Argonne develops new NOx catalyst; up to 95-100% NOx removal

A new cerium-oxide catalyst developed by researchers at the Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory is showing promise for the efficient reduction of NOx emissions in diesel engine exhaust. The technology has been under development for a number of years and has a patent pending. A number of companies have expressed interest in licensing the technology and working with Argonne researchers to scale it up and bring it to market. Argonne researcher Christopher Marshall, one of the technology's developers, believes there could be a commercially available product within two to three years.

"Our new cerium-oxide additive is the breakthrough that makes it work. When it's combined with Cu-ZSM-5, the resulting catalyst works at normal exhaust temperatures and is actually more effective with water vapor than without it. With a lean fuel-air mixture, it removes as much as 95-100 percent of NOx emissions." - Christopher Marshall

Marshall says the Argonne catalyst has been tested and performed well with a number of diesel and diesel-type fuels, including standard diesel, synthetic diesel, biodiesel and JP-8. Having performed well in these tests, the next step is to subject the catalyst to engine testing, which will soon take place soon at Argonne's Diesel Engine Test Facility. Marshall expects these tests will show that in addition to its other advantages, the Argonne catalyst has a greater life expectancy than other catalysts currently on the market.

China admits 'grave need' to cut pollution

peakoil.com -> telegraph.co.uk :

China's prime minister has taken personal charge of efforts to repair the country's disastrous environmental record, after they were repeatedly blocked by local government officials obsessed with economic growth. Wen Jiabao's decision to head a new task force focusing on the environment was made at a meeting of the state council, the country's cabinet.

"China is in grave need of cutting energy consumption and pollution," a spokesman said quoting Mr Wen. He also admitted that Beijing was already failing to meet targets set less than two years ago. The announcement followed three major setbacks in a week for China's plans to shift its focus from economic growth to so-called "sustainable development", including leaner and more efficient use of resources such as oil, coal and water.

An internal study said climate change would have started to result in greater flooding in the east and droughts in the north and west by 2020, with a significant effect on agricultural production in the following years. Then it was confirmed that publication of the second part of the report, the grandly titled National Plan on Climate Change, had been delayed. Environmentalists said it had been delayed by officials concerned about the effects of the proposals on the economy. Meanwhile, a researcher at the International Energy Agency in Geneva said that China's emissions of greenhouse gases were growing at a faster rate than predicted and could overtake the world's top producer, America, as early as this year.

Pope : climate change, abuse of environment is against God's will

guardian.co.uk, environment.guardian.co.uk :

The Vatican has added its voice to a rising chorus of warnings from churches around the world that climate change and abuse of the environment is against God's will, and that the one billion-strong Catholic church must become far greener. At a Vatican conference on climate change, Pope Benedict urged bishops, scientists and politicians to "respect creation" while "focusing on the needs of sustainable development". The Pope's message follows a series of increasingly strong statements about climate change and the environment, including a warning earlier this year that "disregard for the environment always harms human coexistence, and vice versa".

In the US the diverse 50m-strong conservative evangelical churches are increasingly at war about the human contribution to global warming. Many evangelical leaders say they are still not convinced that global warming is human-induced and have argued that the collapse of the world is inevitable and will herald the second coming of Christ. But most younger leaders have broken ranks. About four years ago the progressives began to argue strongly that man had a responsibility to steward the earth. Redefining environmentalism as "creation care", they are now lobbying President Bush and the US administration to take global warming far more seriously. "They are the most effective lobby," said one observer. "They represent the conservative vote so Bush has to listen to them."

Many faiths also realise their potential to influence politicians and financiers. A survey by US bank Citigroup found that the 11 major faiths now embrace 85% of the world's population and are the world's third largest group of financial investors. In the US the United methodist church pension fund alone is worth $12bn-$15bn. Total investment of US churches is nearly $70bn. Switching to ethical investments would be hugely significant.

(2007-06-02 14:07:42 SGT) [Env] Permalink

Solar storm warning: You have a year to prepare

news.com.com :

The federal government now predicts a new cycle of solar storms will start in March 2008. Those storms are expected to peak around the end of 2011. That's the conclusion of some scientists at NOAA. Solar storms lead to violent eruptions on the sun's surface. There'll be solar flares and explosions sending highly charged matter toward Earth's atmosphere. This jolts Earth's geomagnetic field and ionosphere. That can lead to disruption of electric grids and communications systems.

news.nationalgeographic.com :

The next 11-year solar storm cycle should be significantly stronger than the current one, which may mean big problems for power grids and GPS systems and other satellite-enabled technology, scientists announced. The stronger solar storms could start as early as this year [note: 2006 article] or as late as 2008 and should peak around 2012. The last cycle peaked in 2001.

