CO2 emissions threaten ocean crisis
Scientists have warned that marine life will be irreversibly changed unless CO2 emissions are drastically cut.
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There are 2,200 new coal plants being planned worldwide — enough to cook the planet
On the upside, this electricity boom has helped these countries lift themselves out of poverty. But it’s also meant a rapid rise in carbon-dioxide emissions — and if coal continues to be the world’s energy source of choice, we’ll have little hope avoiding drastic global warming.
World is on a collision course with fossil fuels, California governor says
Addressing climate change, Gov. Jerry Brown said, requires reckoning with things that have made life comfortable for billions of people. “Oil, gas, coal has created the wealth we enjoy,” he said. “What was the source of our wealth now becomes the challenge of our future.”
Armored vehicles plug in
A fleet of six 26,000-pound, Class 5 armored vehicles will be converted to renewable natural gas PHEVs in an effort to comply with California air pollution standards.
EPA chief: Climate plan on track despite mercury ruling
A Supreme Court ruling that undermined a federal rule targeting mercury pollution will not affect the Obama administration’s plan to limit greenhouse gas emissions to slow the effects of global warming, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday.
United hopes third try with biofuels is the charm
United Airlines took a giant step toward cutting its reliance on foreign fuels last week when it made $30 million investment in Fulcrum BioEnergy, one of the leading manufacturers of aviation biofuels made from municipal waste.
The move is being touted as a step toward reducing carbon emissions, although there are some doubts about its impact in that respect. But reducing consumption of jet fuel certainly will have a significant effect in reducing our dependence on foreign oil.
Last year, United’s fleet of aircraft consumed 3.9 billion gallons of jet fuel, at a cost of $11.6 billion. Fuel costs represent 40 percent of any airline’s total expenses, and any move that cuts into that expense would be huge. Jet fuel currently sells for $2.11 a gallon, whereas Fulcrum says it can provide biofuel for less than $1 per gallon. More than 12 percent of our oil goes to making jet fuel.
Fulcrum has developed and certified a technology that can turn municipal waste, like household trash, into a sustainable aviation fuel that can be blended with existing jet fuel. The company is currently building a refinery called the Sierra BioFuels Plant near Reno that is scheduled to begin operation during the third quarter of 2017. The company also has plans for five more refineries around the country.
Biofuels are having some difficulty penetrating the automobile market, for a variety of reasons. But they’re perfectly suited for airlines. For one, they are a “drop-in” fuel that can be substituted for jet fuel without any changes. It will not require a whole new national infrastructure.
Second, airlines do most of their fueling at centralized locations. This eliminates a lot of difficulty in transporting and distributing the fuel. United, for instance, can fuel a very high percentage of its flights from its hub in Los Angeles.
Third, with jet biofuel there’s no risk of hitting the “blend wall” that supposedly limits ethanol to 10 percent of the gasoline mix. United says it will begin using Fulcrum’s fuel in 30 percent of its fuel mix for the first two weeks of flights between Los Angeles and San Francisco this summer. After that, the biofuels will be mixed in with its entire fuel stock.
United’s deal with Fulcrum is just one of several recent efforts by airlines to get into the biofuels business. Alaska Airlines aims to use biofuels at one of its airports by 2020. Southwest Airlines announced last year it would purchase 3 million gallons of jet fuel made from wood residues and produced by Red Rock Biofuels. And last year British Airways joined with Solena Fuels to build a biofuel refinery near London’s Heathrow Airport for completion by 2017.
United is on its third venture into the field. In 2009 the company made an unsuccessful attempt to introduce jet fuel manufactured from algae. Then in 2013 it agreed to buy 15 million gallons over three years from California-based AltAir Fuels, which makes biofuels out of inedible natural oils and agricultural waste. United is expecting the first 5 million gallons of Fulcrum fuel to be delivered to its LAX hub this summer.
The decision comes at a good time for the airlines, because the Environmental Protection Agency is starting to make noise about regulating the emissions of jet planes. Jet planes account for only 3 percent of our carbon emissions, but the number is growing rapidly. The Obama administration is proposing to set limits for airliner emissions. The International Civil Aviation Organization, a United Nations agency, is also expected to complete its own deliberations on setting standards to limit airline emissions by next February.
