Green Tech – Auto Ramblings

March 24, 2008March 24, 2008

It’s Energy Independence, Stupid – Not Global Warming

By Lloyd Frazier

If you are like me, you must be completely sick and tired of being sick and tired of the fiasco called “Global Warming.” The media feeds this frenzy by putting so-called ‘experts’ like Al Gore in the limelight. A day does not go by without a newspaper article, newscast, or a talking head on a talk show spouting doom and gloom. If you have enough money, power, and a lot of lemming-like followers, you too can become a well known global warming expert. Opposing scientific views from people that have dedicated their life to the study of climate and the environment…phooey….what do they know?

Global warming has become the biggest political football since the last catastrophic prediction back in the 70’s that we would all be needing snow sleds to get around. It has become one of the largest, far reaching power grabs in the history of mankind. Governments, right now, as you are reading this, are conjuring up laws concerning CO2 emissions from vehicles, factories, or whatever. These laws will impact generations to come. Decisions have been made that will impact how we live, work, and travel. Our existing way of life is being manipulated by ignorant leaders and politicians based on one-sided, junk science just so that they can assure their position of power and leadership. Global treaties have been created that will keep poorer nations from achieving a better life for themselves because of all the hydrocarbons they may create from their growing population of cars and factories.

Billions of dollars have been spent on research and equipment just in the U.S. alone. There are many varying opinions on the results of all the findings from the many years of research. For some reason, dissenting opinions from well respected scientists and professors have been squelched. What happened to open debate? Many of those who have an opinion that do not align with the new world religion called ‘Global Warming’, are afraid to speak up because they fear for their lively hood and career.

I ran across a website that has many links to information that debunks the global warming myth. Go to Global Warming is a Farce and check the sources for yourself. On discovery.org, you will find a fascinating video of the Telecosm 2007 – The Global Warming Myth – Dr Noah Robinson. Here is an article on Fox News about John Coleman, who founded the Weather Channel network in 1982, who suggests suing for fraud the proponents of global warming, including Al Gore, and companies that sell carbon credits. As you know, carbon credits have become a huge financial commodity in our world. There are as many or more sources that disprove the global warming argument as there are that agree with it. It is time for our citizens in the U.S. to tune out and look beyond the mainstream news sources. Wake up America! We are being duped!

The biggest, best, and most important reason for kicking our oil addiction is to be energy independent. We need to focus our time and efforts on discovering and creating better energy sources here at home. The less dependent we are on foreign sources of energy, they better off we all will be. If not for us now, then for our children and grandchildren. Come on people, wake up and finally make a concerted effort to be informed beyond your typical, intellectually lazy news sources. Sorry, but I agree with GM vice-chairman Bob Lutz – human caused global warming IS a crock of sh*t!

Lloyd…signing out!

March 8, 2008

Loremo – A Car For The Times?

By Lloyd Frazier

The oil balloon is just about ready to pop. In the U.S., we are probably looking at $4/gallon gas by the summer. Just a couple months ago, there were rumors that oil was going to trend down slightly and we were going to hover just under $3/gallon this year. When you look at the overall picture, globally, we only saw a 2% increase in consumption. Oil companies are making record profits. OPEC is keeping production at its current level. Investments in oil futures is high. Bottom line – oil has become the monster we all learn to live with because our lives are so ensconced by its presence. In order for people to break away from this monster and regain our energy independence, new ideas and technologies need to be embraced. Personal transportation is of key importance for maintaining liberty and independence. Without affordable, reliable personal transportation, a person is relegated to the masses and governed by the whim of public transportation.

