Toyota’s recognition that PHEVs’ time has come

Email from CalCars http://www.calcars.org/

Here’s CalCars’ comment: “We applaud Toyota’s recognition that PHEVs’
time has come. The technology is good enough to get started and the
solution offers a good business case. We hope as this hybrid pioneer
watches large and small competitors start selling PHEVs a year
earlier, it will accelerate its timetable and raise production levels.”

(Shortly after it goes out on email, this posting will also be
viewable at http://www.calcars.org/news-archive.html — there you can
add CalCars-News to your RSS feed.)

THE PRIUS’S TIMELINES TO TODAY: It’s taken a long time. Toyota
introduced the Prius as the first-mass-production hybrid in Japan in
1997. It went global in 2001; the second-generation vehicle arrived
in 2004, the third in 2009, and over two million have been sold.
Meanwhile CalCars did the first Prius conversion in 2004, sparking
the growth of an aftermarket industry. Since 2006, a thousand plug-in
Prius conversions showing what was possible helped build awareness
and support for PHEVs, and the company’s public comments evolved from
dismissive to open-minded (see
http://www.calcars.org/carmakers.html#toyotaquotes ).

Toyota showed its first PHEV prototype in 2007. Until this week, the
company had announced plans only for fleet leases of 600
demonstration/test units in Japan, the U.S., and Europe, with
consumer sales only a possibility. Now it will start selling them in
2011, with tens of thousands in showrooms in 2012 at a “affordable”
price tag. Reporters say Toyota has concluded that PHEVs “will become
the market mainstream.”
http://motoring.asiaone.com/Motoring/News/Story/A1Story20091208-184656.html

NFORMATION SOURCES: Toyota has a new website with basic explanations
and specifications at http://www.priusphv.com . And see the
illuminating 20-slide presentation by Toyota Chief Engineer Yoshikazu
Tanaka
http://www.toyota.co.jp/en/tech/environment/conference09/pdf/phv_overview_en.pdf
. At http://www.greencarcongress.com/2009/12/tmc-phv-20091214.html
read Green Car Congress’s summary and postings. Following are our
comments based on announced specifications.

BUSINESS DETAILS: Tanaka’s presentation projects “full-scale
commercialization in two years, on the order of several ten
thousands, with widely affordable pricing.” Toyota EVP Uchiyamada
indicates (below) that the vehicle could sell for under $33,770. With
U.S. Recovery Act tax credits of up to $7,500 for the first 200,000
plug-in vehicle from each manufacturer based on battery capacity; the
PHV’s 5.2 kWh battery pack, from its joint venture Panasonic EV
Energy, makes it eligible for about $2,500.

If prices hold, we’ve been on the right track in saying Toyota might
sell a plug-in Prius for little more than $3,000 over a non-PHEV
model. A 3.4 useful-kWh pack at $1,000/useful-kWh would cost $3,400.
The $1,000 saved by eliminating the NiMH battery could offset a
similar cost for a charger and a beefed-up DC:DC converter. As those
battery prices decline with the credits, PHEVs could approach the
cost of standard hybrids.

Operating costs for a 30km trip compared to gasoline vehicle, based
on Japanese petroleum and electric rates, are 58% better when
charging at peak times and 77% better off-peak.

TECHNICAL DETAILS: Comparing the vehicle with the 2010 Prius on which
it’s based (specs at http://www.toyota.com/prius-hybrid/specs.html ),
its weight (3,284 pounds/1,490 kg) increases by 242 pounds/110 kg.
The engine and motor appear identical, and modified electronics will
allow more power from the electric motor.

The PHV uses over 60% of the its 5.2kWh lithium-ion battery pack’s
capacity to get 23.4 km/14.5 miles all-electric driving at speeds up
to 100 km/62 miles/hour. (For Japanese drivers traveling shorter
distances, the 20 km “sweet spot” covers 53.7% of daily driving and
51.2% of weekend driving.) Recharging is 180 minutes at 110-120
volts, 100 minutes at 220 — offering good opportunities to double
the vehicle’s effective range for those who can charge mid-day at work.

