Nissan has unveiled a new energy-efficient cargo ship for carrying its cars around the world. The Nichioh Maru features solar panels for powering the ships LED lighting system, a low-friction coating on the hull and an electronically-controlled diesel engine that optimizes fuel consumption. Compared to a conventional car carrier of its size, the Nichioh Maru will save 1,400 tons of fuel and prevent the emission of 4,200 tons of CO2 each year.
The Nichioh Maru is the first Japanese cargo ship to be outfitted with solar panels. The ship's deck is covered by 281 panels for powering the LED lights through the hold and crew quarters, eliminating the need for a diesel-fueled generator. The ship began its first voyage on January 27 and will begin carrying as many as 1,380 cars along the Japanese coast to Oppama Wharf, Kobe and Kyushu.
This isn't Nissan's first foray into energy-efficient car carriers. It also uses The City of St. Petersburg ship to transport its LEAF vehicles around Europe. That cargo ship is designed to reduce fuel use by 800 tons and cut CO2 emissions by 2,500 tons per year compared to carriers of its size.
Rising temperatures around the world are affecting many food crops and according to a new study done by a Stanford University scientist, wheat will be particularly vulnerable.
David Lobell looked at nine years-worth of images captured by the MODIS Earth-observation satellite to analyze the growing season of wheat in the Ganges plain of India. What he found was that in the years with higher average temperatures, the wheat fields turned brown earlier meaning that they were no longer growing.
Previous studies have predicted that wheat yields would fall by about 30 percent by 2050 in places like India, but Lobell thinks that realistic yield losses could be about 50 percent greater than existing models show. That's a scary figure since other studies have shown a need for wheat yields to increase by 50 percent in order to feed a growing global population.
One solution is breeding for wheat plants that have bigger roots and are less stressed by dryer and warmer conditions. Another option is to breed for plants that are slower growing and can be planted earlier in the season. That way the wheat could be harvested before the high spring temperatures while retaining its hardiness. Scientists are already working on these solutions, but either approach will need to have a breakthrough soon to keep up with growing demand and warming temperatures.
Last year was the ninth warmest year on record (since 1880). Global average surface temperatures has continually risen since 1950, when the average global temperature was 0.92 degrees F (0.51 C) cooler than in 2011.
An updated video compiled by NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies illustrates this warming trend in colorful detail. Red in the video represents temperatures higher than the average during the 1950 - 1981 baseline period while blue represents temperatures lower than that average.
While 2011 was the ninth warmest year, 2010 was the warmest year on record. The difference in average temperature between 2010 and 2011 was 0.22 degrees F (0.12 C). Temperatures may fluctuate slightly from year to year, but, as this analysis shows, the overall trend of rapid warming continues.
Two recent studies done by the Department of Energy found that wave, tidal and other water power sources could provide 15 percent of U.S. energy needs by 2030.
The DOE plans to release additional resource assessments for ocean current, ocean thermal gradients, and new hydropower resources later in the year so that we'll have a full picture of the water power potential in the U.S.
Tesla won't be producing its all-electric SUV until 2014, but luckily we'll get a look at the design far sooner than that, though later than originally announced. Tesla is set to unveil the Model X prototype on February 9 at its design studio in California, just a few short days away.
In a filing with the SEC, Tesla said that it was "designing the Model X to incorporate the functionality of a minivan with the consumer appeal of a sports-utility vehicle." This leaves quite a bit of room to imagine its design. With both the Roadster and the soon-to-be-launched Model S, the carmaker pulled right from the luxury car style sheets. No doubt that the Model X will have that luxury feel too, but it will be very interesting to see what details Tesla will add to set it apart.
Even more importantly, what new performance specs will we get when the prototype is revealed? Check back on February 9 to see what we learn.
New radar facilities are being installed in Great Britain in order to "unlock" large sections of potential wind farm area for development. Because of potential interference, dozens of wind farm projects have been blocked by the Ministry of Defence (MOD). But now, the MOD has tested these new radar systems, and is satisfied that they will not suffer adverse effects from wind turbines.
One recent installation of a new Lockheed Martin air defense radar has let to the Ministry withdrawing its objection to five offshore wind farms that had been stalled over the issue. Wind farm developers are underwriting the cost of these new radar systems, but that investment could allow them to build as many as 4 gigawatts of additional wind farms.
Japanese home and business owners with solar power installations sold 2,150 GWh of electricity back to their power utilities last year, a huge 50 percent increase over the amount sold back to the grid in 2010. The sellers collectively made a nice $1.2 billion off their surplus electricity.
The Japanese government has a feed-in-tariff scheme that requires the utilities to purchase the extra power which was small beans compared to the average 884,000 GWh of electricity that those utilities sell to customers per year.
The government is set to introduce even more subsidies for domestic renewable energy power developers. The new scheme will include electricity from solar, wind, small hydroelectric, biomass and geothermal plants, but only solar panel owners with systems of 10 kW or less will still be able to sell their excess power.
