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1. Honda, GS Yuasa to Build Batteries for Hybrid Vehicles
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2. All-Natural Ice Melt for Green Snowy Winters
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3. Christmas Tree Recycling Ideas at Inhabitots
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4. GM Suspends Volt Engine Plant Construction
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5. Tom Vilsack = Big Win for Biofuels in Obama Cabinet
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6. An Alternative to Holiday Consumerism - Buy Nothing!
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7. Honda Civic Hybrid: The Fuel Economy Test Drive
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8. Chip Companies Eye Energy-Harvesting
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9. Daily Sprout
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10. GREEN GIFT GUIDE 2008: Stocking Stuffers
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11. Sen. Reid Calls For Hyperspeed Tax Credits for Clean Energy
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12. Felted Sting Rays Up the Eco-Cutey Quotient
Honda, GS Yuasa to Build Batteries for Hybrid Vehicles
David Ehrlich - Automotive
Despite a looming crisis in the auto sector, Japan’s Honda Motor is pushing ahead with plans for the next generation of cars, signing a deal with Japanese battery maker GS Yuasa to form a ¥15 billion ($170.7 million) joint venture for the development of lithium-ion batteries for hybrid vehicles.
The announcement comes the same day that Honda slashed its annual earnings estimate for the third time this year, citing a sharp sales downturn amid the global credit crunch. The company now expects ¥185 billion in earnings for the year ended March 31, 2009 — less than a third of what it earned in its last fiscal year.
Norwegian electric car maker Think also announced some bad news this week, halting production and saying that it needed $14.5 million to $29 million in state aid to keep the company operating. And the potential collapse of one or more of the Detroit Big Three, which could have devastating repercussions for the entire auto industry, took a turn for the worse last week after the failure of a bailout bill on Capitol Hill.
The new battery venture, which has yet to be named, will be majority owned by GS Yuasa at 51 percent, with Honda holding the remaining 49 percent. The companies said they expect to get the venture up and running in the spring of 2009, using the new group to manufacture, sell and conduct research and development for high-performance lithium-ion batteries.
The venture will set up shop in Kyoto, where GS Yuasa is based, and manufacture batteries based on GS Yuasa’s EH6 battery line. Honda and GS Yuasa said they plan to boost the performance of the batteries for next-generation hybrid vehicles by looking at elements including the battery structure and the electrode materials.
Last year, GS Yuasa formed a similar joint venture with Mitsubishi and Mitsubishi Motors. That venture, called Lithium Energy Japan, is targeting mass production of lithium-ion batteries for use in applications including electric and hybrid vehicles.
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All-Natural Ice Melt for Green Snowy Winters
jchait - Home & Garden
We’ve been snowed in for days here in Oregon. It’s wet, icy, and slick. If you’re having these same issues, you might want to consider an earth-friendly method of melting the ice on your front walk, steps, or patio.
Earth Friendly Products, has one such product available; Ice Melt – an all-natural, non-corrosive product that melts ice quickly.
Ice is one major danger of winter. Earth Friendly Products sent me some stats and According to the Cleveland Clinic, "Injuries such as broken bones or severe bruising are not uncommon in falls, and up to 13,000 older Americans die from falls each year." Applying an ice melt to a slippery walk or patio surface before stepping on it is the best way to prevent this.
Rock salt may not always be the best ice melting option. Ice Melt, contains small amounts of salt plus and additional salt, magnesium chloride, which can help to speed up the melting process without corroding surfaces.
Earth Friendly Products are all biodegradable. I haven’t used their ice melt, but I have used their laundry products and liked them. Ice Melt is nice because it’s mild and safe for pets and vegetation. It works up to -13 degrees Fahrenheit. You can read the full Ice Melt safety sheet here (will open in pdf).
Learn more about Ice Melt or purchase.
Christmas Tree Recycling Ideas at Inhabitots
Mike Chino - Holiday Gift Guide
We love the holidays for their wealth of wonderful traditions and decor designed to spread cheer, however we can’t help but feel sorry for all of those living christmas trees that are abandoned after the holiday season. Fortunately, there’s a wealth of resources that offer great eco-friendly ways to recycle your Christmas tree once its needles start to shed. From landscape restoration to making toys for children and saving lives with vaccines, check out Inhabitots for the full scoop!
