In 30 years’ time hybrid cars will account for half of the market share, said Exxon Mobil in its latest annual energy outlook, according to Hybrid Cars magazine.

The energy company said it predicts hybrids and other vehicles powered with alternative energy will expand as the world seeks to mitigate emissions from transportation. These include hybrid, electric, fuel cell, natural gas and other types of fuel.

Exxon also predicts the increase in hybrid vehicles and more fuel efficiency will curb a rise in demand for energy in rich countries, and it will remain flat in developed nations through 2040. However, energy demand is projected to increase by nearly 60 per cent from now to 2040 in developing nations.

You should follow us here.

Technorati Tags: alternative energy cars, electric cars, Exxon, hybrid vehicles

Image credit: S. Mackaay/Flickr

Of course the research carried out by Alberto E. Minetti is just illustrative of how clean hybrid cars have become. As one commentator questioned in the Scientific American, where the original article appeared, “does the carbon dioxide total with each vehicle used include the CO2 released by the four men sitting at rest within the vehicle? From the earth’s point of view, it should.”

Nor did the study take into account the C02 produced during the manufacturing of the car. But then, we could also factor in the food consumed by the runners in order to get the energy to do all this running. Or, as Dvice notes, cars can be turned off and temporarily stop emitting carbons, while humans can’t.

As Dvice also highlights, the point of the comparison is to show that vehicles running on green technology have come a long way and are definitely leaving a lighter footprint on the planet. That’s good news. And you can start breathing again …

Follow us @energyrefuge

Technorati Tags: carbon emissions, hydrid cars

Via Volvo

According to Technologic Vehicles, the V60 features three driving modes: Pure (electric only), Hybrid (default mode) and Power, when the engines act together.

It also features a four-wheel drive mode: at the push of a button, the front wheels are driven by the diesel engine while the electric motor drives the rear wheels.

Via Energy Boom

Technorati Tags: Diesel, plug-in hybrid, Volvo

Capstone Turbine CMT-380

Capstone’s sleek designed CMT-380 is bound to appeal to the green Batmen out there. Described as a “high-performance, hybrid-electric supercar powered by traditional batteries and an untraditional, ultra-low emission, range-extending microturbine”, the hybrid car model is the result of a partnership between Capstone, a leading producer of microturbines, and Electronic Arts Chief Creative Director Richard Hilleman, creator of popular video games.

Capstone and Hilleman’s microturbine hybrid car features a Capstone C30 (30-kilowatt) microturbine that runs on diesel or biodiesel, which is housed inside a Factory Five Racing GTM body. The Capstone C30 microturbine does not require any exhaust after treatment to meet clean air requirements of the California Air Resources Board or EPA 2010.

CMT-380′s design performance specs really are quite impressive: 0- 60 mph in 3.9 seconds, 150 mph top speed and a driving range of up to 500 miles on a single tank of fuel. It features lithium-polymer battery cells that can be charged at home or at a public recharging station. While driving, the sports car can operate on 100 percent battery power in zero-emissions mode for a range of up to 80 miles. When the batteries reach a pre-determined state of discharge, the Capstone C30 microturbine quietly fires up and recharges the batteries on the fly to extend the driving range up to 500 miles.

“Capstone’s CMT-380 is in the final conceptual design and first article-testing stage,” said Darren Jamison, Capstone President and CEO. “Soon we plan to finalize a limited production plan, in part, based on interest from the LA Auto Show. We anticipate customers will be a select group of individuals who appreciate its many innovative high-performance and high-technology driving characteristics, long driving range and ultra-low emissions.”

Capstone’s 30-kilowatt microturbines are installed in hybrid electric buses, trolleys and transit shuttles around the world. They can run on a variety of fuels, including natural gas, waste methane from landfills, biodiesel, diesel, kerosene and propane.

Technorati Tags: Electric car, hybrid vehicles, Los Angeles Auto Show, United States Environmental Protection Agency

Remember a few years ago when all you heard about were “dot com millionaires”- You know, those broke college students and computer hackers who sold stock on companies that existed only in cyber space? Well most of those companies went belly up about two weeks later but some enjoyed lasting success. Perhaps you’ve heard of a little search engine called Google for example?

It turns out the boys and girls at google.org have more than just search results on their corporate brains as indicated by their recent investment in start-up company ActaCell. Yes the big G dumped an impressive $2.75 million into the Austin, Texas electric car/ battery manufacturer for continued development of a long-lasting lithium ion battery for hybrid automotive use.

Don’t mistake this for a publicity stunt, however, as Google has been proudly offering its RechargeIT initiative that aims to reduce CO2 emissions, cut oil use and stabilize the electrical grid by encouraging the adoption of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles for its employees.

I came across this San Francisco/Tokyo-based organization, RAN (Rainforest Action Network) and I thought their work was well worth publicizing. Their website has a very informative section on biofuels.

According to RAN, there is a huge which difference between biofuels made from recycled waste products and the ones that are actually arriving at the market, which it has named “agrifuels”, or “agribusinesses’ industrial alternative”. Says the oganization: “To meet increasing demand for these fuels, U.S. agribusinesses are destroying pristine ecosystems to make way for palm and soy plantations. Clearing the rainforest furthers global warming by releasing massive amounts of carbon into the atmosphere and threatens to increase world hunger by diverting crops from food. Don’t support biofuels that come from newly cleared rainforests.”

In fact, the European Union recently announced plans to cut back on the use of biofuels, a major policy change on previous plans that would actually stimulate their use. The EU is worried about the environmental impact of biofuels on rain forests (because of deforestation) and food prices. The International Herald Tribune has the full story.

