Language:

Supported by:

Update me about new download/training materials

Policies

News about the legal framework, incentives and campaigns

Sugre ends Dec. 2008, please keep on reading our news at biosire.eu
It has been an interesting time working on the project. Although left wing and NGO policies have been working against biofuels backed up by scientists and the official biofuel policies were not always clear stating that its not the shifting to biofuel which is the problem but the huge consumption of fossil fuel which may never be substituted by natural resources. So we have now more technological scenarios on top of the CO₂-saving ranks - one using photovoltaics and one using wind. Both have their merits but require shift to a new technology namely battery electric which is not feasible in short term due to the huge investment needs.
However the allegation against biofuels brought up two factors which are crucial for the survival of the 10 billion people on earth: water and soil. It is the biofuels which might have brought those two factors to our minds making clear that it is not possible to waste energy globally in a luxurious living style on the one side and be CO₂ neutral on the other. We close wishing that people understand that reducing the impact on climate warming and improving our self supply with energy every Joule counts whether from biofuels, hydraulic, aeolian or solar energy. The decision should take into consideration the costs for the transition and the criteria for sucess. But the most important point is the rightsizing of the demand and our mobility e.g. reduce the vehicle weight per passenger and do shorter trips on foot or with bicycle. This way not only the energy consumption may be easier covered with renewable energy but the transport means also will be more affordable, something which might be an issue in the economic crisis- for fuel saving have a look at the new project recodrive.eu.

The naked king- the end of the battery electric hype?
There are citations of a French report in the media painting a roadmap for CO₂ reduction not following the shiny electric and hydrogen concepts the governments are now presenting.
The proposed measures:

limit top speed to 170 km/h
reduction of drag and increase in power train efficiency
dual mode concepts allowing zero emission when run solely on batteries and internal combustion operation for higher autonomy

Rather sad that the financial crisis has been necessary to remind that for all measures cost benefit analysis' have to be made. The smaller batteries in this concept reduce the financial risk of the buyer and the risk of the acceptance- we remember the end of GM's EV1 concept.
The so called Syrota report however seems to be locked so far not to disturb the shiny appearances the politicians had together with the battered auto makers.
source

Best available electric assist strategy?
We see at least three different strategies source:

Europe limiting power and speed strictly preventing the use of PEDELECS for commuters having longer distances and/or steep patches
Japan allowing tripling of total power (including pedal force), now giving in partly source- before the power factor was 1-(v-15km/h)/9km/h which limits support to 24 km/h
Australia limits the power to 200W only, well its flat down under...
United States of America limit top speed to 20 mph (32 km/h) and power to 750 watts (Canada 500W) giving enough power also for hilly areas.

I guess that Europe will need something like two mode PEDELEC. On cycling paths in cities which are paired with pedestrian paths, the speed limit should be 25 km/h but otherwise the same PEDELECs should be able to run 30 km/h and climb 18% with at least 10 km/h. This degree of freedom will boost technological development and make PEDLECs a practical alternative to cars, for most commuters and errands.

Test fuel cell vehicles as long as there is money to burn...
In Berlin Opel branded GMs Equinox Fuel Cell SUVs are tested in a business fleet test. Vehicles are made available free of charge for two years - provided some telemetry in return. Germans minister for transport stated that “our future lies in electric vehicles driven by batteries and fuel cells.” Berlin’s Clean Energy Partnership (CEP) will prove out the viability of hydrogen as a transportation fuel. CEP itself a project funded by the German government is scheduled to run until 2016.

Comparing alternative propulsion development policy between the U.S.A. and Europe
The Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing Incentive Program (AVTM) fund is fed with money set aside in the 2007 Energy Bill. 25 Mio. USD is reserved for developments which are pushing the energy consumption by 125%. Starting in 2007 the U.S. Energy Department raised more than US$400 million in federal funds for projects to convert biomass to ethanol, biorefinery projects, biomass gasification stimulating research into biochemical conversion of biomass.
In Europe the EIB gives loans of about 360 Mio. € for bioenergy projects (not only for transport energy).FP7 has topics dedicated to fuel cells and hydrogen and production of renewable energy. The 2007-2008 work programme has 166 Mio. € in total for two years for all actions concerning energy.
The sugre project with its 27 partners was funded by the Intelligent Energy Programme, the total funding in the programme is 40-50 Mio. €. An overview on the projects might be found here (pdf).

German Journalists are rowing back cancelling biofuel allegations
Technology Review 12/2008 had a special section about bio energy. It is very interesting to see the process of going a step further than reproducing single allegations targeting specially negative biofuel cases.
The main message is now: The black and white picture was wrong:
Diversification of the biofuel production is needed to reduce dependency and negative impacts. Combined plantation of biofuel feedstock and food and the use of farming waste allows better GWP balances. Especially biogas from waste promises much better performance - also compared to 2nd generation biofuels.
New processes will allow combining digestion and fermentation with a bio ethanol yield. The key to acceptable biofuel production in the developing world is a small scale decentralised production.

