An intelligent house

 Reliant Energy is installing high tech networks in the homes of its 1.8 million customers will help them save electricity.

The 50MPG Tata Nano- auto Solution, or Pollution Nightmare?

Tata Nano the smallest car ever in India is expected to come in market in mid- 2009 with its two variants: standard and deluxe. Both these versions will be available in the market in various body colors and equipped with many accessories so that on an overall the car can fulfill the desires of a particular individual. The world’s cheapest and the most anticipated car. It is expected that Tata Nano launch revolutionize the auto industry that has been generated immense interest in India and abroad.

In January 2008, at New Delhi's Auto Expo, Tata Motors had unveiled a bubble-shaped car called the Nano. Integrating sleek curves, a roomy interior, and a small but powerful engine, the vehicle has a shockingly low price: Rs 1,000,000, = $2,500: a four-seat family ride for the price of an high-end laptop.

Middle-class household incomes in India start at roughly $6,000 a year, so a $3,000 car is the kind of innovation that could create millions of new drivers. 8 million Indians currently own cars, and another 18 million have the means to buy one. However, the Nano could increase that pool of potential auto owners by as much as 65 percent, to 30 million. "This goes beyond economics and class," says Ravi Kant, managing director of Tata Motors. "This crosses the urban-rural divide. Now a car is within the reach of people who never imagined they would own a car. It's a triumph for our company. And for India."

The Tata Group is the General Electric of India, a sprawling conglomerate with a commanding presence in media, telecom, outsourcing, retailing, real estate, locomotives and autos. In 1998, Tata Motors introduced the country's first indigenously designed car- the homegrown Tata Indica, which now sells for around $6,000, became ubiquitous as a taxi.

Ratan Tata, the company's chair and the great-grandson of Jamsetji, got the idea for the Nano when he was sitting in traffic, battling Mumbai's gridlock, and he noticed a single scooter carrying an entire family. Suddenly it struck him: The poor driver and his passengers represented not just a vast social need but an immense market opportunity. The success of the Indica gave him the confidence to try to tap it.

In India, the new vehicle could make the dreams of millions of dreams come true, but at the same time, the prospect of a flood of additional cars terrifies city planners and environmentalists. Metropolises throughout the developing world are expanding at breakneck speed. In many places, the crumbling roads are already crammed beyond capacity. Traffic fatalities are on the rise, and air pollution threatens to choke remaining pockets of green space. Sure, a single Nano is a step toward independence, security, and social mobility — but to some observers, millions of Nanos spell apocalypse.

Tata insists that the Nano will pollute less than the two-wheelers it is intended to replace. The Nano's catalytic converter appears to reduce most pollutants by about 80 percent—not as much as the 99 percent Western models do, but still a big reduction. Environmentalists, though, say that it will probably fail after a few years on the road. The reason: Indians typically don't keep their autos in tip-top shape. When the catalytic converter fails, emissions of pollutants could shoot up fivefold.

The story gets worse when greenhouse gases like CO₂, which escape catalytic converters, are considered. The more gas burned, the more CO₂ released. The Nano is likely to replace motor scooters and motorbikes, which get about 54 kilometers to the liter, more than twice what the Nano (20 kilometers per liter of gasoline, which is equal to 50 miles per gallon) is expected to get. And that does not account for a decline in fuel efficiency if the cars are not maintained well.

Western environmentalists know they have little moral standing to criticize Indians for wanting cars, particularly one that meets the highest Western emissions standards. But they're rattled in part because they didn't see this coming, and will have to recalculate projections for the buildup of greenhouse gases based on a world of many more drivers. "In none of our reports did we assume there'd be a car like this," says Judy Greenwald, director of innovative solutions at the Pew Center on Global Climate Change. "This is a new category. It will affect everybody's projections."

The 80 Billion Energy component of the 787 Billion Stimulus package

So now that the 787 Billion USD stimulus package has been passed, are you wondering, how much of it will be energy related?

Wrapped inside the economic stimulus package is about $80 billion will be devoted to the Energy sector- to spending, loan guarantees and tax incentives aimed at promoting energy efficiencies, renewable energy sources, higher-mileage cars and clean coal. As a stand-alone measure, these investments would amount to the biggest energy bill in history.

Eighty billion dollars is a lot of money, and the federal agencies overseeing its disbursement must provide strong regulation to ensure that it is spent wisely. Here are some of the provisions that will bear close watching as the money flows to states, cities and businesses:

Energy Efficiency: Homes and buildings soak up 40 percent of the energy generated in the United States - more than vehicles. Of the $25 billion provided for energy efficiency, more than half is aimed at helping low-income families weatherize 1 million homes and helping governments at all levels retrofit public buildings.

Renewable Energy: In addition to new money for research into alternatives fuels, the measure provides roughly $20 billion in tax incentives for wind, solar, hydroelectric and other renewable power sources. These incentives, which are crucial for future development, were the subject of endless congressional debates last year.

Smart Grid: The measure invests $11 billion in grants and $6 billion in loans to modernize the electric grid and increase its capacity to deliver power generated by renewable sources. These programs will need especially careful oversight.

Mass Transit: Federal transportation spending has long favored highways over mass transit by a 4-1 margin, even though mass transit is far more effective in the reduction of gasoline consumption and in greenhouse gas emissions. The package improves this ratio while providing $17.7 billion for mass transit, Amtrak and high-speed rail, nearly a 70 percent increase over present spending levels.

The package includes other potentially useful energy-related provisions: $2 Billion in grants and loans for research into advanced car batteries, a tenfold increase over the existing program; and $3.4 Billion to develop coal-fired power plants that can capture and store greenhouse gases, also a tenfold increase.

Much more will be required to fully address climate change and oil dependency. And President Barack Obama promised much more in his campaign. But the stimulus package is a good beginning.