On this page here you can get the lowdown on the destruction that agribusiness is promoting on the world’s most valuable ecosystems: the rainforests. It’s well worth getting to know these facts in order to make informed decisions as a consumer and citizen.

I have been reading a brand new book by Brian Dumaine from Fortune and Time and other august establishments. It’s called The Plot to Save the Planet

My first response to reading this was “Wow!”

There are a lot of different organizations working from many different angles trying to come up with products ands methods to generate or conserve energy .

Most of them are discussed in here. And it seems from Mr. Dumaine’s prose that all of them could be successful. Perhaps he has already winnowed out the ones that don’t have a chance. And he has used his Fortune connections to reach out to the venture capital firms to find out who they are investing in. And I think that is a great method to find out any economic trend. As a whole, venture capital goes to that field where gains can be made. I bet there are few VCs out there investing in whaling ships.

I only have two problems with the book and neither are about the content. First, I wish it were more tightly edited. There are some parts that are repeats what was said earlier such as discussions of building methods to improve efficiencies and arguments for and against plug-in cars. But these are the nitpickings of a technical editor and struggling writer. These are not the criticisms of a alternative energy champion who wants to know what is going on in the industry.

I will be using this book as a source for future blogs as I dive further into each of the start-ups that he highlights.

The topics include solar, wind, transportation, algae, building, ethanol and corporate strategies.

I recommend it for the alternative energy reader, the corporate strategist and the investor. There are a few Google’s, IBM’s, AT&T’s, and Ford’s of the future hidden in these pages. Some may not make it which is always the case, but the future is so bright, many of these companies will be successful.

One doesn’t need to be a scientist to remember the very simple fact that water by itself doesn’t burn. And yet the Internet is alive with ads claiming it’s possible to run your gasoline-powered car (with a simple conversion) on good old-fashioned H2O. Even more amazing is that many of these companies claim double the fuel economy of burning gasoline alone.

While I’m not advocating any such claims, I did feel it necessary to look into the alleged process of turning tap water into an energy source. It turns out that there is in fact a legitimate scientific process at work in a water-fueled hybrid conversion kit in that electricity from the car’s battery can be used to separate water (stored in a separate tank from the gasoline) into a gas known as HHO (2 parts hydrogen, 1 part oxygen). HHO (commonly called Hydroxy) is in fact quite combustible. It is this gas that is ignited in typical internal combustion fashion with the byproduct being water rather hydrocarbons; not unlike the exhaust in the fuel cell process.

There is little concern of hauling a massive tank of water around either as the conversion works to something along the lines of one quart of water produces over 1800 gallons worth of HHO- which when used daily could literally last for months. It’s important to note that gasoline is still required only the car burns less of it thanks to the hydrogen injection.

I was skeptical at first, but the science behind the process is sound anyway. I have yet to conduct a test of an H20 burning hybrid conversion but will be keeping close tabs on the technology in posts to come.

John McCain is putting his money where is mouth is when it comes to solving the country’s energy crisis. Well maybe not his money per se but the point remains. The Republican proposed a $300 million government prize today to whoever can develop an automobile battery that far surpasses existing technology. If you need a little reality check, that prize equates to $1 for every man, woman and child in the country.

McCain has some pretty lofty ambitions for potential developers and states such a device should deliver power at 30 percent of current costs and have “the size, capacity, cost and power to leapfrog the commercially available plug-in hybrids or electric cars.”
The Arizona senator also proposed stiffer fines for automakers that duck existing fuel-efficiency standards, as well as incentives to increase use of domestic and foreign alcohol-based fuels such as ethanol.

In addition this “Clean Car Challenge” would encourage U.S. automakers to develop zero-emission vehicles by offering consumers the incentive of a $5,000 tax credit when they purchase one.

For just a moment, we’ll pretend Senator McCain didn’t conclude his inspirational speech by climbing into a full size SUV and reflect upon the undeniable truth that he is in fact on the right track with such ambitions.

In April of this year the Secretary of Transportation (Mary E. Peters) proposed an interesting plan: She calls for an acceleration of last year’s Congress enacted CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standards by a whopping 25%. For those in need of a refresher, CAFE is the sales weighted average fuel economy, expressed in miles per gallon (mpg), of a manufacturer’s fleet of passenger cars or light trucks manufactured for sale in the United States, for any given model year. Fuel economy is defined as the average mileage traveled by an automobile per gallon of gasoline (or equivalent amount of other fuel) consumed.

With average fuel prices surpassing the $4 per gallon mark across much of the nation at the time of this article’s writing, there are few who wouldn’t mind seeing Peters’ plan of 35.7 mpg for cars and 28.6 for trucks/ SUVs by the year 2015 come to pass. Unfortunately many auto-insiders have retorted to this ambitious proposal stating that Peters is clearly out of touch with the development lead times that must be taken into consideration before any automobile sees the light of day.

To put into perspective the type of lead times we’re talking about here, while the 2008 model year cars are on showroom floors, the 2009s are already standing in line waiting for their debut in the next couple of months. The 2010s are already fully designed, engineered and developed (waiting only on the assembly line schedule) as are the 2011s with only room for minor tweaks and color changes.

In this line of thinking, many are scoffing at such efforts at legitimate increases in fuel economy standards as mere political ploys of a governmental department looking to save face. Whether or not this is actually the case is yet to be determined but one thing is for certain: We are witnessing the early stages of the dangers in our dependence upon fossil fuel. Perhaps the pressures of an economy based on the trade of crude oil will be enough to inspire the auto industry to pick up the proverbial pace a bit.