Study proposes alternative fuel incentives
In a study of the Centro de Investigación del Transporte - TRANSyT of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, having incorporated teams from 14 EU countries, including the University of Leuven, the following market incentive policies were enumerated:

tax reductions or loans for the use of certain energy sources
change of the taxing tables for the acquisition and maintenance of alternative fuel vehicles
development of a regulatory system supporting investments required for the adaptation to the new fuels.

source

U.S.A. now heads for higher yields in ethanol production
The U.S.A. Dep. of. Energy puts 26 million dollars in erection of the state Michigan\'s first cellulosic ethanol production plant which is built by Mascoma in the Upper Peninsula of the state Michigan source.
Of course the pressure to take the next step is smaller in Europe since petrol/gasoline consumption is much lower but it is highly recommended to follow ASAP, also to improve the ecological balance of E85 further on by using the whole plant.

Domestic ethanol production cuts CO₂ by half
A study undertaken by Joanneum Research Styria has investigated the processes with the Austrian Bio-Ethanol plant in Pischelsdorf. Although they are using wheat and maize as feedstock, the by-product DDGS (Distillers Dried Grains with Solubles) is a big argument to value the production as sustainable. This way the whole plants are being used, part for transport - part for agriculture. The plant in Pischesldorf is producing enough Ethanol to achieve a 10% blending in Austria from domestic production. Since from a technological standpoint E10 (10% Ethanol) is not a problem with most engines, its up the the politicians to make use of that chance. From an ecological perspective nothing stands a against it. Bio-Ethanol production may be following the weather induced yield curve in agriculture. In years with high excess the surplus may be used producing ethanol. The only weak point is the economy of the Ethanol plant but unlike the oil companies the operator is a co-operative thinking holistically.
Source K. Ceipek, ökoenergie 72/2008 p. 12

Criticism about ties between policy makers and public gas providing utilities
While in other countries energy business is liberalised (well may be not in France), in Austria we see frequent campaigning of cities only for public gas providers (utilities) - in Vienna for example Wiengas.
source in German
We don\'t criticise CNG as alternative fuel- but the attitude to switch from small diesels to CNG powered vans with large displacement spark ignition engines. Of course that is caused by technical reasons because of the ease integrating the gas tanks in vans, but check out their CO₂-emissions before transiting to CNG or ask how much biogas is blended. Some examples:
Fiat Doblò 1.6 Natural Power 161 g/km
VW Caddy Life EcoFuel 157 g/km
VW Touran EcoFuel 154 g/km
Ford C-Max CNG 148 g/km
Opel Zafira 1.6 CNG ecoFLEX 138 g/km
Opel Combo 1.6 CNG ecoFLEX 133 g/km

compared to Diesel cars:
Xsara Picasso HDi 90 135 g/km Diesel
Opel Meriva 1.3 CDTI ecoFLEX 135 g/km
Peugeot 308 SW 1.6l 134 g/km
C3 Pluriel HDi 70, 50 kW/68 PS 125 g/km
Some estate vehicle may also seat 7, so think twice before buying a van!

Lower oil price and insight that exploration gets more expensive coincide
We have seen large ups and down of the oil price on the spot market in the last days. But with some delay now the media is explaining to us the reasons for the massive speculations. There are some doubts about longevity of Saudi Arabia resources, there are very high costs of off-shore drilling becoming public and last but not least there are some frustrating exploration exercises in Northern America source.

What if a high fuel price coincides with incentives to buy alternative fuel vehicles?
Utah now shows what happens if the demand surpasses supply after gasoline went over 4 USD per US gallon and tax credits were introduced for CNG cars. Here are the facts:

used CNG enabled cars sell at the price of a new one
motorists may not refill completely at the CNG stations because the CNG compressors do not manage to catch up

source

FP7 Call Features Sustainable Biofuels
The EU provides funding for collaborative projects driving sustainable biofuel production beyond limits.
Call Identifier: FP7-ENERGY-2008-TREN-1
Deadline Oct. 8th 2008
Topics Area Energy.3.1 First generation biofuels from Biomass:
ENERGY.2008.3.1.1 Biofuels from high moisture content biomass - Biomethane production
Topics Area Energy.3.2 Second generation biofuels from Biomass:
ENERGY.2008.3.2.2: Bioethanol production from lignocellulosis
Partners from the sugre consortium are able to establish contact to biofuel fleets in case of demonstrations. Please use the menue "Partners/Contacs"

The Ugly Face of New Fossil Energy

Showing the real alternative to biofuel, the open pits in Alberta are heavily disputed in the USA (source). Oil sands/tar sands are targeted by oil comnpanies world wide. Also Italians ENI is heading for tar sands in Congo Africa (source). This reveals that allegations against biofuels were simply comparing them to the wrong alternative, the ending easy light oil.
Have a look at this article Tar Sands premiers as “The Most Destructive Project on Earth” to get the true picture of the oil crisis. Iveco depicted the situation already in 2006:

The increasing additional sources for fossil fuels will harm the environment significantly. The higher the oil price the more open pits or deep sea drilling we will see.

