The E7 Purpose-Built Cop Car: Can sniff out nukes while getting 30mpg
I needed to get some eye-candy out here on the blog… how about a purpose-built cop car that has a bio-diesel burning power-plant, built-in lights, machine-gun holders, and does 0-60 in 6.5 seconds?
Meet the E7 - even Batman would like this car.
Unlike conventional police cruisers, which are retrofitted consumer vehicles such as the Ford Crown Victoria, the E7 is the first car designed and built specifically for law enforcement.
“You would never send a pickup truck to go put out a fire,” Li said. “Why would you send a family sedan to go take care of a homeland-security issue?”
Flashing emergency lights are embedded in the E7’s frame, making the car aerodynamic and visible from all directions. The front seats are designed with extra space to accommodate a police officer’s utility belt…
…Li said the car’s 300 bhp forced-induction 3.0-diesel engine will deliver 420 lb-ft of torque and propel the vehicle from zero to 60 mph in 6.5 seconds, with a governed top speed of 155 mph.
He also said the E7’s engine, which can run on either ultra-low sulfur diesel or biodiesel, will have a combined fuel economy rating of 28 to 30 mpg — up to 40 percent more fuel efficient than conventional police cruisers.
That last point is important when you remember that earlier this year police were cutting patrols, mounting horses, or using bikes to try to control the skyrocketing impact of fuel on the operating budgets.
Watch the video report over at Fox.
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Obama: The Future of the Auto-Industry, Green-Fuel Surcharge
Barak Obama was on Meet the Press this weekend, and gave some insight into his plans for the US Auto-Industry and possibility of a fuel-surcharge
What do you think about $4/gallon gas mandate that Brokaw puts forth? I think Obama had the correct response, but it’s clear that cheap gas literally kills new investment in alternative energy solutions.
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DOD’s Energy Plan is Running on “E”
Tonight, while scouring the web for the best sources of energy and new fuels information I can find for you, I stumbled upon a gem of a blog ( DOD Energy Blog ) that focuses on the impact of our energy crisis on the Department of Defense - the worlds single largest oil consumer.
And what perfect timing! First up, a post about a report that will get us all right up to speed on current DOD energy issues.
I’m not exaggerating when I tell you Dr. Sohbet Karbuz’s ”Can the U.S. military move to renewable fuels?” in last month’s Bulletin of Atomic Scientists is perhaps the best, most concise summation of the military’s fuel concerns in 2008.
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Scientists propose modifying “MPG” to “gal/100mi”
Here’s a great idea that’s already used around much of the world. In the U.S. we think of fuel efficiency in terms of “miles per gallon” (MPG) - and in most of the rest of the world where the metric standard of measure is used, they already measure fuel efficiency with “liters per 100 kilometers” ( l/100km).
Two scientists from Duke University propose that modifying the way we express fuel mileage can help people understand the concepts of “better mileage” more easily. They propose an expression of “gallons per 100 miles” be adopted.
Richard Larrick and Jack Soll of Duke University in the US say that a simple switch from expressing a car’s fuel efficiency in miles per gallon (mpg) to gallons per 100 miles makes it much easier for people to assess how much money they could save on fuel.
They showed that people think of fuel efficiency as linear. If this were true, doubling the fuel efficiency of a gas guzzling SUV would save the same amount of fuel as doubling the efficiency of a smaller more efficient car.
In fact, the relationship is not linear and doubling the efficiency of an SUV saves far more than if you own a small car (see graph, right).
I think it’s an idea worth trying, and will incorporate this as an alternate SOM view in FuelClinic reports and displays in the next updates made to the software.
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Maxine Waters threatens to socialize… err… “nationalize” America’s oil industry
Whoah.
Link: sevenload.com
“And guess what this member* would be all about? This member would be all about socializing — er, uh. [Pauses for several moments] …. would be about … [pause] … basically … taking over, and the government running all of your companies.”
Found At: Hot Air
It’ll never happen in America, but it has happened all over the world in recent years:
First Russia. Then Venezuela. Now Bolivia.
