going green memphis 5-02-10

8/8/2019 Going Green Memphis 5-02-10

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2 GOING GREEN| S u n d ay , May 2, 2010 co m m er c ia l a p pea l.co m

FedEx rolls all-electric in LAFred Smith says there are still bighurdles to introducing more low-emission commercial vehicles

Clean dieselIt will reduce your carscarbon footprint, butweigh costs with care

UPS adds hybridsThe package carriersgreen fleet is 20,000vehicles strong

Mazda takes a different pathWhile other automakers push hybrids, itsintroducing a newer diesel engine

Scooter haszero emissions

Hydrogens notout of the running

On the cover

Illustration by Rick Nease/Detroit Free Press files

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!Going Green is a special online publication ofThe Commercial Appeal. We welcome your commentsand suggestions. Follow Going Green on Twitter atw w w .t w i t t e r .co m /G o G r e e n M e m p h i s.

Ed i t o r : Roland Klose, 529-5893,goi n gg r e e n@co m m e rci a la pp ea l .com

Whats in this issue ...

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http://www.twitter.com/GoGreenMemphismailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.twitter.com/GoGreenMemphis


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The Commercial Appeal Su n d ay , May 2, 2010 | GOING GREEN 3

The Green Page

GroupsCitizens to Preserve Overton

Pa r k : Organized to preserve anddefend the Old Forest of OvertonPark. overtonparkforever.org or (901)

278 - 2 3 9 6.Coalition for LivableC o mm u n i t i es : The organizationadvocates healthy, vibrant andeconomically sustainablecommunities. livablememphis.org or(901) 725-8390.

Greater Memphis Greenline:Promotes the development of theGreenline and other unused railwayr i g h t s - o f-w ay and easements intohiking and biking trails.g r eat erm em p hi sg r ee nli n e.org .

Lichterman Nature Center: A 65-acre natural preserve in the city, witha lake, meadow and forest.m e m p h i s m u s e u m s .o r g / l i c h t e r m a n -overview or (901) 767-7322 ext. 100.

Mid-South Peace and JusticeCenter: Works with low-incomecommunities in Memphis to plan andplant community gardens, providingarea residents with access to freshproduce. midsouthpeace.org or (901)72 5 - 4 9 9 0.

Project Green Fork: A communityinitiative that helps Memphisrestaurant owners in reducing waste,lowering overhead and decreasingtheir environmental impact.p r o j e c t g r e e n fo r k .o r g .

Sierra Club, Chickasaw Chapter:Promotes policies to protect theenvironment, organizes hikes andoutdoor recreation, and supports pro-environmental candidates.t e n n es se e.s i erra c l u b.o r g /c h i c kasawor (901) 324-7757.

To submit items , e-mail goinggreen@commercialappeal .com .

Coffee BreakThe Living Green Coffe e

B rea k gatherings continue thisThursday at the MemphisBotanic Garden. The free one-hour sessions, which start at8:45 a.m., feature presentationson an aspect of green living withtime for audience questions andanswers. The coffees areco-sponsored by MemphisBotanic Garden and CA Media,publisher of The CommercialAppeal and Going Green.
http:///overtonparkforever.orghttp://livablememphis.org/http://livablememphis.org/http://greatermemphisgreenline.org/http://greatermemphisgreenline.org/http://greatermemphisgreenline.org/http://greatermemphisgreenline.org/http://greatermemphisgreenline.org/http://greatermemphisgreenline.org/http://greatermemphisgreenline.org/http://greatermemphisgreenline.org/http://greatermemphisgreenline.org/http://greatermemphisgreenline.org/http://greatermemphisgreenline.org/http://greatermemphisgreenline.org/http://greatermemphisgreenline.org/http://memphismuseums.org/lichtermanoverviewhttp://memphismuseums.org/lichtermanoverviewhttp://midsouthpeace.org/http://projectgreenfork.org/http://sierraclub.org/chickasawhttp://sierraclub.org/chickasawhttp://sierraclub.org/chickasawhttp://sierraclub.org/chickasawhttp://sierraclub.org/chickasawhttp://sierraclub.org/chickasawmailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://sierraclub.org/chickasawhttp://projectgreenfork.org/http://midsouthpeace.org/http://memphismuseums.org/lichtermanoverviewhttp://greatermemphisgreenline.org/http://livablememphis.org/http:///overtonparkforever.orgmailto:[email protected]


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4 GOING GREEN| S u n d ay , May 2, 2010 com m er c ia l a p peal.co m

FedEx tests all-electricdelivery trucks in California

By Ronald D. White

Los Angeles Times

FedEx is rolling out the first of fournew all-electric delivery trucks in LosAngeles this month, but company chair-man, CEO and president Frederick W.Smith said there are still significant bar-riers to bringing large numbers of zero-emission and low-emission commercial

vehicles into service quickly in the U.S.