Congestion charging boosts alternative Propulsion in London
In February 2003 there were 90 battery electric vehicles, in June 2008 there were more than 1,600. The total of hybrid and natural gas vehicles climbed from 1,000 in 2003 to more than
20,000. British generally buy double percentage of hybrid electric cars compared to the Germans acc. to
source.

First Generation Biofuels Get a New Chance
Recent developments published at least in Austria and in Japan allow to increase the yield of the ethanol production by dissolving water-soluble cellulose (cello-oligosaccharide) into glucose for alcohol fermentation. This will greatly decrease pressure on lands and improve the environmental balance of ethanol (E85 and E95).
source

Upper Austria introduces funding for efficient and clean vehicles
With August 1st passenger cars with maximal CO₂-emission of 110 g/km get 750 Euro. Battery electric vehicles fed with so called Ökostrom (electricity from renewable sources) get another 500 €. Battery electric two wheelers get 300€ respectively 450€ when fed with Ökostrom.
source
Biofuel usage now hits developing countries
Manilas Police uses used frying oil to blend into their diesel tanks.
Most of the biodiesel imported by Europe comes from the U.S.A.
Since blended biodiesel (B99.9) is subsidised with $320 per ton in the U.S.A. but may be sold in Europe as B100 triggering additional subsidies, European producers see foul play. The EU\'s responsible for external trade already announced counter measures.
source

Share of PPO/SVO relative to biodiesel/FAME in Germany in 2007/08
Statistics reveal that 0.9 mio. tons per year are burned directly. 5% biodiesel blending equals 1.5 mio tons per year. This means that drivers investing into adaptation of their vehicle or blend pure plant oil account for 37.5% of the total biofuel use with compression ignition engines in Germany.
Source ISTA Mielke GmbH Oil World

Big increase of CNG vehicles but small overall share in Austria
475 new vehicles per half years seem not too high having 4.25 Mio. vehicles in total. But compared to last year this is an increase of 155%.
Source Kleine Zeitung July 2008

Oil companies more innovative than biofuel critics
A recent headline from BP says "There is energy security in energy diversity". BP has teamed with Dupont developing Bio-Butanol blending which will help to rise the blending above 10% source. It goes without saying that consuming fuel should be done with the same care than using food - e.g. the main focus should be on efficiency see also RECODRIVE.

Portugal goes battery electric together with the Renault/Nissan group
The cooperation is promotional and research oriented and will include public recharging infrastructure and dedicated parking facilities. Vehicles will show up in 2011, which is identical to what VW\'s CEO Winterkorn has announced (see previous Sugre Tech News). source.

Formula Student introduces Alternative Propulsion in the competition
A wide range of power train concepts was introduced in class 1A, specifying a smaller engine and some modifications taking into account the needs of alternative propulsion- see also Formula Hybrid

Switzerland introduces climate friendly fuel taxation
Switzerland has taken the lead in Europe, simultaneously introducing a new taxation scheme and a legislation guaranteeing sustainability of biofuels. Whiles biofuels are exempted from taxes - GPL and CNG remain partly charged.

Good cycling policy also brings forward electric assist
89,000 of 1.4 million bikes sold last year in the Netherlands were electric ones. This underlines that it is important granting bicycle status for pedal electric bicycles.
source for the figures

The fairytale about N₂O
It is a common fact that people like to hear that they have no chance to intervene to solve a problem they create. This happens now with biofuels. In depth studies have now revealed that the allegations are wrong for biodiesel from rapeseed:
1) part of the N₂O-emission stems from last years cultivation and may not attributed to the next culture when rotating
2) when using the right amount of fertilizer, the emissions are near to the reference value
source in German
It is not clear why factoids are so popular, but it seems they are produced when comparing the best case for fossil fuels to the worst case for biofuels. This was also the case with change in vegetation - formerly wetlands- which is not the case for most civilized countries.
Scientists are asked to start comparing biofuels to fossil fuel from lignite or oil shale looking in the near future after the end of cheap oil (a term used to indicate that the search and extraction of crude oil becomes very expensive).

Production of Battery Electric Vehicles soaring
After congestion charging in London has lead to 1000 battery electric REVA on the street, the business case for BEV is revisited. The manufacturer intends increasing the production fivefold!
source

An inconvenient truth about 2^nd generation biofuels
It needs time and money... please read the complete story.

