Hemp4Fuel.com : News > Misc / News and Common Sense Solutions en-gb Hemp4Fuel.com is copyright 2002-2010 J.R. Irvin and http://www.GnosticMedia.com Hemp4Fuel - contact@nospam.com contact@nospam.com Fri, 10 Sep 2010 15:53:44 -0700 Fri, 10 Sep 2010 15:53:44 -0700 http://backend.userland.com/rss e107 (http://e107.org) 60 Search Search Hemp4Fuel.com query http://hemp4fuel.com/search.php The Caitlin County Hemp Wars http://hemp4fuel.com/news.php?item.200.1

Background

Three generations of an extended farm family don’t always get along (“Family”). The farm is going under, and there is disagreement about how to keep it going. Shelly, a college student, wants to live her own life and loves Michael, Uncle Ray’s farm hand against the will of her parents ("Want to be me"). One night she has a dream which she shares with her grandmother Cora. Maybe her family can save the farm by growing Industrial Hemp? Cora shares Shelly’s ideas with her devoted husband Henry who serenades her with a song of eternal love (“Love is Forever”). Tom, Shelly’s brother and third generation of this extended farm family, expresses jealousies toward his sibling, antipathy towards Michael, and commiserates with his cousins about the plight of the farm (“Kids Know Best"”).

At Shelly’s Invitation, the grandparents attend a Hempfest where they listen to a local band (“Grass”) and learn about the useful applications of Industrial Hemp. After fighting with her parents, Shelly visits Michael who asks her to marry him ("Take a Stand"). At a family meeting, there is general agreement that because of their desperate situation they are willing to experiment with a Hemp crop. Shelly and Michael announce their engagement, and Michael is accepted into the fold. All is right with the world (“Peace Now”), except for Uncle Ray who thinks the family should sell the farm. Next morning, the family elders, in an east-meets-west experience, show Shelly’s Goth clad friends how to sow the Hemp ("Planting the Seeds" – a combination of Traditional and Rap music).

Ray, wanting “out” of the farm ("Caitlin County Blues"), exposes his family to the corporate executives who want to buy the farm for a considerable sum (“Compromised Individuals”). The family meets with some neighboring farmers who agree to help with the Harvesting of the crop (“Hangin’ Together”). They create a “crop-circle” to divert the Feds who in all likelihood will be snooping around (“Diversionary Tactics”). Cora creates her own diversion (“The Chase”) until they are all caught. At the Caitlin County Courthouse, the family is ably represented by their attorney ("Courtroom Cowboy"), and they get off with a light sentence. Ray leaves town, Shelly and Michael become husband and wife, and, in a rousing finale, the family and community realize the importance of being there for each other (“One People”).

[link=http://caitlincounty.com/]The Caitlin County Hemp Wars Website[/link]

A couple of [link=http://www.vimeo.com/3242397]video samples on Vimeo[/link]
[[b]Submitted by dlenef[/b]]]]> Hemp4Fuel<contact@nospam.com> Fri, 01 May 2009 21:12:36 -0700 http://hemp4fuel.com/news.php?item.200.1 Hemp could be key to zero-carbon houses http://hemp4fuel.com/news.php?item.198.1
Hemp, a plant from the cannabis family, could be used to build carbon-neutral homes of the future to help combat climate change and boost the rural economy, say researchers at the University of Bath.

A consortium, led by the BRE Centre for Innovative Construction Materials based at the University, has embarked on a unique housing project to develop the use of hemp-lime construction materials in the UK.

Hemp-lime is a lightweight composite building material made of fibres from the fast growing plant, bound together using a lime-based adhesive. The hemp plant stores carbon during its growth and this, combined with the low carbon footprint of lime and its very efficient insulating properties, gives the material a 'better than zero carbon' footprint.

Professor Pete Walker, Director of the BRE Centre for Innovative Construction Materials, explained: “We will be looking at the feasibility of using hemp-lime in place of traditional materials, so that they can be used widely in the building industry.

"We will be measuring the properties of lime-hemp materials, such as their strength and durability, as well as the energy efficiency of buildings made of these materials.

"Using renewable crops to make building materials makes real sense - it only takes an area the size of a rugby pitch four months to grow enough hemp to build a typical three bedroom house.

"Growing crops such as hemp can also provide economic and social benefits to rural economies through new agricultural markets for farmers and associated industries."