READ MORE AT INHABITOTS >
GM Suspends Volt Engine Plant Construction
Josie Garthwaite - Automotive
“It’s temporarily on hold as we assess our cash situation,” GM spokesperson Sharon Basel told the Detroit Free Press today. “I don’t think it’s a surprise that we’re studying and reviewing everything given the position we’re in.” Nor would it be a surprise if GM is using the Flint plant for leverage in its emergency loan negotiations with the White House, as suggested on the GM-Volt blog today:
There are now less than 10 business days left in this month of December that GM said it would be out of cash by the end of without a federal loan. It may very well be up to President Bush and Treasury Secretary Paulson to decide whether the Volt will make it in November 2010 as we've all been waiting for.
Basel told MSNBC she didn’t know if the Volt assembly plant in Detroit-Hamtramck would also be delayed. She emphasized that the company still plans to roll the fuel-efficient Chevies into showrooms by 2010, and said a small engine factory in Austria is one of “lots of options” GM has for producing the Volt and Cruze engines. Flint Mayor Don Williamson said in the local Journal that GM may use an existing plant in Flint to save $150 million compared with the $370 million investment required for the all-new facility.
In the meantime, GM opened its eighth vehicle plant in China and and ramped up production of Chevrolet Aveos in Mexico this week. But it’s not the only company pausing green vehicle projects. Factory construction for another electric car, Tesla’s Model S, is also on hold pending government aid. And facing its first sales decline in 13 years, Toyota said on Monday it will stop work on a Prius plant in Mississippi whose construction is 90 percent complete.
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Tom Vilsack = Big Win for Biofuels in Obama Cabinet
Josie Garthwaite - Biofuels
Ethanol will have at least one friend in the next administration. President-elect Barack Obama announced his pick for Secretary of Agriculture this morning: Former Iowa governor Tom Vilsack, who built his underdog presidential campaign largely on a platform of energy independence and, during his tenure as governor, approved tax credits and other incentives for biofuels.
Steering ethanol policy will rank near the top of Vilsack’s to-do list in the Cabinet. He laid out his thoughts on biofuels from corn (starting point, not the future), sugar (drop the tariff, please), and cellulosic feedstocks (totally hot) in an interview with Rolling Stone back in 2006, when he was running for President:
[C]orn-based ethanol is not necessarily the wave of the future. Ethanol may be but corn is not. There's not enough corn. There needs to be focus on switch grass, on municipal waste, on timber, on other ways to produce ethanol that is more efficient and burns more efficiently and uses less energy to produce it. Corn was the entryway to this discussion. It's by no means the end all be all. This country probably also needs to take a different view on the sugar-cane ethanol produced in Brazil. We put a big tariff on it. We should look to ultimately eliminating that so that we get the supply of ethanol that lets Detroit produce flex-fuel cars and develop that industry.
The President-elect also expressed support for biofuels this morning, saying a new commitment to using U.S. lands responsibly for the benefit of families (an idea about as controversial as puppies) means “ensuring that we are using our farmlands not only to strengthen our agricultural economy, but to grow advanced biofuels that will help make the United States energy independent.” From the text prepared for Obama’s news conference, available on Washington Post:
How we harness our natural resources — from the farmlands of Iowa to the springs of Colorado — will speak not only to our quality of life, but to our economic growth and our energy future.
Obama had this to say about Vilsack (again from Washington Post):
As Governor of one of our most abundant farm states, he led with vision, promoting biotech to strengthen our farmers and fostering an agricultural economy of the future that not only grows the food we eat, but the energy we use. Tom understands that the solution to our energy crisis will be found not in oil fields abroad but in our farm fields here at home.
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An Alternative to Holiday Consumerism - Buy Nothing!
Bridgette Steffen - 2008 Holiday Gift Guide
We love the holiday season and definitely love scouring the web for fabulous eco-friendly gifts, but sometimes we get overwhelmed. With the economy in its lousy state and the fact that we’re trying to be good environmental stewards, we aren’t buying quite as much anymore. There are days when we wish we could forgo the whole gift-buying frenzy and just have a lovely holiday with our family and friends. And who really has time to buy so many gifts and then wrap them? For those of you out there feeling stressed out from having to buy too many presents, maybe it’s time to cut back completely and buy nothing.