High mileage automobiles are nothing new. They have been around since the turn of the 20th century. Most early concepts were just novel ideas meant to spark the imagination. Economics is what really drives necessity. It is prime time for high mileage cars. Manufacturers are already churning out cars that squeeze more mileage out a gallon of gas. Mileage in the 30’s to low 40’s has become more common. We need cars that get ‘unreal’ mileage. Something in the neighborhood of 100 mpg has become the new moving target for car manufacturers. Gas-Electric hybrids have become mainstream. Most average a 15-20% increase over the same model with a gas engine. Pure, 100% electric cars have been making inroads due to improving battery technology. The good ones are very pricey, like the Tesla. The affordable ones like the Zap are either too slow, don’t have a useful mileage range on a charge, or cannot meet stringent U.S. safety standards.

The Germans, like the Americans, love fast, powerful cars. The German Autobahns allow for high, sustainable speeds that are a perfect fit for them. And like the American auto manufacturers, German companies like Mercedes have been chided for their line of gas guzzling vehicles. What more perfect environment for a small company to surface that offers that ‘unreal’ mileage from an automobile. Loremo AG, out of Munich, Germany was founded in 2000. They design and manufacture cars with very low weight and air resistance. Loremo is an abbreviation for Low Resistance Mobile — Lo-Re-Mo. The car was originally conceived for emerging markets, but now has jumped into the limelight due to high oil prices and global warming concerns. Mass production is slated for 2009. A factory still needs to be constructed.

When you start to look at the car, things jump out at you. Notice that there are no door lines. The way the driver and front seat passenger enter the car is through lifting the whole front end. The windshield and front clip are all one piece. It just pulls forward and tilts forward. You actually step into it. There are videos on the Loremo site that demonstrates how that is done. After thinking about that for awhile, I started to realize that, if you happen to be in a middle of a downpour, the car is going to get wet inside. At least with a conventional car, you can slide in without letting water in. Loremo’s reasoning behind this engineering design is to allow for greater rigidity with less weight.

There is some nifty electronics as well. There is a module that combines internet, GPS, operational information, and entertainment all in one compact monitor design. What happens when this gets drenched!? I am sure those clever Germans have that covered.

Since this is a four passenger vehicle, you may be wondering how they get in for the ride. Exactly like the driver does, except from the rear panel that tilts rearward. They just step in as well. As I mentioned, you can visualize how this works by visiting Loremo’s website. I ponder on another observation. This would not work well for elderly folks. In a conventional car, you just back your fanny into the seat and then rotate your hips to get your legs into the car and your in. Very easy for most older individuals and those with some mobility issues. I just cannot see those types of people buying one of these vehicles.

Overall, the car appears, in concept and design, to be just what the doctor ordered for overcoming the OPEC blues. They will be offering two models with diesel engines. The LS model will be able to achieve 157/mpg. Yes, you read that correctly, but I will wait while you go get your reading glasses to confirm your suspicions. Got ’em? Good. I stated…the LS model will be able to achieve 157/mpg. And, the LS model will be selling for less than 15,000 Euros. So what does that translate in US bucks? Well, as of this writing, 1 Euro = 1.5383 US dollars. So that makes it approximately 23K in our neck of the world. That’s the price of a base Toyota Prius. And the payback is 3 times quicker. There will also be a GT model that only gets…pardon me if I sound a bit giddy…ONLY 104/mpg. They will be offering an all electric as well. Just to give you perspective on the LS model. It will have a maximum speed of 100 MPH, and it can do that in 20 seconds. It will have a 5.28 US gallon fuel tank that can take you 808 miles! It all just seems so surreal, doesn’t it? The question is, will we ever see something like this in the US? To quote a famous Texan, Hank Hill….”I tell you what”, someone stands to make some big bucks if they are able to sell these here. Suddenly, the Chevy Volt seems so yesterday.