Germans airline Lufthansa targeting 10% biofuel usage by 2020

Lufthansa together with other air carriers will introduce blending with up to 10% till 2020.
source

Strong arguments against popular theories linking ethanol to food shortage
There were rumours in the media that maize shortages occur because of maize used for ethanol production. There are some facts which have not been communicated by the media.
In the US the production rose by 64 million tons, whilst only 58 tons were used for the production of ethanol which means that the production increase was higher than the additional consumption by the biofuel industry. Secondly but more important a by product of the processes DDGS is utilised as food for animals thus improving the balance for ethanol further. Only 1.2 percent of the corn is used to produce ethanol in the US. A very important conclusion is also that in good climates and utilizing more efficient processes the biofuel yield per hectare is much higher invalidating the state land consumption figure.
Source DSG in German
Sugre includes also alternative propulsion and points to ECODRIVING both reducing the energy demand in transport.
Last but not least a joint venture of Dupont and the Danisco promised to boost the yield by using the cobs and not only the corn. The use of celulosic material will end the food or fuel discussion at least partly...

Austrians Völkermarkt offers solar charging for free
The city in Carinthia has procured an electric vehicle just recently and now offers their photovoltaic powered charging station to the public. An attempt to charge the folding electric bicycle in Medrisio Switzerland has shown that public charging station need better accessibility- this station needed a key to utilize it...

Fossil Fuels are the best Bio Fuels
The latest discussion about N₂O produced when overdoing with fertilizer when growing oilseeds or feedstock for bio fuels may be topped by this not really serious message:
Scientist reveal that fossil fuels have the best CO₂ balance of all fuels
How that comes: really simple - there were no fertilizer at that time the fossil fuels were produced and the process did simply use natural energy.
Now you can\'t argue against that, but take into consideration the build up rate and compare it to our consumption of fuels now?
What we can learn from this discussion is that we should have a feasible consumption of energy and then discuss alternative fuels- not the other way round. Please believe us that the SUGRE project had this idea from the beginning. If we look at start\'n stop traffic we might go for serial hybrid having downsized and phlegmatic engines. In total we might use 30% less fuel. If we combine this with a modal shift avoiding unnecessary car trips and reduce the average vehicle weight to that of the 70ies- then we may avoid the discussion whether a blend of 10% bio fuels is feasible. The lower fuel demand will take a lot of pressure of the agrarian markets avoiding high food prices and the need to overuse fertilizers.
If we don\'t manage to drive solely on existing fossil fuels in future and need to switch to synthetic fuels we need to compare bio fuel emissions with those of FT-fuels from coal to be fair.
Because we are running out of existing fossil fuels, bio- fuels shall be compared to synthetic fossil fuels which have a very bad CO₂-balance

Alternative Fuels in Germany Under Pressure
Since criticism about CO₂-savings is trendy nowadays, it was easy to refrain from introducing the 10% blend. Problematic for the personal beliefs are false messages like:

10% ethanol may damage the engines
bio fuels will not save CO₂

The truth is that 3 mio. cars in Germany are not suited or have not been tested yet. From a technical stand point most vehicles should be able to run even with a 20% blend. The ethanol percentage may be adapted in winter.
Also it now has been documented that only a few bio fuels make problems - those grown on land which was wetland before and where a bigger amount of fossil energy has to be used in the production process. So generally there is a significant CO₂ saving which is certainly bigger than shifting from a diesel engine to a CNG ignition combustion engine.
Anyhow there is a good message too- the German auto makers now have to lower the CO₂-emission anyhow by 10g/km lowering the fuel consumption. If the 10% bio fuel blend is introduced then, less arable land will be consumed having a lower total.

Bad car policy in Germany, even more in Switzerland, Estonia, Lithuania and Finland
The German CO₂-Emission of newly licensed cars being below 170 g/km is 10 grams over the European average being 159 g/km.
The worst countries Switzerland, Estonia, Lithuania and Finland have 180 g/km on average.
In a couple of countries the CO₂ emission per licensed vehicle has been rising (Austria, Czech Republic, Romania, Spain, Slovenia and Slovakia) in 2007 says a German study.
The leaders in Europe are Portugal (144 g/km), Italy (148 g/km) and France (149 g/km). Norway has seen a decline of 8.5 caused by a newly introduced CO₂ tax.
source in German

Quote: The elitist attitudes hurt the cause more than they help....
Just recently a lot of new technologies and ways to use alternative fuel were challenged with regards to transport and resource problems.
We do not underestimate those problems but refer to this answer we found in a treehugger comment.
If fuels are wasted they have to be assessed more in depth - otherwise it’ s the same as with other consumer goods - and you may asses your purchases! The big difference investing in energy saving vehicles or photovoltaic is that during their lifetime they save CO2- which of course is not the case if you buy a new coat or plasma TV....
source

