A good ride, eh?

If your daily commute starts with a double double, and if the only rims you’re worried about are the kind that roll up, then you’ll be happy to know that the a pair of microbiologists at the University of Manitoba have been trying to fuel your car with Tim Horton’s coffee cups.

Unfortunately, technology still hasn’t progressed to the point that your morning coffee can also be used to fuel your morning commute, but Tim’s disposal coffee cups themselves can be broken down into a shredded mass that resembles cotton candy. With the cups in a form that provides ample surface area for ethanol-producing bacteria to consume, the researchers were about to provides about 1.3 litres of ethanol from 100 Tim Hortons cups. (Assuming you’re just drinking regulars, at $1.39, you’d have to put up $139 for your 1.3 litres, leaving you with the non-too-appealing price of $106.92 per litre.)

Given the fact that edible crops have fallen out of favour as a source of biofuel because we’d rather fuel our stomachs than our cars, it makes sense to begin looking in our trash for alternative sources. Certainly, we’ve already looked to cellulosic materials and other kinds of (smellier) waste. More than proving that one of our national pastimes is also an energy source, these repurposed coffee cups show that there are innovative approaches to energy that are often sitting right under our noses.

But, hey, why not keep it Canadian while we’re at it, eh?

Via Tree Hugger

Playing the technology adoption waiting game

In the hydrogen car utopia, cars would drive for miles and miles producing nothing more than a bit of water vapor. Powered by fuel cells that convert hydrogen into electricity used to power an electric engine, hydrogen cars promise freedom from our dependence on non-renewable energy sources for transportation. 

With researchers making huge strides in fuel cell technology, what does it take to push this technology from a utopian dream to a consumer reality?

Indeed, researchers are racing toward a new hydrogen-powered reality. Ballard Power Systems claims to be on track for achieving the US Department of Energy’s targets for fuel cell cost of $30 USD/kW and cold weather reliability, two major barriers to commercialization. Other research focuses on more practical elements, like service life, less expensive catalysts and robust design.

Now, it seems the biggest barrier to the hydrogen car isn’t technology – it’s consumer adoption. As with any technology adoption, hydrogen cars must reach that all-important tipping point, the point where a new technology becomes the standard, before it makes it to the mainstream.

The problem is the classic ‘chicken and egg’ conundrum. Without the proper infrastructure for refueling, consumers are reluctant to purchases a hydrogen vehicle. But without consumer demand for refueling stations, governments and policymakers won’t invest in developing the infrastructure.

Without a clear solution in sight, researchers developed H2VISION, a computer-based model that simulates the dynamic relationships between consumer adoption and infrastructure development. The program gives policymakers recommendations for getting hydrogen technology over the adoption hump, which include building refueling stations in urban centers and home refueling options.

It’s just a matter of time, say experts, before we’ll see hydrogen vehicles hitting the roads on mass.

Marvelous miscanthus

Like makers of hybrid vehicles and the rash of other increasingly eco-conscious vehicles, biofuel producers are always looking for ways to increase the efficiency of their process. Now, with cellulosic materials replacing edible crops like corn as the favoured biofuel sources, a new source has emerged that’s rivaling switchgass, an often-cited source of “secondary” biofuel source, for its efficiency.

According to a study by the University of Illinois miscanthus may be the most efficient source of future American biofuel. Reporting that current American fuel standards aim for a 20 per cent offset of current gasoline purchases with alternative fuels like ethanol, the report says that the use of miscanthus would be able to cut the amount of necessary arable land by more than 15 per cent — from 25 to 9.3 per cent.

Not only does the gigantic, perennial grass produce leaves six weeks earlier than other biomass, but its efficiency at converting sunlight into usable energy is more than 10 times higher than most current sources. This, combined with its ability to grow in “poor” soil, makes the plant an ideal biofuel source, and one that doesn’t compete with edible crops whose use can drive up food prices.

Without competing for soil with edible crops, and thriving in soil that wouldn’t otherwise be suitable for growing anything of value, miscanthus might just be the next alternative fuel source. Everyone, after all, loves a nice, efficient product.

Do they make hybrid tanks yet?’

As reported by the LA Times, while American troops in Iraq fight over terrain that covers enormous deposits of oil, fuel prices are ratcheting up the costs of waging war.

It’s no secret that modern war machines require enormous volumes of fuel, with patrols of both ground and air vehicles meaning that no military remains stationary for long. And if the idea of cutting back your own fuel use seems intimidating, just imagine the difficulties involved in regulating the fuel use of thousands of vehicles, each with fuel economies that would make the most profligate Humvee driver blush.

The M1 Abrams Battle Tank, one of the tank models currently deployed in Iraq, consumes about 300 gallons of fuel an hour. And an F/A-18 Hornet, can carry about 3,000 kg of fuel, which, made from garbage or not, means this is one thirsty bird.

With the monthly costs of the US’s current wars at about $12.1 billion a month, and fuel costs more than three times 2003 levels, this is one fuel crisis with enough bite to make a conservationist of even the most strident hawks. After all, it’s awfully hard to carpool in a cockpit.

High prices meet high-octane

It’s pretty unlikely that Isaac Newton was thinking about high-performance sports cars when he articulated his third law of motion, that “for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” Then again, he was a man ahead of his time.

As reported by the New York Times, rising gas prices have started to drive high octane fuel sales down as car owners try to save at the pumps. It’s tangible change in buying behaviour, though probably not the reduction in total use that some advocates had hoped for. Nonetheless, as newly budget-conscious car owners (it’s difficult to reconcile “budget” with six-figure sports cars) change the way they buy gas, it’s worth noting that changing consumer behaviour is exactly why many advocates have championed carbon taxes (148 KB PDF ) in the first place.

Which begs the question: If rising fuel prices are already changing buying behaviour, is a carbon tax redundant? Certainly, Liberal leader Stephane Dion, still in the process of championing a national carbon tax, has gone to great lengths to say that his proposed tax would have no direct effect on fuel prices.

Consumers are already crowding onto public transit in record numbers, which has itself provoked its own wave of price increases. And alternative fuel technologies continue to be big news, casting what might otherwise be a standard unveiling of a new car model as attention-grabbing news across the world.

Unfortunately, not everyone has the luxury of lowering their costs by switching their fuel grade or even lowering their usage. Whole industries and even whole territories remain at the mercy of fuel prices, and consumers feel the pinch on other purchases as well.

High-octane or otherwise, fuel purchases will continue to be influenced by rising prices, assuming the trend continues. Here, however, it’s worth adding a qualifier to a maxim as tried-and-true as Newton’s third law: What goes up can still come down.