Generation Transportation

University Problem

2006-11-17T13:34:00.000-08:00

The University of Western Ontario is in discussions about parking.

The campus had held multiple meeting to discuss where to construct new buildings and how to manipulate its withering green spaces. At this crossroads of the future of transportation, the leaders of this new draft are confused as to what their next step should be. The bus plan that was proposed led to overcrowding and too many transfers for the plan to succeed.

Many universities must be struggling with this same issue. I often wonder how UT-Austin will change its transportation systems in the next five years. This issues can only be avoided so long until action needs to be taken. The universities need to find leaders of the new and experimental means of transportation to, from, and within the campuses.

fascinating!

2006-11-15T09:42:00.000-08:00

i found this brilliant article today. i wish all transportation articles were so informative and engaging. the writer, Tom Chiarella, reports to Esquire on his search for the "car of the future". Unsatisfied with the idea of a flying car (which he discovers is better described as a plane that can drive), Chiarella investigates the up-and-coming technologies that hold real promise to be the new look and completely different design of the future automobile.

in his search, chiarella gets to ride in a hydrogen mercedes. zero emmissions and odorless, but a bit noisy, and a bit delayed. he seems satisfied, but unimpressed. what fascinates me, though, is that they drove this hydrogen car on a normal, busy highway. could i be driving next to a hydrogen-fueled car without ever knowing it? it seems that the futuristic concept of a hydrogen car is not so futurisitc after all. although it will take years for the price to drop (it currently costs between $500K to $1 million).

last, but certainly not least, Tom Chiarella discusses the brilliance that is occuring at the MIT media lab. seriously, just reading his description of the amazing creativity and engineering that goes on in the ses-pool of geniuses makes me want to be a scientist. he specifically investigates Ryan Chin's City Car project. Chin has been creating a foldable, rentable, customizable car that is meant to respond and work alongside the city that its being driven in. incorporating the casters of desk chairs and the exisiting communications technology of big cities, the city car would have an incredible turning radius, impeccable technological capibilities (like reserving parking, buying tickets, etc.) i order to make driving efficient, easy, and convenient for city dwellers whenever they needed to get around town.

hopefully these scientists and transportation companies will be given the support they need in order to start making these new technologies possible. because all i've seen lately is talk talk talk. i want to see these things hitting the streets!

whats up with gas prices?

2006-11-07T21:14:00.000-08:00

while gas used to cost over $70/barrel, the price of gas has gone down. currently, the average cost per barrel is $59 and the difference is noticable at the pumps. OPEC apparently cut output Nov. 1st and expects to further cut production later in the year. effects of these cuts has yet to be seen.

i cannot decide whether price cuts are good or bad or the future of oil. surely more people are buying gasoline when prices drop, so perhaps higher prices are better for the environment? but while we don't have many other options available, higher gas prices sure aren't good for our wallets.

V W's Nanospyder

2006-11-01T10:29:00.000-08:00

Volkswagon rose the challenge to create a car that doesn't hurt the environment in any way. Their invention is called the Nanospyder and will be shown at DesignLosAngeles at the end of November. According to the article, the Nanospyder will run on hydrogen fuel cell motors contained in each wheel hub and an extra electrical generator. Its outer layer will be made of an organic material. It looks weird, but then again nothing on it is commercially available, so it most likely won't end up looking like this at all.

Futuristic cars are so weird.

Yahoo! Goes Green

2006-11-01T10:12:00.000-08:00

Yahoo! Autos has created a new department of their website appropriately called "Going Green". While the site claims to have an unprecidented amount of "unbiased" information on environmentally friendly cars, lets get real. There's no such thing as unbiased and there could definitely be more information.

What i do like about it, though, is their simplicity of information. for your everyday soccer mom looking to do her part for the environment, this site is great. Tons of pictures, simply technological explainations, tools to calculate gas mileage, and plenty of cars to choose from that are currently on the market. There is also a section for upcoming technologies, which is neccessary for any site of this nature. Going Green is constantly going to need updating, which shouldn't be a problem for Yahoo!.

The site also takes advantage of the trendy group features that Yahoo! and Google have been pushing lately. There is a "community" involvement on this Going Green site where consumers can discuss technological inqueries as well as view specifics on current hybrid model cars.