Source: International Herald Tribune http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/02/18/opinion/edenergy.php

Hybrid vehicles - not the same as Electric Vehicles

What is a hybrid vehicle?

A hybrid vehicle is an automobile powered by an engine assisted by an electric motor, in a way that fuel efficiency is combined with low running cost and performance.

In a Hybrid vehicle, the electric motor assists the engine in high fuel consumption conditions like standing starts and accelerations, helping reduce fuel consumption.
This means that compared to a regular car of the same size, a hybrid is cheaper to run. Furthermore, electric motors deliver maximum torque from zero rpm for powerful, exhilarating standing starts and added power for acceleration. Combining fuel efficiency, and driving performance with environmental performance through reduced fuel consumption and reduced CO₂ emissions: that is what hybrid vehicles are all about.

Types of hybrid vehicles.

Today, there are three different types of hybrid vehicles.

Parallel hybrids, in which the engine is the main power source with the electric motor providing assistance as needed.

The engine serves as the main power source. The motor, which delivers maximum torque from zero rpm, is called upon to assist the engine during standing starts and during acceleration, when engine fuel consumption is high. This type of hybrid is also simple: a parallel hybrid can be created simply by adding an electric motor and batteries to an existing vehicle.

Combined hybrids share characteristics of series and parallel designs. The electric motor alone is used at low speeds, and the engine and electric motor work together at higher speeds.

The electric motor powers the vehicle from a standing start and at low speeds. As speed increases, engine and electric motor work in combination to efficiently provide the power required.

The system is more complex, featuring a power split device and a generator. The engine is also required to power the generator.

Series hybrids, like electric vehicles, run solely on power provided by electric motors.

The vehicle runs on power from the electric motor. The engine only powers the generator that charges the batteries.

The system powering the vehicle is the same as that of an electric vehicle, but because the vehicle also has an engine, it is considered a hybrid.

Source: http://world.honda.com/automobile-technology/IMA/ 

Biofuels

With all the discussions about biofuels, have you ever wondered, what exactly are biofuels, why they have achieved so much prominence, and where this is headed?

Biofuels are so relevant in the context of today’s energy crisis and global warming, because they have the potential for Co2 reduction. Biofuels are liquid fuels produced from biomass materials and are used primarily for transportation. The term biofuels most commonly refers to ethanol and biodiesel. In 2007, the United States consumed 6.8 billion gallons of ethanol and 491 million gallons of biodiesel. By comparison, 2007 consumption of motor gasoline and diesel was 139 billion gallons and 39 billion gallons, respectively.

Biofuels are made by converting various forms of biomass such as corn or animal fat into liquid fuels and can be used as replacements or additives for gasoline or diesel. Biofuels generally have lower life-cycle carbon dioxide emissions than do their fossil fuel counterparts.

What Is Ethanol?

Ethanol is a clear, colorless alcohol—the same as is found in alcoholic beverages. In fact, ethanol is produced when yeast ferments sugar in a process similar to that used to produce beer. Ethanol can be made from the starches or sugars found in various agricultural crops, such as corn, barley, and sugar cane.

Prior to the passage of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, gasoline sold in certain geographic areas was required to contain oxygen, which helps the fuel mixture combust more completely. Originally, a chemical called methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) was the preferred oxygenate, but it was phased out due to concerns about seepage into groundwater and ethanol was mandated as a replacement. The usage of ethanol also gained market share due to the Renewable Fuel Standard requirements of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Today, a little more than half of the gasoline in the United States has some amount of ethanol blended into it, and these blends are named by their ethanol content: for example, a blend of 90% gasoline and 10% ethanol (by volume) is known as E10. However, because ethanol contains approximately 67% the energy content of gasoline per gallon, usage of ethanol blends results in decreased gas mileage. Despite this reduced gas mileage, high crude oil prices and government incentives have resulted in the consumption of increasing amounts of ethanol.

While almost any regular gasoline car can run on blends of ethanol up to E10, special cars known as “flex-fuel” vehicles are required for use of blends above E10. Flex-fueled vehicles are currently available from every major American automobile manufacturer and are almost identical to regular gasoline vehicles, except for a few modifications to the fuel system and minor engine components. On a mass production basis, it costs less than $200 extra per car to make a flex-fuel automobile compared with a conventional gasoline vehicle.

What Is Biodiesel?

Biodiesel consists of chemicals known as fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) that can be used as a diesel fuel substitute or diesel fuel additive. Biodiesel is typically made from oils produced from agricultural crops such as soybeans or canola but can also be made from various other feedstocks such as animal fats.

Currently, most biodiesel in the United States is produced from soybean oil, but recent increases in soybean crop prices have caused producers to switch to other feedstocks such as waste animal fats from processing plants or recycled grease from restaurants. Biodiesel can be made from virtually any feedstock that contains an adequate amount of free fatty acids, which are the raw materials that are converted to biodiesel through a chemical process. Research is underway to harvest algae for biodiesel production because they contain fat pockets that help them float, and this fat can be collected and processed into biodiesel.

Biodiesel has chemical characteristics much like petroleum-based diesel and, therefore, can be used as a direct substitute for diesel fuel or blended with petroleum diesel in any percentage without suffering any significant loss of fuel economy.

In 2007, the United States consumed 6.8 billion gallons of ethanol and 491 million gallons of biodiesel. According to EIA’s Annual Energy Outlook 2008, ethanol usage is predicted to increase to nearly 24 billion gallons in 2030, which would represent approximately 16% of total gasoline consumption by volume in 2030. Biodiesel consumption is predicted to increase to 1.2 billion gallons by 2030, or approximately 1.5% of total diesel consumption.

Source: Energy Information Administration

http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/energy_in_brief/biofuels_use.cfm