Big increase for alternative propulsion in Switzerland
In 2007 3,200 HEVs were sold, which is an increase of 50% compared to 2006. 2,500 sold CNG vehicles are accounting for a 70 % increase. E85 vehicle are new to the market, 1,500 were sold in 2007.
In total the 7,200 vehicles are only 2.5 % of the total sale but the increase rate is promising.
A real boom has been seen for electric two wheeler with approx 6,000 vehicles sold in 2007.
Source

CNG-prices drive farming costs
Apart from bargain hunting on commodity markets, another reason for the sharp increase in food prices has been popping up. According to analysts, up to 75% of the fertilizer cost is natural gas. Having seen a sharp increase here, the arguments about the biofuel induced price increase of food are pushed back a little bit.
source

Drive 800km on biomass waste
In Austria 40kg unused food is thrown away per year contributing to close to 130kg collected waste biomass in total. If we assume 500m³/ton and 0.75 l fuel substitution per m³ this gives approx. 50 l fuel. This way we may substitute approx. 7% of the average motor fuel consumption.

EU sets a threshold for biofuels - shall be saving at least 35% of CO2
The European Commission plans a ban on biofuels deemed environmentally unfit. This mainly targets bio-ethanol from corn in the US and biodiesel from palm oil on lands which where woodland before. source
Both do not really affect bio-fuels made from waste or the whole plant. In the U.S.the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced last week that it is raising the renewable fuel standard (RFS) for 2008 from a share of 4.66% to 7.76%.
Companies are increasing their efforts to produce ethanol from the whole plant using grasses, wood wastes, or agricultural wastes.
source

Feasibility study encourages joint purification of biogas in Bavaria
While today we have only one facility feeding into the CNG network, in Pliening (Landkreis Ebersberg), there is potential to connect others of the existing 1400 in Bavaria. According to a study, they have to produce more than 800 m³/hr together and be not to distant source.

Biogas steps in as cost efficient alternative
Since 12/07 a new filling station in Margarethen am Moos in Lower Austria serves Austrian drivers of CNG powered vehicles in a pilot. The production of 25 kg/hr is stored in high pressure storage. The methane from biogas is called methaPUR.
source ökoenergie 69/2008 p.9

Oil price in Euro peaks at all time high January 2nd 2008
Whilst we don\'t cover the speculative development of commodities here (it well may include Lithium, Copper or agro-materials for bio fuels), one fact should be highlighted. The price of crude oil in Euro has peaked again at its all time high 64.3 € per barrel source.

Google USA intends to loan 100 plug-in hybrid to its employees
While they now have 6, their plans speak about 100, plug-in Toyota Prius. Source IEEE Spectrum, Voelcker

CNG vehicle wins, motor sport event in Austria
Although the media reported intermediate still stand of the engine earlier, Mr. Stool won the last race of the Austrian championship with a gas powered Mitsubishi Lancer. This is the second success after the win of Beppo Harrach at the Ostarrichi Rally.

5% VAT for green vehicles?
French President Nicolas Sarkozy and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced today that they will ask the British and French finance ministers to go to the Commission shortly to propose that all ecologically clean products should benefit from a reduced rate of VAT. According to the French and British leaders, the "green" products in question should certainly include cars with reduced CO2 emission.

source COLIPED

Gazprom aims at better utilizing flared by-gas
Currently 20 of 55 milliards by-gas are flared. If we put this into relation to the oil production of 45 millions, this gives 444 cubic metres per ton. Thus when using Russian oil compared to region where flare are forbidden, the flares contribute to approx. 50% more energy consumption and 15% more CO₂ emission if we take the lower carbon content of natural gas. In the future this by-gas will be used.
source VDI-Nachrichten August 24th No. 34 p. 18 and own calculations.

Virgin runs a train on Biodiesel blend
In a national trial, Virgin Trains is running one of its Voyagers on a 20 percent biodiesel blend. They claim that this is Europe’ s first train to run on biodiesel, in East Germany locomotives have been run on straight vegetable oil/pure plant oil as early as in 2002.

source

Magna Steyr adapts alpine taxi to Bio-methane
In the Austrian Alps biomass for heating is quite common- just recently a project has implemented biogas driven four wheel driven vehicles used to climb the Großvenediger. The two Pinzgauer vehicles build in the 90-ties have been refurbished with regards to the engine and bio-methane tanks with 200-300 bar.
Source TAURISKA Magazin Sommer 07/11
Photo of the vehicle

The Korean Ministry of the Environment orders 3,390 hybrid vehicles
Vehicles from Kia Motors and Hyundai will be tested over the next two years as part of their real world hybrid testing program. The vehicles comprise two similar cars e.g. the Kia Rio Hybrid\'s sister car, the Hyundai Accent Hybrid. No information is given when the Kia Rio Hybrid will be available in the commercial market.

