Clean, green machines, or smoke and mirrors?

Deutsche Welle, 28 March 2013

On the streets Manila, electric-powered trikes are increasingly being used as the government tries to improve air quality. Environmentalists claim the trend does nothing to address the real issue of climate change.

Alfredo Forelo used to drive passengers through the streets of Mandaluyong City on a conventional old Manila "trike."

It's a motorcycle with an attached sidecar that can weave around traffic and - if need be - go up onto sidewalks. He is amongst the hundreds of thousands of drivers in the Manila metropolitan area who depend on trikes to earn a living.

"I've driven a trike for eight years," says 38-year-old Forelo. "Driving helps me support my wife."

While these old motorbikes are a cheap source of income for poor drivers, like Forelo, Manila's environment is paying the price.

According to the Asia Development Bank, trikes emit an estimated 3.8 tons of carbon dioxide each year. Exhaust fumes from trikes are one reason that the government regularly warns citizens about the capital's air quality, which it links to severe respiratory diseases. Forelo says he knows first hand about that. "I get sick a lot, like from asthma or I often catch a cold or the flu", he tells DW.

The older trikes are linked with
respiratory diseases

Breath of fresh air

But Forelo hopes those days are over. Four months ago, he traded in his gas powered trike for one that runs on a lithium ion battery. His "E-trike" is the prototype of a vehicle that the Asia Development Bank plans to mass produce and eventually replace the conventional motorcycles with. And, in turn, improve the Philippines' environment.

"Electric vehicles will play a very significant role in addressing climate change", says the Asia Development Bank's Sohail Hasnie, who heads the E-trike project. "The Philippines government spends billions on importing oil and there are a lot of inefficient ways this is used by trike drivers."

Hasnie adds that the benefits of E-trikes will be felt across the board. The government will save money and pedestrians and drivers will be able to breathe in cleaner air. The Asia Development Bank plans to put 100-thousand E-trikes on Manila's streets over the next five years.

But some environmental activists in the Philippines are not impressed by the E-trikes. Beau Baconguis, Philippines Project Manager at Greenpeace, claims these vehicles are merely substituting tailpipes for smoke stacks.

"When you plug in these hundreds of thousands of E- trikes, you will be using up a lot of electricity that is very dependent right now on coal," says Baconguis. "While the environmental impact is not direct, in terms of emissions, the emissions are coming from coal power plants when you charge your trikes."

Other observers claim the E-trike's lithium ion batteries are not a realistic energy alternative. "The problem with lithium ion batteries, they cost more and virtually zero after sale service in the country," says Red Constantino, director of the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities in Manila.

He says that at the moment, the lithium ion batteries can only be serviced overseas. "If one single cell breaks down, the whole battery goes kaput and there is no repair shop anywhere for such batteries."

Constantino adds that the $400-million loan the Asia Development Bank received from the Philippines government to fund the E-trike program, could have been put to better use. He says if officials really want to improve air quality, the government should improve Manila's infrastructure and make it a more pedestrian-friendly city.

"The best mode of transport is walking. If you have better sidewalks, people will walk more. Trikes encourage door-to-door transportation and they are traffic hazards," Constantino says.

A sunny solution

The Asia Development Bank's Sohail Hasnie counters the criticism of the environmentalists. He says even though E-trike drivers will depend on the power grid to recharge batteries, total carbon dioxide emissions will still be at least 40 percent lower with 100-thousand gas powered bikes off the streets.

Hasnie adds that his organization's project doesn't stop with just rolling out the E-trikes. The Asia Development Bank intends to build solar chargers and create an entirely local industry aimed at servicing the vehicles. And that will not only benefit the environment, but also the economy by creating jobs.

"Our project is bringing all these things in together," he says. As for driver Alfredo Forelo, he says he made the right decision to get rid of his old motorbike. He's saving money on gas and transporting more passengers with his E-trike.

"It's really easy to drive and more comfortable," Forelo says. And when asked if he'd ever go back to driving a gas-powered trike, he doesn't think twice about it. "No, not again."