The study found that the sun's output is likely to decrease until 2100, but that decrease will only lead to a global temperature reduction of 0.08 °C. Compared to the forecasted warming of at least 2.5 °C over the same period from greenhouse gases, a solar activity decline doesn't get us very far.
The study found that even if the sun's output fell to it's lowest known levels that occurred between 1645 and 1715, global temperatures would still only be reduced by 0.13 °C.
While the study's authors concede that their model doesn't fully capture all of the uncertainties in the climate system and solar output, the results do certainly let us know that a decline in solar activity is no match for greenhouse gas emissions.
We love seeing the world's architectural icons retrofitted to become more energy efficient, especially when they're major energy hogs like skyscrapers and huge bridges. Now we have another icon to add to that list.
As part of GE's Ecomagination initiative and in time for this summer's Olympic games, London's Tower Bridge will be given a green lighting makeover, switching out the street and artistic lighting for more efficient LEDs.
GE is teaming up with London's City Hall, City of London Corporation and EDF to complete the new installations. GE is replacing the existing street lighting with LEDs and more efficient floodlights, which will result in a 45 percent decrease in energy use. For the artistic lighting on the upper level of the bridge, GE is replacing the current neon lighting with its more energy efficient Tetra Contour Cable to light up the towers in multiple colors for the games. LED projector lights will also be installed.
The new artistic lighting system willl use 40 percent less energy than the previous lighting system.
Landfills are a necessary component of contemporary life. According to the US EPA, the average person in the U.S. produces nearly 1,130 pounds (513 kilograms) of waste per year, and the vast majority of that ends up in landfills. Much of that trash decomposes, and releases methane and CO2, both of which are greenhouse gasses. However, methane is also a gas which can be used as a fuel, and increasingly, landfills are beginning to realize this is an energy resource and are making use of it.
At present, landfill gas is the source of power for more than a million homes and of heat for over three-quarters of a million homes in the US. In addition, it is also provides fuel for natural gas-powered vehicles as well as power and heat for industrial process uses. Nearly 600 sites throughout the country are using the mathane from landfills to produce electricity, heat, proces energy, and even pipeline-quality natural gas and compressed and liquified natural gas for vehicle fuel.
Methane is 20 times more potent than CO2 as a greenhouse gas for trapping heat, and landfills are a major source of methane emissions. However, according to the EPA, 60 to 90 percent of the methane produced by a landfill is captured by a typical landfill gas energy project.
Capturing and using the methane from landfills serves the dual purpose of keeping these greenhouse gasses from directly entering the atmosphere and providing an alternative to fossil fuels. These programs have been encouraged through tax credits and grants as well as by the renewable energy portfolio standards many states are adopting for their public utilities.
Even if the volume of waste per capita could be cut significantly, landfills and trash are still going to be present. As with other materials recycling programs, it only makes sense to tighten the loops and take better advantage of the available resources in ways like this.
Although the overall tone of this year's North American International Auto Show had a far lower emphasis on "green vehicles" than we've seen in recent years, we were nonetheless surprised to see three different niche companies with electric vehicles present on the main floor. Two of these compaines, Tesla and Coda, had all-battery EVs; the third, VIA Motors, has pickups and vans with electric drive and onboard generator for extended range driving, much like the Chevy Volt.
In fact, former GM Vice-chairman Bob Lutz is on the board of VIA. Lutz was the champion for the Chevrolet Volt during his tenure at GM and is largely credited for getting the Volt into production. Since the company is using GM vehicles as the platform for their conversions, having a solid connection to GM is vital.
Like the Volt, VIA is a Extended-Range Electric Vehicle (E- REV; or alternately, REEV: Range-Extended Electric Vehicle), the same principle behind the Volt.
VIA obtains full-size pickup trucks, vans, and SUVs and does the conversion to turn those vehicles into electric vehicles. In terms of warranty, crash testing, and most other factors, these are still GM vehicles. Only the transmission has been removed (even the gas engine remains to run the generator), and a small electric motor roughly 11 inches (28 cm) in diameter by 11 inches long. The converted vehicle can be charged like other hybrids and EVs, and has an electric drive range of up to 40 miles. Then, when the generator takes over, it can continue for up to 300 miles in "range extender" mode. This gives the vehicles an MPGe rating of about 100 MPG, which is a huge leap from the 10 to 15 MPG average many of these large vehicles get as conventional vehicles.
The initial focus for VIA is on corporate fleets with a need for work trucks. An optional inverter allows the vehicle to be used as a mobile generator to provide electricity for remote and off-grid work sites. VIA is in limited distribution this year, but is expecting to begin selling to consumers in 2013. The company is taking reservations for the 2013 VTRUX pickup, which will have an anticipated sales price of $80,000. Like other hybrids, that's a big up front premium to pay. But for high mileage users, the fuel cost savings and lower maintenance requirements will make this a viable alternative.
We've got to keep 7 billion people happy without destroying our planet. It's the biggest challenge we've ever faced....but we're taking it on. Are you with us?
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