Solar storms are linked to twisted magnetic fields in the sun that suddenly snap and release tremendous amounts of energy. The storms can disrupt satellite communications, cause power outages, and expose astronauts to high amounts of radiation. Predicting space weather is becoming more important as more people rely on technology that solar storms can disrupt, according to Richard Behnke, director of upper atmosphere research with the National Science Foundation in Arlington, Virginia. The number and intensity of sunspots fluctuates over time, reaching a peak about every 11 years. This 11-year pattern is known as the solar cycle.

(2007-06-02 12:45:26 SGT) [Tech] Permalink

Fiery crash collapses Bay Area freeway

news.yahoo.com (backblog) :

A gasoline tanker crashed and burst into flames near the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge on Sunday [29 Apr 2007], creating such intense heat that a stretch of highway melted and collapsed. Officials predicted a traffic nightmare for Bay Area commuters for weeks or months to come. Flames shot 200 feet in the air, but the truck's driver walked away from the scene with second-degree burns. No other injuries were reported in the 3:45 a.m. crash, which officials said could have been deadly had it occurred at a busier time.

Nearly 75,000 vehicles a day use the interchange. But because the accident occured where three highways converge, authorities said it could cause commuting problems for hundreds of thousands of people. 280,000 commuters take the bridge into San Francisco each day.

The tanker carrying 8,600 gallons of gasoline ignited after crashing into a pylon on the interchange. A preliminary investigation indicated the driver may have been speeding on the curving road. Witnesses reported flames rising up to 200 feet into the air. Heat exceeded 2,750 degrees and caused the steel beams holding up the interchange from eastbound I-80 to eastbound Interstate 580 above to buckle and bolts holding the structure together to melt, leading to the collapse. The charred section of collapsed freeway was draped at a sharp angle onto the highway beneath, exposing a web of twisted metal beneath the concrete. Officials said that altogether a 250-yard portion of the upper roadway was damaged.

- As you can see, I'm still ploughing through the considerable "backblogs".

As an off-topic thing (and as a peakoiler and all-round energy geek), I was trying to calculate and compare the energy output of the resulting explosion with the potential energy contained in fictional laser blasts from let's say, a Mech from MechWarrior or a Herc from Starsiege.

Here it goes : let's assume that all 8600 gallons of gasoline burnt and went up in smoke and most of the energy went into melting the highway. There is 8.8 KWh of energy in each litre of petrol (what the UK-affiliated parts of the world call gasoline). And, according to Google, 1 US gallon = 3.7854118 litres. So we have a total of 286480 KWh (kilowatt-hours) of energy there, let's divide by 1000 to put this into megawatt-hours, that will be 286 MWh.

Now, I vaguely recall that a "typical" particle-beam weapon (PBW) requires about 400GW of energy to fire. These giant robots are assumed to have big fusion reactors and huge mega-capacitors, but hey that's science fiction, anyway (for now). I also vaguely recall that I needed perhaps 2 or 3 shots to take down "typical" un-armoured civilian structures (buildings, hangars, and perhaps highway intersections??). Each shot took about 1 second. So the amount of energy = 400 GW x 1 second = 400 x 1000 / 3600 MWh = 111 MWh per PBW shot.

So, to melt the highway bridge, it does require 2 or 3 shots (222-333 MWh) from a particle-beam weapon, comparable to the 286 MWh released from the burning gasoline.

Okay, you can call me crazy now :)

(2007-06-02 12:20:14 SGT) [Energy] Permalink

Hybrid vehicle battery market to reach $2.3 billion by 2015

greencarcongress.com :

Global sales of hybrid vehicles, estimated at 384,000 vehicles in 2006, will reach 1.1 million units in 2010 and 2 million units by 2015, according to a new study, The 2007 Advanced Automotive Battery Industry Report, published by Advanced Automotive Batteries, a battery consultancy headed by Dr. Menahem Anderman.

The corresponding HEV-battery market, estimated at $600 million in 2006, is expected to grow to $1.4 billion in 2010 and $2.3 billion in 2015. This is of comparable magnitude to the conventional lead-acid OEM auto-starting battery business, which is currently about $2 billion. For vehicles, Toyota, with a 2006 market share of 78%, will remain the clear market leader with a projected share of 60% in 2015. Next in line will be Honda, Ford and General Motors, with a projected combined market share of 25% in 2015; other automakers will account for the remaining 15%.

NiMH batteries will continue to be the dominant HEV-battery technology through 2010, but are likely to later concede market share to Li-ion batteries. The report suggests that Li-ion batteries can capture 5% of the market by 2010, and 36% by 2015. Two Japanese battery producers, Panasonic EV Energy and Sanyo, share more than 85% of the current NIMH HEV battery market. Both companies are also developing Li-ion battery solutions for this market where more than a dozen additional battery makers from Japan, Korea, and the US are intending to compete.