Transportation & Energy

What Will McCain and Obama Do About Plug-In Hybrids?

jplatt — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 08:00:00 -0400

With four weeks to go until the presidential election, it's time to start thinking about the potential impact that Barak Obama and John McCain will have on the environment over the next four years. One area where both candidates see a future is in hybrid vehicles.

Each candidate has expressed a desire to bring plug-in hybrid cars off the drawing boards and into our garages.

McCain's plan is simpler, and hinges on the thought that plug-in prototypes are not quite ready for prime time. McCain told ScienceDebate2008.org: that he would create a "$300 million prize for the development of a battery package that has the size, capacity, cost and power to leapfrog the commercially available plug-in hybrids or electric cars. This is one dollar for every man, woman and child in the U.S. -- a small price to pay for helping to break the back of our oil dependency – and curb the dangerous effects of global climate change."

Obama, on the other hand, is ready to start buying hybrid vehicles right now. According to his web site, Obama wants to use government buying power to jump-start the commercial market for plug-in hybrids. He promises to convert all White House vehicles to plug-in hybrids within one year (as long as that doesn't create any security issues). After that, he says he'll mandate that half of all new vehicles annually purchased by the government are plug-ins in just four years.

Obama's energy platform promises a $150 billion investment over 10 years which will, among other things, "accelerate the commercialization of plug-in hybrids." He wants to put a million plug-in hybrids on the road in seven years, and will push for a $7,000 tax credit to help make that happen. He also promises $4 billion in "retooling tax credits" to manufacturers so they can be ready to put plug-ins on the road and repair them.

Interestingly, neither the Green Party nor its candidate Cynthia McKinney appear to have a specific policy about hybrid vehicles.

Pininfarina Debuts EV in Paris

khallgeisler — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 06:00:53 -0400

Legendary design firm Pininfarina has brought its own little EV to the Paris auto show this year, the B Zero. Actually, the model name is written B0, but the company has helpfully let us know that it’s pronounced “B Zero.” Presumably, they don’t want us Americans running around calling it the “BO.”

The B0 will roll off the production line in late 2009 as a 2010 model, the Italian company says. The mass-produced car is a collaboration between Pininfarina and Bollore, who will provide the powerplant. The proprietary system will use batteries and supercapacitors to propel the B0 about 150 miles per charge, with a top speed of 80 mph.

If zero emissions and a high-tech lithium polymer battery aren’t enough to float your eco-warrior boat, the car also has solar panels on its roof and even a few on its tiny hood. Right now, the panels will be able to run “some of its equipment,” according to Pininfarina. I assume this means they provide enough power for creature comforts like the radio and maybe air conditioning.

Ford Escape Hybrid Best Green SUV

khallgeisler — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 12:56:52 -0400

The Northwest Automotive Press Association has released the results, and the first-ever Best Green SUV Award went to the 2009 Ford Escape Hybrid. The field included two hybrids, a diesel, and an SUV with variable cylinder management technology.

SUVs in the green category were judged alongside “regular” SUVs and were scored on the same on-road and off-road handling capabilities, comfort, ergonomics, etc. In addition, the Green SUVs were evaluated on their fuel economy and emissions technologies and innovations.

It’s interesting to note that, because the Green SUVs were run over the exact same courses as the conventional SUVs, they won in other categories as well.

Best Family SUV

$30,000 - $50,000 price range as tested
Kid-friendly features
Winner: 2009 Dodge Durango HEMI Hybrid

Best Luxury SUV

Above $50,000 as tested
Advanced luxury features
Winner: Mercedes-Benz ML320 BlueTec Diesel

Toshiba Offers Free Electronics Recycling

jplatt — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 10:08:01 -0400

Looking for a way to get rid of your old electronics in an environmentally responsible way? Toshiba has a solution for you.

Toshiba's Digital Products Division this week expanded its free recycling program, which previously only accepted Toshiba products, to include devices from any manufacturer. They'll accept PCs, laptops, MP3 players, digital cameras, mobile phones, and a whole lot more.