Ryanair to expand by 30% with bumper Boeing order

BBC News, 19 March 2013

Aerospace and Defence

• Boeing 787: Facts and history
• A brief history of airliner problems
• What are the battery problems?
• The great London airport debate

Ryanair hopes to be 30% bigger by 2018

Ryanair is planning to increase its aircraft fleet by a third to 400 planes after placing an order with Boeing for 175 planes worth $15.6bn (£10.3bn).

The airline currently has 305 planes. The order will allow older ones to be retired.

The move is a boost for the US planemaker after rival Airbus received a record $24bn order from an Indonesian airline on Monday.

Ryanair hopes to increase its passenger numbers to 100 million a year.

Ryanair, which has has always favoured Boeing aircraft and remains one of the few all-Boeing carriers, said it had received a discount on the price, but did not reveal how deep a discount.

The order is for the current generation 737s, whose 737-800 model list price is $89.1m, but large orders typically involve a discount, which could cut the price paid to half that.

The deal softens the missed opportunity from Indonesia's Lion Air, as that company had previously given Boeing its own record order.

Problems

Boeing's reputation has taken a blow in recent months after its latest Dreamliner 787 planes were grounded after batteries on some planes emitted smoke.

Flights of these are expected to restart within weeks.

Boeing's head of commercial airplanes Ray Conner said at a joint news conference with Ryanair on Tuesday that the problems with the 787s had not affected orders.

He added that they were working hard to get the issue sorted out.

Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary said he was happy to back Boeing: "Hopefully it will help refocus people's minds on the fact that Boeing continues to deliver great aircraft and is growing strongly, rather than a minor issue on the 787."

Donal O'Neill, an analyst with Goodbody Stockbrokers in Dublin, said the order was good for both sides: "This order puts Ryanair back on track for growth at a time when many European airlines are shrinking.

"For Boeing it keeps a major customer on board and helps position it to hook Ryanair for an order of the [next-generation] 737-Max in a few year's time."

Boeing 737s compete mainly with Airbus's A320s in the short-to-medium range, narrow body jet market.

Ryanair's expansion is expected to have taken place by 2018 and the company said if demand kept growing it could build further on the order with another.

Ryanair's shares were 4% higher in afternoon trading, while Boeing's were 0.5% higher.

Related Article:

Lion Air's Record Airbus Order Costs $24 Billion

Greener cars could slash US pollution by 2050: study

Google – AFP, Kerry Sheridan (AFP), 18 March 2013 

Traffic converges on highway I-495 South just west of Washington on Nov. 23, 

2011, in McLean, Virginia (Getty Images/AFP/File, Win McNamee)

WASHINGTON — Greener cars that use alternative fuels could help the United States slash its greenhouse gas emissions from everyday driving a full 80 percent by 2050, according to a scientific study out Monday.

That could lead to a more than 13 percent cut in overall US pollution into the atmosphere, with consumer-driven cars and small trucks currently responsible for 17 percent of the nation's greenhouse gas emissions, said the study.

However, sticker shock could turn off many consumers, with alternative fuel vehicles costing several thousand dollars more than today's prices.

Still, the long-term benefits would outweigh the early costs, said the report by the National Academy of Sciences, which called for subsidies and tax incentives to ease the burden on consumers who want to drive green.

"These are things that will not happen in the market naturally," committee chair Doug Chapin told reporters. "There has to be real teeth in these policies."

The Mercedes B-Class F-Cell is seen

 during the press day of the LA Auto

 Show on November 17, 2010 (AFP/File,

Gabriel Bouys)

The study envisions cars and small trucks of the future that drive a stunning 100 miles per gallon (42.5 kilometers per liter), way over the 25 miles per gallon that they did on average in 2005.

More efficient vehicle technologies -- like lighter, more aerodynamic designs -- could be combined with alternative power sources such as biofuel, electricity or hydrogen, reducing petroleum use in 2050 by 80 percent as well, it said.

"There is no silver bullet that is adequate by itself," said Chapin.

