If press coverage is any measure, it appears electric vehicles (EVs) have finally arrived. Tesla’s Model S was named Automobile Magazine’s Car of the Year, the Nissan Leaf is topping the EV sales ranks and the industry is abuzz with anticipated sales impact of BMW’s super-light i3.
Tesla Motors has been playing a game of economic development poker for its $5 billion Gigafactory with five states — Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico and Texas. Last week, Tesla’s billionaire CEO Elon Musk revealed the bid he expects from the winning state. Musk, speaking on a conference call with analysts, said the place that gets the Gigafactory will need to put up 10 percent of the total cost, meaning $500 million.
Located in the middle of Marcellus Shale development, Washington & Jefferson College appropriately is at the center of an interesting shale study. W&J’s Center for Energy Policy & Management teamed with the Environmental Law Institute of Washington, D.C., on “Getting the Boom Without the Bust: Guiding Southwestern Pennsylvania Through Shale Gas Development.”
Heath Ward wanted Springdale to be first in line — more specifically, he wanted the city’s water utilities department to be first. Ward, the executive director of Springdale Water Utilities, said it was an easy decision to commit to buy two vehicles that run on compressed natural gas. The sewer and water commission agreed and voted unanimously to purchase a light-duty and a heavy-duty truck for the Water Utilities on July 16.
Next month, Tulsa will host a conference called NGVOK, which offers three separate tracks for businesses interested in learning more about compressed natural gas and its benefits.
Freightliner Trucks has announced that the Cummins Westport ISX12 G heavy-duty natural gas engine will be available as a factory-installed option for the 114SD severe-duty truck model in 2015.
As requirements grow for use of cellulosic biofuels to meet the energy needs of the nation, researchers look at potential feedstocks and any effects these alternative sources may have on greenhouse gas emissions.
U.S. natural gas futures edged higher on Monday, though gains were likely to remain limited as short-term weather forecasts kept calling for mild summer temperatures across much of the U.S. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, natural gas for delivery in September tacked on 0.82%, or 3.1 cents, to trade at $3.829 per million British thermal units during U.S. morning hours.
Twelve states filed a lawsuit against the Obama administration on Friday seeking to block an Environmental Protection Agency proposal to regulate coal-fired power plants in an effort to stem climate change. The plaintiffs are led by West Virginia and include states that are home to some of the largest producers of coal and consumers of coal-fired electricity.
Four years after a BP oil rig exploded and flooded the Gulf of Mexico with an estimated 170 million gallons of oil, scientists have discovered further evidence of coral communities affected by this environmental disaster. Scientists at Pennsylvania State University, in State College, Pa., found coral communities that show signs of damage from 2010’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill more than 12 miles (20 kilometers) from the disaster site. The new findings suggest that the oil spill’s footprint is both deeper and wider than was previously thought.
