Filed under: Hydrogen, Nissan

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Nissan is showing off its latest hydrogen fuel cell prototype in London this week. The Japanese company has brought the X-Trail FCV to London's Imperial College. The X-Trail uses a 90 kW fuel cell stack with hydrogen compressed to 10,000 psi to achieve a range of over 300 miles. Nissan has developed its own fuel cell stack in house and mounted it under the front seats. The hydrogen storage tank sits below the second row seat while a lithium ion battery sits below the rear cargo floor. As in hybrid vehicles the battery is used to recapture kinetic energy during braking then feed it back for bursts of acceleration. Nissan expects to have fuel cell vehicles available for sale around 2015 although that depends on reducing the cost dramatically.


[Source: The Evening Standard]

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Filed under: GM

Car dealers are realizing that there's more to green cars than what's under the hood. Check out what this innovative dealership has done to green their entire operations.This dealership produces its own geothermal energy, cleans its cars from recycled water, has a water-soluble paint booth, and powers its repair machinery on biodiesel. And....they've increased their sales as a result!

With the current GM slump in sales and increased layoffs, perhaps it would be wise for GM to encourage similar endeavors at more dealerships throughout the country.

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It's easy to make a few changes in your product and call yourself green. But what if you decided to convert your entire product line into one made entirely from recycled plastic bottle based material, and stop making petroleum based products? That's bravery.

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On June 20, 2008, an unusual, early summer lightning storm sparked over 1400 fires in California.  According to state wildfire maps, currently 489 fires are burning.  The reduction in the number of fires is not because they have been put out, but because these blazes have merged.

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Coherent, Inc. introduces a new laser system – the TaliskerTM - optimized for next-generation high-efficiency solar cell manufacturing, and designed as a drop-in, turn-key tool for both production line equipment suppliers and cell manufacturers.

Traditionally, laser scribers for Edge Isolation, Laser Grooved Buried Contacts, and Wrap-Through hole drilling have had to rely upon lasers operating with short-pulses of nanosecond duration and often laser emission only in the infra-red spectral region at 1064 nm. However, to optimize the scribing precision and minimize laser damage - or microcracking - within c-Si wafers, the use of a) ultra-short pulse ‘picosecond’ durations, and b) ultra-short laser emission with green or UV outputs, is highly beneficial. The new Talisker laser brings these features to solar cell manufacturing for the first time. (more…)

PolyFuel announced yesterday that they have a working prototype of their methanol fuel cell laptop which they will demonstrating across the consumer electronics industry. The prototype is a Lenovo T40 that uses a direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC). This technology converts methanol to electricity to run the computer. It's lighter lasts longer and paves the way for more eco-friendly electronics.

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Filed under: Hybrid, Chevrolet, Ford, Nissan

It's time to say adios to the classic yellow Ford Crown Vic. In May 2007, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced plans to transform the city's ubiquitous yellow cab fleet from the old school Ford Crown Victorias to all hybrids. For the past couple of years, a variety of hybrid vehicles have been gradually infiltrating the fleet and generally performing well. Ford Escape hybrids have become a common site on the streets of Manhattan. Under the new rules, starting this October all new cabs coming into the fleet will be required to get 25 mpg in the city with that number jumping to 30 mpg in 2009. That essentially means the end of the Crown Vic. The city has now reached agreement with Nissan, Ford and GM to supply a steady stream hybrid vehicles for taxi use. Nissan will offer up 200 Altima hybrids every month while Ford and Chevrolet will provide 50 each of its Escape and Malibu hybrids every month. These 300 vehicles per month will ensure that there are sufficient supplies to meet the turnover needs of the fleet over the next several years and replace the entire fleet by 2012.

[Source: New York Times]

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Filed under: MPG, Mercedes Benz

Pending carbon dioxide emissions regulations in Europe mean that Mercedes Benz will make a major push toward down-sizing engines in the next three years. Thomas Weber, Daimler board member responsible for research and development has announced that every model in the Mercedes lineup will offer a turbocharged engine the end of 2010. All of the turbocharged engines will feature smaller displacements for reduced fuel consumption, with the turbos providing increased power on-demand.

The down-sized and boosted engines are only one aspect of the drive to get fleet average CO2 emissions down to 138 g/km by 2012. In 2009 Mercedes Benz will also launch a version of the luxury S-Class sedan with a mild hybrid system and an M-Class SUV with the Two-Mode hybrid system. In 2010, an electrically driven Smart ForTwo with a lithium ion battery will also go into limited production. By mid-decade, the automakers wants all of its vehicles to be capable of operating on either biofuels, hydrogen or electricity.

[Source: Automotive News - Sub. Req.]

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Filed under: Local

In the fall of 2007, Forbes named Vermont the greenest state in America. This wasn't much of a surprise (though some states in the top ten were, including New Jersey). The criteria that Forbes used was the size of the carbon footprint per capita, energy efficiency, number of LEED certified buildings and high air quality.

I grew up in Vermont so I have a strong bias towards the state to begin with. That said, after three weeks of summer vacation in the Green Mountain State, I can't wait to get back. Please enjoy some of the photos that I took as I soaked in the fresh air and open spaces.

 

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March 28, 2008, saw the launch of China's Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP). As stated in its mission, this new cabinet-level ministry will take responsibility for China's environmental governance. MEP is tasked to develop and organize the implementation of environmental protection; to manage all related planning, policy and standards; and to coordinate across jurisdictions and levels of government to solve the country's major environmental problems.

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