Fuels under consideration include corn-grain ethanol and biodiesel, which are already being produced in commercial quantities. Natural gas was ruled out because its greenhouse gas emissions were too high.

The study also pointed to "much greater potential" in fuel from wood waste, wheat straw and switchgrass, known as biofuel from lignocellulosic biomass.

"This 'drop-in' fuel is designed to be a direct replacement for gasoline and could lead to large reductions in both petroleum use and greenhouse gas emissions," it said.

The study examined hybrid electric, plug-in electric and battery electric vehicles already on the market including the Toyota Prius and Chevrolet Volt, as well as hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles like the Mercedes F-Cell, scheduled for market release in 2014.

High up-front vehicle prices would be expected to endure for at least a decade, even though it would cost less to fuel up and drive greener cars, it said.

The study said the benefit to society in terms of energy cost savings, better vehicles, reduced petroleum use and lower greenhouse gas emissions would be "many times larger than the projected costs."

The chassis of a Chevrolet Volt is

 seen on media preview day at the 

Los Angeles Auto Show on November 28,

2012 (AFP/File, Frederic J. Brown)

The goals set out by the study, which took two years to produce, will be "difficult but not impossible to meet," Chapin said, as long as they are guided by strong national policies.

He acknowledged that projecting until 2050 created significant uncertainty in the study, but urged many policies and approaches to be pursued at the same time.

"If the goals are not completely met, the effort itself and partial success is expected to yield valuable benefit," Chapin said.

According to committee member David Greene of the Howard H. Baker Center for Public Policy, incentives such as subsidies or mandates would be needed to "overcome the initial cost barriers for the advanced technologies."

"In the long run, we remove all of those special subsidies or mandates and let the market decide which vehicles it prefers," he said.

The study was sponsored by the US Department of Energy's Office of Efficiency and Renewable Energy.

President Barack Obama last week sought to preserve green energy research after an impasse with Congress sparked an 85 billion dollar austerity drive and widespread budgets cuts.

Obama, who has also urged Congress to do more to fight climate change, plans to introduce further efficiency standards for cars and make a fresh push for cleaner energy, but those policies face an uphill battle among Republican lawmakers who say the costs are too high.

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Energy Storage Super Capacitors Bottle Energy in New Breakthrough

US teen designs compact nuclear reactor

"It's about bringing something old, fission, into the 21st Century," Wilson said. "I think this has huge potential to change the world."

He has designed a small reactor capable of generating 50-100 megawatts of electricity, enough to power as many as 100,000 homes.

Lion Air's Record Airbus Order Costs $24 Billion

Jakarta Globe, Arientha Primanita, March 18, 2013

Lion Air founder and president director Rusdi Kirana, left, and French CEO of

European aerospace giant Airbus Fabrice Bregier, right, pose with France's

President Francois Hollande, after signing a contract during a ceremony.

Related articles

• Lion Air Orders More Than 200 Airbus Jets: Reports
• US Ex-Im Bank Extends $1.1b Lion Air Loan
• Low-CostCarrier Malindo Airways Set to Take Off at the End of March
• More Flights, Lower Fares Between Singapore, Indonesia
• Lion Air Expands Subsidiaries' Fleets With 36 Additional Airplanes

Paris. Lion Air President Rusdi Kirana confirmed on Monday that the airline was ordering 234 Airbus jets to be delivered from 2014 to 2026 worth $24 billion.

"We are going to buy different kinds, but mostly the Airbus A320neo, [we ordered] 174 units of that," he told reporters in Paris ahead of the expected signing of the record deal.

The more fuel-efficient and eco-friendly Airbus A320neo has a price tag of more than $100 million. The Airbus website says it has "a 15 percent reduction in fuel consumption, two tonnes of additional payload, up to 500 nautical miles of more range, lower operating costs, along with reductions in engine noise and emissions."

A Boeing 737-900ER aircraft owned by
 Indonesian carrier Lion Air flies over
 Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in
Tangerang,  Banten. (AFP Photo/Adek\
Berry) 

The first six planes will be delivered around the middle of 2014 and will be used for a new airline that the company will establish to service the Asia-Pacific market.