The three year project, worth almost £750,000, will collect vital scientific and engineering data about this new material so that it can be more widely used in the UK for building homes.

The project brings together a team of nine partners, comprising BRE Ltd, Feilden Clegg Bradley Studio architects, Hanson Cement, Hemcore, Lhoist UK, Lime Technology, National Non-Food Crops Centre, University of Bath and Wates Living Space. As part of the project the University of Bath received a research grant of £391,000 from the Renewable Materials LINK programme run by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA).

[link=http://www.bath.ac.uk/news/2009/04/08/hemp-houses/]http://www.bath.ac.uk/news/2009/04/08/hemp-houses/[/link]
[[b]Submitted by dlenef[/b]]]]> Hemp4Fuel<contact@nospam.com> Thu, 09 Apr 2009 12:57:10 -0700 http://hemp4fuel.com/news.php?item.198.1 Renewable-energy investments drop globally http://hemp4fuel.com/news.php?item.196.1 April 6, 2009

New global investment in renewable-energy projects fell 53 percent in the first quarter, an indication money from government stimulus packages has been slow to reach the industry, a report concluded Thursday.

The steep drop-off shows the global economy's continued deterioration despite a fresh emphasis on curbing pollution and promoting cleaner energy such as wind farms, solar parks and biofuels plants.

Without necessary financing, it has taken longer to finalize deals which could lead to industry consolidation, said Michael Liebreich, chairman and chief executive of New Energy Finance, an industry-research firm.

Other analysts are forecasting similar results for the quarter. "The economy in general, the capital markets overall have had a very difficult time of it," Ernst & Young clean-technology analyst Joseph Muscat said.

For the January-March quarter, new global investment in clean-energy projects totaled $13.3 billion compared with $28.3 billion in the year-ago quarter, according to an analysis by London-based New Energy.

Stock-market investors cut new investments in companies devoted solely to clean energy to about $100 million from $2.1 billion, the consulting firm found. Companies that offer clean energy as a part of their overall business did slightly better.

New venture capital and private-equity investment dropped to $1.8 billion from $2.7 billion in the first quarter of 2008. Merger, acquisition, buy-out and refinancing - which is on top of new money - totaled $8.8 billion down from $18.8 billion in the year-ago quarter.

In the United States, asset financing for new projects was $500 million, compared with a little more than $5 billion in the year-ago quarter.

While renewable energy remains a small fraction of all power used, wind and solar are among the fastest growing in the U.S. In 2008, the U.S. became the world's leading provider of wind power.

"Given the slowness of the first quarter of 2009, it will take a very large acceleration in investment in the remaining three quarters for this year to match 2008 levels," Liebreich said.

The U.S. has pledged billions of dollars to help the renewable-energy industry as part of its overall economic stimulus package. Money is earmarked for such measures as upgrading the nation's electrical-distribution system, tax cuts to promote development of alternatives to oil and energy-efficient improvements for federal buildings and modest-income homes.

Muscat believes a recovery will begin later this year as the stimulus money begins to filter down.

"Over time that will lead to an overall sector improvement but I think as far as I can see it's really going to be a company specific situation," he said.

More coverage at the Wall Street Journal

SOURCE: The Associated Press

[[b]Submitted by Hemp4Fuel[/b]]]]> Hemp4Fuel<contact@nospam.com> Mon, 06 Apr 2009 15:12:59 -0700 http://hemp4fuel.com/news.php?item.196.1 Engineers reveal carbon-neutral methane production http://hemp4fuel.com/news.php?item.195.1
[link=hyperlink url]http://www.rdmag.com/ShowPR~PUBCODE~014~ACCT~1400000101~ISSUE~0903~RELTYPE~MS~PRODCODE~00000000~PRODLETT~QB.html[/link]

Engineers reveal carbon-neutral methane production

March 30, 2009

A tiny microbe can take electricity and directly convert carbon dioxide and water to methane, producing a portable energy source with a potentially neutral carbon footprint, according to a team of Penn State engineers.

"We were studying making hydrogen in microbial electrolysis cells and we kept getting all this methane," said Bruce E. Logan, Kappe Professor of Environmental Engineering, Penn State. "We may now understand why."