source

Hybdrid bus sales soar in the U.S.A
King County signed a contract for up to 500 (articulated) hybrids.
Montebello, California will purchase 150 full size gasoline hybrid buses.
Source transport innovator Vol 3 May/June 2007

Munich airport will fuel 400 vehicles with pure plant oil by 2008

January 2007, already 25 vehicles run on straight vegetable oil - fuelled by an on site station. In mid term 400 vehicles of the apron fleet shall be running on PPO.
source

Car rental company Hertz will add 3,400 Priuses to its fleets worldwide by 2008

The cars will be available as one of the company\'s "Green Collection" choices at 50 major airport locations around the United States and at the company\'s Manhattan location.

source

For Germany 100 vehicles are foreseen, for Austria 20, for Switzerland 50...

New York to Introduce Hybrid Electric Taxis
Press releases speak about a complete transition and doubling the MPG.

OSMOSE Award for B100 bus fleet in Graz
EU Commissioner Barrot handed over the OSMOSE award to the delegation of the city of Graz in Toulouse. The price is the European Oscar for environmentally friendly city transport. The use has been ramped up beginning in 1994 with only 2 buses in the Ökodrive project. Now more than 100 are operated with FAME made from used cooking oil.

Commission urges Luxembourg, Italy, Portugal and Slovakia to
implement Biofuels Directive

The European Commission decided on Dec. 13th 2006 to take Luxembourg, Italy and Portugal to the Court of Justice and to send a reasoned opinion to Slovakia for failure to fulfil their obligations under the Biofuels Directive. This directive requires that an increasing proportion of all diesel and gasoline sold in the Member States be biofuels, starting with 2% in 2005 and progressively increasing so as to reach a minimum of 5.75% of fuels sold in 2010. The Commission also sent letters of formal notice to 16 Member States about the national report they need to submit to the Commission for the year 2005. Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs said “ Today biofuels are the only substitute for fossil fuels in transport. They will contribute to our security of energy supply, will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and create jobs in rural areas. I regret that Member States are still late in implementing these rules.”

European Car-manufacturers are forced lowering fleet wide CO₂ emissions to 130g/km by 2012
An important step towards a higher share of alternative fuels is the reduction of the fuel consumption. Also discussion about climate change has put more focus on CO₂. Even today a couple of vehicle achieves 90-120g CO₂/km. Spark ignition engines may fuelled with E85 and compression ignition engines fuelled with B30 (30% FAME/Biodiesel) further lowering the total CO₂ emissions.

US federal budget places most resources in hydrogen research not hybrid electric and batteries
But president Bush also wants to dramatically increase the use of alternative fuels, especially ethanol, and increase the required fuel efficiency of automobiles by an average of four percent annually beginning in 2009 for passenger cars.
source
This underlines that a significant reduction of the fuel consumption is not possible hybridising SUV when run over flat land...

Promoting biofuels as credible alternatives to oil in transport
With the significant rise in oil prices and the growing concern about stable, secure and environmentally friendly energy supplies, the promotion of biofuels use in transport is a priority on the European political agenda. Today, biofuels are the only way to significantly reduce oil dependence in the transport sector. As part of its Energy Policy for Europe, the Commission is committed to encouraging the production and use of biofuels by proposing to set a binding minimum target for biofuels of 10% of vehicle fuel by 2020.
The publication reveals the share of biofuels in the EU-25. Germany leads followed by Sweden, Austria and France. Amongst the new member states Lithuania stands out (2005 share figures).
more...

London unveils first two FREE electric car chargers

Two electric car-charging stations in Wellington Street and Southampton Street near Covent Garden in the West End are offered.
Posted Dec 7th 2006 8:39AM by Sebastian Blanco source

Regeneration of braking energy enters Formula One
Beginning in 2009 hybrid concepts will be applied in the F1.

Ligno-cellulosic Ethanol
New Improvements for Ligno-cellulosic Ethanol (NILE) is an Integrated Project carried out within the 6th Framework Program of the European Union. The project runs from October 2005 to September 2009 and has a total budget of 12.8 M€ .
link

Who killed the electric car?

