THE REGION Ventura County Turns to Alternative Energy

By DAVID KELLY, TIMES STAFF WRITER

September 23 2002

In a major bid to plug into cheaper, "greener" energy sources, Ventura County has begun installing solar panels on fire stations and buying hybrid vehicles powered by gas and electricity.

Twelve of the county's 31 fire stations are at least partly run on solar energy, and another dozen may join them soon.

"As a result of the ongoing electrical crisis in California, the county looked at ways it can be both self-reliant and also be a good citizen by reducing its load on the grid in general," said county Energy Manager David Inger. "The California Energy Commission offers a very large incentive for solar, which basically cut the cost in half."

With rebates and state grants, it costs about $7,000 to install each solar system on a firehouse. They reduce a station's daily electricity use by up to 25%.

The stations were chosen because they are large, are open 24 hours a day and consume a lot of electricity.

In addition, most are in neighborhoods where people can see them and perhaps be inspired to buy a system, said Abbe Berns, administrative manager for the county Fire Department.

Libraries, jails, police departments or community centers may be future candidates, depending on funding availability.

Ventura County joins other communities around the country moving toward cheaper, cleaner alternatives to fossil fuels and nuclear energy.

City and county buildings in San Francisco, San Diego, Oakland, Chicago and Los Angeles are being either totally or partly powered by solar energy, officials said.

Meanwhile, the county has purchased eight hybrid Toyota Priuses this year.

"We will explore any technology that will reduce emissions and enhance fuel economy," said Ventura County transportation manager Dennis Scamardo.

County Supervisor Steve Bennett, a strong supporter of alternative energy, will ask the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday to buy several more hybrid cars to replace the Chevy Cavaliers in the county fleet.

"If we have a conflict in the Middle East, who knows what will happen to the price of oil?" Bennett said. "Energy use will be a security issue, not just an environmental and conservation issue."

The county's solar systems were built by BP, the British oil company that is also one of the world's leading manufacturers of solar panels.

"We do a lot of work in California because of the electricity situation," said BP spokesman Todd Foley. "Last year, our sales were up 35% in California. With solar, there is virtually no maintenance, no fueling and you can do it with almost no emissions."

Some 380 BP service stations around the world are powered by solar energy, and BP-owned ARCO stations are outfitting many of their 1,700 facilities with solar systems, Foley said.

The solar cells atop the county fire stations generate up to 25% of their daily electricity and are expected to save each facility an average of $1,000 a year on utility bills, Inger said.

"We could have put them all in one place or spread them around," he said. "We decided to parcel them out. Our target is to install another 12 systems."

Stations in Camarillo, Simi Valley and Ventura have received solar panels over the last four months.

The systems are unobtrusive, installed on areas of roof where the sun shines longest.

A fire station on Pacific Coast Highway just north of Ventura has 16 panels on its roof, producing about 2,500 watts a day.

"It would be nice to see every station have them," said Capt. Richard Lajoie, looking up at the cells.

Mark Irwin, president of Advanced Solar Electric of Agoura Hills, which installed the panels, said his company has focused on homes, but he is now seeing increased interest from cities and counties.

"This is really gaining momentum," he said. "The buzz is on that solar is a great thing and it's getting bigger."
SUVs are rolling toward the junkyard
J.A. Getzlaff Sunday, September 22, 2002 ©2002 San Francisco Chronicle.

URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/09/22/IN155557.DTL

"The SUV is here to stay," General Motors Vice Chairman Robert Lutz told the Wall Street Journal this summer. He's wrong.

SUVs are on their way out -- the signs are everywhere.

At San Francisco's cable car turnaround at Market and Powell streets, tourists Paul and Heidi Newman, from Maryland, gave five good reasons why SUVs are doomed to extinction:

"They're too big, you can't see around them on freeways, they're gas guzzlers, they roll over, and most people who buy them don't need them."

Paul drives a Saturn, but he likes his friend's Prius, the first hybrid- electric vehicle (HEV) to hit America's roads.

A few feet away, 21-year-old Aaron Sayler of Davis said he's impressed with Honda's new Civic Hybrid, another HEV, and admitted that he has "a lot of scorn for SUVs."