This photo shows Bruce E. Logan, Shaoan Cheng and Defeng Xing with a microbial cell that produces methane directly from electricity. Credit: Bruce Logan's Lab, Penn State
Methanogenic microorganisms do produce methane in marshes and dumps, but scientists thought that the organisms turned hydrogen or organic materials, such as acetate, into methane. However, the researchers found, while trying to produce hydrogen in microbial electrolysis cells, that their cells produced much more methane than expected.

"All the methane generation going on in nature that we have assumed is going through hydrogen may not be," said Logan. "We actually find very little hydrogen in the gas phase in nature. Perhaps where we assumed hydrogen is being made, it is not."

Microbial electrolysis cells do require an electrical voltage to be added to the voltage that is produced by bacteria using organic materials to produce current that evolves into hydrogen. The researchers found that the Archaea, using about the same electrical input, could use the current to convert carbon dioxide and water to methane without any organic material, bacteria or hydrogen usually found in microbial electrolysis cells. They report their findings in this week's issue of Environmental Science and Technology.

"We have a microbe that is self perpetuating that can accept electrons directly, and use them to create methane," said Logan.

Logan, working with Shaoan Cheng, senior research associate; Defeng Xing, post doctoral researcher, and Douglas F. Call, graduate student, environmental engineering, confirmed that the microscopic organisms produced the methane. The researchers created a two-chambered cell with an anode immersed in water on one side of the chamber and a cathode in water, inorganic nutrients and carbon dioxide on the other side of the chamber. They applied a voltage, but recorded only a minute current. The researchers then coated the cathode with the biofilm of Archaea and not only did current flow in the circuit, but the cell produced methane.

"The only way to get current at the voltage we used was if the microbes were directly accepting electrons," said Logan. He notes that the electrochemical reaction takes place without any precious metal catalysts and at a lower energy level than converting carbon dioxide to methane using conventional, non-biological methods.

The cells are about 80% efficient in converting electricity to methane and because they use carbon dioxide as feed stock, would be carbon neutral if the electricity comes from a non-carbon source such as solar or wind power [or burning carbon neutral, unprocessed HEMP instead of coal!].

"The process does not sequester carbon, but it does turn carbon dioxide into fuel," said Logan. "If the methane is burned and carbon dioxide captured, then the process can be carbon neutral."

Logan suggests the method for off peak capture of renewable energy in a portable fuel. Methane is preferred over hydrogen because a large portion of the U.S. infrastructure is already set up to easily transport and deliver methane.

The National Science Foundation and Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. supported this project.

Study abstract

SOURCE: Penn State



[[b]Submitted by KEVswr[/b]]]]> Hemp4Fuel<contact@nospam.com> Mon, 30 Mar 2009 15:11:32 -0700 http://hemp4fuel.com/news.php?item.195.1 Hemp Is Not Pot: It's the Economic Stimulus and Green Jobs Solution We Need http://hemp4fuel.com/news.php?item.192.1 By Dara Colwell, AlterNet. Posted March 26, 2009.

We can make over 25,000 things with it. Farmers love it. Environmentalists love it. You can't get high from it. So why is it still illegal?

While Uncle Sam's scramble for new revenue sources has recently kicked up the marijuana debate -- to legalize and tax, or not? -- hemp's feasibility as a stimulus plan has received less airtime.

But with a North American market that exceeds $300 million in annual retail sales and continued rising demand, industrial hemp could generate thousands of sustainable new jobs, helping America to get back on track.

"We're in the midst of a dark economic transition, but I believe hemp is an important facet and has tremendous economic potential," says Patrick Goggin, a board member on the California Council for Vote Hemp, the nation's leading industrial hemp-farming advocacy group. "Economically and environmentally, industrial hemp is an important part of the sustainability pie."

With 25,000 known applications from paper, clothing and food products -- which, according to an article in the Wall Street Journal this January, is the fastest growing new food category in North America -- to construction and automotive materials, hemp could be just the crop to jump-start America's green economy.

But growing hemp remains illegal in the U.S. The Drug Enforcement Administration has lumped the low-THC plant together with its psychoactive cousin, marijuana, making America the planet's only industrialized nation to ban hemp production. We can import it from Canada, which legalized it in 1997. But we can't grow it.

"It's a missed opportunity," says Goggin, who campaigned for California farmers to grow industrial hemp two years ago, although the bill was vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, citing the measure conflicted with federal law.

