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Peering at the Sticker on a Cleaner Car

by Danny Hakim How much will it cost Californians to buy cooler cars? The Golden State's roads are known for vintage T-birds, customized muscle cars and the Bentleys in Beverly Hills. But the state's regulators have a different kind of cool in mind – cars that emit significantly lower amounts of the gases that have been linked to global warming. When California adopted the nation's first automotive greenhouse gas regulation in September, the auto industry and state regulators disagreed over how much it would all cost. The new regulation would require a 30 percent reduction, on average, in automotive greenhouse gas emissions – carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane – by the 2016 model year. The regulation, though directed at greenhouse gases, would probably demand an improvement in fuel economy of more than 40 percent. While smog-forming pollutants have been regulated for decades, catalytic converters can neutralize those emissions. But no filtration technology exists for greenhouse gas emissions, so cutting those emissions would have to come almost entirely from better fuel economy, though a modest amount could be cut by overhauling a car's air-conditioner. The staff of the California Air Resources Board says the new regulation will add about $1,000 […]

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Los Angeles Toughens Renewables Plan

by Gary Clouser The Los Angeles City Council has ordered its municipal utility, Los Angeles Department of Water & Power (LADWP), to toughen its renewable fuels goal, even at the anticipation that it will result in higher electricity rates. The City Council has told LADWP it may not count power generated from the Hoover Dam toward its renewable goals. Hoover Dam-generated power accounts for about 2.5% of LADWP's power. Exclusion of power from that source toward the renewables objective is expected to cost the average residential ratepayer about $0.60 more per month, raising the anticipated cost for the renewable program to $3.20 per month from the earlier projection of $2.60 by 2017. That LADWP estimate is based on funding renewable the plan, including interconnection costs, transmission costs, renewable energy costs exceeding projected cost from fossil fuels, such as coal and natural gas, and purchase agreements for renewable power. The state of California has ordered investor-owned utilities to supply 20% of its supply through renewable fuels by 2017. That state mandate, however, does not officially apply to LADWP, because munis are exempt from that rule. The state does require munis to develop their own plans, called Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS). LADWP's […]

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MTI Micro Receives Certification Agency Approval to Ship Methanol Fuel Cartridges

In a major milestone, MTI MicroFuel Cells Inc. (MTI Micro), the developer of Mobion(TM) cord-free rechargeable portable power technology suitable for handheld electronic devices and a subsidiary of Mechanical Technology Incorporated (Nasdaq: MKTY), announced it has received United Nations (UN) Packaging Certification and is now in United States Department of Transportation (DOT) Compliance for shipment of its methanol fuel cartridges, supporting its initial product launch planned by year-end. With this UN and DOT recognition in place, authorized shippers can now conveniently transport MTI Micro's fuel refills by ground, sea and air, both domestically and internationally. "MTI has emerged as a leader in the development of safe and reliable methanol fuel cartridges and packaging," said John Lynn, President and CEO of the Methanol Institute, the global trade association for the methanol industry. "This is a significant achievement in the acceptance of methanol shipments, and will hasten the eventual widespread market adoption of micro fuel cell technology." MTI MicroFuel Cells Inc., a subsidiary of Mechanical Technology Incorporated, (Nasdaq: MKTY – News), is the developer of Mobion(TM), a patented direct methanol micro fuel cell technology. The Company has a world-class team of entrepreneurial business executives, researchers and scientists; a number of system prototypes […]

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