While alternative fuel and fuel efficient vehicles have been honored with plenty of awards lately, the technologies that drive them are now being recognized. Green Car Journal released its nominees for the 2014 Green Car Technology Award, which will be handed out January 22 at the Washington DC Auto Show. WardsAuto released its 2014 Ten Best Engines with one being electric and three clean diesel. Here’s some of the interesting findings:

• For the Green Car Technology Award, there’s a three-motor, all-wheel-drive hybrid –the Acura Sport Hybrid and the turbocharged direct-injection engine in the Audi 3-liter TDI diesel engine.
• The BMW i3 electric car is acknowledged for its carbon-fiber body.
• The Cadillac ELR extended range/plug-in hybrid will start being delivered to dealers next month. Its regenerative braking and declaration charging system have been acknowledged in the award nomination.
• The tiny 1-liter EcoBoost turbocharged engine for the 2014 Ford Fiesta is on the list.
• The Honda Accord’s plug-in charging system is getting attention with its 115 MPGe.
• The new Hyundai Tucson’s fuel cell system is on the list.
• The Ram pickup’s new diesel engine, Porsche’s plug-in hybrid system, and Mazda’s i-ELOOP Brake Energy Regeneration System are also in the competition.
• WardsAuto did recognize one electrified drive – that of the Fiat 500e. Those testing the cars were impressed with its 147 lb-ft of torque with its power boost, and how it outperformed the official 85 mile range given by the EPA.
• Clean diesels were honored – the Chevrolet Cruze Diesel’s 2.0L inline four, the Ram 1500 EcoDiesel’s new 3.0L V6 engine, and BMW’s 3.0L inline six cylinder placed in the BMW 535d and X5 SUV made the list.
• Another interesting engine to make the list is Ford’s 1.0L EcoBoost three-cylinder found in the Fiesta – and which also made the Green Car Journal nomination list. The idea behind it was to deliver the power of a 1.6L engine from the efficient 1.0L engine.

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There’s been a huge shift in energy policy that will impact oil and gas in North America – the Mexican government just passed a sweeping energy reform bill that will very likely allow foreign investors into the market. New legislation ends state-sponsored energy companies’ 75-year monopoly, allowing private oil firms, including major US conglomerates, to enter into “production-sharing” agreements with Mexico. International producers will have access to production-sharing contracts or licenses where they would get to own the oil they pump out of Mexico’s reserves. The North American Free Trade Agreement, which went into effect in 1994, has facilitated major economic developments like automakers opening up production plants in Mexico and trucking companies moving cargo across the borders. Mexico’s energy reform bill could be in the same league.

There are huge unexplored crude oil reserves in Mexico, and it’s no longer entirely controlled by Pemex, that state-owned oil producer. Pemex has been known for being full of corruption and failing to tap into the vast supply which it says sits at about 13.87 billion barrels of proven oil reserves. There’s probably a lot more, as this is just the proven supply.

Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, will likely be used to tap into a huge supply of oil and natural gas, and can transform Mexico as well, according to Energy & Capital’s Christian DeHaemer. Fracking is playing a large part of oil and natural gas being plentifully accessed in the US and is likely to play a big part in Mexico’s energy market. That means natural gas prices are likely to stay down for an even longer period of time than was initially expected for North America – and could support growth in natural gas vehicles and infrastructure.

Implementation of the policy and its regulatory decisions will take a while to be finalized in Mexico. There is a political fight going on and the leftist party, PRD, may be call for a popular referendum. The public is less supportive of opening up Pemex, so the process could be dragged out and Mexico’s oil reserves could fail to open up to foreign investment. Energy analysts will be carefully watching Mexico to see where all of it ends up.

If the oil and gas reserves open up to foreign investors, it’s expected that petroleum prices will soften along with natural gas. Crude oil will likely drop in price and that would likely mean that gasoline and diesel prices in the US could continue to stay close to where they are now. The national average has hovered at a little under $3.25 per gallon and diesel a bit under $3.85 per gallon. Skyrocketing fuel prices during 2008 helped push support for electric vehicles and other alternative fuel vehicles – so the potential for oil prices softening will likely deflate some of that argument.