What makes this program a bit different is that you have the option of turning in your old devices for cash. For example, I have an old Palm Z22 PDA lying around. According to the site, the Palm has not trade-in value, so I wouldn't get any money, but they would send me a $25 Starbucks gift card for recycling it through them. (Too bad I don't drink coffee...)

Once you decide to send a device to Toshiba, you can print out a postage-paid label to send it to their warehouse. They'll check it out, then send you a check or whatever other bonus you earned.

Of course, it's always good to know what happens to a device once you send it in for recycling. Are they taking care of it responsibly? But Toshiba at least has a solid "green" initiative, so you can feel pretty good about giving this program a try.

Bailout Bill Tax Credits: Who Qualifies?

khallgeisler — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 06:50:01 -0400

After I posted a synopsis of the alternative fuel tax credits here on GoodGreenCars Monday, astute reader Emily wondered if electric-only vehicles could get the credit, or if this particular sweetener only applied to PHEVs like the Volt.

Here’s the straight dope from the bill, as translated into English from Congress-ese by yours truly.

A New, Qualified, Plug-In Electric Drive Motor Vehicle, according to the recently passed bailout bill, means a vehicle that:

Has a battery with at least a 4 kwh capacity (your tax credit will go up with the size of your battery)
Uses an off-board source of energy to recharge the battery (an outlet or generator would do)
Is certified under the Clean Air Act and meets California’s low emissions vehicle standard
Will be put on the road for the first time by the taxpayer
Was bought for use by the taxpayer, not for resale
Was made by a manufacturer — home conversions do not get this credit

So your 6-year-old daughter’s battery-powered Barbie car doesn’t get the credit, nor does my friend Tim’s Porsche 914 conversion. You have to buy the car brand-new and use it yourself, no dealers or used cars allowed. And any plug-in vehicle should meet the emissions standards with flying colors.

If you have further questions, read the text of the bill here (look for Section 205 on page 186 of the PDF).

Five Green Devices Every Home Should Have

jplatt — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 09:44:18 -0400

You don't have to install huge solar panels on your home or drive a hybrid vehicle to go green. Sometimes, the best steps to take are the littlest ones. With that in mind, here are five green devices that should be in every home, all of which are easy to find, and none of which will break the bank.

1. A battery charger. Too many of our devices and tools still need batteries, which end up in landfills and leach toxic chemicals into the ground. Stop the cycle by making the switch to rechargeable batteries. They'll save you money, reduce your waste, and make a huge difference.

2. A solar-powered calculator. Why use batteries at all if you can choose a device that doesn't need them?

3. A solar-powered charger. For the devices that don't take your conventional AA batteries, try picking up a solar charger. You can use the device to charge your cell phone, MP3 player and other portable devices. Several are on the market, with prices starting under $100.

4. Solar-powered LED flashlights. These great new devices use both solar cells for power and low-energy LED bulbs to provide bright light. I picked one up at my local drug store last week for 15 bucks, and it's the best buy I've made in a long time.

5. An ENERGY STAR-qualified fill-in-the-blank. Just about any appliance you want to buy comes in two flavors: an energy hog, and an energy-efficient version. Look for that ENERGY STAR logo whenever you buy an appliance or piece of electronics. You'll use at least 25% less energy, which will save you plenty of green.

What other green devices do you think everyone should embrace? Post your ideas here.

PHEVs Get a Tax Break

khallgeisler — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 14:53:08 -0400

The bailout bill passed by Congress last week included “sweeteners,” as anyone with a radio, TV, Internet connection, or newspaper subscription has learned by now. What didn’t make the top of the news was the fact that a couple of these provisions to sweeten the Wall Street bailout bill directly affect alternative fuels — in a good way, for once.

Buyers of plug-in hybrid vehicles will receive a $2500 tax credit, plus $417 per kilowatt hour for batteries greater than 4 kwh. This makes the Chevy Volt $7500 cheaper, as GM’s Volt blog was happy to point out. The credit will apply fully to the first 250,000 PHEVs sold, then will be phased out over the next year’s worth of sales after than landmark number is reached. (See Section 205 on page 186 of the bill.)