Considering California's position as an agricultural giant -- agriculture nets $36.6 billion dollars a year, according to the California Department of Food and Agriculture -- Goggin's assessment is an understatement. Especially if extended nationwide.

"Jobs require capital investment, which isn't easy to come by at the moment, and we need hemp-processing facilities, because the infrastructure here went to seed. But this is a profitable crop, and the California farming community supports it."

Just how profitable? According to Chris Conrad, a respected authority on cannabis and industrial hemp and who authored Hemp for Health and Hemp, Lifeline to the Future, the industry would be regionally sustainable, reviving the local economy wherever it was grown.

"Hemp will create jobs in some of the hardest-hit sectors of the country -- rural agriculture, equipment manufacturing, transportable processing equipment and crews -- and the products could serve and develop the same community where the hemp is farmed: building ecological new homes, producing value-added and finished products, marketing and so forth," he writes in an e-mail from Amsterdam, where he is doing research. "Add to that all the secondary jobs -- restaurants, health care, food products, community-support networks, schools, etc., that will serve the workers. The Midwestern U.S. and the more remote parts of California and other states would see a surge of income, growth, jobs and consumer goods."

In America, industrial hemp has long been associated with marijuana, although the plants are different breeds of Cannabis sativa, just as poodles and Irish setters are different breeds of dog.

While hemp contains minute levels of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana (compare 0.3 percent or less in Canadian industrial hemp versus 3-20 percent for medical marijuana), to get high you'd have to smoke a joint the size of a telephone pole.

Still, the historical hysteria caused by federal anti-marijuana campaigns of the 1930s, which warned that marijuana caused insanity, lust, addiction, violence and crime, have had a long-term impact on its distant relative.

Doomed by the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, which in effect criminalized cannabis and levied high taxes on medical marijuana and industrial hemp, hemp cultivation wasn't technically disallowed.

--- end of part one ---

Read the entire article here:
[link=http://www.alternet.org/environment/133055/hemp_is_not_pot:_it%27s_the_economic_stimulus_and_green_jobs_solution_we_need/]http://www.alternet.org/environment/133055/hemp_is_not_pot:_it%27s_the_economic_stimulus_and_green_jobs_solution_we_need/[/link]
[[b]Submitted by dlenef[/b]]]]> Hemp4Fuel<contact@nospam.com> Thu, 26 Mar 2009 01:32:22 -0700 http://hemp4fuel.com/news.php?item.192.1 Ron Paul Leading Charge to Legalize Hemp Farming http://hemp4fuel.com/news.php?item.190.1
Please write to your Congressional representatives and ask them to consider becoming an original cosponsor for the Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2009.
The new 111th Congress is now in session we need your Congressional representative to consider becoming an original cosponsor for the Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2009, which will allow farmers in the U.S. to once again have the opportunity to grow this valuable agricultural crop.

The message that you will send to them is specifically written to educate their staff, who actually read and reply to letters and emails from constituents, about agricultural hemp. Thank you very much for taking the time to write!

Instructions and Original Articles:
[link=http://capwiz.com/votehemp/issues/alert/?alertid=12393271]http://capwiz.com/votehemp/issues/alert/?alertid=12393271[/link]

Hemp Farming Act of 2009, ask your Rep to co-sponsor

Field of Industrial Hemp
Photo - Wiki-Commons user: MarkusHagenlocher

In a letter to their fellow represenatives, Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) and Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) announced they will soon introduce the Hemp Farming Act of 2009.

The bill would allow farmers to grow non-psychoactive industrial hemp to the extent they are allowed under their state's laws.

Instead of importing hemp seed, fiber, and oil this would enable the U.S., and our farmers to compete in this growing industry.

Hemp farming in the U.S. goes back to the country's birth, when it was deemed so important that its cultivation was mandated by our first president George Washington.

Again in WWII its contribution to the war effort was considered so important that farmers growing it were exempt from military duty.

Unfortunately, a mixture of ignorance, misinformation, and hysteria led to its prohibition; which needs to end. Hemp has too much potential to help solve too many problems to remain illegal.

Take paper for instance: One acre of hemp can produce as much as four times the amount of paper than an acre of forest, and hemp regrows over the course of one season, where it would take trees 30 years or more (if they were replanted).