"With the new Airbus jets, we are going to have two airlines operating in Asia-Pacific countries. There are two ways of doing this — either we set up a completely new airline or we purchase an existing airline that needs funding," he said, adding that Lion Air had not yet decided on the countries it would have the new airline in.

The purchase, he added, would be funded almost entirely by export credit agencies from France, Germany and England.

Lion Air would be a new client for Airbus as it has previously been equipped almost exclusively by US rival Boeing. In 2011, the Indonesian carrier signed a record $22.4 billion deal for 230 Boeing 737 airliners, which was also funded by the Ex-Im Bank.

The Lion Air order marks at least the third attempt by Airbus to woo Lion Air, long seen as a fortress for Boeing. It is likely to throw the spotlight on an intense battle for market share between the largest planemakers.

"Of course [Airbus] approached us. They need us, as buyers we are king," Rusdi said.

The order is also likely to add zest to a regional battle for supremacy between Lion Air and AirAsia, the low-cost carrier founded by Malaysian entrepreneur Tony Fernandes.

The airlines are respectively among the top buyers of Boeing and Airbus jets. Airlines rarely switch suppliers because of re-training costs and the burden of keeping extra spares, but the practice of "flipping" has grown as market share battles raged.

Edward Sirait, Lion Air's director for general affairs, said there was no problem with Lion Air having both Boeing and Airbus planes in its fleet.

"There is no law that states airlines can only use one kind of aircraft. And we are expanding and Indonesia is a growing market," he said.

Additional reporting from AFP

Related Article:

Indonesia’s Lion Air Roars with Record Boeing Order (Nov. 2011)

Indonesia's Lion Air has placed the largest ever commercial airplane
order in Boeing's history, valued at $21.7 billion. (AFP Photo) 

Energy Storage Super Capacitors Bottle Energy in New Breakthrough

Green Prophet, Brian Nitz, March 3rd, 2013

UCLA and Egyptian scientist accidentally find a new way to bottle stored energy. This missing link for solar energy, hydro and electric cars could be a fast, tiny, biodegradable battery

Penicillin, Teflon, microwave ovens and superglue were all discovered by accident. And now graphene super-capacitors might be the most important accidental discovery of our time – one that can change the way energy is stored. A team of UCLA researchers led by chemist Richard Kaner used a commercial DVD burner to produce sheets of a carbon-based material known as graphene.

The “accident” occured when Cairo University graduate Maher El-Kady (pictured below) wired a small piece of graphene to an LED and found that it behaved as a super-capacitor, able to store a considerable amount of electricity. Their laser-scribed graphene is ideal as a super capacitor partially because of its enormous surface area, 1520 square meters per gram. Here’s how it works:

The story begins with quirky old kite-flying American, a key and a bolt of lightning. It ends with a jar full of electricity. Benjamin Franklin’s jar of electricity is known as a Leyden jar.

It is a primitive electronic circuit element known as a capacitor. The Leyden jar illustrates some promising characteristics of capacitors. As electrical storage devices, they are extraordinarily simple. You can make one at home with a glass jar and a some aluminum foil.

Capacitors have some advantages over Lithium, Nickle-Metal hydride and other chemical batteries. Batteries convert electrical energy to and from chemical energy. But capacitors store electrical charge by bottling excess electrons on one side of a thin barrier.

So capacitors needn’t contain caustic mixtures of acids, alkalis and toxic metals as batteries do. Capacitors can also be charged many times and they can be charged very fast. Some of the tantalum and electrolytic capacitors inside your computer or iPad are charging and discharging millions of times while you read this.

Maher El-Kady

If capacitors are so wonderful, why aren’t they used in place of batteries electric cars to laptops and mobile phones?

The problem is that capacitors aren’t able to store very much energy. A Lithium Ion battery the size of a Leyden jar can store more than 500,000 times more energy.

But capacitors have improved since the Leyden jar. The graphene capacitor these UCLA scientists created has 4 billion times the capacitence of a Leyden jar.