Honda Civic Hybrid: The Fuel Economy Test Drive
khallgeisler - Bikes & Cars
The first thing to note about my week with the Honda Civic Hybrid was that it was very cold. Not negative-degrees cold, but well below freezing cold. I wondered if the hybrid engine or fuel economy would suffer when the car and the street were icy. I’m not sure if it was the weather or my driving, but my mpgs came in way below the EPA estimate.
Over the week, I drove about 120 miles, and I managed to average 31.5 mpg combined city, highway, and icy roads. The EPA rates the Civic Hybrid at 40 city, 45 highway. Handling, however, wasn’t compromised, and I was glad to have stability assist, ABS, and 4- and 5-star crash ratings. Not that I crashed. The car is just fine. I’m an excellent driver.
The Honda Civic Hybrid makes heavy use of its Integrated Motor Assist technology, which uses an electronic motor mounted between the gasoline engine and the transmission for extra power. Honda says the electric motor can propel the car from a stop to 35 mph, but I had a hard time keeping the internal combustion engine from kicking in, no matter how carefully I drove.
The car does have an auto stop feature that cuts the gasoline engine out almost as soon as the car is stopped, and it starts back up seamlessly when it’s needed. A blinking green “Auto Stop” indicator in the dash lets the driver know that the car is supposed to be absolutely silent.
The poor-ish mileage was my only complaint with the Honda, and that was likely a function of the weather, not the car. But if you live in an area with regular harsh winters, you may only get 30 or 35 mpg with the Civic Hybrid. Keep in mind, though, that these days we’re calling anything above 30 mpg pretty good.
Chip Companies Eye Energy-Harvesting
Katie Fehrenbacher - Picks
The Kansas State Researchers — Professor Bill Kuhn and master’s student Xiaohu Zhang — decided to use solar for the energy-harvesting radio and they’ve developed a device using a board made of solar cells taken from low-end calculators. The rest of the setup (see photo) includes a low-power integrated chip — originally developed for a NASA Mars project — to store the data, and a radio to transmit the data every five seconds. Technology like this could be used in a variety of sensor networks and control systems, including a building thermostat or lighting system, as well as temperature and stress gauges for bridges and other structures.
There are other ways to harvest energy for devices, and the Kansas State researchers are also looking at methods like electrochemical, mechanical or thermal energy.
Peregrine’s not the only company interested in the space. Intel is also working on a variety of energy-harvesting technologies for both sensor networks and consumer electronics and cell phones, which would draw power from their environment, including the sun and vibrations. Intel’s CTO Justin Rattner detailed some of the company’s more blue-sky lab plans at an event earlier this month.
Startups are moving quickly in the battery-free energy-harvesting space, too. Netherlands-based startup GreenPeak, which was formed in July 2007 through a merger of two wireless companies, is selling battery-free wireless chips and network hardware that rely on harnessing tiny amounts of energy from movement or solar. GreenPeak CEO and founder Cees Links told us that batteries are the barrier to more buildings having wireless sensor networks that can help cut energy consumption. Expect to see the company, which is backed by €10 million ($14.3 million) from investors like DFJ Esprit and Motorola Ventures, moving more into the U.S. market next year.
Image courtesy of Kansas State.
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Daily Sprout
Josie Garthwaite - Misc
EIA Cuts Carbon Emissions Forecast: The Energy Information Administration now expects U.S. energy-related carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 to be 9.4 percent less than forecast last year. — Reuters
California Launches Green Chemistry Initiative: State officials unveiled a plan this week to disclose the environmental footprint of all consumer goods sold in California. — Los Angeles Times
Rise of the Energy Report: Interest in energy consumption has swelled so much in recent years that BP, longtime producer of the Statistical Review of World Energy, has put out a report about reports. — NYT’s Green Inc.