Oil companies alleged to have closed access to NiMh traction batteries
source

EURO IV FFV vehicles
PSA Peugeot Citroën sells 80% of the line-up with flex-fuel powertrains in Brazil. In Europe, the group will offer Euro IV-compliant flex-fuel cars by summer 2007.
source

Virgin Group Announces the Formation of Virgin Fuels

Today, Sir Richard Branson and Virgin announced the launch of Virgin Fuels and the Virgin Group’ s first investment in the sector.
Virgin Fuels’ first investment supports the Group’ s belief that all businesses, especially those involved in transportation, must be at the forefront of developing environmentally friendly business strategies with a focus on replacing traditional energy with energy coming from renewable sources
10 Sep 2006 Source About Virgin

Lawsuit against car-producers in California
SAN FRANCISCO -- California filed a global warming lawsuit on Wednesday against Ford Motor, General Motors, Toyota and three other automakers, charging that greenhouse gases from their vehicles have cost the state millions of dollars
Reuters 11:30 AM Sep, 20, 2006 source

DME-support in Sweden
The Swedish Energy Agency has granted Volvo SEK 62,160,000 in subsidy for the development of third-generation vehicle technology for DME (dimethyl ether). The Agency’ s subsidy accounts for 50 % of the project cost.
source

Austrian biogas coalition will offer Bio-CNG (CBG) with min. 20% Biogas

The platform Bio-CNG Verkehr consists of OMV, Wien Energie Gasnetz GmbH, Natural Gas Upper Austria, klima:aktiv biogas, Chamber for agriculture Austria and the Austrian Biomasseverband.
The unique formation of firms aims to reduce dependency on imports of fossil fuels and increase security of supply. The platform builds on a joint programme consisting of five points to push natural gas and biogas in Austria issued by the Lebensministerium (Josef Pröll) and OMV (Wolfgang Ruttersdorfer).
The targets are 200 refuelling points till 2010 were 1 Mio. kg will be sold yearly.

Source: Der Österreichische Installateur 7-8a/2006 page 37

Sweden plans to be world\'s first oil-free economy

Sweden is to take the biggest energy step of any advanced western economy by trying to wean itself off oil completely within 15 years - without building a new generation of nuclear power stations.

The attempt by the country of 9 million people to become the world\'s first practically oil-free economy is being planned by a committee of industrialists, academics, farmers, car makers, civil servants and others, who will report to parliament in several months.

The intention, the Swedish government said yesterday, is to replace all fossil fuels with renewables before climate change destroys economies and growing oil scarcity leads to huge new price rises.

"Our dependency on oil should be broken by 2020," said Mona Sahlin, minister of sustainable development. "There shall always be better alternatives to oil, which means no house should need oil for heating, and no driver should need to turn solely to gasoline."

According to the energy committee of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, there is growing concern that global oil supplies are peaking and will shortly dwindle, and that a global economic recession could result from high oil prices.

Ms Sahlin has described oil dependency as one of the greatest problems facing the world. "A Sweden free of fossil fuels would give us enormous advantages, not least by reducing the impact from fluctuations in oil prices," she said. "The price of oil has tripled since 1996."

A government official said: "We want to be both mentally and technically prepared for a world without oil. The plan is a response to global climate change, rising petroleum prices and warnings by some experts that the world may soon be running out of oil."

Sweden, which was badly hit by the oil price rises in the 1970s, now gets almost all its electricity from nuclear and hydroelectric power, and relies on fossil fuels mainly for transport. Almost all its heating has been converted in the past decade to schemes which distribute steam or hot water generated by geothermal energy or waste heat. A 1980 referendum decided that nuclear power should be phased out, but this has still not been finalised.

The decision to abandon oil puts Sweden at the top of the world green league table. Iceland hopes by 2050 to power all its cars and boats with hydrogen made from electricity drawn from renewable resources, and Brazil intends to power 80% of its transport fleet with ethanol derived mainly from sugar cane within five years.

Last week George Bush surprised analysts by saying that the US was addicted to oil and should greatly reduce imports from the Middle East. The US now plans a large increase in nuclear power.

The British government, which is committed to generating 10% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2012, last month launched an energy review which has a specific remit to consider a large increase in nuclear power. But a report by accountants Ernst & Young yesterday said that the UK was falling behind in its attempt to meet its renewables target.

"The UK has Europe\'s best wind, wave and tidal resources yet it continues to miss out on its economic potential," said Jonathan Johns, head of renewable energy at Ernst & Young.

Energy ministry officials in Sweden said they expected the oil committee to recommend further development of biofuels derived from its massive forests, and by expanding other renewable energies such as wind and wave power.

Sweden has a head start over most countries. In 2003, 26% of all the energy consumed came from renewable sources - the EU average is 6%. Only 32% of the energy came from oil - down from 77% in 1970.

The Swedish government is working with carmakers Saab and Volvo to develop cars and lorries that burn ethanol and other biofuels. Last year the Swedish energy agency said it planned to get the public sector to move out of oil. Its health and library services are being given grants to convert from oil use and homeowners are being encouraged with green taxes. The paper and pulp industries use bark to produce energy, and sawmills burn wood chips and sawdust to generate power.

February 8, 2006 - 4:08pm. A&S News Wire source

Tokyo, Japan--Chasing its long term goal to reduce reliance on oil in transportation sector, Japan on Monday unfolded an action plan under which the nation aims to develop next generation environment-friendly vehicles. A panel set up by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in a report also called upon joint efforts from government and local battery makers and research institutes to develop next-generation batteries to power such automobiles.

