User-agent: Mediapartners-Google* Disallow: Trucks World News
Google
 
Loading

Aug 11, 2012

ALTERNATIVE FUELS * USA

* DC - White House: No decision yet on ethanol requirements amid corn shortage

(Photo by Max Ortiz / The Detroit News: This underdeveloped ear shows the drought damage to the cornfields in Ingham County owned by Jeff Oesterle of Mason)
Washington, DC,USA -The Detroit News, by David Shepardson -August 11, 2012: -- The White House said Friday it has made no decision on whether to waive ethanol requirements for use by the nation's 250 million vehicles in the wake of a severe drought that's cutting corn yields... On Friday, a United Nations official urged the Obama administration to suspend ethanol requirements under the 2007 Renewable Fuel Standard as fears of food shortages grow... Under a 2007 energy law, the U.S. is dramatically increasing the use of ethanol in vehicle fuel — to 15.2 billion gallons this year, up from 5 billion gallons in 2007...  In order to use all of the ethanol required, the EPA has approved the use of a higher blend of ethanol fuel called E15, which is 15 percent ethanol... The higher blend of fuel is only approved for vehicles from 2001 and newer, because automakers say engines can be corroded by the higher fuel. They have fought the fuel, arguing it could also hurt newer vehicles...


* DC - NHTSA defends 2025 fuel rules

(Photo: Refueling a LNG truck)
Washington,DC,USA -The Detroit News, by David Shepardson -August 14, 2012: -- National Highway Traffic Safety Administrator, David Strickland, Tuesday defended the Obama administration's 2025 fuel rules in the face of criticism from some foreign automakers... At the same time, the agency said Tuesday it will not meet a self-imposed deadline of Wednesday to unveil the final regulation... In a report released Friday by the House Oversight and Government Reform's Republican majority, Japanese and European automakers criticized the process. Toyota Motor Corp. executives said the process was unfair and called the rules a "second bailout for Detroit." Honda Motor Co. and Volkswagen AG also criticized it... Strickland defended last summer's talks with major automakers to nearly double fuel efficiency requirements to 54.5 mpg by 2025, a move that will cost the auto industry $157.3 billion but is intended to save consumers $1.7 trillion at the pump...

Labels: , ,

posted by Unknown @ 11:00 AM  0 comments

Jun 7, 2012

ALTERNATIVE FUELS * USA & UK

* UK - Report: Biomethane for Transport, HGV cost modelling  

London,UK -Low CVP -4 May 2012: -- A new study commissioned by the LowCVP finds that operating heavy commercial vehicles on biomethane can lead to lower operating costs compared to conventional diesel operation but that the capacity of the delivery infrastructure has an important bearing on economic viability... The study, prepared by Transport and Travel Research (TTR) with Joulevert, found that HGV operators with average vehicle mileages and access to large capacity infrastructure can make cost savings. The costs of operating dedicated or dual fuel trucks is most attractive where operators can access the economies of scale arising from a 5,000-10,000kg/day refuelling station (sufficient for 50-100 trucks)... Reducing the refuelling station size to 2,000kg/day or below, quickly makes the economics less attractive. Hence smaller operators (which make up the majority of the HGV industry) will struggle to make gas vehicles pay back unless they can join forces with other operators to invest in larger refuelling stations. The report says that well-to-wheel analysis of automotive fossil fuels and powertrains carried out by CONCAWE shows that biomethane produced from municipal waste is able to achieve GHG savings of about 50% compared with conventional fossil fuels...


 * Minnesota - Ethanol makers feel the squeeze
 

(Photo by Glen Stubbe, Star Tribune: A driver for Kwik Trip filled his tanker truck with ethanol from the Al-Corn ethanol plant in Claremont, Minn., one of the state’s longest-running ethanol plants) 
Minneapolis,MN,USA -The Star Tribune, by DAVID SHAFFER -June 5, 2012: -- The end of federal subsidies at the end of 2011 left ethanol plants struggling to make money in a glutted market early this year. One ethanol industry executive called it the "hangover effect.".. About three-fourths of U.S. ethanol plants either lost money or merely broke even in the first quarter after federal incentives to blend the corn-based fuel expired, according to data released at an industry conference Tuesday... The slide in profit margins, after a strong fourth quarter in 2011, happened mainly because oil companies and gasoline suppliers stocked up on ethanol to capture the 45-cent-per-gallon federal blender subsidy before it expired Dec. 31 -- then slowed their buying, industry officials said...

Labels: ,

posted by Unknown @ 7:18 PM  0 comments

May 18, 2012

ALTERNATIVE FUELS * USA

* DC - E15 fuel harms autos, says study backed by carmakers, refiners 

(Photo: Ethanol and Petrol fuel station)  
Washington,DC,USA -The Detroit News, by Bryce Hoffman -May 17, 2012: -- A study backed by automakers and oil companies has found that a new blend of gasoline and ethanol recently approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency could damage some engines, adding new fuel to the debate over the E15 standard... It found that the new formula, 85 percent gasoline and 15 percent ethanol, damaged two of the eight vehicles used as guinea pigs in the high-mileage test... But the Department of Energy, which conducted its own tests on the new standard, called the methodology "unreliable and incomplete" ...

