We all love panda videos right. Thirteen baby pandas born after the devastating earthquake that hit China’s Sichuan Province last May were on Saturday brought to a sanctuary which aims to “teach” them how to survive life in the wild once they are released.
See the Video here.
Today was not a good day for General Motors and Chrysler. Rick Waggoner was shown the door by Washington and GM was told in no uncertain terms that bankruptcy was an option for them. Chrysler was told they have 30 days to convince Fiat they have a future or it was curtains for them. However what was worst was the realization that the future of bloated SUVs and mediocre mileage was well and truly over when Berkshire Hathaway announced that the BYD plugin hybrid vehicle will be on display in May at Buffett’s general shareholder meeting in Omaha.
You can read more at Kiwibloke, you can check out his music site at Kiwimusicmix.
I’m going to Ecuador in May, 2009 to help build a water reservoir and pipeline for a small village.
Check out the site: www.ecuadorwaterproject.com
I will post of my adventure during the 5 week’s I’m there.
“Our planet is choking. We need to step in and help it breathe again.”
As a student at Sheridan College in Brampton, Ontario I’ve joined a group of dedicated students who want to make positive changes at our school. We endeavour to raise awareness in students and faculty on the current state of the pond and suggest ways to make it healthy and useable again.
Whilst Toyota continues to make big in roads into alternative fuel vehicles and Detroit continues to play catch up, Ford continues to push it’s hydrogen technology with a few announcements:
Ford has the ability to bring internal combustion hydrogen technology to market in cars within five years, The Associated Press reported, citing a company executive.
“We really believe this technology is ready to be evaluated at the consumer level,” said John Lapetz, the company’s program manager for a fleet of hydrogen powered buses being tested around the country.
Ford has also made some flashy media events including a world speed record in a Ford Fusion, and a $250,000 Hydrogen bus.
What is not clear how hydrogen can become practical in the next 10 years. There is no supply chain for the delivery of hydrogen and it is not clear who is going to pay for it. While the oil companies who own the current means of distribution look dimly on anything that will detract from their monopoly so it is upto another capital source.
Secondly while the motor industry sees some benefit from delivering low emission low gas mileage cars, it is unclear that there is any economic incentive anywhere else in the supply chain including car dealers, parts manufacturers, petrol companies, refineries, transportation etc to embrace this change.
It is going to take more than hydrogen or hydrogen cell vehicles to make significant in roads to more fuel efficient vehicles, it is going to either find economic incentives at all levels for capital to flow or government intervention to realign capital.
Meanwhile consumers are waiting….
It is clear that much work remains in finding a suitable alternative to corn-based ethanol production. The issue is that corn is so heavily subsidized, that ideally alternatives should compete without these subsidies and stand on their own. It also doesn’t help that the production of petroleum is also heavily subsidized.
Glycerol is commonly called glycerin or glycerine, it is a sugar alcohol and fittingly is sweet-tasting and of low toxicity. Glycerol is a 10% by-product of biodiesel manufacture (via the transesterification of vegetable oils). It is used in medical and pharmaceutical products as well as personal care and additives in food.
However researchers at Rice University in Houston Texas lead by Ramon Gonzalez, the William Akers Assistant Professor in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering:
Gonzalez and a group of students, for instance, have identified a process in which Escherichia coli, in an oxygen-free environment, will convert glycerol into ethanol.
This is important to the economics of bio-diesel production because if ethanol is a by-product of the production then the numbers work more favorably.
Ethanol produced from glycerin could also be more economical than producing it out of corn, the main feedstock for ethanol in the U.S., or than cellulosic ethanol, which is made out of wood chips and waste vegetable matter. Gonzalez hopes a prototype production process for making glycerin ethanol will be in place by the end of the year, meaning it could come to market earlier than cellulosic ethanol. Mascoma will try to open a small cellulosic plant by early 2008 and New Zealand is investing in the concept. But most believe cellulosic ethanol is still at least a few years away.
It is good news to see the amount of research that is going into developing new technologies. A combination of public private capital is the correct approach. We look forward to more break through technology like this.
While everyone is focusing on the dubious corn-based ethanol, the US has just announced funding for 3 new biofuel research centers:
The three centers, which the department described as three start-up companies with $125 million each in capital, will be in Oak Ridge, Tenn.; Madison, Wis.; and near Berkeley, Calif. They will involve numerous universities, national laboratories and private companies. The goal of the centers, which are to be announced on Tuesday, is to bring new technologies to market within five years.