The bill also extends the 30% clean-burning fuel property tax credit to electricity, and moves the deadline for taking the credit out a year to December 2010. (See Section 207 on page 197 of the bill.)

Since that information, while useful, was dry as sand, here’s video of a souped up Smart ForTwo beating the pants off a Ferrari in the quarter-mile (38 seconds):

Hyundai Unveils Two New Eco Cars in Paris

khallgeisler — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 17:27:26 -0400

Hyundai’s got the blues. Two of them, to be exact. Like Mercedes-Benz, the Korean manufacturer has apparently tired of everything being green and branded its eco-conscious automotive efforts blue, as in the i20 blue and Santa Fe blue Hybrid, both of which debuted at the Paris auto show in early October.

The “blue” designation doesn’t mean hybrid; it means aerodynamic, efficiency, and weight measures have been taken to lower the car’s environmental impact. In the case of the i20, Hyundai took the following steps to lighten its footprint:

1.4-liter diesel engine
six-speed gearbox, rather than a five-speed
low-friction engine oil
software to optimize timing, injection, and idle speed
ISG start-stop system that cuts the engine while the car is not moving and not in gear
full-length covers underneath the car to reduce drag
Michelin Energy low rolling resistance tires

All this adds up to 15% lower carbon dioxide emissions and a 15% improvement in fuel efficiency (from 55 mpg to 63 mpg).

The Santa Fe blue, meanwhile, has a 2.4-liter engine mated to a 6-speed transmission and a 30 kW electric motor and a lithium polymer battery. The company says that this parallel hybrid architecture, as they call it, will be the basis for all Hyundai’s hybrids in the future. In the Santa Fe, the system returns 38 mpg. As part of the new blue lineup, it also incorporates many of the features, such as ISG start-stop, found in the i20 blue.

Cost to Drive Calculates Just That

khallgeisler — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 17:55:05 -0400

Yet another addition has been made to the online arsenal of tools for the savvy driver: CostToDrive.com. This easy-to-use web app asks for your start point, end point, and year, make, and model of the car you’ll be driving. It can then spit out the amount you’ll pay to fuel your rig for that trip.

I decided to give the calculator a test run, as I just took a drive to Auburn, Washington, for work, and I know what I spent on gas for that little adventure. The first thing I found was that if your car is older than 1999, you won’t find it in the drop-down menu.

Cost to Drive couldn’t find my little red truck in the system, so I entered it free-form style, including the MPG and size of the tank. It told me I could expect to spend $25.75 on that trip, which was just about right. But I could have figured that out in my head using the information it had me type in.

The builders of the site call the process “galculating,” which is what I did while stuck in traffic on Interstate 5 yesterday. “If I sit here for x number of minutes burning y gallons of gas, how much time and money am I losing?” There’s nothing like a traffic jam to make word problems seem fun.

Cost to Drive may help you decide if a trip is worth it, or it may help you compare the cost of gas to the cost of a train ticket, but the math is pretty easy. I firmly believe you could figure this stuff out without a dedicated web site, but if your brain is having a difficult day, then Cost to Drive may help.

Make Beautiful Music with Eco-Friendly Audio Systems

jplatt — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 13:25:22 -0400

Love music? Love the environment? Then let's talk about this year's greenest audio devices.

Like all electronics, audio systems can contain all kinds of toxic materials. They aren't always easily recyclable, and they often come with too much packaging. They also tend to use a lot of power, a critical concern when we're trying to make things more energy efficient.

To help make sure you're choosing the greenest audio components, MetaEfficient has named the Greenest Audio Systems of 2008. Winners include the Pure iPod dock, the Samsung SWA-4000 Wireless Rear Stereo Amplifier, and the Panasonic SC-PT650 home theater system. Several brands of speakers and receivers are also rated.

All of these devices ranked well on energy efficiency, and often use eco-friendly manufacturing processes.

There are other ways you can "green" your music. You can buy any number of solar chargers to keep your MP3 players juiced up. Buying music digitally can also be green, since it doesn't involve any manufacturing or shipping.

Got other ways you keep your tunes eco-friendly? Post 'em here!