Petroleum and greenhouse gas reductions depend on multiple
assumptions — we can simply say that using the new JC08 driving
cycle yields over 100 MPG of gasoline. See
http://green.autoblog.com/2009/12/15/what-does-the-prius-phev-mileage-really-mean-on-the-jc08-cycle/
for a discussion of the PHV’s fuel efficiency under different
conditions; this discussion leaves out consideration of the
difference between CAFE and sticker numbers.

FEATURES: The vehicle’s new screens’ full integration with the
navigation system and information about the battery will give drivers
feedback about optimizing fuel economy. The car can be cooled in
advance while still plugged in for comfort and fuel efficiency.

 

Have a high voltage, low energy Christmas

“Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree. In the eyes of children, they are all 30 feet tall.” ~Larry Wilde

NY at Christmastime. The tree at Rockefeller Center (the 77th) is pretty fancy this year. It has LED lights that are solar powered. Ok, so they still kill a beautiful live tree. But, they recycle it.

 

Why an EU renewable energy plan needs solar power

WHY AN EU RENEWABLE ENERGY PLAN NEEDS SOLAR POWER

Background to EU energy issues -

Climate science points to a reduction in carbon emissions of at least 80% by 2050. In practice, this will require the decarbonisation of at least 90% of most types of EU energy supplies. The average energy useage in the EU is currently about 125 kwhr/person/day (IEA).   By 2050, it is reasonable to expect efficiency savings and mode alteration to reduce this energy consumption to about 100 kwhr/person/ day, which is equivalent to 4kW continuous mean power consumption per person.

The current population of the EU27 is 500M  (Eurostat). So by 2050, the EU primary energy use will be of the order of 500M+  x  4 kW =   2000+ GW mean

There is insufficient uranium ore to power a nuclear powered future, even if that were desirable, as 1000 GW of conventional nuclear power can only be fuelled for about 15 years with the currently known sources of ore.  CCS is an unknown quantity and it is unlikely that the massive scale of CO2 sequestration required could be achieved on this scale, even if it were desirable. So huge renewable energy sources are essential………………….

full article at http://www.claverton-energy.com/why-an-eu-renewable-energy-plan-needs-solar-power.html

 

Examine use requirements and design before choosing lighting fixtures

By Lindsay Audin
December 2009

When looking at the life-cycle cost of lighting, it pays to parse all the pieces: not just the prices for fixtures, lamps, and ballasts, but also the costs for power to run them, the labor to maintain them, and services to dispose of them. Savings are possible that could cut the overall cost of illumination by 5 to 15 percent.

Most estimates are that 80 percent of the cost to operate a fixture is energy, with the remainder distributed between labor and parts. But such charts may not include the initial cost of the fixture, lamp/ballast disposal, and other charges. Fortunately, options exist to minimize these and other factors, including energy.

For the purpose of looking at the lifetime costs of lighting, and opportunities to contain and reduce them, the following examples use a typical recessed 3-lamp, 4-foot linear fluorescent fixture with standard T8 lamps and an electronic ballast. All costs are in today’s dollars, without escalations.

Start With The Task

Most spaces are illuminated to achieve tasks such as work, instruction, or sales. Each has an appropriate lighting level, but finding such excessive levels is common. Some corridors are lit as brightly as offices or classrooms, despite the fact that a much lower level may be satisfactory. The same may be true when a task changes. One college library space was converted to a cafeteria, with no adjustment to lighting levels. Many offices now filled with LCD screens are still lit as though typewriters were in use. The end result in all three cases is roughly double the necessary light level, which then doubles the operating and maintenance costs………………

full story at http://www.facilitiesnet.com/lighting/article/Examine-Use-Requirements-and-Design-Before-Choosing-Lighting-Fixtures–11343

 

The Smart Grid’s coming electric economy

The Utilities’ View of the Smart Grid

By Nick Hodge
Wednesday, December 9th, 2009

The economy of yesterday was dependent on access to cheap petroleum. The economy of tomorrow will be dependent on access to cheap, reliable electricity.

Consider this nugget of crucial information: In the 1950s, 40% of the U.S. economy relied on electricity. Today, fully two-thirds (66%) of our economy depends on it.

And we haven’t even electrified our transportation yet.

Such was the backdrop for high-level talks at GreenBeat 2009, where I had the chance to talk about the future of electricity with some of the brightest (and wealthiest) in the biz.