So do the people behind "The Ultimate Poseur Sport Utility Page," a Web site dedicated to "exposing the ridiculous SUV trend." The site was started for off-road enthusiasts, who get a kick out of driving their fat-wheeled trucks on dirt, but it now dedicates itself to poking fun at the "millions of lemmings" who buy SUVs but are afraid to soil them.

"The Ultimate Poseur" page may be obscure, but "Car Talk," the National Public Radio program, is not. Hosts Tom and Ray Magliozzi, better known as "Click and Clack," draw more than 2 million listeners each week. Their syndicated, biweekly newspaper column, "Click and Clack Talk Cars," is carried by more than 200 newspapers, including this one. They've recently launched "Live Larger, Drive Smaller," an educational campaign "designed to get folks to reconsider whether they really need SUVs."

"Compared with the average vehicle," the Magliozzis believe, SUVs "use a lot of fuel, spew more pollution, and they crush other cars in accidents."

The Sierra Club is also campaigning against SUVs; it's running television and radio ads featuring former Sen. Bob Kerrey and retired Vice Admiral Jack Shanahan that ask automakers "to do their part to reduce America's dependence on foreign oil by manufacturing more fuel-efficient vehicles."

That's one loaded message, and perfectly timed to boot. Nobody wants to look un-American these days. And if the fearless leaders of the Bush administration get their way and make war on Iraq, gas prices could escalate to the point that it might cost an owner of, say, a Chevy Suburban, $140 instead of $70 to fill up the tank of his beloved behemoth.

But American automakers don't seem to care. They've fought every attempt to bring alternative-fuel vehicles to the marketplace. The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, a lobby that represents Detroit's Big Three, recently vowed to undo the new California bill that would force automakers to reduce vehicle greenhouse gas emissions by 2009 if they want to sell in a state that accounts for 10 percent of the U.S. auto market.

The Big Three are working on alternative-fuel vehicles. So why are they fighting this new, cleaner technology?

Because they're far, far behind. Toyota and Honda are already mass- producing HEVs -- vehicles that combine gasoline engines with electric motors that automatically regenerate during braking and deceleration. Toyota released the Prius, a four-door sedan that gets 48 miles to the gallon and costs $20, 000, in 1997. Honda debuted its first HEV, the two-seater Insight, which gets 68 miles to the gallon on highways and costs $20,000, in 1999. In March, it released its second HEV, the four-door Civic Hybrid, which averages 48 miles to the gallon and retails for $20,000.

Toyota has sold more than 100,000 HEVs worldwide. Honda has sold more than 13,000. Not bad for cars about which most people know nothing, but peanuts compared to the 16 million gas-powered vehicles purchased in the United States each year.

In California, the No. 1 auto market in the nation, 47 percent of the vehicles driven are trucks or SUVs. DaimlerChrysler derives 70 percent of its sales from light trucks and SUVs.

But things change. America got attacked. The economy sputtered. Enron imploded. The stock market plummeted. Despite General Motors' desperate attempt to capitalize on bad times with its "Keep America Rolling" ads, Americans have begun to reconsider what they're driving and why. Due to lack of interest, Ford Motor Co. recently announced that it will dump its 19-foot Excursion SUV, a leviathan that takes up two city parking spaces and gets 10 miles to the gallon.

American drivers are trickling into dealerships to check out HEVs, and according to Joan McLane, a sales consultant at Marin Honda in Corte Madera, they're surprised at what they find. "Most people," she said, "don't know that hybrids aren't plug-ins." When they discover that they don't have to recharge HEVs, she said, they're thrilled. McLane's dealership carries both the Insight and the Civic Hybrid, but the Hybrids are selling better -- so well there usually aren't any on the lot to test drive. "As soon as we get one in," she said, "it sells." McLane described those buying HEVs as "early adapters -- people who want to do something good for the environment."

And who are the people who are still buying SUVs? "Soccer moms," she said. But, she added, "a lot of them feel guilty about it." At R&G Toyota in San Rafael, salesman Seth Sondstein predicted that hybrid SUVs could be the wave of the future. "Who wouldn't want an SUV that gets 50 miles to the gallon?" he said.

