Category Archives: Energy and Climate Change

News and articles on climate change, vehicle pollution, and renewable energy.

New technologies could save petrol and diesel power

Energy and Climate Change, News, Reviews and Comment

With the environmental credentials of traditional internal combustion engines and especially diesel much maligned following the Dieselgate scandal, vehicle manufacturers are increasingly switching to low and zero emission alternatives.

Petrol power emits higher CO2 levels, and so has led manufacturers towards diesel, which emits less and therefore helps them achieve a lower overall carbon footprint with their fleets. However, this has resulted in other consequences with higher levels of nitrogen oxides (NOx), which are now known can cause serious health issues and have been linked to further air pollution issues. Yet due to EU economy regulations, diesel helps carmakers meet strict guidelines, meaning their hands are tied when it comes to fuel technology. With these restrictions tightening further, manufacturers are now left with lots of diesel power, and nothing they can do with it.

Some manufacturers are trying to develop technology that will allow them to continue running petrol vehicles, with Mazda launching a new engine, the SkyActiv-X, which does away with spark plugs and works on the same principle as a diesel, using compression to produce the ignition of fuel and therefore making the engine more efficient and less polluting.

Now, vehicle technology and systems provider Delphi has developed a fuel saving technology using petrol, which would improve efficiency figures without the risk of further pollutants. The company believes that combining two emerging technologies can boost petrol efficiency, possibly by as much as 19%, bringing them in line with diesel, while preserving the low-end torque that diesel drivers are accustomed to.

Delphi’s proposal combines its 48-volt mild hybrid system with a new type of cylinder deactivation it calls Dynamic Skip Fire. Both systems are ready for production, Delphi says, though neither is likely to arrive before 2020. The 48-volt system and Dynamic Skip Fire can be used separately but complement each other by increasing engine efficiency at both low and high speeds.

Read more: Autovista Group

New UK real-world diesel test to cut NOx emissions by 66%

Energy and Climate Change, News, Reviews and Comment, Pollution, Uncategorized

A new real-world test for diesel vehicles will begin later this week to more accurately measure emissions of vehicles sold in Britain.

Starting from 1 September, tested cars will be driven on urban and rural roads as well as motorways, with measuring equipment placed on their exhaust system.

The evaluation, which replaces current lab-based tests, will last 90 minutes and focus on cars due to reach market in Britain in the coming months. From 1 September 2019, all existing cars on sale will also be retested with this new system.

Government estimates suggest the stricter tests, rolled out as part of European-wide reforms following the Volkswagen Dieselgate scandal, will help to cut nitrogen oxide emissions from new diesel vehicles by two-thirds.

The Government claims that this reduction will be possible because where some cars were shown to have performed better in the lab than in real life, now they will have to conform to emissions limits in public – something that will force manufacturers to produce even cleaner powertrains.

A diesel-testing programme last year found that several Euro 6 diesel cars were emitting around six times more nitrogen dioxide in the real world than in the lab.

Certain models, such as those caught up in Dieselgate, were engineered to perform better in lab conditions, therefore deliberately skewing their CO2 and NOx outputs in order to be categorised as lower-emitting vehicles. Others saw rises in emissions after 20 minutes – the duration of the lab test process.

Transport Minister Paul Maynard said the new testing structure came as part of broader ambitions to improve air quality in Britain. From 2020, councils will be given power to enforce tougher restrictions on the highest polluters of nitrogen oxide.

“We are taking strong action to clean up our air and these tough new emissions standards will reduce dangerous pollutants,” he said. “This will ensure all vehicles meet rigorous standards when driven on our roads – and we are going even further by tightening requirements again in 2020.”

Earlier this year, the UK Government revealed plans to ban the sale of pure combustion engine cars from 2040. Some critics, including Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer, believe the legislation will have little impact, because the market is naturally heading in this direction.

Source: MSN /Autocar

New study finds that climate change costs will hit Trump country hardest

Energy and Climate Change, News, Reviews and Comment

In the USA, the southeastern states are most vulnerable to the costly impacts from human-caused climate change

Humans are causing Earth’s climate to change. We know that. We’ve known it for decades. Okay so what? The follow-up questions should be directed to what the effects of warming will be. What will the costs be to society, to the natural biosystem, and to human lives? Let’s be honest, if the consequences of warming are not large, then who cares? But, if the consequences are severe, then we should take action now to reduce the warming. This really comes down to costs and benefits. Are the benefits of reducing emissions greater or less than the costs?