Last week, we took a look at Google’s perspective and entrance into the electricity arena. Today, we’ll take a look at the utility perspective.

Smart Grid and The Economy

While I heard from many venture capitalists and smart grid product providers, I must say it was a pleasure to get the utilities’ take on things. After all, when it comes to the smart grid, the utility is the customer.

The session began with a primer on the current status of the grid. Basically, we’ve been living for 100 years with grid 1.0, the electro-mechanical analog version that dumbly pushed power along……………

Full financial story at http://www.energyandcapital.com/articles/utilities-smart-grid-economy/1029?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+eacfeed+%28Energy+and+Capital%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher

 

Local-food activist makes the farm-bike-sailboat connection

by Elly Blue, BikePortland

Jan Lundberg moved to Portland a year ago because it seemed like the best place to pursue his intersecting passions for food security, peak oil, bicycles, and sailing.

These passions will be coming to fruition later this month when the oil analyst’s brainchild, the Sail Transport Network, will launch into its first major, ongoing local venture. Lundberg is finalizing plans to deliver malted grain from Vancouver, Washington to a brewery further down the Columbia River by a combination of cargo bike and sailboat.

The next phase in the project will be to use the same bike-boat combination to deliver the finished product — bottles and kegs of beer — to Portland markets. (Lundberg asked that we not name the brewery until the plan is finalized.)

Part of the farm-bike-boat delivery team at last year’s Village Building Convergence on the dock at OMSI.

Lundberg intends this partnership to be the seed of a radical change in the way we transport — and think about — food.

“Just taking care of a brewery and being able to distribute some beer is not really food security,” he told us over the phone. “But what you can do is add on to this existing system with more farms, more bike carts, more sailboats, and more CSA subscribers — and that’s the way it grows.”……………

Full story at http://www.energybulletin.net/node/50938

 

Is your search killing the planet?

Is Search Killing the Planet?

Everytime you search on Google etc., you are adding to the consumption of 1% of the world’s energy

by Idris Mootee

Here is a lesser-known fact. Data centers use up tons of energy just for cooling, and in a typical data center only 40-45% of energy use is for the actual computing – the rest is used mostly for cooling down the servers. Data centers’ emissions of carbon dioxide have been running at around one third of those of airlines, but are growing 10% a year and now approach levels of entire countries such as Argentina or the Netherlands.

Apple is building its own server farm. Apple has secured a $300 million tax cut from North Carolina politicians in exchange for investing $1 billion over nine years for a so-called technology "hub." Wonder why Apple needs such a big server farm? There’s only one reason, Apple is contemplating a large-scale strategic shift to deliver multiple applications as a service on an enhanced Apple device, which I think will be entertainment related.

Back to the energy saving topic, here’s one of the greenest data centers on earth which will be housed in a massive cave beneath an orthodox Christian cathedral in Helsinki. It is a former bomb shelter carved into the rock by the fire brigade in World War Two as a refuge for city officials from Russian air raids. Excess heat from hundreds of computer servers will be captured and fed into the district’s heating network, a system of water-heated pipes used to warm homes in the city. This makes perfect sense and I don’t see why these server farms need to be in California. Should we move all our servers to Scandinavia, Northern Canada and Alaska?

 

Full story at http://www.business-strategy-innovation.com/2009/12/is-search-killing-planet.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+business-strategy-innovation+%28Blogging+Innovation+%28Hosted+by+Braden+Kelley%29%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher

 

Boiling Point: what to do about looming water shortages?

By Ana Campoy

When world leaders meet next week in Copenhagen to talk about climate change and the fate of the planet, there will be one big, liquid elephant in the room: water shortage.

The problem could be as big as global warming: If the world doesn’t change the way it uses water, humanity will face a major shortfall by 2030, McKinsey said in a recent report. That’s a deficit of about 40% less water than what would be needed.

Drought is already ravaging places such as east Africa, with dying crops and cattle and hungry people. California’s water woes aren’t quite as extreme, but shortages have prompted higher prices and rationing.

Unlike worries about possible electricity shortages—which are already wracking policy makers from Capetown to Copenhagen—the specter of water shortages threatens more than just modern conveniences. “You can live without television, without a car, without a bicyle, without extra clothes. You can’t live without water,” says Margaret Catley-Carlson, chair of the World Economics’ Forum Global Agenda Council and a longtime water-conservation advocate.