Back at the cable car turnaround in San Francisco, Deb Williams, from Topeka, Kan., said a hybrid SUV is exactly the kind of vehicle she'd go for. She and her husband drive "two Chevy Suburbans and a Chevy Tahoe" because they own an engineering company and the big trucks are needed for hauling equipment,

as well as the couple's three Great Danes. But Williams said she would buy an HEV if it could pull a heavy trailer.

Kent Stone, a 28-year-old musician from San Francisco, is "holding out for a hemp-powered vehicle." Other prospective buyers are waiting for HEV prices to come down.

When they do, SUVs will go the way of the dinosaurs. Americans are going to figure out that it's a better financial deal to buy alternative-fuel vehicles. Already, the IRS offers $2,000 tax breaks to buyers of electric cars. California residents qualify for state rebates of as much as $3,000 for some alternative-fuel autos. Then there's the escalator for gas prices if war breaks out in the Mideast. And when Americans see their neighbors getting 68 miles to the gallon -- or not having to buy gasoline at all -- will they still want to drive that Yukon XL? Face it, the big ride is over.

J.A. Getzlaff, a freelance writer, bought a Honda CR-V two years ago. She now wishes she had bought an HEV

Reuters Company News

AUTOSHOW-UPDATE-Automakers join forces on safety, emissions

Friday September 27, 12:57 pm ET

By Tom Brown

PARIS, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Chief executives from 13 of the world's top automakers pledged on Friday to jointly press for global standards on car safety and environmental regulations, saying it would reduce emissions and cut costs.

In a joint statement, issued after a meeting they touted as unprecedented, the CEOs said it was "critical" for them to work together on three main issues -- international harmonization of vehicle regulations, worldwide acceptance of clean diesel technology and the promotion of advanced technology and improved fuel quality worldwide.

The rare expression of unity, in a fiercely competitive business where car bosses fight brutal daily battles with their rivals for market share, took place on the sidelines of the Paris auto show.

The low-profile meeting, in a hotel near the auto show venue, came against the backdrop of growing international scrutiny of the auto industry and what environmentalists see as an almost criminal contribution to global warming through greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks.

"International harmonization of technical regulations for motor vehicles will improve safety, protect the environment, and reduce costs for consumers around the world," the automakers said in a joint statement.

In the statement, issued by the major automotive trade groups in Europe, Japan and the United States, the automakers vowed, among other priorities, to seek greater world acceptance of clean diesel technology and greater availability of low sulfur or "sulfur-free" fuels.

They also called for improvements in the quality of gasoline fuels and stepped up efforts to promote the development and sale of advanced technology vehicles such as hybrid electrics and fuel cell vehicles.

FIRST STEP

"There are areas where we all think (harmonization) would make sense and make the industry improve faster," said GM chief executive Rick Wagoner as he emerged from the meeting.

He called the summit a first -- albeit tentative -- step towards greater cooperation in the industry.

Known for fighting bitterly over every tenth of a percent of market share, automotive chief executives are rarely seen with a competitor, much less cooperating with more than a dozen other car firms.

"There are national differences. It's a question if we can really pick up the pace," Wagoner added.

Many jurisdictions, such as California, have air quality regulations that do not allow certain clean diesel technologies, which the group sees as an impediment to improved fuel economy and hence reduced greenhouse gases.

"Current diesel engines are dramatically more efficient than conventional gasoline engines in terms of both fuel economy and carbon dioxide emissions. Diesel engines also have the potential to meet stringent requirements regarding local emissions," they said.

Attending the meeting were the heads of BMW AG (XETRA:BMWG.DE - News), DaimlerChrysler AG (XETRA:DCXGn.DE - News), Fiat Auto (Milan:FIA.MI - News), Ford Motor Co (NYSE:F - News), General Motors Corp (NYSE:GM - News), PSA Peugeot Citroen (Paris:PEUP.PA - News), Porsche AG (Frankfurt:PSHG_p.F - News), Renault SA (Paris:RENA.PA - News), Volkswagen AG (Frankfurt:VOWG.F - News), Honda Motor Co Ltd (Tokyo:7267.T - News), Toyota Motor Corp (Tokyo:7203.T - News), Nissan Motor Co Ltd (Tokyo:7201.T - News) and Mazda Motor Corp (Tokyo:7261.T - News).