The need for toxic chemicals is greatly reduced when producing paper from hemp as well, eliminating the need for chlorine-bleach in the process. Hemp paper can also be recycled more times than paper from tree-pulp and its quality is far superior.

Lets make 2009 the year we ended the Hemp farce, it's long over-due. Use this form to write your Congressional representatives and ask them to co-sponsor the Hemp Farming Act of 2009.


[[b]Submitted by dlenef[/b]]]]> Hemp4Fuel<contact@nospam.com> Sat, 14 Mar 2009 10:36:41 -0700 http://hemp4fuel.com/news.php?item.190.1 How Alternative Fuel Pricing Works http://hemp4fuel.com/news.php?item.185.1
[link=hyperlink url]http://auto.howstuffworks.com/alternative-fuel-pricing.htm[/link]

Petroleum "shocks" aren't anything new. Although the theory of peak oil consumption has been a popular topic of discussion recently, the first worldwide scares over the availability of oil occurred in 1973. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) raised oil prices -- and subsequently gas prices -- when it cut back on oil supplies to countries that supported Israel during the Yom Kippur War. This oil crisis, along with a subsequ­ent energy crisis in 1979, led some people to think about diesel as an alternative to gasoline.

As tensions between OPEC and importing countries lessened, gas prices eventually stabilized and the demand for diesel-powered vehicles decreased. (They remain popular in Europe, since the European Union continues to set strict emission standards.) Still, the events were a hint that we might have needed to get away from our oil dependence.

More than 30 years later, recent spikes in gas prices have drivers frustrated at the pump. We all need a way to get around, but the limited availability of public transportation systems like subways in the United States leaves us few choices. On top of this, concerns over global warming and the impact petroleum has on the environment have many worried about the future of the Earth. Some are now looking into alternative fuels and alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs) as solutions to oil dependency. Although definitions can vary, alternative fuels are anything other than the two conventional, petroleum-based fuels, gasoline and diesel. They include ethanol, biodiesel, propane, natural gas and electricity (energy from batteries or fuel cells), among others. Several of these fuels offer better efficiency and burn more cleanly than gas, so they might be more desirable to someone who wants to save both money and the environment.

­But just as petroleum-based products are subject to pricing, so are alternative fuels. And, as sources of energy, both kinds of fuel compete with each other. But how are the prices of fuels like ethanol and biodiesel set, anyway? Is it any different from the way gas prices are set? And for someone thinking about switching to an AFV, would it be less expensive in the long run if you're paying for something other than gasoline? To learn about alternative fuel prices and how they compare to gas prices, read on.

Ethanol Prices
Ethanol, one of the most talked about alternative fuels, is derived from renewable sources, mainly corn. Essentially, it's the same as grain alcohol and can be used as energy in many cars. Some see ethanol as a good way for the United States to lessen its dependence on foreign oil, since it's a domestic product that comes right from crops in the Midwest.

­Veh­icles rarely use 100 percent ethanol as a fuel -- instead, a certain percentage of ethanol can blend with gasoline for a cleaner-burning fuel. For instance, you can find E10, a mixture of 10 percent ethanol and 90 percent unleaded gasoline, in 46 percent of America's gasoline, and it will work in any vehicle. E85, on the other hand, is a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent unleaded gasoline -- it only works in flexible fuel vehicles (FFVs), although the auto industry is producing more and more of these kinds of cars each year.

Predicting the price of ethanol is tricky and unpredictable, since the gasoline industry blends it with gasoline itself, and demand for the fuel has gone up and down despite a steadily increasing supply. Actually, you can think of the price of something like E85 as a slightly lower gas price, because that's just what adding ethanol to gasoline does -- it simply lowers the price of the gas with which it's combined. The October 2007 Clean Cities Alternative Fuel Report noted the national average price of E85 as $2.40, while the average for gas was $2.76.

Still, the majority of the price of ethanol more or less depends on the price of corn. Since oil affects the prices of food (high prices increase the costs of distribution), recent spikes in oil prices should have pushed corn prices up -- but they haven't yet, and ethanol blends have managed to stay a bit lower than gas. Congress also taxes ethanol at a lower rate so it can compete with gas. The United States General Accounting Office states that "motor fuels consisting of at least 10 percent biomass-derived ethanol are exempt from 5.4 cents of the 18.4-cents-per-gallon federal excise tax" [source: GAO].