Soaring energy prices are fueling a global wave of natural-resource nationalization that is souring the investment landscape for international oil companies and reshaping energy politics for years to come.
While it is anyone’s guess as to which energy-rich developing nation will be next to assert greater state control over its oil or natural gas assets, analysts say it is only a matter of time before the actions of Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez and Bolivia’s Evo Morales inspire a copycat.
More about Chavez of Venezuela in particular:
From: Wikipedia
2007 On May 1, 2007, Venezuela stripped the world’s biggest oil companies of operational control over massive Orinoco Belt crude projects, a controversial component in President Hugo Chavez’s nationalization drive.
Police changing how they do business, in response to surging fuel prices
No more take-home cruisers, officers told to turn their engine off if stopped for more than a minute, stick to your designated patrol area - unless responding to an emergency.
Source: My Way News
In Newberry, population 10,000, Chief Jackie Swindler is telling his officers to turn off the ignition whenever they are stopped for more than a minute or so, and to get out and walk around more.
“It’s not a rolling office that you stay in all day,” Swindler said. “You still need to get out and interact with the public.”
Jonathan Taylor, a rookie officer in Newberry, said walking the beat in the region’s oppressive summer heat may be a drag, but he added: “We’re police officers. It’s not supposed to be a comfortable job. If getting out and walking helps me do the best job I can, I’m all for it.”
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Massive Oil Deposit Could Increase US reserves by 10x
America is sitting on top of a super massive 200 billion barrel Oil Field that could potentially make America Energy Independent and until now has largely gone unnoticed. Thanks to new technology the Bakken Formation in North Dakota could boost America’s Oil reserves by an incredible 10 times, giving western economies the trump card against OPEC’s short squeeze on oil supply and making Iranian and Venezuelan threats of disrupted supply irrelevant.In the next 30 days the USGS (U.S. Geological Survey) will release a new report giving an accurate resource assessment of the Bakken Oil Formation that covers North Dakota and portions of South Dakota and Montana. With new horizontal drilling technology it is believed that from 175 to 500 billion barrels of recoverable oil are held in this 200,000 square mile reserve that was initially discovered in 1951. The USGS did an initial study back in 1999 that estimated 400 billion recoverable barrels were present but with prices bottoming out at $10 a barrel back then the report was dismissed because of the higher cost of horizontal drilling techniques that would be needed, estimated at $20-$40 a barrel…
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Ethanol and the law of unintended consequences
Fuel or folly?
Cinnamon Stillwell
Wednesday, April 2, 2008In the pantheon of well-intentioned governmental policies gone awry, massive ethanol biofuel production may go down as one of the biggest blunders in history. An unholy alliance of environmentalists, agribusiness, biofuel corporations and politicians has been touting ethanol as the cure to all our environmental ills, when in fact it may be doing more harm than good. An array of unintended consequences is wreaking havoc on the economy, food production and, perhaps most ironically, the environment.
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Air Force Secretary to DARPA: Free Us from the Oil Cartels
From DANGER ROOM -
Developing an alternative to today’s petroleum-based fuels would obviously translate to big cost savings for the military, but according to Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne, it would have a geo-political advantage as well. Speaking today at the DARPA conference here in Anaheim, Wynne told the audience to “think of the withdrawal of leverage it [alternative fuels] would bring from petty dictators or cartels.”
If anyone can do it, DARPA can.
As the largest consumer of oil in the federal government, the Air Force has an obvious interest in alternative fuels. Every $10 increase in the price of a barrel of oil costs the Air Force another $600 million, according to Wynne. The Air Force is also thinking about worst-case scenarios. “In the event of another war, those costs could double again,” Wynne told the audience here. The question, he says, is “how to hedge your bet,” both against the rising cost of petroleum as well as a disruption in supply.
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State of the Union - 20/10
Excerpts from last night SOTU re: new fuel economy standards, and an initiative to reduce America’s gasoline consumption by 20 percent over the next ten years:
Extending hope and opportunity depends on a stable supply of energy that keeps America’s economy running and America’s environment clean. For too long our Nation has been dependent on foreign oil. And this dependence leaves us more vulnerable to hostile regimes, and to terrorists - who could cause huge disruptions of oil shipments … raise the price of oil … and do great harm to our economy.