We would like to significantly ex-pand the number of vehicles we have inthis category, Smith said. But the cap-ital costs are 50 percent higher thanregular vehicles. Production hasntramped up enough to bring down theexpense. The regulatory requirementsare arduous, and there arent enoughtax credits or incentives.

Slightly smaller and more rounded than the conventional FedEx delivery van,the new electric truck can haul 3,300 pounds and has a range of 100 miles on asingle charge.


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The Commercial Appeal S u n d ay , May 2, 2010 | GOING GREEN 5

Fe d Ex s new all-electric truck recent-ly wrapped up a road trip from Chicagoto Los Angeles along historic Route 66,with a final stop at the Santa MonicaP i e r.

Slightly smaller and more roundedthan the conventional FedEx deliveryvan, the new truck was built in In-diana by Navistar International Corp.,and designed by Modec of Coventry,England. FedEx first tested a smallnumber of similar trucks in Europe.

Its time for the truck manufactur-ing industry to create its version of thePrius: clean, affordable

and widely available fortruck fleets, S mithsaid as a driver put thenew electric truckthrough its paces ondowntown L.A. streets.

Smith said that hiscompanys interest ingreatly reducing re-liance on fossil fuelsdates to 2000, when itteamed with the Envi-ronmental DefenseFund to develop a clean-er delivery truck. Threeyears later, Eaton Corp.and Freightliner Custom Chassis Corp.built the FedEx hybrid truck, whichwas put into service in 2004. FedExsaid hybrid trucks improved fuel econ-omy 42 percent, reduced greenhousegas emissions 25 percent and cut par-ticulate pollution 96 percent.

There were only about 1,200 hybridtrucks on the road in the U.S. in 2009,according to the Environmental De-fense Fund. The FedEx fleet includes319 diesel-electric hybrids among its

27,000 trucks in its Express division;in the Los Angeles region, 70 of theroughly 1,000 delivery trucks are hy-brids.

Worldwide, FedEx said that it wouldhave 1,869 alternative-fuel vehicles inits inventory by the end of June, butSmith said it wasnt nearly enough. Us-ing low-emission vehicles, FedEx saved45 million gallons of fuel, therebyavoiding 452,573 metric tons of carbondioxide emissions between fiscal years2005 and 2008, the company said.

In the fiscal third quarter that endedFeb. 28, the company

said it spent $694 mil-lion on gasoline, dieseland jet fuel.

John E. Formisano,FedEx vice president of global vehicles, said theNavistar electric truckcould haul 3,300pounds and has a rangeof 100 miles on a singlec h a rge . Two more electrictrucks are also going tobe tested in Los Ange-les, but FedEx hasnt se-lected a manufacturer

yet .FedEx executives acknowledge that

a handful of electric trucks will barelymake a dent in the companys fuelconsumption and noxious emissions.But by commissioning and testing such vehicles, FedEx helps move thetechnology forward, they said.

They have been tested in colderc l i m at e s , Formisano said. We re go-ing to see how they operate in LosAngeles now.

Its time for thetruck manufacturingindustry to create its version of the Prius:clean, affordable and widely available for

truck fleets.FREDERICK W. SMITH

FedEx CEO and president


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6 GOING GREEN| S u n day , May 2, 2010 com m er c ia l a p peal.co m

UPS adds200 hybridsto U.S. fleet

By Melissa Hincha-Ownby Mother Nature Network

UPS recently announced that theyare adding 200 new next-generation

hybrid electric delivery trucks to theiralready massive low-emission and al-ternative-fuel vehicle fleet.

The companys green fleet is 20,000vehicles strong, 50 of which are hybridel e c t r i c .

The company has been using a fleetof 50 hybrid electric delivery trucks inAtlanta, Dallas, Houston and Phoenix.

U PS s green fleet consists of 20,000 vehicles that are low-emission and usealternative fuel, including 50 hybrid electric. The company will be adding 20 0next-generation HEV delivery trucks to its fleet.