And just like regular gasoline, the price of ethanol blends will vary depending on the region. Prices in the upper Midwest are generally lower, because the ethanol doesn't have that far to travel. Prices in the Rocky Mountain region are a bit higher, on the other hand, because it costs more to send the ethanol out there.

Biodiesel Prices
The other major biofuel, biodiesel, is used, of course, in diesel engines. Like ethanol, it's derived from renewable sources -- in biodiesel's case, vegetable oils or fats -- but, unlike ethanol, it can burn in diesel engines whether it's a blend or pure biodiesel (B100). Many people are surprised to learn that Rudolf Diesel, the inventor of the diesel engine, originally thought of vegetable seed oil as the engine's main fuel.

­Raw materials and transportation decide most of the price for biodiesel. The most common ingredients used to make biodiesel are soybean oil and yellow grease, the latter of which comes from soy oil, canola oil and the other oils used for cooking french fries and other fried foods. Fast food restaurants recycle and reuse these oils as much as they can, but after a while it doesn't serve a cooking purpose. Biodiesel producers can then purchase the used yellow grease and convert it into biodiesel. Acquiring and processing the soybean oil and yellow grease accounts for as much as 80 percent of the price. Biodiesel also gets a $1 per gallon discount on federal excise tax, which lowers the overall price for consumers.

The price of biodiesel ultimately depends on the blend. B20, for instance, cost about $3.08 in October 2007, three cents lower than regular diesel's $3.11 average at the time. B100, on the other hand, cost higher at an average of $3.38, due to the increased amount of production that goes into making pure biodiesel.

Many companies that use vehicles with diesel engines are switching to biodiesel because of the potential to save money. Newer diesel engines rarely have to be modified to use biodiesel, and it doesn't cost much to retrofit older ones. In Oregon, for example, construction companies that use diesel engines and modify them with retrofit devices for improved performance are eligible for as much as 50 percent in tax credits [source: Oregon Environmental Council]. With better fuel efficiency and cleaner emissions, biodiesel looks to help many businesses using diesel engines, but it could affect more than just big trucks on the highway. The production and profit potential for biodiesel, according to the University of Wisconsin's Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment (SAGE), is huge, and the department suggests in a report that countries could produce as many as 51 billion liters a year.

Propane, Natural Gas and Electricity
­You probably know propane from barbecues -- it's the­ fuel in that little white cylinder attached to the side of the grill. Although propane isn't considered an alternative fuel for heating houses or grilling purposes, it's the most popular alternative to gasoline and diesel. It's unique in that it's not produced or refined like biofuels. Instead, it's a byproduct of natural gas processing and oil refining. Propane and butane (the same fuel used for lighter fluid) are collected during production in order to keep these liquids from condensing and causing processing difficulties.

But even though it comes from the same place as gasoline, it still has to compete with it. Many things can affect the price of propane, but the main factors include the cost of crude oil, the prices of other competing fuels, the balance of supply and demand, the distance propane must travel to customers and the time of year. Because demand for propane is much higher during the winter due to increased heating use, prices will be higher during these months. This causes prices to hover above and below gasoline -- while propane may be cheaper than gas in the summer time when supplies are higher, demand in winter will raise costs above gas prices. In October 2007, propane was $2.75, one cent cheaper than gas.

Natural gas is one of the three fossil fuels -- the other two are oil and coal. It's mostly comprised of methane, or one carbon atom and four hydrogen atoms. It's drawn up from underground wells just like oil, processed to remove byproducts, and then stored by the gas company. This process affects about 75 percent of the price, while distribution costs determine the other 25 percent. Again, taxes and region may cause prices to vary, but natural gas is one of the cheapest and cleanest-burning alternative fuels -- in October 2007, the national average was only $1.77, almost a dollar less than gasoline.­

Electricity prices for electric cars are the easiest prices to determine -- it's just about the same you pay for electricity to power the light bulbs in your home. Although prices vary by region, season and even the time of day you charge an electric car's battery, the national average for electricity in the United States is about 7.5 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh). An electric vehicle with an efficiency of 3 miles per kWh will cost about 3 cents a mile, while a gas-powered engine that gets 18 miles per gallon will spend about 14 cents per miles when gas prices are $2.50.