Since its operating voltage is much lower, it might only store about 40,000 times the energy density of a Leyden jar, but this brings it much closer to the energy density of a chemical battery.

And that could change everything.

A film explaining the story of this invention is a finalist in the General Electric focus forward filmmaker competition.

Watch the film and decide for yourself whether a small, efficient, biodegradable energy storage device might revolutionize the future of energy storage.

Related Articles:

"THE NEXT 18 YEARS"–  Dec 2, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) (Subjects: You are looking  at a Quantum event, clearing a filter - Portal pineal , Higher self to step forward and communicate to You, Still remains in 3D but exposure to multi dimensions, Evolution of humanity, Intent, Mayan Calendar, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, 26.000 Years, Milky Way, Nostradamus, 1987, Beginning to a New Time, Channellers/Teachers, Center of Galaxy – Black hole, Bridge of Swords, Pleiadians, Children, Inventions – The discoveries (e.g. : Airplanes - Medicines – Radio ...): These new Discoveries were given all over the planet when Human consciousness was ready for it, New Inventions are coming, the timing depends on how the middle East problems are solved, Biology reaction of quantum energy; new radio of the future, seeing quantum energy, when it is revealed all science books will have to be rewritten, This will be an AHA moment – be possible to communicate with the rest of Galaxy, NASA, Church/religion will be effected the most by these discoveries, The quantum discovery will see the grid, life, gardens and will redefine life, DNA (3 billion pieces) evolving piece DNA are chancing, Gaia/Humanity are linked, new instruments will start to reveal the DNA variance, Evolution revealed: Autistic children have born with the removal of their 3D structure in the brain, Gaia/Spirit are testing these quantum beings  (Evolved DNA), Universe central clock = Rifs,  Globally there will be only 5 currencies, Wars on earth will be declared barbaric, Middle East, Global Unity, .. etc.)

"2013 - What Now ?" – Jan 6, 2013 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Text version)

“… New ideas are things you never thought of. These ideas will be given to you so you will have answers to the most profound questions that your societies have had since you were born. Inventions will bring clean water to every Human on the planet, cheaply and everywhere. Inventions will give you power, cheaply and everywhere. These ideas will wipe out all of the reasons you now have for pollution, and when you look back on it, you'll go, "This solution was always there. Why didn't we think of that? Why didn't we do this sooner?" Because it wasn't time and you were not ready. You hadn't planted the seeds and you were still battling the old energy, deciding whether you were going to terminate yourselves before 2012. Now you didn't…. and now you didn't.

It's funny, what you ponder about, and what your sociologists consider the "great current problems of mankind", for your new ideas will simply eliminate the very concepts of the questions just as they did in the past. Do you remember? Two hundred years ago, the predictions of sociologists said that you would run out of food, since there wasn't enough land to sustain a greater population. Then you discovered crop rotation and fertilizer. Suddenly, each plot of land could produce many times what it could before. Do you remember the predictions that you would run out of wood to heat your homes? Probably not. That was before electricity. It goes on and on.

So today's puzzles are just as quaint, as you will see. (1)How do you strengthen the power grids of your great nations so that they are not vulnerable to failure or don't require massive infrastructure improvement expenditures? Because cold is coming, and you are going to need more power. (2) What can you do about pollution? (3) What about world overpopulation? Some experts will tell you that a pandemic will be the answer; nature [Gaia] will kill off about one-third of the earth's population. The best minds of the century ponder these puzzles and tell you that you are headed for real problems. You have heard these things all your life.

Let me ask you this. (1) What if you could eliminate the power grid altogether? You can and will. (2) What if pollution-creating sources simply go away, due to new ideas and invention, and the environment starts to self-correct? (3) Overpopulation? You assume that humanity will continue to have children at an exponential rate since they are stupid and can't help themselves. This, dear ones, is a consciousness and education issue, and that is going to change. Imagine a zero growth attribute of many countries - something that will be common. Did you notice that some of your children today are actually starting to ponder if they should have any children at all? What a concept! ….”