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The new batch of eco-friendly big brown trucks will be hitting the streetsof Austin, Texas; Houston; Philadel-phia; Chicago; Washington, D.C.; Long Island, N.Y.; Minneapolis; andLouisville, Ky.

The next-generation hybrid electric

vehicle (HEV) delivery trucks will al-low UPS to reduce fuel consumptionby approximately 176,000 gallons eachyear. This reduction in fuel consump-tion will also lead to a nearly 1,800metric ton of carbon dioxide emissionson an annual basis.

The new HEVs use a diesel enginethat recharges the battery pack or addsadditional power to the engine whennecessary. The battery pack can thenbe recharged with regenerative brak-ing technology. According to UPS, thecombination of a clean diesel enginewith electric power allows for a sig-nificant improvement in both fuel con-sumption savings and emissions re-ductions when compared to a standard

diesel-powered truck.We re proud of this large HEV de-

ployment to major cities in the UnitedSt ates, said Bob Stoffel, UPS seniorvice president of supply chain, strat-egy, engineering and sustainability.

This technology, where properly

used, can yield a 35 percent fuel sav-ings, the equivalent of 100 conven-tional UPS delivery vehicles. UP Slaunched its first HEV in 1998, wellbefore hybrid vehicles were as popularas they are today.

In 2001, a HEV delivery truck wasentered into regular service in theHuntsville, Ala., region. The secondUPS hybrid delivery truck went intoservice three years later in Kalamazoo,Mich.

With the addition of the second-generation HEV delivery trucks, UPSnow has a hybridized fleet of 250delivery trucks providing package de-livery service to customers across then at i o n .

Do just one thingKeep your car smelling fresh and clean with a homemade air freshener. Fill a la r ge

tea strainer with either charcoal (the kind for the grill) or dried lavender. Charcoal isa natural deodorizer, so it will absorb foul fragrances. When its left in a warm car,lavender will perfume the air with a soothing and pleasing scent. This is a hea l t hyalternative to chemical-based, artificial car fresheners.

We re proud of this large HEV deployment to majorcities in the United States.

BOB STOFFEL, UPS senior vice president of supply chain, strategy, engineering and sustainability


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8 GOING GREEN| Sund ay, May 2, 2010 com m er c ia l a p peal.co m

By Brian J. OCo n no r / Detroit News

WITH MILEAGE that can be as much as one-third better than

comparable gasoline engines hitting more than 40 mpg on thehighway clean diesel engines can take a big bite out of yourcars carbon footprint.

The new diesels are much improved over the models thatappeared in the late 1980s, with lowered tailpipe emissions andquieter performance that refutes diesels reputation as noisy

Figuring out theeconomics of

clean diesel is abalancing act.You get much

better mileagethan a similargas engine in

most cases, butthe fuel costs

more, and youllpay more for thecar. Some of thecost is offset by

tax credits which

run from $900to $1,800.

Mike BrownThe Commercial

Appeal files

Considering clean dieseWeigh costs with care


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stinkpots. But the premium cost of diesel models and diesel fuel mean theyalso can take a bite out of your wallet.

In many cases, it can take years fordrivers to see real savings from theimproved mileage of a diesel, notesJohn ODell, senior editor of the GreenCar Advisor at Edmunds.com.

There is a cost savings on fuel, butyou still have the premium diesel priceon most models, ODell says. It takesa while for the savings on fuel to offsetthat .

Auto shoppers need to add it all up tosee how a clean diesel will affect the

family budget.All the clean diesels on the U.S.market are European imports, some of them high-end cars that use premiumrather than regular fuel. That erasessome of the concern about diesel fuel,which recently has been priced betweenregular gas and premium.

Driving habits make a big difference,too. Someone who drives 30,000 milesa year instead of 15,000 cuts thepayback time in half, while a driver whosticks around town will need longer torecoup the investment.

The years-long payback period forclean diesels still is shorter than it takesmany hybrid buyers to make theirmoney back, though. A 2009 analysis byEdmunds.com found that the gassavings on a Toyota Camry hybridwould earn buyers back their hybridpremium in about six months, but thatbuyers of a Ford Fusion hybrid wouldneed more than seven years.