[[b]Submitted by kabukisensei[/b]]]]> hempistry<ajingrao@nospam.com> Mon, 09 Mar 2009 11:09:04 -0700 http://hemp4fuel.com/news.php?item.185.1 How to double world gas mileage by 2050 http://hemp4fuel.com/news.php?item.179.1
by Candace Lombardi Cnet News

A new campaign to improve automotive fuel efficiency worldwide by 50 percent by the year 2050 was announced at the Geneva Motor Show on Wednesday.

The Global Fuel Economy Initiative and its "50 by 50" campaign has the backing of leaders of four major international organizations: David Ward, director general of the FIA Foundation; Nobuo Tanaka, the executive director of the International Energy Agency; Jack Short, the secretary general of the International Transportation Forum; and Achim Steiner, the executive director of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).

Car companies, the "50 by 50" report (PDF) says, must develop car fleets that collectively on average get double the gas mileage they get today, and people must buy them, in order to effectively reduce automotive CO2 emissions and oil consumption.

While the group praised all-electric cars and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles it noted that such advanced technology is not immediately necessary, nor a guarantee of carbon dioxide reductions until countries have cleaner electricity production.

"We have to find ways to reconcile legitimate aspirations for mobility, an ambitious reduction in CO2 from cars worldwide, and global economic recovery. There are opportunities to combine support for the industry with measures to achieve governments' environmental and energy policy goals," said a joint statement signed by the leaders of the four organizations.

The Global Fuel Economy Initiative report said a combination of simple steps when collectively applied could have a large impact.

On the technology side it recommended two main things:


Develop more hybrids overall, offer more car models in a hybrid version, and when possible offer a plug-in hybrid version.


Implement and improve less glamorous but achievable incremental technology for gas and diesel engine cars like weight reduction, better aerodynamics, and improved efficiency in the internal combustion engine.
But technology alone will not get the world to the goal unless it's propelled by political action, according to the report. On the political side, the initiative recommended the following:

Present clear data on fuel economy statistics for cars as well as their effect on the global climate, and require automakers to be more transparent on a car model's real-life fuel efficiency.


Lobby shareholders with significant stakes in automotive companies on the benefits of selling cars with fuel economy improvements.


Convince governments to offer better incentives for companies to develop more fuel-efficient vehicles.


Launch campaigns in different countries throughout the world to arm individuals with information on fuel efficiency and their options for car buying.

Taking those steps will save over 6 billion barrels of oil per year by 2050, and reduce carbon dioxide emissions from cars by about 50 percent, according to the report.

"Cutting global average automotive fuel consumption (L/100 km) by 50 percent (i.e. doubling MPG) would reduce emissions of CO2 by over 1 gigatonne (Gt) a year by 2025 and over 2 gigatonnes (Gt) by 2050, and result in savings in annual oil import bills alone worth over USD 300 billion in 2025 and 600 billion in 2050 (based on an oil price of USD 100/bbl)," said the report.

The initiative acknowledges that its goal is ambitious. The report points out that the amount of cars in the world is expected to triple by 2050. It attributes this expected growth to the surge of car ownership in developing nations.

[[b]Submitted by hempistry[/b]]]]> hempistry<ajingrao@nospam.com> Thu, 05 Mar 2009 10:40:00 -0700 http://hemp4fuel.com/news.php?item.179.1 Google crashes the smart-grid party http://hemp4fuel.com/news.php?item.168.1
Google now wants to organize your home's energy information.

The search giant on Tuesday muscled into the burgeoning smart-grid software business, showing off a prototype Web application that displays home energy consumption broken down by appliance. The software uses so-called smart meters, which can communicate home energy consumption back to utilities every few minutes.

The driving idea behind the Google PowerMeter iGoogle gadget--and nearly all smart-grid companies--is that giving consumers access to more detailed home energy data will lead to lower usage. There are dozens of smart-grid trial programs now going on, offered through utilities.

Engineer Russ Mirov, one of the Google employees testing the software, was able to reduce his electricity use 64 percent over the past year, saving $3,000, by replacing inefficient refrigerators and running his pool pump at scheduled intervals.

Google cites figures showing that regularly viewing real-time energy use will prod people to cut electricity by 5 percent to 15 percent on average through behavioral changes. The product is now in private beta.

With its smart-grid push, Google is seeking to appeal directly to consumers, rather than working through utility-sponsored programs. Typically, smart-grid companies sell to utilities, giving them smart meters and software to help them operate the power grid more efficiently. As part of those programs, consumers can often get real-time information on energy use.