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Changing of the guard is starting to happen in Motor City. Right after General Motors paid off the federal government for its post-bankruptcy bailout loan, CEO Dan Akerson announced he’s leaving his job and that GM is getting its first female CEO, Mary Barra. She’s previously served as senior vice president of global product development and has championed GM’s leadership role in electrified and fuel efficient vehicles. Ford Motor Co. is also flooded with gossip about its shining star CEO Allan Mulally leaving and going back to Washington to captain the Microsoft ship. As for Barra, ex-Chevy Volt guru and former GM vice chairman Bob Lutz had his usual bit of banter to share. On a Detroit radio talk show last week, Lutz praised Barra for leading GM’s product development and had something very Lutz-like to say: “I don’t know if you know what she looks like, but she is medium height with an attractive, athletic build, nice face — she’s not a little old lady with glasses; she is very athletic looking, very active and it’s easy to imagine her behind the wheel of a car.” So, she may not be a car guy, but she’s alright with Bob Lutz.

And in other clean transportation news…..

• Fisker Automotive Holdings Inc. is continuing at a fast pace through bankruptcy proceedings.  Its lawyers convinced US Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Gross in Wilmington that the process should roll forward. The hearing started last week as the judge gave creditors more time to sell their assets and not just sell it all off to Hong Kong tycoon Richard Li. Attorneys on both sides disagreed and asked that a hearing be scheduled for January 3, which Gross did approve. At that time, the judge will decide if the reorganization plan should be allowed to go forward, along with the structure for selling the company’s assets.
• Green Car Reports lambasted dealers for many times mishandling plug-in electric vehicle sales experiences. Here’s the rub: “Remember two things about dealers. First, they make very little money selling new cars, perhaps $100 to $200 on average. Their profit comes from selling used cars, and providing parts and service for existing cars. Second, every salesperson’s mission is to close the deal, today, at maximum profit with minimum time invested. Selling a plug-in car takes three to five times as long for a dealer as does selling a gasoline car. It requires explanation, education, training, all of the fuss and bother associated with installing a charging station in the garage if the buyer wants one, and so on.”
• Ever hear much about methanol as being an advanced alternative fuel of the future with plenty of benefits? Nobel laureate Dr. George Olah and Surya Prakash, director of the Loker Hydrocarbon Research Institute at USC, are singing the praises of methanol. They’ve won a million dollar prize from the Israeli government to conduct research. They say that methanol can be produced by combining hydrogen and carbon dioxide and it can be used to power vehicles. One of the outputs can be the diesel substitute dimethyl ether, which Volvo Trucks has been testing out.
• Check out this flyer from Sacramento Clean Cities promoting Propel Fuel’s 10^th fuel station in that region. And you get free fuel — $10 worth of ethanol and biodiesel from December 18 to 20.
• Sapphire Energy and Phillips 66 have an agreement to produce algae crude oil to commercial scale production and turn it into fuel. Their goal is to complete fuel certifications to move forward Sapphire Energy’s renewable crude oil, called Green Crude, for wide-scale oil refining. Perhaps algae biofuel will actually make it to the market – there’s been quite a few enthusiastic fans out there waiting for it to reach commercial scale.
• Ford is joining the race for driverless cars to make it to dealer lots. “Our goal is to test the limits of full automation and determine the appropriate levels for near- and mid-term deployment,” said Raj Nair, a vice president at Ford, about the automaker’s Fusion Hybrid research vehicle. While Ford says that most of the automation it’s testing won’t be deployed until after 2025, it intends to phase in pieces of it little-by-little before then. 

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“I’m gonna take this right foot, and I’m gonna whop you on that side of your face… and you wanna know something? There’s not a damn thing you’re gonna be able to do about it.”
Billy Jack to Mr. Posner in the 1971 film, “Billy Jack.”

Okay, how many of you remember that scene from the movie? And have watched “Billy Jack” more than one time? Come on, fess up…..

