Industry News

ACEEE Announces Year's "Greenest" and "Meanest" Vehicles

The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) recently announced this year's "Greenest" and "Meanest" vehicles, along with environmental scorings of all model year 2004 cars and passenger trucks. The vehicle scores are part of ACEEE's Green Book Online , the seventh annual edition of ACEEE's environmental guide to cars and trucks, available online at GreenerCars.com.

Claiming the prize for the greenest vehicle of model year 2004 is Honda's natural gas-powered Civic GX, followed by Honda's hybrid-electric two-seater Insight and Toyota's Prius, a hybrid-electric midsize sedan. The Honda Civic Hybrid and Toyota Echo round out the top five. Others in the Top 12 are conventional gasoline vehicles from automakers Nissan, Mazda, Hyundai and Scion.

Using its "Green Score" ranking system, ACEEE's Green Book Online reveals the year's "Greenest" and "Meanest" models—the 12 least polluting, most efficient vehicles and the 12 worst. The Web site also identifies greener choices in a wide range of vehicle types. The best-in-class list includes some larger vehicles, such as the more efficient versions of the Dodge Caravan minivan, Toyota Tundra pickup and Nissan Murano SUV. Passenger cars such as the Chevrolet Impala and Ford Focus Wagon also score well in their respective classes.

The 2004 "Meanest" vehicles list, once again dominated by large SUVs, is topped this year by the diesel-powered version of Volkswagen's Touareg sport utility vehicle. Although they offer fuel economy benefits over gasoline models, diesel-powered vehicles still emit higher levels of harmful tailpipe pollutants. "For the most part, it is the combination of poor fuel economy and mediocre tailpipe emissions that lands a vehicle on this list," noted Therese Langer, ACEEE's Transportation Program Director. "The list is troubling, because it contains a number of very popular nameplates, both domestic and foreign."

"The absence of the Big Three from this year's Greenest Vehicles list is disappointing," added Langer. "But the fact is that the greenest vehicles today excel in both fuel economy and tailpipe emissions, and Detroit has yet to do that." New emissions regulations have encouraged numerous automakers—including the Big Three—to reduce smog-forming tailpipe emissions in select models, but foreign manufacturers are still taking the lead on fuel economy. For additional information, visit www.aceee.org.

RWE SCHOTT Solar System Powers Marin County Maintenance Building

RWE SCHOTT Solar, Inc. (RSS), a manufacturer and distributor of solar modules and systems, announced earlier this week, along with its installation contractor, Prevalent Power, Inc., a Novato Calif.-based clean energy developer and systems integrator, that its customer, the County of Marin, California, is now powering one of its maintenance buildings entirely by solar energy. This installation of an 89kW RSS SunRoof non-penetrating flat roof photovoltaic system is the latest in Marin County's lead-by-example commitment to environmental-friendly projects and energy-savings programs.

Dedicated to reducing emissions, power usage and energy costs through a series of energy conservation activities, the county first did an analysis of its power consumption then reduced its energy use through a series of projects to improve its building's insulation, lighting and ventilation systems. Next, it wanted to generate its own power. After completing a competitive selection process, the county brought in RSS and Prevalent Power, which together, engineered and designed a PV system that would zero-out one of the county building's electricity bills.

"Through a series of financial incentive programs and low-cost loans for these types of systems, we were able to create a financial package with loan payments equaling slightly less than our monthly savings on electrical bills," said Rick Carlsen, assistant director of Public Works for the County of Marin. "So over the course of a year, the system will actually average out on a monthly basis to produce more than it costs. Then, in a few years after the system pays itself off, the money that was earmarked for loan payments can be applied to other public uses."

Dow and GM Begin Operation of World's Largest Fuel Cell Transaction

Last month, Dow Chemical Company and General Motors Corp. began the Phase 1 installation operations of the world's largest fuel cell transaction—a single fuel cell that will convert hydrogen into electricity—in Freeport, Texas, the home of Dow's largest chemical manufacturing installation in the world. Dow and GM intend to prove the viability of hydrogen fuel cells for a large industrial power system.

Operation of the first cell will last four to six months with more fuel cells and electrical generating capacity added during the summer months. The initial GM fuel cell will generate 75 kilowatts of power—enough electricity for 60 average homes for one year. Dow and GM plan to ultimately install 400 fuel cells to generate 35 megawatts of electricity. That would be enough power for 25,000 average-sized American homes. While this is a lot of electrical capacity, it represents only two percent of the total Dow needs at its Texas Operations site. 

