electric vehicles to the market in the next two to five years,” said Rita Stols, ComEd vice president of Strategic and Support Services. “By adding these vehicles now, we can study their performance and effects on the electric grid to prepare for wide-scale consumer adoption.”

Currently, 63 percent of the ComEd fleet uses a fuel source other than 100 percent gasoline. This includes 1,774 trucks that use biodiesel fuel (20% soybean oil, 80% diesel); 250 E85 flex-fuel vehicles that use ethanol; 91 hybrid Ford Escape SUVs; one biodiesel-electric hybrid bucket truck; one liquid petroleum gas (LPG) bucket truck; and the 50 new Prius vehicles. Compared to a non-green fleet, these vehicles emit 1,400 fewer metric tons of carbon dioxide annually. This is the equivalent of removing about 320 cars from the road for a full year.

ComEd’s green fleet is one of many environmental initiatives that support Exelon 2020, a comprehensive strategy announced earlier this year by Exelon, ComEd’s parent company. The goal of Exelon 2020 is to reduce, offset or displace more than 15 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emitted by its family of companies and customers. This includes ComEd’s efforts to reduce its energy consumption by 25 percent by 2012.

“ComEd’s green fleet is an extension of our commitment to being a leader in applying and promoting environmentally friendly and energy-efficient practices,” Donnelly said. “We hope our example spurs all customers – business and residential – to explore the many ways they can reduce their impact on the environment and use energy more efficiently.”

Business and residential customers can learn of these ideas through the Smart Ideas program by ComEd. The program includes incentives, information, tips, and tools for customers to reduce energy costs and minimize environmental effects. For more information about Smart Ideas, visit http://www.comed.com/ or call 888-806-2273.

Commonwealth Edison Company (ComEd) is a unit of Chicago-based Exelon Corporation , one of the nation’s largest electric utilities with approximately 5.4 million customers. ComEd provides service to approximately 3.8 million customers across Northern Illinois, or 70 percent of the state’s population.

ComEd

CONTACT: ComEd Media Relations, +1-312-394-3500

Opec has been eagerly trying to recruit Russia to join its efforts and analysts say together the two could announce a further reduction of as much as 3m barrels a day of oil production within the next week.

Chakib Khelil, Algeria’s oil minister and Opec’s president, told state radio on Thursday there was a consensus among Opec members to reduce production when they met in the Algerian seaside town of Oran on December 17. He said: “The Oran meeting will decide a severe production cut to stabilise the oil market.” 

Time will tell if they can woo the worlds consumers back to heavy consumption at the same time they bring prices back to “normal” profitability. If they are successful at turning this train around, then it’s likely the run-up and recovery of recent history were always under OPEC control – then what does it say about their intentions, as America teetered on the brink of the housing investment crisis in an election year…

What do you think?