LOWER COSTS

The joint statment emphasised the environmental benefits, but came in the midst of Europe's biggest new vehicle festival, where the emphasis is on style and performance. This year's show featured new sport utility vehicles from Porsche and Volkswagen, and large, ultra-luxury entries from Bentley and Mercedes.

But industry sources stressed that standardization on some issues such as pollution and safety testing among countries could also help lower costs for car companies doing business on a global scale.

Currently automakers must make expensive changes to sell the same car in countries with varying safety and emissions standards. Simpler, global rules would be cheaper to follow.

The meeting was called by PSA Peugeot Citroen chief executive Jean-Martin Folz, who chairs the Brussels-based European automotive trade association, ACEA.

"I'd love to have technical harmonization," added Ford Motor Co president and chief operating officer Nick Scheele.

Scheele attended the meeting along with Ford Bill Ford Jr, a self-professed envionmentalist who is chairman and chief executive of the company founded by his great-grandfather 99 years ago.
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What Carmakers Are Doing To Cut Emissions

Review of carmakers efforts to reduce pollution.

Source: Reuters [Sep 24, 2002]

PARIS, Sept 23 (Reuters) - This week sees the start of the Paris car show, where the world's automakers will show off not only their latest designs but also their achievements in the area of fuel economy and pollution reduction.

Below are some details of what the top manufacturers have accomplished so far:

GENERAL MOTORS CORP (U.S.)

The low cost of petrol in the U.S. has discouraged efforts to cut fuel consumption and led GM to scrap its most efficient U.S. gasoline models, the Chevrolet Metro and Chevrolet Prizm.

The world's biggest automaker was a ecological pioneer in the 1990s with its EV1, the world's first mass-produced electric car, though it proved a flop, costing it over $1 billion.

GM says it spends more than $1 billion annually on fuel-cell technology, partly through a host of joint ventures, but does not expect many fuel-cell cars to reach highways before 2010.

In Paris, GM will display the Hy-Wire fuel-cell prototype, which uses electronics to operate the car instead of cables.

The U.S. firm aims to bring out a hybrid electric-petrol full-size pick-up truck in its domestic market in 2004, which will cut fuel consumption by 10 to 15 percent. FORD MOTOR CO (U.S.)

Ford's Fiesta model in Europe, with a direct injection engine developed with Peugeot, gets 27 kilometres out of a litre of diesel out of town, putting it in the top flight of fuel-efficient carmakers.

But a cost cutting drive aimed at ending hefty losses at the number-two automaker has prompted Ford Chairman Bill Ford Jr to say that further efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions "will be tempered by our near-term business realities."

Ford is closing its Think Norwegian electric car venture, in which it had invested $100 million, due to disappointing sales.

It has brought out several fuel-cell concepts in the last two years and is working with Ballard Power Systems on further ones, though it sees production vehicles as a long way off.

A hybrid version of its Escape compact SUV is due out late next year.

TOYOTA MOTOR CORP (Japan)

Most analysts view Toyota as the leader in environmentally friendly car technology. Its Prius hybrid, which went on sale in 1997, travels 31 kilometres per litre of fuel, making it possibly the world's most efficient five-seat car in production.

Toyota and Honda are both racing to be the first automakers to put a fuel-cell passenger car on the market by the end of the year, though only a few would be sold, on a lease basis, to government bodies, research institutions and energy companies.

Toyota says it does not expect full commercialisation of fuel-cell cars until 2010 at the earliest.

RENAULT SA, NISSAN MOTOR CO (France, Japan)

Renault's most fuel-efficient car is the Clio 1.5-litre DCi, which can travel 23.8 kilometres on one litre of fuel.

At the Paris show, Renault will display hybrid and pure electric versions of its Kangoo minivan, which will go on sale in October and is produced in relatively small volume.