The panel in its report said that it plans to offer incentives to make such vehicles prevalent nationwide, in addition to developing infrastructure.

To achieve the goal of cutting reliance on oil to around 80 percent by 2030, the panel set forth its plan to start mass production of two-seater electric vehicles capable of running about 80 kilometres (50 miles) per charge, and 30 percent more fuel-efficient hybrid vehicles, by 2010.

The panel also hoped that after 2030 local car makers would start full-scale mass production of electric vehicles, powered by batteries manufactured at a 40th of the cost of current versions.

Japan, which has a target of 50,000 fuel-cell vehicles on Japanese roads in 2010, aims to raise the number of such vehicles in use to 5 million by 2020

Publication Date:28-August-2006
04:30 PM US Eastern Time zone
Source: Shaveta Bansal-All Headline News

Commission urges new drive to boost production of biofuels

The European Commission today adopted an ambitious EU Strategy for Biofuels, with a range of potential market-based, legislative and research measures to boost production of fuels from agricultural raw materials. The paper, which builds on the biomass action plan adopted in December 2005, sets out three main aims: to promote biofuels in both the EU and developing countries to prepare for large-scale use of biofuels by improving their cost-competitiveness and increasing research into ‘ second generation\' fuels to support developing countries where biofuel production could stimulate sustainable economic growth. Increased use of biofuels will bring numerous benefits, by reducing Europe\'s dependence on fossil fuel imports, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, providing new outlets for farmers and opening up new economic possibilities in several developing countries more...

The European Commission wants to promote clean vehicles

The European Commission today proposed new legislation aimed at contributing towards the creation of a market for “clean” vehicles in order to reduce pollutant emissions in the transport sector. By requiring public bodies to earmark a quarter of their annual procurement requirements to such vehicles, the new European rules will make it possible to give manufacturers the assurances they need in order to develop these vehicles for a wider market.

“ The growing problems caused by pollution in towns and cities and the steady increase in the price of oil make it necessary to help the motor industry to produce less-polluting vehicles” , stated Commission Vice-President Jacques Barrot, the Transport Commissioner. Andris Piebalgs, the Energy Commissioner, who was also involved in the proposal for a Directive, added: “Ultimately these measures will make it possible to increase energy efficiency in the transport sector, one of the most polluting and energy-intensive sectors”.

Given the continuing growth of the transport sector and its knock-on effects in terms of pollution and dependence on oil, the Commission stresses the need to develop a market for “clean” vehicles. In the EU as a whole, road transport accounts for approximately one-quarter of total energy consumption and CO2 emissions. The potential for reducing vehicle emissions and making energy savings is substantial. However, the technologies needed remain more expensive than conventional vehicle manufacturing technologies.

Consequently, the European Commission has decided to promote the development of a new generation of vehicles which consume less energy and generate fewer pollutant emissions. The Directive provides that public bodies (State, regional or local authorities, bodies governed by public law, public undertakings and operators contracted by public bodies to supply transport services) will be obliged to allocate a minimum quota of 25% of their annual procurement (purchasing or leasing) of heavy-duty vehicles (with a weight greater than 3.5 tonnes) to “enhanced environmentally friendly vehicles” as defined in the European Performance Standard (EEV). (As defined in Directive 2005/55/EC, OJ L 275, 20.10.2005, p. 1.) Heavy duty vehicles include buses and most utility vehicles, such as refuse collection lorries.

The “clean” vehicle procurement obligations are initially limited to these vehicle categories for which the market shares accounted for by public bodies are significant (approximately 6% in the case of lorries and around one-third in the case of buses). The increased demand for these less-polluting vehicles will make it possible to support their development by manufacturers: the aim is to establish a viable market by creating sufficient demand to generate economies of scale. The studies carried out by the Commission have demonstrated the positive impact on the competitiveness of the European motor industry. The supply of “ clean” vehicles by manufacturers will become an important factor in competitiveness given the urban pollution problems encountered throughout the world by a number of countries experiencing rapid economic growth.

The Commission will examine whether, in a second stage, the quota obligation should be extended to include other vehicle categories. One of the effects of the Directive will be to encourage the development of vehicles adapted to high blends of biofuels (see IP/05/1546 on the Biomass Action Plan). Other examples of the technologies concerned are natural gas, LPG (liquefied petroleum gas), hydrogen, electric motors and hybrid vehicles combining a combustion engine with an electric motor.

These technologies have been supported by European funding from the research and development programmes and the Structural Funds. The Commission proposal will now be forwarded to the Council and the European Parliament under the co-decision procedure.

See also MEMO/05/495

Source

Video Biofuels to replace oil

[edit English version] | [history]

top


	© FGM-AMOR 2005	Prefer fuel saving? www.recodrive.eu	Legal Disclaimer