But there is a nuance to the answer. The costs are not uniformly distributed. Some regions will suffer more and other regions will suffer less. In fact, some regions will actually benefit in a warming climate. We understand that the world is interconnected and costs will inevitably be shared to some extent. But it is clear we won’t all suffer the same.

It is also clear that the natural biosystems won’t suffer the same. Some areas are more susceptible to climate change, others less so. Coastal areas and tropical areas are great examples. We know that sea level rise and ocean acidification will impact coastal regions much more than where I live (Minnesota, USA). But tropical zones that experience a very small climate variation throughout the year (there is no winter, for instance, in the tropics) have biosystems that have evolved to survive in very tight climate ranges. The plants and animals just are not used to systematic changes to the climate.

In my opinion, the most interesting research deals with answering just these questions.

Fortunately, a really important paper just came out in Science titled Estimating Economic Damage from Climate Change in the United States. Granted, this paper focused on the United States, but the analysis method and lessons can be applied elsewhere.

Read more: The Guardian

Electric cars charging in Milton Keynes (Image: T. Larkum)

Parked electric cars are earning money balancing the grid in Denmark

Electric Cars, Energy and Climate Change, News, Reviews and Comment

Vehicle-to-grid system could offer frequency response, incentivize electric ownership.

Electric cars charging in Milton Keynes (Image: T. Larkum)

A year-long trial in Denmark is showing that utilities can use parked electric vehicles (EVs) as spare batteries, and those EVs can earn quite a bit of money for their owners from the utilities.

In an interview with Bloomberg New Energy Finance, Nissan Europe’s director of energy services, Francisco Carranza, said that a fleet of 10 Nissan e-NV200 vans has earned €1,300 ($1,530) over the year.

Electricity grids around the world are facing an era of rapid change as more electric vehicles hit the road and as grid supply changes. For grid managers, sometimes small amounts of power are necessary to regulate current frequency and keep the grid working. At the same time, if a lot of electric vehicles draw power from the grid concurrently (for example, when they’re parked at home at night, or when they’re parked at work during the day), that threatens to change how grid operators plan to meet demand, as well.

Researchers and grid managers have theorized that vehicle-to-grid connections could help solve some of these problems. By installing two-way connections where an EV could charge its battery and send power back to the grid when it’s needed, an electric car battery increases its value and makes electricity infrastructure more stable.

Research has been done on vehicle-to-grid connections for years. In 2010, East Coast grid manager PJM worked with the University of Delaware to test communication control and logic between an electric vehicle and a grid.

More recently, Ford and GM have tried similar tests, working especially to synchronize charge and discharge cycles so that the owner of the EV always has enough juice to get in the car and go when necessary.

Read more: ars Techinca

Getting Poisoned in my Electric Car

Blog, Electric Cars, Energy and Climate Change, Pollution, Uncategorized

I’m on my way down the M1 from Northampton to Milton Keynes and the motorway has come to a halt. It’s not clear exactly what’s happened, but a bit of Googling on my phone indicates there’s an on going ‘police incident’. Apparently a suspicious object has been found under a bridge near Newport Pagnell. This started an explosive device incident. However, further investigation seems to have turned it into a chemical spillage incident. Anyway, the motorway is shut both ways between Junction 15 and J14. I joined the back of the queue about 8.30am and it’s now 11.30. People are milling around and chatting, and generally behaving well. However it’s shocking how many drivers keep their engines running. For the first couple of hours you couldn’t walk around without being assaulted by the noise, smell and fumes from three rows of diesel. Now, three hours in, most are off with just a few diehards keeping them on continuously.

Being in an electric car saves me from the noise, but unfortunately I can’t avoid breathing the fumes. I look forward to the day when we can all leave poisonous fumes in the past.

Electric cars charging in Milton Keynes (Image: T. Larkum)

EV emissions fall by two-thirds as renewables kick in

Electric Cars, Energy and Climate Change, News, Reviews and Comment

Emissions from electric vehicles (EVs) have fallen by two-thirds as a result of electricity generation becoming greener.