Google is also trying to influence smart-grid policy. On Tuesday, it published recommendations to the California Public Utility Commission, advocating that home energy data be available to consumers in real time for free in standard formats.

"Unfortunately, many of today's smart meters don't display information to the consumer. We consider this unacceptable. We believe that detailed data on your personal energy use belongs to you, and should be available in a standard, non-proprietary format," according to the announcement on the Official Google blog.

Sending ripples
Google's foray into smart-grid software was expected. Last year, it signed a partnership with General Electric to make smart-grid software. It has also been lobbying for stronger green-technology policies.

Through its Google.org philanthropic arm, the company has invested in a number of renewable energy firms, as part of an effort to make renewable energy cheaper than coal-powered electricity. It has installed a large solar array at its company headquarters and is testing a fleet of plug-in electric cars.

In the smart-grid arena, Google is taking a more overtly commercial position by introducing its own product. To gain broader acceptance for PowerMeter, it is creating a partnership program for hardware manufacturers, utilities, and government agencies. A company that makes a smart meter or in-home display for energy usage could, for example, make its information available in an Google gadget format or build a specialized application using PowerMeter.

"We can't build this product all by ourselves," Kirsten Olsen Cahill, a program manager at Google.org, told The New York Times in advance of the announcement. "We depend on a whole ecosystem of utilities, device makers and policies that would allow consumers to have detailed access to their home energy use and make smarter energy decisions."

Signing on utilities to make information available is crucial to the success of Google in this area, according to Jesse Berst, the founder of Smart Grid News. As a relative newcomer, Google doesn't have the relationships or a full understanding of the complexities of the power sector, he asserts.

"If the initiative succeeds, it will also bring some much needed leadership to the Smart Grid sector," Berst wrote. "If we are to get the Smart Grid we need, and in time to help with our many energy problems, we must have both robust platforms and a sense of urgency--two things that Google could bring about if it is willing to spend the effort and money."

Google's entry could make life uncomfortable for some home energy-management start-ups, including Tendril, Greenbox, and Control4, which need to decide whether to support Google's software or go their own way, he added.

Other smart-grid companies focus on infrastructure and don't necessarily overlap with Google's PowerMeter platform. GE and Silver Spring Networks, for example, focus on adding communications capabilities to hardware along the power grid.

There has been a push toward more standards in smart-grid technology, such as using Internet Protocol for communications, but many products are proprietary, according to industry executives.

Where next?
For a hint on where Google might go next, one could look at demand response software, which gives utilities the ability to remotely control home appliances with a consumer's consent and ability to override. Google joined an industry association called the Demand Response and Smart Grid Coalition in November.

For example, a consumer taking part in an energy-efficiency program could elect to have the air conditioner thermostat raised during peak time on a hot summer day. By making small changes over a large number of customers, utilities can cut down on peak demand significantly, potentially eliminating the need to build new power plants to meet growing energy usage.

Berst described PowerMeter as an extensible platform, much the way the Google's Android software is for mobile devices.

By building on the relatively simple features it introduced on Tuesday, Google could get into other businesses, such as coordinating the flow of energy from plug-in hybrid cars to the power grid during peak times.

Google's effort to influence smart-grid policy reflects the potential disruption that energy-efficiency regulations and smart-grid products pose to utilities.

Incentives for smart-grid deployments--the Obama administration has set a target of bringing smart meters to 40 million homes over the next three years--are a big part of the stimulus package being considered by Congress, with as an early draft offering $11 billion for research.

Yet many utilities are lukewarm or unenthusiastic about smart-grid technology. That's because utility regulations are traditionally structured around making investments to build new power plants and selling more electricity, not energy efficiency, said Roy Ellis, who focuses on energy, utilities, and chemicals regulatory relations at consulting firm Capgemini.

"Today, the vast majority of utilities are serious about carbon reduction. But once you say that, the business case still has to work for them to operate their business," Ellis said. "The business case starts to bump up against shareholder value."

Source Cnet News
http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10160234-54.html?tag=newsLeadStoriesArea.1
[[b]Submitted by hempistry[/b]]]]> hempistry<ajingrao@nospam.com> Tue, 10 Feb 2009 07:14:19 -0700 http://hemp4fuel.com/news.php?item.168.1