It is in our vital interest to diversify America’s energy supply - and the way forward is through technology. We must continue changing the way America generates electric power - by even greater use of clean coal technology … solar and wind energy … and clean, safe nuclear power. We need to press on with battery research for plug-in and hybrid vehicles, and expand the use of clean diesel vehicles and biodiesel fuel. We must continue investing in new methods of producing ethanol - using everything from wood chips, to grasses, to agricultural wastes.
We have made a lot of progress, thanks to good policies in Washington and the strong response of the market. Now even more dramatic advances are within reach. Tonight, I ask Congress to join me in pursuing a great goal. Let us build on the work we have done and reduce gasoline usage in the United States by 20 percent in the next ten years - thereby cutting our total imports by the equivalent of three-quarters of all the oil we now import from the Middle East.
To reach this goal, we must increase the supply of alternative fuels, by setting a mandatory Fuels Standard to require 35 billion gallons of renewable and alternative fuels in 2017 - this is nearly five times the current target. At the same time, we need to reform and modernize fuel economy standards for cars the way we did for light trucks - and conserve up to eight and a half billion more gallons of gasoline by 2017.
Achieving these ambitious goals will dramatically reduce our dependence on foreign oil, but will not eliminate it. So as we continue to diversify our fuel supply, we must also step up domestic oil production in environmentally sensitive ways. And to further protect America against severe disruptions to our oil supply, I ask Congress to double the current capacity of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
America is on the verge of technological breakthroughs that will enable us to live our lives less dependent on oil. These technologies will help us become better stewards of the environment - and they will help us to confront the serious challenge of global climate change.
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Democrats Promise to Invigorate Alternative Energy
Depending on your politics, you may be happy, disappointed, or indifferent about the outcome of the Tuesday elections which resulted in the United States of America listing slightly to the left.
As with any great body at rest, the US Congress has tended to remain at rest over the last two or three years, especially in regard to encouraging the search for, and adoption of, alternative energy sources.
In the marching orders for the new leadership of the US Congress is a mandate from America to ween ourselves from foreign oil and prepaare ourselves for a future without an abundance of cheap oil.
Here’s a few related initiatives:
- Using the existing standards, immediately set a higher mileage requirement for all automobiles sold in the United States. A mandatory 7% increase in mileage within 2 model years, and a 15% increase in 5 years.
- Increase incentives for biodiesel, ethanol and other alternative fuels as well as wind, solar, geothermal and other sources of alternative energy.
- Renegotiate oil and gas leases that waived royalty payments to the government. Oil companies are getting filthy rich at the expense of the US Taxpayer. I feel that mutli-billion dollar profit each quarter for the last few years speaks for itself. It’s simply outragious, and America is being fleeced.
- We should explore for oil on public lands, I think we have to do this quickly and purposefully. We currently depend on volitile Middle East oil for 20% of our current needs. If we can hold-the-line on our usage by adopting more efficient practices, then we can greatly reduce our dependence on foreign oil by developing our own existing reserves.
Okay - that last one might not be a traditional Democrat position, but I think it is the correct path ahead.
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2007 Fuel-Economy List
The Lamborghini’s rounded out the bottom of the list, with 9MPG city / 14MPG highway… on top of the heap are the hybrids…
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released the 2007 list today in Washington, saying the information will help consumers conserve energy and save money.
U.S. fuel prices that rose above $3 in midyear helped sales of hybrids, sold by Toyota, Honda and Ford, rise 24 percent from a year earlier to 192,312 this year through September, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Total sales of cars and light trucks fell 3.7 percent to 12.7 million, while Toyota’s rose 13 percent and Honda’s gained 4.3 percent as they benefited from demand for fuel-efficient models.
The EPA’s rating for the 2007 Prius is 60 miles per gallon in city driving and 51 mpg on highways. The Civic gets 49 mpg in cities and 51 on highways, the agency said. It rates the Camry hybrid at 40/38 and the Escape with front-wheel drive at 36/31.
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