They are focusing on cellulosic based ethanol research, that is manufacturing ethanol using naturally occurring microbes that can break down lignin, a component of plants and trees, to give access to the material inside, called cellulose.
They have focused on the cellulose itself, which is made up of six-carbon sugars, the kind that is found in grains that have been turned into fermented products like beer for thousands of years, and of five-carbon sugars, which cannot be fermented by ordinary means. These are bound together tightly, and must be loosened by biological processes.
The problem with corn-based ethanol is that it puts pressure on the mainstream use for food and live stock feed pushing up the prices. Corn production is also carbon intensive resulting in no carbon reducing benefits from using it as an alternative to petroleum.
As an alternative, Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) can be produced from low yield land and is significantly less carbon intensive to produce than corn. However when it comes to the conversion, it is far more inefficient than corn to produce ethanol, hence the need for the research.
You can read the New York Times (sub req) article here.
Ontario, the largest auto producing region in North America, announced this week a number of initiatives in response to global warming.
Perhaps one of the most aggressive targets for any region in North America, the Provincial Government has announced:
Coal being one of the most polluting of all fossil fuels is one of the key reducers. To achieve its 2014 targets, the government will finish the job of closing down Ontario’s coal plants and carry out its existing policies, which would account for more than 50 per cent of all targets.
About 15 per cent will come from transit investments and working on initiatives with the federal government and other partners, including strong, national fuel-efficiency and auto emissions standards.
Some 15 per cent will result from policies recently or soon to be announced in Ontario, including home audits and incentives for municipalities to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
The remaining portion will come from research and innovation into new technologies which would fight climate change and strengthen the economy.
Green Vehicles
Another key component of carbon reduction is vehicles. Ontario will make $650 million available to companies looking to invest in the development of clean cars, clean fuels, and clean technologies and products.
Solar Power
If that was not enough the Ontario Government has also announced that Solar power will be subsidized and home owners will gain the incentives:
With Al Gore and Arnold Schwarzenegger visitors to the Province and keen carbon reduction supports and couple with an election this year, it shows that finally the greening of politicians is occuring and they recognize that this is a popular subject.
Politicians do not want to be on the wrong side of history and frankly neither do we….
Air Canada announced today that it is has joined efforts with Zerofootprint, a not-for-profit organization that uses high standards in carbon offsetting, to allow passengers to purchase carbon credits for travel.
Under the guise of a carbon offset program for Air Canada, the airline claims to help the environment and tote it’s environment credentials.
However what the airline fails to mention is that the carbon footprint of travelling is an external cost on the environment that they airline does not have to pay for. In other words, unlike Coal powered stations, chemical plants and others, airlines do not have to pay for the environmental damage of their business and that damage is not costed into the airline seat.
The announcement along with the so called other green initiatives are driven not so much by environmental concerns as by pure economic concerns, that is, savings in the use of fuel, a large component of airline costs.
If Air Canada was serious about the environment they would be lobbying for a carbon offset tax on all airlines in Canada and putting their money where their mouth is and actively offsetting themselves.
Landrover UK has donated it’s 4 millionth Landrover to the Born Free Organization.
The car, a Discovery 3 was collected by the actress Joanna Lumley, Born Free’s Founder patron, and will become a ‘Rapid Response Rescue’ vehicle for deployment across the UK and Europe.
Will Travers, Born Free chief executive, said, “This vehicle will enable us to carry out important frontline conservation and animal welfare missions at will. Without Land Rover’s support we simply would not be able to reach some of the off-road remote destinations or tackle some of the rescues that are a vital part of our work.”
This summer is likely to see the Born Free Rapid Response Rescue Discovery 3 extensively used by Born Free’s partner, British Divers Marine Life Rescue, rescuing, treating and releasing stranded or abandoned marine mammals, especially Common and Grey seals, who frequently get into trouble along Britain’s shores during the breeding season.
Born Free has been one of Land Rover’s Global Sponsorship Partners since 2002. The sponsorship includes financial and vehicle support in the UK, Kenya, Ethiopia, South Africa and Sri Lanka. In 2006 Land Rover’s support contributed to the rescue and relocation of three lions from a circus in France to Shamwari in South Africa.
Phil Popham, managing director of Land Rover, said, “We are delighted to hand this car over to Born Free. The production of the four millionth Land Rover is a major milestone and it is only fitting that it goes to such a worthy cause. I’m proud of our support for the charity and the company’s contribution to both the local and national economy over the past 59 years.”