Yet few policy makers are talking, never mind doing, much about the impending water debacle, the McKinsey report notes…………….

Full Story at http://blogs.wsj.com/environmentalcapital/2009/12/03/boiling-point-what-to-do-about-looming-water-shortages/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wsj%2Fenvironmentalcapital%2Ffeed+(WSJ.com%3A+Environmental+Capital+-+WSJ.com)&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher

 

Energy bills could rise to more than £2,000, says Ofgem

 

UK Peak Energy Demand May Outstrip Supply Capabilities By 2017: Douglas-Westwood

John Westwood, chairman of Douglas-Westwood, said: “The rising amounts of required energy capacity will place considerable pressure on the UK economy, the entire energy supply chain and it is the consumer who will ultimately have to pay the price of indecision.

“Considering successive governments have had 30 years notice of the present serious decline of UK oil & gas supplies and full knowledge of generation plant lifetimes there is no excuse for allowing the development of the pending problem. A balance will need to be struck quickly between energy security, the intermittent nature of renewable energy generation, climate change mitigation targets and potentially volatile public opinion.”

See http://fossilfuel.energy-business-review.com/news/uk_peak_energy_demand_may_outstrip_supply_capabilities_by_2017_douglaswestwood_091202/

 

Energy bills could rise to more than £2,000, says Ofgem

Rowena Mason and Harry Wallop, The Telegraph

Alistair Buchanan, the chief executive of Ofgem, just two months after predicting bills could increase by 60 per cent by 2016, has now admitted he had not been gloomy enough.

Speaking at a House of Commons Energy select committee he said Ofgem had look again at its findings after energy companies told the regulator that it may have underestimated the scale of problems facing the UK.

Bills have already increased by much more than inflation, climbing from below £600 five years ago, and are now – especially for pensioners – many households’ biggest monthly cost.

Ofgem in October warned that rising demand, an increasing reliance on imports from uncertain sources, a lack of storage facilities and the fact Britain had too many ageing coal-fired power stations, would force up bills by between 14 per cent and 60 per cent above inlfation by 2020.
In the worst case scenario, this would inmply bills would increase from the current average of £1,300 for each household to £1,950.
However, Ofgem now believes bills could go considerably higher…
(3 Dec 2009)
The original Ofgem (Office of the Gas and Electricity Markets) report can be accessed here. The Telegraph article concludes with a quote from Mr. Buchanan, “It is absolutely incumbent on us to represent clearly to consumers what it is costing them, so they fully understand what the cost is to make Britain a nicer place to live in for our children and grandchildren.” My emphasis. I leave the reader to draw his own conclusions. -KS

see http://www.energybulletin.net/node/50896

 

Using standby diesel generators for short term reserve

Using standby diesel generators for short term reserve to support main power grids – potentially good news from National Grid

by Claverton Energy Research Group: admin Thursday, November 26th, 2009 Using standby generators for short term reserve. (emails published with permission of authors from Quigg Associates and National Grid)

Charles,

I was delighted to see you last week. The topic I mentioned, using standby generators for short term reserve is one in which I am not currently involved but it does strike me as a useful technique for reducing CO2 emissions. There are a few ‘fleets’ of standby generators arranged to quote the National Grid for this service but the short term nature of the contracts offered are I think a deterrent to the potential which could be exploited. I was involved with the Wessex Water operation which was heading towards 20MW when I left. This, together with some sewage gas generation has now been changed into a separate company. Another successful operation is run by Alastair Martin@flexitricity.com  

Alastair is a contributor to Claverton Energy Group.  He became interested in the short term reserve potential and was one of those who wrote a paper for government which shows that there is a potential saving of 90% in the emissions to provide this service.

His paper is the first on the list at – http://www.flexitricity.com/resources/ As you might guess he trades under the Flexitricity name. However the conclusions in the paper seem sound enough.

When I was with Wessex Water the obstacles to a larger expansion of the technique were:-………………………..

Kind Regards

Bernard Quigg

Quigg Associates

Full story at http://www.claverton-energy.com/using-standby-generators-for-short-term-reserve-potentially-good-news-from-national-grid.html