In addition, tax credits for the morepopular hybrids have disappeared asmanufacturers hit their quotas, making those cars more expensive. B esides

strict calculations on cost, there areother factors that can make a cleandiesel a good choice, such as size andperformance. While most hybrids aresmaller vehicles, Bradley Berman,editor of the website Hybridcars.com,points out that the VW Jetta TDI

Clean diesel models such as the VWJetta TDI Sportswagon, the VW Jettaturbo-diesel and the Mercedes E-Classdiesel offer good fuel efficiency andrate higher in terms of performancestandards than many hybrids.
http://edmunds.com/http://edmunds.com/http://hybridcars.com/http://hybridcars.com/http://edmunds.com/http://edmunds.com/


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10 GOING GREEN| S u n d ay, May 2, 2010 co m m er c i a l a p pea l.co m

Sportwagon is a popular, clean diesel because of itslarger size. If you like the wagon platform, forinstance, theres not a hybrid wagon or minivanthat fits that profile, he says.

When it comes to the overall driving experience,clean diesels also have an advantage, notes MikeQuincy, an auto specialist with Consumer Reportswho recently took a spin in a VW Golf turbo-dieselat the test track and reports getting an impressive38 mpg with a manual five-speed transmission.

That compares very favorable to our last test ona Toyota Prius, which got 44 mpg, Quincy says.

But the Golf is so much more engaging to drive.If you line them up side by side, most of mycolleagues would choose the Golf. Its just so much

nicer to drive.Diesel engines also are quicker off the line toaccelerate and can offer much longer cruising rangefor long trips, he adds, such as the Mercedes E-class diesel. The cruising range was 600 miles onone tank of fuel, Quincy says. It was beautiful.

There are other pros and cons for clean dieselcars. For example, diesel engines last longer andneed less frequ ent tune-ups, notes ODell of Edmunds.com.

Your tune-ups are farther apart, but theyre littlemore expensive. Its just that you have lot morerel i a b i l i t y, he says. A diesel engine is barelybroken in at a couple hundred-thousand miles, sothe big savings is on repairs. Youre not going todevelop the wear-and-tear problems.

The longer life of diesels also offers an advantagein residual value, ODell adds.

There are two- and three-year-old Jetta dieselsselling for a higher price than they sold for new,he says. We anticipate the resale value on mostnew diesels will follow the same trend.

The big variable in deciding how much financialsense a clean diesel makes comes down to fuelcosts, the experts say.

If the price of diesel drops, the savings getbigger, but if the cost increases, so will the time torecoup any purchase premium.

By Bryce G. Hoffman Detroit News

NEW YORK As oth-er automakers rush tobring more hybrids to mar-ket, Mazda Motor Corp. istaking an entirely differentapproach to fuel economy.

The Japanese automak-er plans to bring a diesel-powered midsized sedanto the United States in2012 that will get 43miles per gallon. That isbetter than any of todaysmidsized hybrids, andMazda promises its carwill cost far less.

Consumer Reports testengineer Jake Fisher

called it one of the mostimportant announce-ments made at the recentNew York auto show.

That was big news, be-cause we need a small dis-placement, fuel-efficientdiesel that doesnt cost anarm and a leg, he said.

M a z dadiesel totake onhybr ids
http://edmunds.com/http://edmunds.com/http://edmunds.com/


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The Commercial Appeal Su n d ay , May 2, 2010 | GOING GREEN 11

Volkswagen has one, but every othermanufacturer seems scared of diesels.

Mazda, Japans fifth-largest carmaker,has a history of contrarian thinking. Itremains the only proponent of the rotaryengine and has always found its biggestsuccesses by zigging when others zag.

Its new Sky-D diesel is no exception.While the engine has been in devel-opment for years, Mazda CEO TakashiYamanouchi said his company only de-cided to bring it to the U.S. market afterlearning that Honda Motor Co. and Toy-ota Motor Corp. would not bring dieselshere. Toyota does not see a subst an-

tial market yet for diesels in the U.S.That provides us with a huge op-p o r t u n i t y, he said. We re able to pro-vide hybrid-like performance at lowercost. It will probably make some hy-brids unnecessary.

Diesel engines have always gotten bet-ter mileage than their gasoline counter-parts, but they also have been more ex-pensive. That is because they usuallyrequire a costly after-treatment systemto remove polluting nitrogen oxide fromthe exhaust. Mazda says it can avoidthis because of a unique approach tobuilding diesel engines. Mazda has al-ready patented its diesel system.