Electric cars charging in Milton Keynes (Image: T. Larkum)
Electric cars charging in Milton Keynes (Image: T. Larkum)

That’s according to a new report from researchers at Imperial College London in collaboration with Drax, who say power generation shifting from coal to renewables means electric transport is now cutting more carbon emissions than ever before.

It showed the power produced from April to June this year contained 199g of carbon dioxide (CO2) per kWh, 10% lower than last year.

Producing the electricity to charge a Tesla Model S back in 2012 would have created 124g CO2 per km driven – the same as a 180 horsepower Range Rover.

The researchers say that has now halved to 74g CO2 per km in winter and 41g CO2 per km in summer.

Smaller cars like the Nissan Leaf and BMW i3 can be charged for less than half the CO2 of the cleanest non-electric car on the market, the Toyota Prius hybrid.

Dr Iain Staffell from Imperial College London said:

“It is widely accepted that electric carsdramatically reduce air pollution in cities but there is still some debate about how clean they actually are – it varies depending on where the electricity to charge them with comes from.

“According to our analysis, looking at a few of the most popular models – they weren’t as green as you might think up until quite recently but now, thanks to the rapid decarbonisation of electricity generation in the UK, they are much better.”

Source: Energy Live News

Can Your Car Power Your Home? Nissan Thinks So

Electric Cars, Energy and Climate Change, Energy Storage, News, Reviews and Comment, Nissan

When you think of the electric cars, Tesla is perhaps the name that first comes to your mind. For all its technical achievements, the Elon Musk-backed company has also done a great job of marketing and made itself synonymous with the electric cars industry. But as industry observers know, if there’s one car that’s come close to matching – and at times exceeding – Tesla’s success, it’s the Nissan Leaf.

The Nissan Leaf was the world’s best selling electric car for a couple of years, and at other times was not too far behind Tesla’s offerings. While Tesla is the upstart that has shaken up multiple industries, Nissan, of course, is among the incumbents in one of the biggest industries in the world. The automaker invited Gadgets 360 to its headquarters in Yokohama, Japan earlier this year, and we got an opportunity to pick the brains of some of the company executives to understand the company’s vision for the future of mobility.

We touched upon a wide range of topics, from autonomous driving – and the role Nissan will play in its evolution – to clean energy, and the company’s beliefs that vehicle-to-grid might be a huge opportunity for automakers and consumers alike.

What is vehicle-to-grid?

If you’ve heard anything about electric cars, you’ve obviously realised that they need to be charged regularly, often at night, when the car is standing idle in the garage. With vehicle-to-grid, automakers want to make the relationship between the cars and the grid a lot more involved, starting with how the cars might want to give back to the grid.

Daniele Schillaci, EVP, Nissan explains.

“The EV [Electric Vehicle] technology is changing also the cost of ownership for the customer,” says Schillaci. “Because today, when you have normal technology – gasoline or diesel – your car in the night, is stuck on the garage, you cannot use it, it’s a fixed cost. The EV technology – thanks to the vehicle-to-home – means the car, even when you don’t use it, it becomes a variable cost. Because during the night, your house charges the car because the electricity fee is very low during the night. And during the day, your car can charge your house, when the electricity fee is higher.”

Read more: Gadgets360

Renewable energy boost allows for reduction in EV pollution

Energy and Climate Change, News, Reviews and Comment, Pollution

A new study has found that electric vehicles (EVs) are more environmentally friendly than they were five years ago, based on the energy they draw from the UK’s National Grid, affirming their use in reducing pollution.

The research has been carried out by Imperial College London, and was commissioned by power supplier Drax. It suggests that due to the increase in renewable energy production such as solar farms and wind turbines, the amount of CO2 produced by charging an EV has dropped considerably. For example, charging a Tesla Model S would create around 124 grams of CO2 per kilometre (g/km) in 2012, however this is halved to 74g/km in winter and 41g/km in summer. The seasonal difference is down to the energy generated by solar farms, which is far less in colder and darker months. The shortfall is instead made up by gas power stations.

Dr Iain Staffell from Imperial College London explains: ‘It is widely accepted that electric cars dramatically reduce air pollution in cities, but there is still some debate about how clean they actually are – it varies depending on where the electricity to charge them with comes from.