If someone asked me where to go to find out more on alternative fuels and available cars, this would be a great site to direct them to. Not a bad start, i would say.

Ford's take on the Situation

2006-10-26T17:11:00.000-07:00

WhatCar.com's recap of an interview with Ford's Global product development boss. Ford claims to have invested to much interest for the global warming scare, yet only "two thirds of Ford's future research and development budget" to advancing the use alternative fuels. According to Richard Parry-Jones, Ford's attempts at reducing carbon dioxide levels can only be achieved with more government incentives.

Good Points

2006-10-25T20:39:00.000-07:00

i stumbled upon this article today. i really liked the perspective: playing the devil's advocate on biodiesel and making great points that i hadn't considered before.

the good points:

- biodiesel refineries still have emissions that are bad for the environment
- more subsidies for the agricultural industries will cause the cost of food to increase, making it harder to aid third world countries with super cheap food exports
- the biodiesel industry is quickly gaining billions and billions of dollars without proof that it is a worthy alternative in the long run to gasoline
- currently biodiesel is only supplying 3% of US automobiles
- biodiesel is more expensive than gasoline
- most combination gasoline-diesel fuels have poor fuel-efficiency

Southridge Enterprises, Inc.

2006-10-10T19:03:00.000-07:00

Apparently Southridge Enterprises is looking to become "a renewable energy company with a mission to become the ethanol producer of choice in the Southeastern region of the United States." Seeing as they're headquartered in Dallas, i suppose its quite possible. The diesel of choice for them is ethanol (derrived from corn). They are currently in discussions to acquire an ethanol plant in Canada and move it to Mississippi. If it is successful, the plant could produce 60 million gallons of ethanol per year.

Wouldnt it be weird to see a bunch of Southridge station instead of Valero?

Berkeley Biodiesel Fuel Stop

2006-10-10T17:37:00.000-07:00

it isnt surprising to hear that the biodiesel market is expanding in berkeley, california - home of one of the most liberal universities in the country - UC Berkeley or "Cal". BioFuel Oasis has been opened since 2003, created by a group of women who are still involved in the co-op today.
Because of the committments of over 1600 loyal customers (including Willie Nelson), the Oasis is looking to expand and accomodate more customers. They currently offer Veggie Oil, which isn't cheap. in fact, its about $1 more than regular diesel and doesnt last as long either. the owners' reasoning to support veggie oil is that it is not "the answer", but that it is merely a temporary "solution".

i would like to see more attempts at biodiesel locally, here in Austin. everyone will always have a complaint about which fuel to use and which fuels would need more "investing in" but either way, it offers customers easy and convenient ways of using fuel alternatives. Austin is very similar to Berkeley in the political scheme of things and i feel that we should take the same initiative to help the alternative fuel industry grow.

Oklahoma is Trying to Help

2006-09-29T11:23:00.000-07:00

Oklahoma is becoming an important source for future ethanol fuel. Currently, corn is most commonly used to produce ethanol, but corn ethanol only makes up about 2% of the available transportation fuel in the US. Oklahoma is investing in switchgrass, a prarie grass commonly found in Oklahoma, which will help the government accomplish its goal of replacing 30% of US petroleum consumption by 2030. The article also states that the state is planning on creating a "handful" of biodiesel plants.

This Oklahoman effort seems do-able. I wonder if they will get the government funding to actually put these plants into action...literally.

EPA Library Closing

2006-09-24T18:17:00.000-07:00

the environment news service reported september 22nd that the EPA (environmental protection agency) is closing is headquarters library, a vast resource for environmentalists and scientists alike. why would such an important research center close in such an environmentally consciencious time? everyone is so concerned about the effects of gasoline emmissions, smog, water pollution, and especially global warming. shouldnt such a library be thriving in such a time? yet, the government claims that it is closing due to a lack of funding. as was the reason for the closure of EPA regional libraries in Dallas, Kansas City, and Chicago too. apparently, all files are currently inaccessible to the public AS WELL AS the staff of the library. environmental scientists feel as though they will not be able to conduct their work or research as well because of this shut off of information. oh, and dont' worry, the library's collections are NOT available online either due to "funding" problems. yeah, right. as if its so hard to scan some files and post them on a governmental site. this whole closure seems to be associated with someone's political agenda, not merely a lack of funding.