Its something that others wont beable to easily emulate, Yamanouchi said,noting that the Volkswagen Jetta is the

only sedan available in the U.S. that offersa small, low-cost diesel. Our diesels per-formance will be superior to the Jettas, soit provides us with a huge opportunity.

Not everyone is sure it does.Analyst Jim Hall of 2953 Analytics

LLC in Birmingham says Americanshave never been sold on diesels, anddoubts Mazda can do much to change

that particularly with the price gapbetween diesel and gasoline fuel closing.

Diesels are not going to fly in thiscountry unless there is a significant dis-count for diesel fuel, but at this point,its approaching parity with gasoline,he said. You will go broke trying toeducate the American customer aboutthe benefits of diesel.

Diesels have long been regarded bymost Americans as loud, dirty and ex-p e n s i ve .

But thanks to reformulated cleandiesel fuel, todays models are neither.And both VW and its luxury brand,Audi, have found that plenty of Amer-icans do appreciate the fuel savings andenvironmental benefits they offer.

Diesels only account for 3.7 percentof the U.S. light vehicle market, ac-cording to Wards Automotive Group.

Mazdas new clean diesel will make itsU.S. debut on the next-generationMazda midsize sedan. The Sky-D

motor (above) will likely find its wayinto most of Mazdas lineup. Theautomaker believes diesel engines willallow it to meet the U.S. governmentstough new fuel economy requirementswithout a hybrid.


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12 GOING GREEN| S u n day , May 2, 2010 co m m er c ia l a p pea l.co m

By Yuri KageyamaThe Associated Press

WAKO, Japan Thegreen fad in Japan is ex-panding from cars tobikes with Hondas zero-emission super-quiet elec-tric EV-neo scooter.

The EV-neo zipsaround, emitting just a

calm whirring sound withnone of a motorcyclesgritty growl.

Honda plans to startleasing the scooters the equivalent of a 50ccgasoline-powered bike in December and says itstarget market is compa-nies that make deliveries,such as newspapers andpizza parlors. The EV-neohas a cruising range of 19miles on one charge.

Honda, Japans No. 2automaker, has a boom-ing motorcycle divisionand makes popular carssuch as the Odyssey mini-van and Insight hybrid.

The EV-neo gives Hon-da a chance to push anelectric vehicle, an areawhere it has been less ag-gressive than rivals suchas Nissan Motor Co. andMitsubishi Motors Corp.,said Honda General Man-

ager Toshiyuki Inuma.The motorcycle is a

more nimble business,and it allows us to try outmore things, said Inuma.

Overseas plans andsales to individual con-sumers for EV-neo arestill undecided.

Honda plans to leasethe scooters instead of selling them and hopes toset a price that will cost

less than a regular bikeover three years including gas prices a range thatwould be about $6,000 to$8,000 each.

Interest in getting around ecologically isgrowing in Japan. Thescooter is not only quietand green, but it alsodoesnt smell greasy, andmay prove a hit in in-dustrialized nations.

Kyodo News/Associated PressThe green fad in Japan is expanding from cars tobikes with Honda's zero-emission super-quietelectric EV-neo scooter.

Honda to lease electric scooters


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Dear Earth Talk: When the plug-in Prius is re- leased, how much electricity will it use? Will my elec-tric bill double if my Prius is plugged in each night? Or will the increase be minimal? Also, will all this

recharging put a strain on the existing electricity grid?

It is difficult to pin-point the answer to thisquestion right now since

Toyota has not yet re-leased its much anticipat-ed plug-in hybrid, butmost analysts believe theincrease in your electricbill from overnight charg-ing will be minimal.

According to the blog Futurewheels.com, elec-tric cars and plug-in hy-brids (those that havebeen converted by own-ers) currently averageabout two cents per mileto recharge (electric ratesvary greatly by region),while gasoline-only carsaverage about 10 centsper mile to refuel.

Plug In America, a Cal-ifornia-based network of electric vehicle and (self-converted) plug-in hybridowners, estimates thecost to charge a typicalplug-in hybrid overnightto be less than a dollar.So while your electric bill

might go up $30/monthdue to recharging, yourgas bill will decrease by

somewhere between 80and 100 percent depend-ing on your driving habits and what you weredriving beforehand.

Of course, its impor-tant to keep in mind thatregular hybrids cost be-tween $2,000 and$10,000 more than theirgas-only counterparts,and that plug-in hybridswill likely cost even more.