Cleaner Coal Gains Momentum in China: A Technology Review reporter reads the cleaner-coal trend as a sign of China’s “bold role in green technology.” The source who calls it an effort to “put a better face on what is mostly just a ‘Burn coal and don’t worry about it’ policy” might have a clearer picture. — Technology Review
EIB Loans $54M to Thin Film Solar: The European Investment Bank has agreed to loan $54 million to module-maker Thin Film Solar Technologies for a manufacturing facility in South Africa. — Clean Edge
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GREEN GIFT GUIDE 2008: Stocking Stuffers
Moe Beitiks - 2008 Holiday Gift Guide
Whether you’re looking to stuff a stocking full of something other than candy and useless do-dads, or just looking to pass on a bit of green fun, we’ve selected an assortment of our favorite pint-sized green finds for you this year. From miniature marvels of modern technology to things that grow and tasteful doses of home decor, read on for a list of eco-gifts that prove great things do come in small packages.
SOLAR RACING CAR - $18
It’s about the size of a quarter. Amazing, right? Just imagine folks’ faces when you present them with the world’s smallest solar car!
MATCHSTICK GARDEN - $12.50 for 5
Tear off a match, stick it in soil, and add water then watch a miniature garden grow. Each set will grow a patch of Basil, Thyme, Chives and Parsley for your loved ones.
$12.50 for 5 from Brooklyn5and10
RECYCLED LP VINYL CUFFS - $25
Any music lover can appreciate these stylish cuffs made from recycled vinyl records made by WrecordsbyMonkey. With several different style available from their various collections, the designers offer a style for everyone, from classic patterns like herringbone to unique textile patterns inspired by urban life.
MINI KEYCHAIN SOLAR FLASHLIGHT - $21
For just $21 you can own the world’s smallest self-powered LED flashlight. This is a great way to introduce family and friends to solar power while keeping an eye out for their safety as well. This little gadget requires no batteries and will last longer than you do, so you never need to worry about it running out of juice.
SCENT OF A SCANDAL CANDLES - $15
Nothing feels cozier in the chill of winter than burning candles, and soy candles are much better for the environmental, indoor air quality (and your lungs) than traditional paraffin wax candles. ‘Scent of a Scandal’ is a cheeky brand of green, clean, soy candles with delicious aromas and snicker-inducing names like ‘Me So Thorny’, ‘Santa’s Pole’, ‘Hanukkah Bush’ and ‘Challahback Girl’. Amuse someone you love this holiday season with a naughty soy candle.
$14.95 from Kaight
EGGLING - $12
Crack open this porcelain egg, water and watch it sprout into a thriving plant. It’s way cooler than those keychain pocket pets everyone used to have.
RECYCLED LP CAMEO NECKLACE - $75
Vintage, with a twist of contemporary, this recycled LP cameo pendant necklace gives a classic form a little bit of attitude. The front silhouette cut out is always made of recycled vinyl records, however, the back is available in beige acrylic, cherry wood, and black recycled vinyl. The pendant is designed by WrecordsbyMonkey and is part of their Heritage Collection.
Sen. Reid Calls For Hyperspeed Tax Credits for Clean Energy
Josie Garthwaite - Policy
One year, eight years’ worth of tax credits for renewable energy projects: That’s a key component of the legislation Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada plans to push as part of an economic recovery package in Congress, the Las Vegas Journal-Review reports. The move would effectively be an acceleration of the eight-year extension Congress approved this fall for the solar investment tax credit.
It would also represent a sweet victory for the Solar Energy Industries Association, which beefed up its lobbying expenditures this year — to $975,000, up from $630,000 in 2007. From the Journal-Review, which attended Reid’s press conference after a meeting with state, military, and industry officials in Vegas:
Reid’s proposal appears similar to one made this month by a spokesman for the Solar Energy Industries Association. He called for refundable tax credits up front for solar projects because of the credit crunch. The association also called for $1 billion to install solar panels on government buildings, which would create an estimated 350,000 jobs.
The plan Reid discussed this week would extend to solar, wind and geothermal developers.
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Felted Sting Rays Up the Eco-Cutey Quotient
Jill Fehrenbacher - 2008 Holiday Gift Guide
Does it get any cuter than these felted Sting Ray toys from Branch? We think not! Designed originally as chew-toys for dogs, these 100% natural and fair-trade toys are so adorable that they seem better suited to be a tot’s trusty little companion than to get chewed up in a doggy mouth. However, we’re pretty certain that whomever you are shopping for (canine or human)- your recipient will love this little guy’s sturdy wool body and delightful little face hidden on the underside. Felted Sting Rays are 100% organic boiled wool and handcrafted in Nepal under fair-trade practices.
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