More Crude Oil Beneath the Gulf of Mexico

2006-09-19T19:37:00.000-07:00

crude oil discovered beneath the Gulf of Mexico could increase the US oil reserves by 50 percent. great. as if the alternative fuel manufacturers should be given any more time to develop theirgybu products and put them out in the market. instead, the US government should start creating mandates to slow down the consumption of oil. using up every last drop of the world's existing oil. who knows what kind of problems we could run into if that happened.

article here

The Hydrogen 7

2006-09-16T19:08:00.000-07:00

BMW announced on Tuesday that it will be leasing its hydrogen-burning car called the Hydrogen 7 by April of 2007. (read the MSNBC article here)

I had no idea that the leading automakers were so far along in the race for hydrogen-powered vehicles. But then again, i havent checked the status of it in the past few years. the progress is exciting, but even for lease, the car is extraordinarily expensive to drive. what isn't expensive, though, is the cost it will have on the environment. apparently, when burning the hydrogen tank (as opposed to the gasoline tank that is also available on the Hydrogen 7) the vehicle will only emit water vapor.

WHY?

2006-09-11T15:55:00.000-07:00

i realized today that i didn't state any reasoning for choosing to blog about alternative fuel sources. i saw an inconvenient truth this summer and it pretty much rocked my world. al gore makes valid and fully explained points that address the ever-increasing concerns about global warming. and although i am not FULLY convinced that the situation is as critical as he makes it appear, i am thoroughly convinced that fuel emissions have been ruining our environment in some form or fasion for quite some time. these are my reasons for further exploring the need for alternative fuel:

1. we will eventually (and potentially soon) run out of petroleum (which is used to make gasoline)
2. rising gasoline prices as a result of Katrina, the war in Iraq, OPEC, etc.
3. global warming
4. health problems caused by fuel emissions (think smog and other air pollutions)
5. foreign dependence because of our vast need for oil (we use about 25% of the world's oil, but only supply about 10%)

What We've Already "Got"

2006-09-07T11:12:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd start off exploring this issure with the current state of affairs here in the United States.

The Student's Guide To Alternative Fuel Vehicles summarizes the types of alternative fuels available and in use today. So basically, this is what we've got to use that isn't just gasoline.

Alcohols - ethanol and methanol.

Compressed natural gas (CNG) - natural gas under high pressure.

Electricity - stored in batteries.

Hydrogen - a very special type of gas.

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) - natural gas that is very, very cold.

Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) (also called propane) - hydrocarbon gases under low pressure.

Liquids made from coal - gasoline and diesel fuel that doesn't come from petroleum.

Biodiesel - a lot like diesel fuel, but made from plant oil or animal fat.

I'm particularly interested in figuring out what ethanol is all about, since I've been hearing so much about it lately. Auto Alliance says this:

"Ethanol also known as grain alcohol, is blended with gasoline to create E-85 motor fuel for use in spark-ignited engines. E85 is a mixture of nominally 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline. Vehicles are specially designed to run on E85; those that can also run on any mixture of gasoline and ethanol up to E-85 are called flexible fuel vehicles. Ethanol is produced by fermenting and distilling starch crops (such as corn, barley and wheat) that have been converted into simple sugars. Ethanol also can be produced from "cellulosic biomass" such as trees and grasses. When this feedstock is used, the fuel is called bioethanol. Ethanol is most commonly used to increase octane and improve emissions."

Apparently, there are about 20 (and counting) models available for purchase that are specially designed to run on this mixture of ethanol and gasoline. They are:

Chevrolet Avalanche
Chevrolet Impala
Chevrolet Monte Carlo
Chevrolet Silverado
Chevrolet Suburban
Chevrolet Tahoe
Chrysler Sebring
Chrysler Town & Country
Dodge Caravan/Grand Caravan Dodge Durango
Dodge Ram
Dodge Stratus
Ford Crown Victoria
Ford F-150 Pickup Truck
GMC Sierra
GMC Yukon
GMC Yukon XL
Lincoln Town Car
Mercedes-Benz C-Class
Mercury Grand Marquis
Nissan Titan

reasoning

2006-09-02T18:57:00.000-07:00

welcome to the blog that will discuss alternative sources of fuel and alternatives modes of transportation for future generations of americans.