It would take years andyears of gasoline-freedriving to make up thesticker-price differencebetween a plug-in hybridand an equivalent-sized

gasoline-fueled car.As to strain on the ex-isting electricity grid,most experts agree thatplug-in hybrids and all-electric vehicles, even inthe unlikely event that allof us switched over tothem eventually, wouldnt

compromise the ability of utilities to provide power,given that they are al-ready scaled up to handlepeak loads during heatwaves when everyoneruns energy-hogging airc o n d i t i o n i n g.

Furthermore, most of

us would charge our carsovernight typically aslow period for utilitiesotherwise and during which they could gener-ate much more power if customers wanted it.

So if youre interestedin taking the plug-in hy-brid plunge when the carsbecome available, dontworry about increasedelectric bills, as overallyo u ll be saving gobs of cash at the pump.

And given the popular-ity of the current hybridson the road, enough of usmight go for the plug-inversions so as to reducethe cost disparity withtraditional cars mean-ing we could save greenin more ways than one.

Send questions to EarthTalk, P.O. Box 5098,Westport, CT 06881 or e-m ail

earthtalk@ emagazine.com .

EARTH TALK

Savings at pump offset cost of chargin
http://futurewheels.com/http://futurewheels.com/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://futurewheels.com/


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By Mary Clare Jalonick Associated Press

WASHINGTON Isethanol the wave of the fu-ture, creating domestic jobsand vital to the nations en-ergy supply? Or is it a tax-payer boondoggle responsiblefor higher food prices?

For some in Washington,the answers to those ques-tions have changed.

For years, ethanol fuel de-rived from corn was almostpolitically untouchable,thanks to powerful advocateson Capitol Hill. The ethanolindustry has consequently ex-ploded over the last decade,thanks to government subsi-dies and incentives.

But skepticism aboutethanol is rising, promptedby fluctuating food prices andan organized campaign by an-ti-ethanol advocates to dis-credit the industry.

The old saying is that if you arent at the table, youreon the menu, says Tom Buis,lobbyist and CEO of GrowthEnergy, a new ethanol indus-try group formed in 2008 assome ethanol companiesgrew worried that their po-litical clout was waning. The

THE INFLUENCE GAME:Ethanol doubles its efforts

Charlie Neibergall/Associated Press files

Is corn-based ethanol fuel the wave of thefuture, creating domestic jobs and vital to thenation's energy supply? Or is it a taxpayerboondoggle responsible for higher food prices?For some in Washington, the answer to thatquestion has changed.


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o rga n i z at i o n s largest member is PoetLLC, one of the countrys top twoethanol producers.

At stake are billions of dollars in taxcredits for ethanol companies that ex-pire at the end of the year and a pend-ing action at the Environmental Pro-tection Agency that could raise theamount of ethanol in every drivers fuelt ank.

Once a slam dunk, Buis says the in-dustry now has to work harder to con-vince an increasingly skeptical publicand Congress thatethanol continues to de-

serve government mon-e y. T h e re s evidence that

Congress is weary of giving money to an in-dustry that critics sayshould be able to standon its own after getting its start in the early1980s with powerfulcongressional advocateslike Sens. Bob Dole of Kansas and Tom Daschle of SouthDakot a.

It is our view that after 30 years weshould declare success, says ScottFaber, a lobbyist for the Grocery Man-ufacturers Association, which representsfood companies that say they have seen

their prices rise because of the high useof corn for ethanol.GMA is part of a growing patchwork

of food companies, livestock producers,environmental groups and oil compa-nies who have spent millions of dollarsin the last few years framing ethanolssuccess as food vs. fuel. They arguethat the increase in production of corn

and its diversion for ethanol is making animal feed more expensive, raising prices at the grocery store and tearing up the land.

The diversion of corn has been par-ticularly tough on the meat industry,which uses corn for animal feed. But theethanol industry disputes that the fuelhas a substantial effect on food prices,saying corn prices only affect a smallportion of each dollar overall spent atthe grocery store.

Ethanols opponents galvanized in2008 as food prices sky-rocketed and lawmakers

debated whether ethanolwas to blame. On CapitolHill, money that mayhave once been used toboost the ethanol indus-try began to be divertedto what are called ad-va n c e d biofuels, or oth-er nonfood plant materi-als that could be used tomake fuel. That industryis still in its infancy, but

lawmakers, along with President BarackObama, often say they are the way of the future.

