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Sustainable Life Info Copyright © 2006-2008 DLH Business Associates. All rights reserved
EPA Recognizes 48 Companies for Promoting Renewable Fuels in Trucks
The new program [SmartWay Grow & Go] aims to convince one-quarter of the EPA's SmartWay Transport partners to start using renewable fuels by 2012, raising that to one-half of the partners by 2020. EPA is currently working with about 600 SmartWay Transport partners, including major truck and rail carriers as well as shipping and logistics companies, so the agency still has a way to go before reaching its goal………The six new models of SmartWay tractors and trailers are equipped with a series of advanced aerodynamic features, idle-reduction options, and low-rolling-resistance tires that together can serve as a model for improving the fuel efficiency of heavy-duty trucks by up to 20%. To date, SmartWay partners have saved more than 350 million gallons of diesel fuel and eliminated nearly 4 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, primarily through the adoption of fuel-saving technologies and strategies, according to the EPA. See the EPA press release and the list of partners on the SmartWay Grow & Go Web site.
The new program [SmartWay Grow & Go] aims to convince one-quarter of the EPA's SmartWay Transport partners to start using renewable fuels by 2012, raising that to one-half of the partners by 2020. EPA is currently working with about 600 SmartWay Transport partners, including major truck and rail carriers as well as shipping and logistics companies, so the agency still has a way to go before reaching its goal………The six new models of SmartWay tractors and trailers are equipped with a series of advanced aerodynamic features, idle-reduction options, and low-rolling-resistance tires that together can serve as a model for improving the fuel efficiency of heavy-duty trucks by up to 20%. To date, SmartWay partners have saved more than 350 million gallons of diesel fuel and eliminated nearly 4 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, primarily through the adoption of fuel-saving technologies and strategies, according to the EPA. See the EPA press release and the list of partners on the SmartWay Grow & Go Web site.
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Waste Water Plus Bacteria Make Hydrogen Fuel Reuters,. "Bacteria that feed on vinegar and waste water zapped with a shot of electricity could produce a clean hydrogen fuel to power vehicles that now run on petroleum, researchers reported……. These so-called microbial fuel cells can turn almost any biodegradable organic material into zero-emission hydrogen gas fuel, said Bruce Logan of Penn State University. This would be an environmental advantage over the current generation of hydrogen-powered cars, where the hydrogen is most commonly made from [polluting] fossil fuels... 'This is a method of using renewable organic matter, using anything that's biodegradable and being able to generate hydrogen from that material,' Logan said. In research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Logan and colleague Shaoan Cheng used naturally-occurring bacteria in an electrolysis cell with acetic acid, the acid found in vinegar. The bacteria slurp up the acetic acid and release electrons and protons creating up to 0.3 volts of electricity. When a bit more electricity is added from an outside source, hydrogen gas bubbles up from the liquid... [a] far more efficient [process] than water hydrolysis, where an electric charge is run through water to break it down into its constituent parts of oxygen and hydrogen... These cells are too large to be put into cars, so the gaseous hydrogen fuel they produce must be made in a factory. 'You could put one of these reactors at a food processing plant and take the waste water and make hydrogen out of it,' Logan said. 'Or you could go to a farm, where there's lot of cellulose or... agricultural cellosic residues, take that and make hydrogen there.' This would be unlikely to work in big cities but might well be effective in rural areas. 'The first step is just to start using locations where we have waste waters that we're spending money on treating, and turning those water treatment plants into hydrogen production plants,' Logan said."
Environmental Defense Transportation by the numbers:
<> 239 Million: Number of cars and light trucks on U.S. roads.
<> 2.7 trillion: Total vehicle miles traveled in the U.S. in 2006.
<> 160%: Increase in the amount of miles driven since 1970 in the U.S.
<> $66.3 billion: Amount spent by local, federal and state governments on U.S. highway in 2005.
<> 5%: U.S. share of the world's population.
<> 45%: U.S. share of world's total global warming pollution from vehicles.
<> 28%: Percent of U.S. global warming pollution coming from transportation.
<> 15: Number of states that have adopted California's global warming pollution limits on cars.
<> 3: The Big Three car companies (GM, Ford and Chrysler) that have joined USCAP, a partnership calling for a US national cap on global warming emissions.
<> 239 Million: Number of cars and light trucks on U.S. roads.
<> 2.7 trillion: Total vehicle miles traveled in the U.S. in 2006.
<> 160%: Increase in the amount of miles driven since 1970 in the U.S.
<> $66.3 billion: Amount spent by local, federal and state governments on U.S. highway in 2005.
<> 5%: U.S. share of the world's population.
<> 45%: U.S. share of world's total global warming pollution from vehicles.
<> 28%: Percent of U.S. global warming pollution coming from transportation.
<> 15: Number of states that have adopted California's global warming pollution limits on cars.
<> 3: The Big Three car companies (GM, Ford and Chrysler) that have joined USCAP, a partnership calling for a US national cap on global warming emissions.