‘According to our analysis, looking at a few of the most popular models – they weren’t as green as you might think up until quite recently, but now, thanks to the rapid decarbonisation of electricity generation in the UK, they are much better. Smaller electric cars like the Nissan Leaf and BMW i3 can be charged for less than half the CO2 of the cleanest non-electric car on the market – the Toyota Prius hybrid.’

To use small cars as an example, the Nissan Leaf uses 58g/km in winter and 32g/km in summer, compared with 97g/km in 2012, while the BMW i3 uses 48g/km (winter) and 27g/km (summer) compared to 81g/km in 2012. For context, a 2 litre Range Rover Evoque emits 125g/km and a Toyota Prius emits 70g/km based on data from the government’s Vehicle Certification Agency.

Read more: Autovista Group

Industry gears up for WLTP introduction

Energy and Climate Change, News, Reviews and Comment, Pollution

In just a week’s time, the EU’s new more rigorous emissions test, the Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP) will finally be rolled out, two years after news of the Volkswagen emissions scandal first broke.

It will apply to all new car type model approvals from September 2017 onwards, replacing the previous NEDC procedure, and incorporate real world driving conditions into the test for the first time, as well testing with optional equipment fitted, to give a truer impression of vehicle emissions on the road.

It is hoped the new WLTP test, alongside software updates and scrappage incentive schemes announced following the Berlin diesel summit earlier this month, will help restore political and public confidence in the EU emissions testing procedure following Dieselgate, and avert costly diesel driving bans.

The new WLTP emission test has enormously far-reaching implications, affecting pricing, residual values, sales volumes and revenues. Premium brands who previously NEDC-tested their vehicles without popular optional equipment installed are likely to see the greatest increase in their fuel economy and emissions figures, due to the additional weight these add to the car.

Japanese and Korean OEMs such as Toyota and Hyundai are expected to benefit the most from the new testing procedure, due to their typical strategy of including higher levels of specification in their cars as standard to compete with their European rivals, at a similar price point.

Some more confident OEMs have already started publishing WLTP CO2 and mpg (miles per gallon) figures for their new models alongside the NEDC figures. However, with all new models launching from September forced to publish WLTP figures, and with some manufacturers having developed more sophisticated methods to optimise their vehicles for the outgoing NEDC test, it is expected that a considerable number of headline-grabbing shocks are on the cards. Figures from some models could suddenly be significantly higher than competitor models they previously outperformed, and this could also result in changes to marketing strategies.

Read more: Autovista Group

Ford offers both diesel and petrol scrappage scheme in the UK

Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, Pollution

Ford has become the latest vehicle manufacturer to offer a scrappage scheme in the UK, following the likes of BMW and Volkswagen (VW) in offering drivers the opportunity to save on their new vehicle by trading in their old one for scrap. With the largest fleet in the UK, this could have a significant benefit for drivers and air quality levels in the country.

However, unlike its scrappage plan in Germany, which followed the country’s government led diesel forum, for the UK market the company will take both petrol and diesel vehicles. These have to be pre-Euro 5 vehicles registered by 31 December 2009, with customers being offered £2,000 (€2,181) against a new Ford vehicle.

However, the manufacturer does not yet offer a pure electric vehicle (EV) in the country, and the scrappage scheme does not include the company’s Mondeo model, the only vehicle the company offers with a hybrid option. Furthermore, the Focus EV is expected to launch in the UK during 2018, while the scrappage deals only run until 31 December 2017, meaning drivers will simply be trading in for a new petrol or diesel.

‘Ford shares society’s concerns over air quality’,

said Andy Barratt, Chairman and MD of Ford of Britain. ‘Removing generations of the most polluting vehicles will have the most immediate positive effect on air quality, and this Ford scrappage scheme aims to do just that.

‘We don’t believe incentivising sales of new cars goes far enough and we will ensure that all trade-in vehicles are scrapped. Acting together we can take hundreds of thousands of the dirtiest cars off our roads and out of our cities.’

According to data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) there are around 19.3 million pre-Euro 5 vehicles on the road in the UK. Therefore, Ford believes it will be aiding the reduction of that number, which, together with other scrappage schemes from other manufacturers, could have the effect of reducing CO2 by 15 million tons per year.

Read more: Autovista Group