Fulcrum claims its technology will reduce the airlines’ carbon emissions by 80 percent, but this is based on dubious math that says carbon emissions count for zero if they do not come from fossil fuels. This premise has been challenged by a growing number of scientists who say that the whole logic of biofuels is flawed. Professor Timothy Searchinger of Princeton University has become a gadfly to the industry, arguing that if a forest is cut for biofuels consumption, it will be 90 years before this carbon can be replaced by new growth. A group of 78 scientists recently sent a letter to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy warning against the new EPA policy of encouraging the substitution of wood for coal. They said there would be no savings in carbon emissions.
The same logic applies, to some degree, to the use of municipal waste for biofuels. If the waste remained in landfills, it would be stored and not feeding its carbon content to the atmosphere. Therefore, it doesn’t make much difference if they are substituted for fossil fuels – the carbon output is the same. There is some benefit to using it, however, since some carbon from municipal waste ends up escaping from landfills as methane, and many facilities are required to capture it.
As far as gaining an advantage in cutting the level of foreign fuel imports, however, there is no question that biofuels can substitute for jet fuel on a 1-to-1 basis. Airlines are at a disadvantage in that they cannot be powered by electrification or natural gas, as is starting to occur in the automotive sector. Therefore, the amount of municipal waste-based fuel that can be substituted for oil-based jet fuel will be significant. And after all, the nation is certainly not going to run out of household trash.
(Photo from Hub.United.com)
Shell’s Arctic icebreaker damaged in Alaska
Shell’s drive to resume Arctic drilling this summer has hit another speed bump, with the discovery of a hole in the hull of an ice management vessel meant to safeguard the company’s operations in the Chukchi Sea.
Four reasons why fuel choice is good for the environment
There’s a lot to love about fuel choice — lower gas prices, reduced dependence on foreign oil, and of course helping the environment. That’s right: Bringing competition to the pump isn’t just good for your wallet, it’s good for your planet. When you support fuel choice you’re helping make a cleaner world. Here’s how:
- AIR POLLUTION: It’s the most important thing we do every day, and we do it thousands of times a day without even thinking about it. Breathing. Yet for 44 percent of the nation, according to the American Lung Association, breathing isn’t simple. These 44 percent live in areas where the air quality is dangerous. Where every breath brings toxins like hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and particulate matter. Where do those toxins come from? Mostly, from dirty transportation fuels like gasoline and diesel.
- DANGEROUS TRANSPORTATION: The increased oil production in the United States in recent years has put more pressure on the U.S. rail system to move around all that oil, and that has led to a string of derailments and spills that have polluted groundwater and threatened wildlife. Between 1975 and 2012, 800,000 gallons of crude oil was spilled in accidents in the U.S. In 2013, 1.15 million gallons were spilled. In 2014, another 57,000 gallons were spilled from a record 141 “unintentional releases,” which also caused $5 million in damage. By displacing some oil and using more ethanol, the risk would come down considerably, since the fuel is less volatile than petroleum and dissipates quickly in water.
- CLIMATE CHANGE: The average American car releases about 6 tons of carbon dioxide into the environment every year, and oil is responsible for 43 percent of the fuel-related CO2 emissions in the United States. These emissions inflict great harm on the climate. Imagine how much cleaner our environment could be if we added more fuels like ethanol and methanol into the market. Embracing fuel choice will allow consumers to have access to cleaner fuels, while decreasing our carbon footprint.
- OIL SPILLS: Our oil addiction has hurt more than our wallets – it’s hurt our environment. Oil spills, like the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 and the Santa Barbara pipeline spill in May, devastate wildlife and ruin livelihoods. Breaking our oil addiction and ushering in an era of fuel choice will reduce demand for oil, and the potential threat of leaks and spills.
There are many ways to clean up the planet, but opening the market to cleaner types of fuel is too important to ignore. Want to help us make fuel choice happen? Together, we can move toward fuel choice and a cleaner environment: Join the movement today by visiting: Fuelfreedom.org/take-action.
BP reaches $18.7 billion settlement over deadly 2010 spill
BP Plc will pay up to $18.7 billion in penalties to the U.S. government and five states to resolve nearly all claims from its deadly Gulf of Mexico oil spill five years ago in the largest corporate settlement in U.S. history
California approves $373 million in clean-vehicle grants
The California Air Resources Board has approved $373-million in grants to bolster alternative-fuel vehicles, including fleet-eligible rebates for low- and zero-emission passenger vehicles, the board announced.