As a 50 year old, tail-end member of the baby boomer generation, I have to admit having seen it a few times. I did feel a twinge of sadness yesterday hearing about “Billy Jack” actor-writer-director Tom Laughlin’s death at age 82. I had seen the predecessor Billy Jack picture – the1967 biker movie, “The Born Losers,” a few years ago, but couldn’t sit through the tedious sequels, “The Trial of Billy Jack” or “Billy Jack Goes to Washington.”

While it may seem like an odd perspective (and memorial), I do think that Billy Jack and a few other characters from that era had an influence on young people’s perspectives on socio-political issues including environmental concerns. For those of you motivated to buy a green car, do a bit of recycling, visit a national park, and avoid eco-irresponsible actions, you may have shared with me a few symbolic memories from those days. I’ve thought about it enough to pull together a Top Five list of unrecognized influential eco-heroes from years ago……

Iron Eyes Cody: Do you remember the TV commercial about 40 years ago where what looked like an Indian chief from a hundred years earlier would paddle a canoe down a river and see all the pollution – garbage, landfill, smog, and dirty water – with a tear streaming down his face? It came from a public service announcement launched on Earth Day in 1971, one year after that national holiday started up. It featured actor Iron Eyes Cody and was produced by the Keep America Beautiful non-profit organization. The campaign promoted a theme: “People Start Pollution. People can stop it.”

Freeman Lowell in “Silent Running”: Bruce Dern played Lowell in the 1972 sci-fi thriller set in the future. He’s a botanist and ecologist who’s completely dedicated to saving the very last of the plant life from planet earth that’s stored on a fleet of space freighters – hoping it can return to earth for reforestation of the planet. He loses what’s left of his sanity when he sees other cargo freighters get blown up by crewmates while following orders from commanding officers. He kills one of his crewmates who shows up to plant a bomb and destroy the last remaining greenhouse dome that Lowell is desperate to save.  One of the memorable scenes from the movie shows Dern wearing a card-dealer visor and distributing cards to play poker with his two drone buddies, who he names Huey and Dewey.

Smokey Bear: Everybody’s seen the Smokey Bear ads, which started in 1944 and have continued to this day. It lays out a tall order – “Only you can prevent forest fires.” That message started up in 2001 after a series of wildfires around the country. The ranger bear character is owned by the federal government and the Ad Council. While John Muir and Teddy Roosevelt have been honored for establishing our national parks and stopping the US from being turned into a giant suburban neighborhood and shopping mall/parking lot, Smokey Bear has had a lot more influence lately.

Sol Roth in “Soylent Green”: For those who’ve seen the 1973 film “Soylent Green” starring Charlton Heston, you probably remember the scenes where he talks about the past with his old roommate, Solomon “Sol” Roth. Played by classic 1930s gangster movie star Edward G. Robinson, Roth sermonizes about the past when there used to be blue sky and beautiful beaches and forests. Set in 2022 (nine years from now – yipes!), they live in a big city, probably New York, and the planet is overpopulated and dying off; the air is so thick with smog that people wear surgical masks as they stand in line waiting for their government-rationed food. Soylent Corporation controls all of it and manufactures the food products. It’s in such short supply that crowds riot over it. Heston, playing corrupt-but-justice-seeking cop Thorn, finds out through Roth that Soylent Green is made out of people. The most memorable part of the film is where Roth has given up on living and has gone to a center for euthanasia. Roth finds him there and watches the last moments of Roth’s life as film footage is shown streaming giant images of the earth’s long-lost beauty.

