The new energy law

COP15 was may be no a big thing, lets think future. What would be if each new generation of products will earn its energy needed for production in a couple of years back. This way consumerism will automatically heal the energy crisis which never may be solved by shifting to alternative fuels alone. So stakeholders are called to implement this new sustainable production rule in international trade.  Lets have some examples. Each new lightbulb may save the amount of energy neded for production within one year, for household appliances like dish washers or fridges this timespan may be longer. For Photovoltaics it might be a little longer but proves that this rule is also applicable when investing in new gadgets. Lets spread this rule and see how our energy demand and at the same time CO₂-emissions will decrease. In paralel eco-labeling may co-exist securing that energy saving complies with environmental standards. Yes, we can heal the world carbon wise by enforcing  energetic amortisation.  

Greening or Greenwashing of the Automobile Industry?

Everywhere electrification of power trains is used - in EU funding schemes like the green car initiative, in national programmes covering research and climate change. But is it offering a true solution or is it a hoax?
There are some concerns expressed by the following hypothesis':
1. The energy intensity of all resource deplenishing actions is influenced in the first order by the users demand, not the energy  conversion technology aka power train which comes only second.
2. The history of the automobile aka OEM industry came into age with mass production, thus offering cheap mobility - but this clearly stands in the way of sustainable transport, because of the competitive advantage against public transport and arising zero emission niche markets which both have very high initial costs for the operator/user.

ad 1. If you calculate the demand in primary energy the demand in use energy is divided through the energy conversion efficiency. Now we have cars consuming approximately 6-8 l per 100km (0.6-0.8 kWh/km) and pedal electric (electrically assisted) bicycles consuming 2-7 Wh/km. So even in case we have 80% efficiency with cars instead of 20% which we have now, the factor in between would be 0.175/0.0045=39 which is nearly 42! Yes the answer is always 42, whatever question you are posing ;-)


ad 2. Investment into individual mobility starts at 1500€ for a used five seater. There is no valid business model for the masses buying battery electric luxury cruisers. Battery cost would be a problem with cars, even after becoming massively cheaper - lets- say one tenth of actual costs!



Concluding, the only way is to invest more money in making the rides lighter consuming less use energy and only afterwards caring about alternative power trains! This will be manifesting itself in safer more acceptable tilting trikes and quads and microcars having a seating capacity matching the demand of 1.x and less with commuting.

Electric mobility deployment

The last days have again shown in Austria that utilities tend to oversimplify things regarding battery electric cars. They are tending towards the belief that they have only to provide charging spots and turnover will rocket. However it is not really wise to think so.
Existing OEMs are struggling themselves are not able to give away BEVs for little money and there is little hope that the state will pay the difference in price which mainly is caused by the big big battery. So what to do? Battery exchange is not feasible now for two reasons:

• OEMs should use similar batteries
• batteries should be a standardised product

Point 1: Reduce battery size as low as reasonable acceptable
In parallel the mobility system should adapt. There is little need for a 1.6 ton car which runs 10km a day at an average velocity of 35km/h. The system should allow choosing the right vehicle for the right task. Now this may be best done after sale because demand may change. There are may options to improve the sizing but OEMs should develop new modular concepts capable of been altered after sale in order to increase range and /or capacity.
Point2: rethink car concepts - from one box to building blocks
and utilities shoudl develop new support models covering all issues creating costs or inconveniences for drivers of BEV.
Point 3: offer users the possibility to exchange BEVs not fit for the task after purchase.
This will create thrust in the system.

This 1-23- way it will work.
First propulsion, then vehicle comtecst and last but not least extended customer care.

ecodriving

the first attempt to transport ecodriving info

Energy prices low - bad outlook for energy conserving activities?

There might be at least three reactions from consumers:

1. yes we can continue wasting fuel, since the real well to tank price for the energy is much lower than expected
2. no, we should not change our saving attitude, the next price bubble is on its way
3. wasting energy at home is pricey, but the installed kW power is to expensive for me with cars.

Some comments to that:
ad a) The crisis has shown what the temporary base price is but the exploration and use of new oil fields will be more costly and thus rising prices are to be expected. If the demand collapses reducing extraction beyond the optimum keeping the oil field alive will also cost money adding to the variable costs.

ad b) this is not reasonable for short term, since the demand is falling from both sides oil connected production and oil burning.

ad c) this might have been true in the past since no new power plant were build, but this will change while new power plants or energy storage facilities will be build. But of course investing in more power with cars will never pay off unless you have no speed limits.
What is now the conclusion:

We should not rank price as the main argument for saving energy for a couple of reasons. From an economic stand point the difference between the market price and the production cost for energy should be sufficient high that investment in renewable pay off. That will generate new jobs. Full stop.