Christy M asked: Electric cars are currently touted to save the mother Earth from the issue of global warming but are they really capable of doing that? After all, electricity is generated from coal and coal, just like petrol, is a … [Read more...]
Hydrogen Fuel Cell Cars vs Electric Cars – Which Is Really The Car Of The Future?
Friday 02/25/ By Leave a Comment
Gary Ruplinger asked: With gas prices being so high, alternative fuel vehicles have become a popular topic. Two of the types of vehicles that tend to get a lot of press are the hydrogen fuel cell powered vehicles and electric powered vehicles. … [Read more...]
Alternative Energy Technologies and the Origin of Specious
Thursday 02/17/ By Leave a Comment
John Petersen Thanks to a recent comment from JLBR, I've found a new hero in Dr. Peter Z. Grossman, an economics professor from Butler University who cogently argues that government attempts to force alternative energy technologies into an R&D … [Read more...]
Tesla opens Milan store in style, Washington with spacey splash
Tuesday 02/15/ By Leave a Comment
Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Tesla Motors, Europe/EU, USA Tesla Roadster in front of Washington D.C. store Tesla Motors has just opened a pair of new retail stores on two differnet continents. That's number 16 and 17 for those of you keeping score at … [Read more...]
Distinguishing HEV Efficiency from Plug-in Vehicle Waste
Sunday 02/13/ By Leave a Comment
John Petersen Over the last couple years I've frequently argued that plug-in vehicles are inherently wasteful on a micro-economic and a macro-economic level. Unfortunately complex economic proofs are hard to grasp at a glance and my biggest … [Read more...]
Electric Vehicles and the Natural Resource Cliff
Monday 02/07/ By Leave a Comment
John Petersen We all love to whine and complain about oil prices because we buy gasoline regularly and that makes the price changes obvious. To solve this overwhelming problem, myopic visionaries with rose colored glasses propose a simple solution … [Read more...]
Battery Recycling Realities for Energy Storage Investors
Friday 02/04/ By Leave a Comment
John Petersen One of the most fervently debated and poorly understood topics in energy storage is the subject of battery recycling. What percentage of the raw materials that go into a battery can be economically recovered from used batteries with … [Read more...]
Tesla Motors Launches a New Battery Recycling Program in Europe
Wednesday 02/02/ By Leave a Comment
The battery pack of a Tesla Roadster electric car. Photo: Tesla Motors Turning Batteries Into Batteries In a gasoline car, the majority - on the order of 80-90% - of the environmental impact comes from usage (ie. burning fossil fuels). But with an … [Read more...]
One million plug-in vehicles by 2015: How reasonable is Obama’s goal?
Wednesday 02/02/ By Leave a Comment
Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Legislation and Policy, USA We heard it on the campaign trail and we heard it at President Obama's recent State of the Union address. The President's goal is to make the United States to "the first country to have a million … [Read more...]
Rare-earth metals a nice-have, not must-have for cleantech
Sunday 01/30/ By Leave a Comment
My Clean Break column today explains why rare-earth metals, while important for the development of wind turbines, electric cars and energy-efficient lighting, aren't as critical to the market as many believe. Most wind turbines today don't rely on … [Read more...]