In 2000, Renault and Nissan launched an 800-million-euro joint fuel-cell programme. Nissan has brought forward its goal of selling fuel-cell cars to 2003 from 2005. Renault says it hopes to industrialise them in 2010.

Nissan lost a lot of face recently when it asked Toyota to supply it with hybrid systems for at least 10 years for an undisclosed fee. DAIMLERCHRYSLER AG (Germany, U.S.)

Its most fuel-efficient car is the Smart CDI, which travels 29.4 kilometres on a litre of fuel.

The company estimates it will have spent $1 billion in the 14 years to 2004 on developing fuel-cell technology. It has produced five "Necars" (New Electric Cars) since 1994 using various fuel-cell technologies.

Its Chrysler arm has developed a "Natrium" fuel-cell car which stores hydrogen as sodium borohydride, a non-toxic solution similar to soap.

The company will produce a limited number of fuel-cell buses from next year and wants to be selling cars using the technology from 2004 but company officials say they expect the traditional internal combustion engine to be with us for another 30 years.

VOLKSWAGEN AG (Germany)

A pioneer in fuel-efficient direct-injection diesel engines. Its Lupo 3L can travel 33 kilometres on one litre of fuel. The company has also demonstrated a prototype bullet-shaped car which can travel 100 kilometres on just one litre of fuel, though the car will not go into production.

A fuel-cell-powered VW Bora crossed the Alps in January, but the firm says fuel-cell cars probably won't hit the market before 15 to 20 years. The company does not have its own fuel cells, but uses those developed by a Swiss research institute.

VW is concentrating on intermediate solutions first, such as synthetic fuel and biomass, which is vegetation, or agricultural waste converted into fuel.

PSA PEUGEOT CITROEN (France)

PSA's least-polluting mass-produced car is the Citroen C3 equipped with the same 1.4-litre diesel engine as Ford's Fiesta. The vehicle emits 110 grammes of carbon dioxide per kilometre. European industry target is a maximum 140 grammes by 2008.

Europe's number-two automaker aims to be selling socalled "minihybrid" cars early next year, using an electric motor to accelerate from standing in crowded town centres, cutting fuel use by between seven and ten percent.

In Paris PSA will show off its latest fuel-cell ideas with the H2O, a concept spin-off of its Peugeot 206, adapted for fire brigades, which makes hydrogen chemically on board.

HONDA MOTOR CO LTD (Japan)

Leads the race among large automakers for fuel economy in mass produced cars. The aerodynamic Insight two-seater hybrid boasts 35 kilometres per litre. Also sells a hybrid version of its Civic model, which can travel 29.5 kilometres per litre.

Honda's fuel-cell car to be released soon will use a fuel-cell stack developed by Ballard Power Systems, though it hopes to have its own stack ready before long.

BAYERISCHE MOTOREN WERKE AG (Germany)

BMW believes that hydrogen powered internal combustion engines are, for now, more practical than electric motors powered by hydrogen fuel cells.

It has developed a prototype of its 7-Series using that technology and hopes to introduce a limited number of cars using it in five years' time. Further production would depend on how quickly a hydrogen filling station network is developed.

-- Additional reporting by reporters in Detroit, Frankfurt and Tokyo

Source: PR Newswire [Sep 24, 2002]

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ROUNDUP STORY: Reuters 9/24: http://www.evworld.com/databases/shownews.cfm?pageid=news240902-03

Toyota has sold about 120,000 of its Prius hybrid, and wants to be building 300,000 hybrids annually by 2005 or 2006. But the achilles heel of the technology is their heavy, expensive batteries, which need replacing every two or three years.

"This is a problem that for the moment people disregard," said Devleeschauwer. "Those who have bought a Prius or a Honda Insight are in for a surprise when they replace the batteries."

Engineers have come up with an array of other energy sources for automobiles, including alcohol, rape seed oil and soy oil.

French former Formula 1 racing engineer Guy Negre has even started production of a car that runs on compressed air. His company says the five-seater can reach a top speed of 100 kilometres per hour and has a range of about 200 kilometres.

http://www.theaircar.com/index.html (Moteur Developpment International)
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