Labels: ,

posted by Unknown @ 12:00 PM  0 comments

Jan 9, 2012

ALTERNATIVE FUELS TROUBLES * USA

* Florida - The Effects of Ethanol on Fuel Mileage

Palm Coast,FL,USA -Auto Trends Magazine, by Matt Keegan -December 15, 2011: -- Most gasoline powered cars run on straight gasoline although these vehicles can also safely run on an ethanol blend consisting of 10 percent ethanol and 90 percent gasoline. Known as E10 fuel or gasohol, many service station pumps across the nation offer this blend. A placard should be posted on the pump alerting you that E10 fuel is in use... Ethanol, however, is less fuel efficient than straight gasoline. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reports that cars fueled with E10 will typically see a drop in fuel efficiency by 3 or 4 percent. What that means is if your car is averaging 30 mpg, you will most likely average about 29 mpg with E10 fuel. Certainly, that doesn’t make for much of a difference for one fill up, but over the course of a year you’ll pay for it...

Labels: ,

posted by Unknown @ 3:57 PM  0 comments

Nov 13, 2010

ALTERNATIVE FUELS * USA - Ethanol lawsuit against California moves ahead, other legal battles brewing

San Bernaardino,CAL,USA -Fleet Owner, by Wendy Leavitt -Nov 9, 2010: -- The Renewable Fuels Association and Growth Energy, organizations representing the ethanol industry, have filed papers in U.S. District Court in California asking the court to declare that California’s low carbon fuel standard (LCFS) violates the U.S. Constitution. A hearing is set for February 23, 2011... The two groups issued a joint statement concerning the filing, noting that: “The regulation, as written, is unconstitutional and injurious to the domestic ethanol industry, and we don’t believe a full trial is needed to do that” ... The ethanol groups first filed their suit in December of 2009. This summer, the court overruled a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, clearing the way for them to continue with their claims... California approved the state’s LCFS in January of this year and several other states have also announced that they intend to follow California’s lead... California has alleged that corn-based ethanol, according to its LCFS metrics, may actually be higher in carbon intensity than the gasoline currently in use in the state...

Labels: ,

posted by Unknown @ 9:22 AM  0 comments

May 16, 2009

Falling Thirst for Fuel * USA - Leaves Ethanol Enthusiasts With a Hangover

Despite legislation demanding refiners blend ever-larger volumes of ethanol into gasoline, several large ethanol producers have gone broke

New York,NY,USA -The Wall Street Journal (subscribers only), by Liam Denning -4 May 2009: -- ... Ethanol mandates were set before 2008's oil price increases and recession cut fuel demand, and didn't factor in the current drive towards greater fuel-efficiency... A Congressional Budget Office report issued in April calculated ethanol production, with subsidies, is only profitable when a gallon of gasoline costs 70 percent or more of the price of a bushel of corn... This has only happened during oil price spikes this decade and in the early 1980s... Advanced types of ethanol made from other crops look much better in terms of efficiency and environmental impact. But commercial-scale production, at reasonable prices, looks years off... (Picture by Jon Platek - 9 June 2007: Ethanol plant in Turner County, South Dakota, United States)

Labels:

posted by Unknown @ 11:54 AM  2 comments

Aug 19, 2008

ALTERNATIVE FUEL * USA - N.C. Ethanol Plant to Open Next Year

Raedford, N.C.,USA -The Associated Press /Transport Topìcs -18 Aug 2008: -- A $100 million ethanol plant built by a company that also plans to invest in a carbon dioxide plant and a trucking company and is scheduled to open in North Carolina next year, the Associated Press reported... Clean Burn Fuels said it expects to produce 60 million gallons of ethanol during the plant’s first year of operation in Raedford, N.C., AP said...

Labels:

posted by Unknown @ 10:56 AM  0 comments

Jul 10, 2007

FUEL * UK - Ethanol's Carbon Value Questioned

Ethanol-powered cars use nearly 50% more fuel than diesel powered cars, says U.K. research firm Automotive Industry Data (AID)

London,UK -The Detroit News (Detroit,Mich,USA) -July 3, 2007: -- Even in a green country like Sweden, AID says, consumers voting w/ their wallets, not their hearts, and buying diesels... Many experts say that when all inputs are considered, such as land, water, fertilizer, energy are taken into account, gasoline and diesel emit less CO2 than ethanol... At least 1 study at Stanford suggests that use of ethanol may increase ozone levels, especially in Los Angeles... Backlash is developing against use of ethanol because of effect on food, tropical rain forests, displacement of peasants... Carmakers may be putting too much emphasis on supporting ethanol-based cars beyond what governments may require... "... poor governmental policy results in an inefficient biofuels industry such as Bush's ethanol target last year,… [are] an indirect cause of the so-called 'tortilla riots' in Mexico...", said Jeremy Woods, Imperial College...

Labels:

posted by Unknown @ 7:07 AM  0 comments