Lloyd, signing out…

January 26, 2008January 26, 2008

GM Partners With Coskata To Turn Garbage Into Gas

By Lloyd Frazier

If you can’t get better mileage from your current model lineup, then make the fuel they use less expensive. GM has partnered with Coskata to make the fuel their cars and trucks use more affordable for the American consumer. Coskata has developed a three-step process for turning waste materials such as wood, old tires, and even solid waste from garbage dumps into to usable ethanol fuel for under a buck a gallon. That is half the cost of producing a gallon of gasoline. This means half the price at the pump. Today that would translate to around $1.50 per gallon. Just think about this for a moment. Remember all the hoopla about the U.S. being overrun with garbage not to many years ago. Now it seems, this garbage turns out to be very useful. The guilt of disposing of your everyday household waste is gone. Now it can end up in someone’s gas tank to get them to work or go on a family outing. Plus, Coskata’s process uses less than a gallon of water to produce one gallon of fuel. Most of the current processes for making ethanol takes three or more gallons to make one gallon of ethanol. Kind of brings back memories of Christopher Lloyd’s character, Doc Brown, putting garbage in the fuel tank of his Delorean time machine in ‘Back To The Future.’

There are more than 3 million E85 capable GM vehicles on the road today, with more to come. GM is already promising all their new Hummer vehicles will be E85 capable in future model years. This strategy could bring back customers that have started to abandon large trucks and SUV’s. GM can also use the technology to make their manufacturing plants more environmentally friendly by being able to re-use waste and non-recyclable parts for fuel generation. Coskata will have a processing plant churning out 50 to 100 million gallons of ethanol by 2011.

So, does this mean that the tree-hugging, Gore worshipping, pine cone eating crowd will back off from a major U.S. manufacturer? Or, will they still decry that our evil American corporations still need to do more for the environment? The major problem with their arguments are that they fail to realize that it took awhile to get where we are now. We aren’t going to remedy our “evil ways” overnight. Granted it took some government intervention with tougher CAFE standards and a new Bush bio-energy bill to to get the barge moving. When it is all said and done, the average consumer still holds the trump card in all of this. The almighty consumer wallet speaks volumes when it comes to how manufacturers decide what to produce and market. If GM can pull off this strategy with Coskata, they are right back in the game with their profitable large vehicle lineup. Between cheap ethanol, better battery technology, and perfected hydrogen technology, personal transportation will not have to take a back seat to stinky buses, crowded trains, and the Gore patrol.

And that’s that!

May 11, 2007October 16, 2007

The EVs Are Coming! The EVs Are Coming!

By Lloyd Frazier

After some deep thought on what to do to overcome the high price of gasoline, I began to research ways to convert my existing Chevy S10 to electric. There are several companies that offer kits or do the actual conversion. The problem is that they all use lead acid battery technology. I might as well buy a golf cart and be done with it. It would be cheaper and the range about the same. I found that the average range is between 40 and 50 miles. Not bad for around town. Not really practical if you are doing a day trip to a nearby city.

As any red blooded American would do, I started on a Googling expedition. I found Tesla. For a mere $100K you can have yourself a two-seater sports car that can travel at speeds up to 135 MPH and a 200 mile charge range. Oh, and you have to be put on a waiting list indefinitely. It is a great looking car, but still not a practical alternative.

Another company popped up on my Google radar – Zap Car. Hmmm…looks interesting. Looks like all they have are some cheaply built Chinese renditions of 3 wheeler golf carts. There is a picture of a sleek looking crossover vehicle with the Lotus Engineering name plastered all over the page. And, a Brazilian derivative of a small VW Beetle knock-off. Ooh, ooh! You can also sign up to be a ZAP dealer. After perusing that site for awhile, I noticed that the company filed for bankruptcy protection and has begun to reinvent themselves. Looks like we have bit of a wait before there are some serious products from them.

The Chevy Volt was another alternative. That isn’t looking promising for a few years. GM claims they are seriously looking at a 2010 release. The great thing about this car is that it has its own recharging system. The system can be equipped with a gasoline, diesel, ethanol, or hydrogen powerplant to charge its batteries. It claims to have a 40 mile charge range. With the powerplant recharging, it gives it a much broader appeal. It is not a hybrid because it is only driven electrically from the batteries. It is a great looking vehicle with a large corporate budget behind it. Whether or not it actually sees the light of day is another matter.