As ethanols political stock began todrop, Growth Energy hired some of thetop farm lobbyists in town. Buis, a for-mer Daschle aide, left his post as the

president of the powerful NationalFarmers Union to work for the group,and Growth Energy signed on retiredArmy general and former presidentialcandidate Wesley Clark as a co-chair-man. They have petitioned the EPA toincrease the concentration of ethanol ingasoline and are launching a $2.5 mil-lion television ad campaign aimed at

The old saying isthat if you arent atthe table, youre on

the menu.

TOM BUIS

Lobbyist and CEO of Growth Energy, a new ethanol industry

group formed in 2008


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16 GOING GREEN| Sun d ay , May 2, 2010 com m er c ia l a p peal.co m

changing peoples perception of the fuel.A series of short ads have no dialogue but just

simple phrases on a green background and point-ed digs at the oil industry. One ad says nobeaches have been closed due to ethanol spillswhile another displays the phrase, No wars haveever been fought over ethanol. Another makesthe point that Ethanol has contributed $0 to thegovernments of Iran, Saudi Arabia andVe n e z u el a .

The formation of Growth Energy means theindustry has now doubled its efforts in Wash-ington. Together with a rival trade group, theRenewable Fuels Association, the industry spentmore than $1.5 million on lobbying last year.

Its still unclear whether the increased effortswill pay off. After Growth Energy filed its pe-tition last year to increase the amount of ethanolin gasoline from 10 percent to 15 percent, theEPA said in December it needed more tests todetermine if car engines could handle it. A de-cision is expected this year.

With that decision and congressional debateover the tax credits approaching, Growth Energyis now positioning the ethanol industry as theu n d e rd o g.We have to step up our game, says Buis. Alot of people dont want to see us succeed.

Ethanols rivals arent backing down. TheBrazilian ethanol industry, which is pushing Congress to reduce tariffs that protect the U.S.ethanol industry, has launched its own rival cam-paign to promote the benefits of sugar caneethanol, which they argue is more environmen-tally friendly than ethanol made from corn. Sug-ar cane ethanol is widely produced and used inB ra z i l .

We have every intention of staying in thisfight , says Craig Cox of the EnvironmentalWorking Group, a member of the anti-ethanolcoalition. This is a big issue for us. Our goal isto really get a federal policy that moves ustoward biofuels that truly are sustainable.

By Arthur MaxThe Associated Press

BERLIN Hyd ro ge n ,one of Earths most abun-dant elements, once was

seen as green energys an-swer to the petroleum-driv-en car: easy to produce,available everywhere andnonpolluting when burned.

Hydrogen energy was de-feated by a mountain of ob-stacles the fear of explo-sion by the highly flammablegas, the difficulty of carrying the fuel in large, heavy tanksin the vehicle, and the lackof a refueling network. Au-tomakers turned to biofuels,electricity or the gas-electrichybrid.

But hydrogen, it turnsout, never was completelyout of the race. Now Israeli

scientists and entrepreneursclaim to have brought hy-drogen energy a step closerby putting it in much small-er, lighter containers.

Rather than using metalor composite cylinders of compressed gas that looklike bulky scuba gear, hy-

Hy d ro g e nstill in theeco-car race


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drogen is packed into glass filamentswhich, once out of the lab, will be onlyslightly thicker than a human hair.

These 370 glass capillaries are bundledinto a glass tube called a capillary array,

about the width of a drinking straw. Thescientists say 11,000 such arrays will fuela car for 400 kilometers (240 miles), andtake less than half the space and weightof tanks currently installed in the few hy-drogen cars now available.

We have shown new materials thatcan store more hydrogen than any others ys t e m , says Dan Eliezer, chief scien-

tist of C.En Ltd., the company based inGeneva, Switzerland, where the Israelisare developing their invention.

The scientists make no attempt toimprove the standard fuel cell, which is

not much different today from when itwas invented more than 150 years ago.A fuel cell makes electricity from chem-ical reactions involving hydrogen andoxygen, producing only water vapor as abyproduct. The fuel cell can be com-pared with a standard cars engine,while the capillary arrays would be com-parable to the gasoline tank.

Michael Sohn/Associated Press files

A model of a hydrogen car is seen on a model that shows a 250fold enlargementof a hydrogen storage device using a glass capillary structure. Hydrogen was

never completely out of the race as green energy's answer to the petroleum-driven car. Now Israeli scientists and entrepreneurs claim to have broughthydrogen energy a step closer by putting it in much smaller, lighter containers.