Billy Jack: Yes, it was absurd. A half-Native American, half-white ex-Green Beret war vet, martial artist takes off his shoes and kicks a racist bully upside the head. Another pivotal scene was his spiritual initiation into an Indian tribe where he becomes enlightened and recognizes that all the earth is interconnected – you need to protect the planet, champion equality, and make sure diversity is respected – or life can only be a total bummer. He speaks up for the Freedom School and its young students against the kind of redneck townspeople who killed the stars of “Easy Rider” a couple of years earlier. As hokey as it was, it did make for a very entertaining movie – very similar to drive-in movies we would watch in those days with car chases and fight scenes and social commentary galore. It was enough to inspire “Saturday Night Live” to satirize it a few years later with pop star Paul Simon playing Billy Jack. And come on, we all remember the famous theme song, “One Tin Soldier.” Don’t feel embarrassed about watching the music video and that you might want to sing along……

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Learning about any of the clean transportation technologies involves a lengthy learning curve. It’s good for all of us to stay current and refresh the ABCs once in a while. Natural gas vehicles is a great topic to research and share educational content on, as it’s spreading out widely to vehicles and fueling stations across the US and several other markets around the world. So here are a few topical categories to cover (and please post comments if I missed anything or got it wrong)……

Fuel stations:

• Number of compressed natural gas (CNG) stations in the US: 1,389
• Number of liquefied natural gas (LNG) stations in the US: 150

CNG vs. LNG:

• CNG is used in light and medium duty cars and trucks, while LNG is used mainly in heavy duty trucks.
• LNG only needs 30% of the space that CNG uses for on-board vehicle storage for the same amount of energy. LNG requires on-board storage in thermal tanks capable of keeping the fuel at -260 degrees Fahrenheit. LNG vehicle conversions and their fueling stations are much more expensive than CNG.
• CNG needs to be stored on-board in a cylinder tank at 3,000 to 3,600 pounds per square inch.

Vehicle powertrains: Very similar to gasoline and diesel powered engines as they basically do the same thing with ignition of the fuel to power the engine. Conversions need to be made for the fuel storage tank, fueling receptacle/nozzle, and in the engine.

Hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”): The question of whether shooting water into gas fields to extract natural gas is environmentally safe is being fought out in several state capitals, but it’s never really been affiliated with natural gas vehicles. The criticism has to do with how the natural gas is removed from the ground and harmful consequences it could cause – tainting aquifers, causing earthquakes, and using way too much water. UC Berkeley physics professor Richard Muller contends in a paper that environmentalists should embrace hydraulic fracturing as a means to mitigate climate change and ease air pollution.

Vehicle acquisitions: Clean Energy Fuels Corp. just reported that customers using its fueling stations ordered 70% more NGVs in the first nine months of 2013 compared to the same period in 2012. The company said Cummins Westport thinks it will make 2,400 natural gas engines this year and 10,000 next year. On the retail side, there’s the Honda Civic NGV and CNG-powered pickups from Chrysler, Ford, and GM – some of them bi-fuel and some pure natural gas. Honda is reporting its sales numbers – 2,080 units for this year had been sold through the end of November. One of the strongest appeals for NGVs, especially among fleets, is that even though the acquisition cost is higher for an NGV compared to a similar non-NGV, the fuel expense is about one third that of petroleum. While the acquisition cost is higher for the natural gas vehicle, the fuel savings delivers lifecycle operating cost savings usually within two-to-three years.

Renewable natural gas: Natural gas coming from renewable sources, or biomethane, is gaining traction, especially in California where it’s eligible for low carbon credits; and sometimes it qualifies for the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Renewable Identification Numbers and its credit system. Fair Oaks Farms, based in Fair Oaks, Ind., won a 2013 NGV Achievement Award last month. AMP Americas works with Fair Oaks Farms to fuel its 42 milk delivery tanker trucks with renewable natural gas (RNG). In 2012, they set up a biodigester that processes agricultural waste to produce RNG. There are several other waste (biomass) sources being analyzed to produce RNG/biomethane from organic matter. (RNG is also called biogas.)

Emissions:  NGVs are cleaner than vehicles powered by gasoline or diesel, though the figures vary. It tends to be considered to have about 25% less in greenhouse gas and carbon emissions than petroleum; and an even higher percentage in reductions of smog-creating tailpipe emissions that include hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, and particulate matter.

Thanks to NGV America, US Dept. of Energy, Transport Topics, HybridCars.com, and Clean Cities for data and information.

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