I kept trudging along in my virtual search for the ultimate replacement for my reliable, but expensive gas dependent transportation. I ran into several other glorified golf cart companies. Nothing really sparked my interest.

Wait! Could it be. By golly, I think I found the answer to my gas guzzling ways. And its a small, sporty looking 4 door pickup. The perfect replacement for my S10. AND…its all-American baby!! Phoenix Motor Cars out of Ontario, California has developed a great looking truck and SUV for the retail market. It is already being sold for fleet usage in California, this year. In 2008, it will be available to the public. Around 6000 vehicles will be produced. By 2009, they will hope to ramp up production to supply the heated up EV market. The secret is in the battery technology. Altairnano has developed a nano technology that replaces the carbon graphite. Carbon apparently is the weak link in current battery designs. It causes heat and stress which shortens the life of the battery. The batteries developed for PMC (Phoenix Motor Cars) have a 20,000 charge cycle life which translates to 12 or more years of usage. The electric motor is produced by UQM Technologies of Colorado. Another plus. A company right in my own backyard. Boshart Engineering did the certification. They do work for several government agencies and major corporations. Put this all together and you have a practical, great looking truck for around $45K. It can be charged at home on a 220v dryer outlet in 5 or 6 hours. A commercial, 480v charging station can do it in 10 minutes. It has a 130 mile range on a charge. That can handle my needs just fine. I’m saving a downpayment as of this writing!

Lloyd, signing out…

April 11, 2007October 16, 2007

The Joe Cell – Free Power If You Have the Patience

By Lloyd Frazier

In the late seventies, during the Carter administration and its energy policies, there were many new alternative energy technology companies springing up. Mostly due to the tax incentives that they brought. The private individual could benefit as well. Many folks were putting up solar panels and windmills to stave off some of their tax bill and put more money in their pockets. Shortly after Reagan came into office, the tax incentives were dropped and lot of those companies died on the vine. Lately, we have seen a resurgence of alternative methods to create energy sources. A sort of “Alternative Energy 2.0” wave is breaking. This time it is driven by market pressures due to oil prices spiraling upward. It is an exciting time to watch the automobile manufacturers scramble for the next greatest technological breakthrough that can win them more of the market share. Toyota is a prime example. The hugely successful Prius hybrid has kicked off a new generation of cars, trucks and SUV’s that all manufacturers are starting to bring to the table. General Motors and Honda are scrambling to be the leader and bring even more to the table with the promise of hydrogen powered vehicles. The use hydrogen technology has been around for over a century. The first practical application for hydrogen gas was for dirigibles–we know them as blimps.

Joe Cell Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe. You would think civilization would have a handle on the mass application of it for powering automobiles by now. Well, it is not that easy. Hydrogen gas is highly flammable and safe containment is the biggest hurdle. Current technology is really starting to get a grasp on this. We should see mass produced hydrogen powered transportation in our lifetimes. In the meantime, you will always see backyard applications spring up. This is where the Joe Cell sprung up. You will find a plethora of websites and information touting its viability. Even conspiracies of people having had threats to their life due to the development of it. The Joe Cell is named after a fella by the name of Joe. I do not know the complete history of this gentleman, but you won’t have any trouble finding out “more about it” on the internet. Simply put, the Joe Cell can create energy much like what causes lightning to course through the skies. Its claim is not of producing hydroxy and oxygen gases, but some kind of mysterious static electrical charge from the Aether. All this from pure water and that’s it. Of course, there are other pieces to the puzzle but the main ingredient is water. Several people have claimed to run their carbureted vehicles from this cell. From the many videos I have viewed on You Tube, it looks very interesting. I highly recommend you read about it for yourself. Just Google the words “Joe Cell” to begin your adventure–OR click this>>http://peswiki.com/index.php/Directory:Joe_Cells for a complete source from many places.

Happy web crawling…Lloyd, signing out!