Ford announced this month that it will lower the fuel economy rating on its C-Max Hybrid. The C-Max had been marketed as a 47-mpg crossover, blending generous cargo space and fuel economy in a new way. But in real-world driving, the vehicle fell significantly short of those claims. Consumer Reports found that the C-Max yielded 37 mpg in its
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There are a lot of contaminated sites in the US. Many are former landfills that are urban mounds of varying size, and they are often devoid of trees. This makes them good candidate sites for solar power or other forms of renewable energy. This is a win-win opportunity in many instances!
Today, back to back, I experienced two different sides to an important argument that I hope readers will find interesting. I had a meeting this morning with Richard Stuebi, a gentleman who’s been in and around the game of raising capital for cleantech start-ups long before I had the idea. He’s a believer in the importance of the development of technology from the standpoint of
By 2050, the world’s population is expected to hit nine billion. And, by that year, scientists have projected that 80 percent of the world’s population will live in urban environments. In the United States alone, research indicates that people spend 90 percent of their time indoors, as noted in a TriplePundit article.
How often do we hear warnings for people with respiratory conditions to stay inside to avoid high levels of poor or toxic air in their communities? There are good reasons for those warnings. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sees how damaging these sky-high air pollutant levels can be and, as a result, are focusing more closely on urban air quality
Court Issues Split Decision in Cargill’s Renewable Fuel Credits Greenwash Case
written by Walter Wang
The Renewable Fuel Standard (“RFS”) Program is an EPA program promulgated under the Clean Air Act which mandates that certain “obligated parties” must sell gasoline containing a certain percentage of renewable fuel. To ensure that sufficient volumes of renewable fuel are produced in and imported into the U.S., companies in the gasoline business are required
The U.S Presidential Elections have finally come to a close as a victorious Barack Obama gets another four years as President of the United States. A lot of people still have hope that with his re-election, things will change for the better. As a citizen who values the environment, what exactly can we expect from the newly re-elected president?
Not long ago, the Obama Administration raised the federal fuel efficiency standards, known as CAFE, to an average 35.5 mpg by 2016. Yesterday, they announced the CAFE were being raised again to historically high levels. For model year 2025, the average fuel economy for cars and light-duty trucks will be set at 54.5 mpg. This will mean a nearly doubling of fuel
Coal bed methane is a form of natural gas extracted from coal beds. In recent decades it has become an important source of energy in United States, Canada, and other countries. The term refers to methane adsorbed into the solid matrix of the coal. It is called sweet gas because of its lack of hydrogen sulfide. The presence of this gas is well known from its occurrence in underground coal mining, where it presents a serious safety risk for miners. Water from coal-bed natural gas production may contain sodium bicarbonate at concentrations that can harm aquatic life, according to a new study by the U.S. Geological Survey and US EPA. An increase in the production of coal-bed natural gas has occurred throughout the nation. The results of this aquatic study may help resource managers achieve a balance between beneficial use of water resources (such as irrigation) and the protection of aquatic life throughout the nation and abroad. The study area included the Tongue and Powder Rivers in Montana and Wyoming, where several types of experiments and assessments were used for 13 aquatic species.
Coal bed methane is currently expanding in the Powder River Basin of northeast Wyoming and southeast Montana. Seven percent of the natural gas (methane) currently produced in the United States comes from such extraction. Methane from coal bed reservoirs can be recovered economically, but disposal of water is a potential environmental concern.
Sodium bicarbonate, which is also celled baking soda, is a commonly used chemical that people and animals are often exposed to in food and household products. So it is not considered highly toxic. However, it is a simple salt and enough salt to make fresh water salty water which can be harmful to freshwater fish.
The water extracted along with coal-bed natural gas is called produced water. Produced water is a by-product of the coal-bed natural gas extraction. Companies may dispose of produced water in several ways— discharging it directly into watersheds; treating and then discharging it; injecting it into deep wells; discharging it to drip irrigation systems; or capturing it in evaporation ponds. Produced water is not the same as water injected during hydraulic fracturing.
The aquatic species tested had difficulty surviving in waters in which sodium bicarbonate was found at levels from about 1,120 to greater than 8,000 milligrams (mg) of sodium bicarbonate per liter. Results varied across species and depended upon the age of the organism. Chronic toxicity was observed at concentrations that ranged from 450 to 800mg of sodium bicarbonate per liter. The specific concentration depended on the sensitivity of the four species of invertebrates and fish exposed. The Tongue River, for example, has a natural baseline of approximately 280mg of sodium bicarbonate per liter.
Deionization treatment practices employed in the Tongue and Powder River watersheds appear to reduce the concentrations of sodium bicarbonate and reduce the toxicity of untreated effluent water. Areas with concentrations likely to cause significant mortality in the Tongue and Powder River Basins appear to be limited to tributaries and parts of mixing zones with considerable additions of untreated discharge.
Conventional and unconventional (including hydraulic fracturing) oil and gas extraction practices often result in large volumes of produced water that contain elevated salts and dissolved solids from naturally occurring sources. The addition of sulfates and bicarbonates to surface waters may also result from the disturbances associated with mountain top removal mining. The current data can also be used to separate effects of saline discharges from those potentially posed by other constituents.
Article appearing courtesy Environmental News Network.
Once upon a time 10 miles per gallon for a car was fairly normal. The 2013 Honda Fit EV (Electric vehicle), has received a combined adjusted Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) mile-per-gallon-equivalency rating of 118 MPG(equivalent), and an unprecedented low consumption rating of just 29 kilowatt hours (kWh) per 100 miles. With an EPA rated annual fuel cost
Cars do emit air pollutants. One aspect of this occurs during fueling of the vehicle. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has determined that the systems used at gas station pumps to capture harmful gasoline vapors while refueling cars can be phased out. Modern vehicles are equipped to capture those emissions. This final rule is part of the
EPA is proposing to take common-sense steps under the Clean Air Act to limit carbon dioxide pollution from new power plants. EPA’s proposed standard reflects the ongoing trend in the power sector to build cleaner plants that take advantage of American-made technologies. The agency’s proposal, which does not apply to plants currently
Mitsubishi Motors has developed a reputation for developing sport inspired vehicles that outperform more expensive sports cars yet are reasonably affordable (See the Lancer Evolution). When it comes to electric vehicles, Mitsubishi has not been generally considered part of that world. However, this has recently changed as Mitsubishi ls now taking
As the last days of the year wind down, Congress scurries around to finish its unfinished business, almost always with "surprises" for the regulated community.
The House appropriations committee issued a final version of the 2012 Omnibus spending bill last week. It has, of course, significant implications for energy