"Only the USA and China consume more oil than California," observes Jim Boyd, vice chairman of the California Energy Commission. With oil prices soaring, California must reduce its dependency on oil to sustain prosperity and achieve energy security.
As 38 million Californians deploy a range of solutions to reducing oil usage, the world will learn valuable lessons. In 2006, California consumption of gasoline peaked, even though population continues on the path of doubling over a 30 year period.
In California, more people are driving fewer miles; importantly, fewer solo miles. More efficient vehicles are being used, often benefiting from hybrid-electric drive systems. As an alternative to oil, there is a growing use of biofuel, natural gas, hydrogen, and renewable electricity.
Solutions to the state's, the nation's, and world's transportation needs were presented at the WestStart-CALSTART Clean Heavy Vehicle Conference 2008.
Many of the solutions were discussed by managers of large fleets. These people can save millions with improvements that passenger vehicle drivers often ignore, such as low-rolling resistance tires. Fleet managers can also install the infrastructure for their fleets; such as fast-charge stations, hydrogen fueling, and specific biofuel blends.
Fleets often pilot new technology years prior to commercialization. Large prototypes are later miniaturized for passenger vehicles. All successful fleets continually improve efficiency. In the transportation lifecycle, 80 percent of all energy is lost, estimates Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories.
John Boesel, President of WestStart-CALSTART, observed that linked trips, public transit, hybrids, and improved mileage vehicles are all factors in peak oil demand in California. Boesel is in a good position to observe future transportation trends. His organization facilitates bringing together fleet managers, vehicle and fuel producers, researchers, and top government officials.
Boesel discussed a number of reasons to be optimistic when we talked over lunch. Investment in clean tech and clean transportation is exploding. New lightweight materials are allowing vehicles to travel further with less fuel. There is ongoing innovation in materials. Hybrid-electric drive systems allow heavy mechanical components to be replaced with lighter ones. Engines are being made more efficient. Heavy vehicles that formerly burned fuel during the 40 percent of the time that they idle, now idle off. Major corporations and venture capital backed start-ups are creating next-generation biofuels and synthetic fuels.
WestStart-CALSTART encourages public policy makers to set performance standards and not attempt to pick technology winners. Government is also critical in early funding of new fuels and efficient vehicles. "There are many paths to the future," noted Boesel.
Biofuels will play a major role in reducing California's oil dependency. By law, California AB 2076 requires 20 percent alternative fuels use in 2020 and 30 percent alternative fuels use in 2030. The bulk of alt fuels are likely to be biofuel. By law, 40 percent of that biofuel must be produced in California by 2020 and 75 percent by 2050. This creates a challenge and an opportunity. California is the nation's leading agricultural state. Droughts and reduced snow accumulation are creating water scarcity for farmers. Corn ethanol and soy biodiesel generate tremendous greenhouse gases in their lifecycle of production and consumption.
New low-carbon fuels are being developed including next-generation biofuels. In pilot production, gasoline and diesel are being made from synthetic fuels.
To keep California's $1.5 trillion annual economy from running out of gas, the state is investing $200 million per year in clean transportation for the next 7.5 years. AB118 is the law that makes this possible. It was sponsored by Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez and signed into law by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The money is funded with vehicle fees.
CEC will fund $120 million per year for the commercialization of alternative fuels and efficient vehicle technologies. The California Air Resources Board will fund $80 million per year for enhanced fleet modernization and an air quality improvement program.
All these initiatives promise to create millions of jobs for a state that continues to grow. Despite a state budget crisis, no one is trying to remove AB118's $200 million annual investment in the future.
With intermodal transportation solutions, integrated freight movement, light materials, hybrid-electric drive systems, efficient vehicles, and new fuels, California is leading the way to control its own destiny without being dependent on foreign oil.
John Addison publishes the Clean Fleet Report.
Over the weekend, Virgin Atlantic Airways flew a passenger-less Boeing 747-400 partially fueled by a biofuel mixture of coconut oil and babassu oil from London's Heathrow Airport to Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport. (Read CNET blog.)
The test flight, performed to evaluate comparative engine performance and emissions rates with standard jet fuel and biofuel mixtures, was conducted by Virgin along with partners Boeing, the engine-maker General Electric, and the biofuel companyImperium Renewables.
No matter how the results of the experiment pan out, and no matter your personal view on the fundmental utility of biofuels, this is yet another example of how a passionate entrepreneur -- albeit one with billions of dollars on his personal balance sheet like Richard Branson -- is exploring the cleantech frontiers of what is possible, what is economical, what is environmentally-beneficial.
Richard T. Stuebi is the BP Fellow for Energy and Environmental Advancement at The Cleveland Foundation, and is also the Founder and President of NextWave Energy, Inc.
Waste to Oil
Think you need special enzymes to convert plant materials into fuel? It looks like science is getting closer to eliminating that step. Pretty soon we might be able to directly convert crop residues, waste paper, and pretty much anything organic into bio-crude, which is essentially oil.
The secret ingredient? Heat. It turns out that raising the temperature breaks the bonds of organic materials (in fact heat pretty much breaks any bond at a high enough temperature) through a process known as pyrolysis.
Jim Fraser, in a recent article at the Energy Blog, explains how this works:
Fast pyrolysis is a process in which the organic materials are rapidly heated to 450 - 600 °C at atmospheric pressure in the absence of air. Under these conditions, organic vapours, pyrolysis gases and charcoal are produced. The vapours are condensed to bio-oil. Typically, 70-75 wt.% of the feedstock is converted into oil.
The product can be used not only to replace gasoline and diesel, it can be used as feedstock for the chemical industry.
Steamed Alaska
Geothermal power is coming to a resort near you. At least the ones in Alaska.
At the Chena Hot Springs Resort in Fairbanks, Alaska engineers have created a breakthrough hydrothermal system that generates power using "low-temperature" reservoir water at 165 F, in contrast to conventional systems that required at least 300 F.
Jack Moins writes in EcoGeek:
The plant cost a mere $2.2 million to build as it uses all off the shelf parts. It produces 200 kw at a cost of 5 cents per kwh, compared to the former costs of 30 cents per kwh when using diesel. The design is projected to pay for itself within four to five years. Hydrothermal power is very promising, as it is estimated that the water beneath the Earth's surface holds 50,000 times the amount of energy in the remaining gas and coal resources.
Among its innovations, the system uses a three-pressure system and ammonia-water cycles, which limits the use of toxic coolants. With this early success, the entire town of Chena is adopting hydrothermal for its buildings and a greenhouse for food production
U.S. Climate Legislation
All the major US presidential candidates are making global warming a part of the their platform. Whoever wins, policy for energy, environment, and even agriculture are bound to change significantly.
But democracy is not always a fast process. Dan Reicher, director of climate and energy initiatives for Google.org and former U.S. assistant energy secretary, says that the next president will indeed push for change but any regulations will take time to phase in.Rachel Barron, in Green Tech Media, writes: 2009 could bring a dramatic increase in support from Congress for R&D and more favorable approaches to clean-energy incentives.
Frank Ling is a postdoctoral fellow at the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory (RAEL) at UC Berkeley. He is also a producer of the Berkeley Groks Science Show. Content provided by and all rights reserved to CleantechBlog.com, the premier site for commentary on clean technologies, news, and issues relating to next generation energy and the environment.
- prev
- 1
- next