This transaction is important because it will provide a real-world experience that will further develop the technology and bring costs down, the two companies point out. "People need to understand the significance of this event," said Larry Burns, GM's vice president of research and development and planning. "The pathway of getting an affordable fuel cell vehicle in your driveway sometime in the next decade runs right through Texas. What Dow is doing will directly impact the date when the hydrogen economy will become a reality."

Hydrogen is a natural by-product of chemical manufacturing at Dow, which currently uses its excess hydrogen as fuel for boilers. Dow also sells hydrogen to industrial gas companies for re-sale to their customers. Flowing hydrogen through a fuel cell to generate electricity is even more efficient and economically desirable than either of these applications. By efficiently consuming by-product hydrogen in a fuel cell, Dow will reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and create competitively priced electricity. 

Five Electric Power Companies Join WWF PowerSwitch! Challenge

Five electric power companies from across the U.S. committed last month to a challenge from World Wildlife Fund to become the first U.S. power companies to support a mandatory cap on heat-trapping carbon dioxide emissions and confirm their commitment to clean energy.

"These commitments demonstrate that innovative electric companies can make the switch to clean energy and reduce heat-trapping CO 2 emissions. Now energy companies and WWF are calling on the U.S. Congress to limit carbon dioxide pollution," said Ginette Hemley, managing vice president of World Wildlife Fund. "The survival of over a million species and many of the world's most biologically rich natural areas may hang in the balance, depending on whether we act responsibly now or continue to ignore global warming."

Five U.S. power companies—Austin Energy, Burlington Electric Department, FPL Group, Inc., Sacramento Municipal Utility District, and Waverly Light and Power—and WWF are pioneering a way to revolutionize the CO 2 -intensive electric power industry. The power sector that has relied heavily on fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas is responsible for 37 percent of all man-made CO 2 emissions worldwide. By switching to clean renewable energy and increasing energy efficiency through innovative technologies and processes, each of these five power companies will significantly reduce their heat-trapping CO 2 emissions and demonstrate how the whole U.S. power sector can help protect the planet from global warming.

The WWF PowerSwitch! Challenge is for power companies to support binding limits on national CO 2 emissions, and undertake one or more of the following action targets: renewables as the source for 20 percent of their electricity sold by 2020, or increase energy efficiency by 15 percent by 2020, or retire the least efficient half of coal generation by 2020. Under commitments to WWF, renewable sources of energy may include solar, wind, sustainably harvested biomass, low-impact small-scale hydropower, geothermal and methane recovery from landfills or farms. Energy efficiency efforts may include such innovative approaches as improving energy efficiency in power production, upgrading distribution technologies, transmission optimization efforts or reducing overall demand from customers in a service territory as part of a strategy to diminish the need for new electricity generation capacity.

Konarka Receives $6 Million for Hybrid PV Cell Research

Konarka Technologies, Inc., an innovator in developing and manufacturing breakthrough products that convert light to energy, announced that it has been selected by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to receive a contract in excess of $6 million for basic research in developing new materials for hybrid photovoltaic cells. Konarka will lead a consortium of academic and national laboratories to develop new materials for hybrid photovoltaics. Konarka will manage the contract and will share the award over five years with research and development partners including Arizona State University; National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL); University of Delaware; University of Massachusetts, Lowell; and U.S. Army Soldier Systems Center in Natick, Mass.

DARPA is the central research and development organization for the U.S. Department of Defense. It manages and directs selected basic and applied research and development projects. DARPA is particularly interested in photovoltaic applications that may provide dramatic advances for traditional military roles and missions. Potential military applications for hybrid photovoltaic cells include battery charging on the battlefield, remote power for soldiers and unmanned vehicles, and solar-powered sensor networks.

"Hybrid photovoltaic cells build on the breakthroughs we have already achieved with dye-sensitized cells and polymer cells. The hybrid cells will incorporate unique forms of polymers and semiconductors in the cells' active layers," said Dr. Russell Gaudiana, Vice President, Research and Development, Konarka Technologies. "This funding will accelerate our development of hybrid cells that turn light into electricity with an estimated efficiency of more than 20 percent, which is a significant improvement over existing cells."

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