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The system was unveiled in Berlin ata demonstration for The AssociatedPress at the German Federal Institutefor Materials Research and Testing,known as BAM, which has been testing the materials since 2008 and has pro-nounced the system safe. Also attending

was a representative of Italian-basedGenerali Insurance, which has invested$10 million in the project.

While its backers call the technology abreakthrough, it is unlikely to gain trac-tion without a large injection of capitalto scale up development. It also wouldneed a distribution system and the sup-port of major car companies, which have

poured billions of dollars into their ownclosely guarded research programs.

Auto companies are still investing significant amounts of money in hydro-gen and fuel cells, and have hundredsof researchers working on the technol-ogy, said David Hart, director of E4tech,

a business and energy consultancy inLondon. Automakers refuse to disclosedetails of their research or funding.

Hart said the glass capillaries appearto be an i n t e re s t i n g technology thatwould be very significant if it were toprovide the energy claimed by the com-pany. But if it means creating a newrefueling infrastructure, it may still not

Michael Sohn/Associated Press files

Laboratory assistant Miriam Grueneberg shows a model of a 250foldenlargement of a hydrogen storage device using a glass capillary structure.Rather than using metal or composite cylinders of compressed gas that looklike bulky scuba gear, hydrogen is packed into glass filaments which, once outof the lab, will be only slightly thicker than a human hair.


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be the right answer for cars, he said.Like electric cars, the driving force

behind hydrogen research is the need tobreak away from oil and rein in emis-sions of greenhouse gases blamed forclimate change, especially carbon diox-ide from industry and transport. Trans-portation adds about 13 percent of man-made carbon to the atmosphere.

Hydrogen boasts zero emissions. It canbe produced from water through electrol-ysis, or harvested as the waste product of nuclear reactors and chemical plants.

In terms of saving carbon dioxide,you do a great deal more with renew-

able hydrogen, said Danny Dicks, abiofuels expert from the British con-sultancy group Innovation Observatory.So ultimately, hydrogen is where thingsought to be driving toward.

Automakers, for now, still are focusedon battery power. At the Geneva MotorShow last month, nearly all major man-ufacturers displayed their latest electricvehicles or plans to produce them. Thefew hydrogen vehicles on the floor at-tracted little attention.

It was not always that way.U.S. President George W. Bush allocat-

ed $1.2 billion for hydrogen research andsaid in his 2003 State of the Union ad-dress: The first car driven by a child borntoday could be powered by hydrogen andpollution free. The Obama administra-

tion largely scrapped the program.In Europe, too, hydrogen is low-pri-ority. The Dutch government, for ex-ample, recently announced a euro5 mil-lion ($6.75 million) subsidy forhydrogen, but gave eight times more forelectric cars. Buyers of plug-ins get taxbreaks and rebates, and cities like Lon-don and Amsterdam are planting

charge-up pillars on their streets.Electricity is taking all the subsidy

schemes. Its taking it away from hy-d ro ge n , said Robert van den Hoed of Ecofys, an independent Dutch consul-tancy on renewable energy.

The main reason is cost. Electric carsare road-ready and in production, whilehydrogen vehicles are still experimental.Niss ans new electric car, the Leaf, willgo on sale for about $25,000 in the Unit-ed States, including a government rebate.

Honda has produced a roadworthyhydrogen vehicle, the FCX Clarity, but itis not for sale. Only 50 of them are

available for lease in the United Statesat $600 per month; Honda says it in-tends to increase the fleet to 200 thisyear. Honda declines to put a sales tag on the Clarity, but some experts say themarket price would be $1 million each.

Toyota, a leader in electric car tech-nology, plans to put its first hydrogenvehicle on the road in 2015.

In December, the German luxury car-maker BMW ended an experimental runof 100 hydrogen-fueled internal com-bustion engines and retreated back intothe laboratory for more research.

We are still committed to hydrogenas the long-term alternative for switch-ing to sustainable mobility, Hahn said,speaking from Munich, adding that thebiggest problem is on-board storage.

Among U.S. carmakers, General Mo-tors produced a test fleet of 100 Chevro-let Equinox fuel cell cars and let 5,000people test them over a 25 month period.Like BMW, Chevrolet is withdrawing thevehicles to upgrade the technology.

A combination of plug-in electric andhydrogen may emerge as the most eco-friendly solution.

going green memphis 5-02-10

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