Fuel

Forget Vehicle-to-grid and Think Vehicle-to-home Instead?

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Toyota has followed Nissan with the announcement of a vehicle-to-home (V2H) system that can supply electricity from the car battery to a residence for backup or peak power, according to a story from the Green Car Congress. The program will start testing at the end of this year with about 10 households that will have Prius plug-in hybrid vehicles. An onboard inverter converts stored power into AC for home use.

The idea is to store low-cost, off-peak electricity in the vehicle’s battery and for use by the home during peak consumption times. The power flow is controlled via communication between vehicle, charging stand and a home energy management (HEM) system. The HEM system would need some kind of schedule or signal from the utility to know when to charge and when to send power back. Keep reading →

 /  Published June 13, 2012 at 11:30 AM

Cleantech Meets Fracking: Greening a Controversial Practice

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The oil and gas industry can bring new resources to bear in its battle against critics and efforts to achieve a “social license to operate.” A small cleantech firm has developed patented technology that allows producers to recycle up to 100% of their well flowback and produced water during hydraulic fracturing operations.

“We use and have invented an advanced oxidation process to treat water on the front end of the [fracking process] and at the flow rate of the [fracking process], eliminating liquid biocides and chemicals for bacteria growth and scale inhibition, and allowing 100% recycling of the flowback and produced waters,” said EcoSphere Technologies Chairman and CEO Charles Vinick said during a recent radio appearance. Keep reading →

 /  Published June 13, 2012 at 8:30 AM

UN Calls for Aggressive Energy Efficiency Initiatives (INFOGRAPHIC)

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The UN is calling on governments, businesses and civil society to double energy efficiency efforts, which could significantly reduce energy consumption, decrease greenhouse-gas emissions and save considerable sums of money.

 /  Published June 8, 2012 at 3:00 PM

Sustainable Development is Not Possible Without Sustainable Energy

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UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (C) and his wife Ban Soon-taek receive Brazil’s football team jerseys as gifts from residents during a visit to the Babilonia shantytown in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, May 27, 2010.

In rural villages in East Africa, nearly 150 women entrepreneurs are selling solar lamps and cell phone chargers that provide clean and reliable lighting and connectivity to remote and energy-poor communities. These women, empowered by the social enterprise Solar Sister, are the ground troops of social and economic development. Keep reading →

 /  Published June 8, 2012 at 11:30 AM

Powering US Transportation Through the Gas Line in Your Home?

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As US natural gas producers note the benefits of existing infrastructure while seeking ways of stimulating demand for newly abundant shale gas, questions continue to swirl about the total cost of conversion.

Beyond the potential of natural gas for the long-haul trucking industry, as championed by Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens, gas advocates say private cars are a clear target market, since gas as an auto fuel is currently roughly less than half the cost of gasoline, while at the same time emitting much lower levels of greenhouse gases. Keep reading →

 /  Published June 5, 2012 at 11:30 AM

Airlines Seek to Slash Fuel Costs

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Few industries are hit as hard by high oil prices than the airlines, which can spend close to 40% of their budget on fuel. With jet fuel prices near record highs, the drive to conserve is stronger than ever. Delta recently made headlines with its novel bid to buy an oil refinery, taking a more direct role in procuring fuel. But Delta and other airlines are experimenting with a number of other ways to cut costs. The entire industry is hoping a switch from radar to GPS-based navigation will cut the time it takes both to reach cruising altitude and land a plane.

 /  Published June 1, 2012 at 11:30 AM

An Unlikely Energy Development Opportunity Emerges in Haiti

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Essentially starting from scratch, Haiti has a unique opportunity to build the kind of sustainable power generation, transmission and distribution system that could be replicated in other developing nations.

Although deep poverty remains a challenge, the country’s leaders say they are eager to move forward into the twenty first century with governmental and economic stability supported by reliable energy infrastructure. Keep reading →

 /  Published May 30, 2012 at 11:30 AM

Technology Improving Geothermal Energy Economics

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Geothermal energy technology is moving beyond volcanos, and popping up in unexpected spots like oilfields.

The technology developed in the last century to tap the earth’s heat has been most productive in regions where hotter layers are closer to the earth’s surface, like hot springs and active volcanic formations. Steam produced in those layers is used to generate electricity. Keep reading →

 /  Published May 29, 2012 at 11:30 AM

Oil Boom Strikes Kansas

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It doesn’t feel like we’re in Kansas anymore.

Oil rigs are springing up in farmers’ fields. “No vacancy” signs hang in the windows of local motels, and a steady stream of trucks barrel through Main Streets. Along the state’s southern border, the once-quiet farm towns are quickly transforming into boomtowns. Keep reading →

 /  Published May 24, 2012 at 12:30 PM

Sabine Pass Natural Gas Export Project Leads Controversial Trend

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Ten major natural gas export terminal projects are sparking a debate over the complicated balance between low domestic prices and the health of natural gas producers facing contracting returns on their investment in new production.

Would US exports of liquefied natural gas support an industry that’s struggling to produce the fuel at record-low prices, or would they deprive gas users of the benefits of those super-low rates? Keep reading →

 /  Published May 23, 2012 at 8:00 AM
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