The most likely environmentally friendly van of the future is one that runs on a mixture of ethanol and petroleum. The goal is to have vehicles that run on a half and half mixture. Since ethanol doesn’t produce the same emissions as petroleum it will reduce the amount of carbon released into the environment. The biggest problem with this approach is getting enough ethanol. Ethanol is a biofuel and is produced from crops like corn. Given that we currently have trouble feeding all of the worlds people using food to fuel cars is not really a good solution. Especially given the massive amounts of ethanol that would be needed. In order to run every car on a mixture of half ethanol would require more crops than we currently produce in total. Ethanol is a short term way to reduce pollution but it isn’t really a long term solution, so when you’re considering a Van Lease, it’s not the best option!

The next most likely technology to create an environmentally friendly van is the the electric motor. The plan here is to create a van that can be plugged in to charge it and that also contains a small gas generator as a supplement. The problem here is that we are a long way from producing batteries for electric cars that have a long enough life to be practical. The gas generator is a solution to this problem but nor an ideal one. The other problem with electric cars is that there is no plan for where all the electricity is going to come from. We are struggling to meet our current electricity needs, replacing all of the cars on the road with electric cars would effectively double our electricity requirement.

Most people believe the best solution will eventually be hydrogen fuel cells as a means of powering an environmentally friendly van. Although this technology is farther into the future. There are currently working fuel cells that have demonstrated that the technology works but there are still hurdles involved in putting them into large scale use. The biggest issue here is likely to be getting the hydrogen.

Hydrogen is relatively plentiful and easy to extract but there is currently no infrastructure in place to make it available to the ordinary driver. This creates a bit of a chicken and the egg problem. Nobody is going to buy a fuel cell car unless hydrogen is readily available but nobody is going to sell hydrogen unless there are customers with fuel cell cars to buy it.

The Minister for Science and Technology announced the funding during the launch of the project held at the Institute for Marine Biosciences of the National Research Council.

Other organizations and industrial partners are also pouring financial support amounting to about C$1.2M plus some help in kind.

The initial stage of the project involves making a cultivation plant with a capacity of 50,000 liters along the Ketch Harbour. The algae will rely on carbon dioxide from combustion of fossil fuel to aid its growth.

Carbon2Algae, an industrial partner of the project, plants to setup photobioreactors of algae to capture the CO2 expelled by powerplants in Alberta which will allow the local algae to thrive.

In the future, it will be possible to operate an algae facility next to a generating plant using fossil fuel. The short term goal of the researchers will be to find the best species of algae that will be optimal for biofuel production.

Researchers in Nova Scotia have been growing and studying algae for more than five decades now. At the moment, they are looking into 64 species of algae which have already been collected. Twenty four of the specimens are being cultivated while six of these are under intensive scrutiny because of their impressive oil yields.

Moves to optimize the CNG-fueled spark injection for the parallel hybrid powertrain can be traced back to the year 2006. During the latter part of the year, IVK, FKFS, Robert Bosch, and Opel were already collaborating on a natural gas hybrid vehicle project. The project was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology.

According to reports, for the past two years, efforts to downsize and downspeed were made to establish a lower CO2 emitting vehicle in the market. The researchers made it a point not to sacrifice the performance of the engines despite the lower levels of CO2 released. Instead, they worked on shifting the engine operations to higher loads which in turn also helped to make the machine’s brake specific functions more energy efficient.

By using a hybrid power train layout, possibilities for a turbocharged ICE became broader. Researchers state that this will enhance the efficiency of the whole range operation. The active waste gate control also contributes by improving the machines performance on all speeds. The basic underlying principle of the methods that were implemented is this: they minimized the pumping mean effective pressure (PMEP) to increase the engine’s fuel efficiency.

Controlled Power Technologies, a company in the United Kingdom was able to find a way to harness electricity and use it to run a supercharger that can help improve the performance of combustion engines and reduce their carbon dioxide emissions.

CPT was able to build VTES or Variable Torque Enhanced Systems. This is the electrically run supercharger which is an enhancement of conventional superchargers that uses belts connected to the crankshaft of the vehicle’s engine to save fuel during heavier power demands. They were able to demonstrate that the VTES reduces the emission of the combustion engine and make it as efficient as diesel engines.

CPT collaborated with a German company that develops vehicle power trains. They paired the turbocharger with a demo unit of the Volkswagen Passat and were able to plot impressive results. A standard VW Passat with the same configuration gives off 194g/km of carbon dioxide while the one which used the electric supercharger recorded 159 g/km.

According to engineers from CPT, the supercharger can be used with any diesel or gas engines even if they are configured with turbochargers.

The British company aims to mass produce the electric supercharger. No car manufacturer has forged a deal with them as of now but the potential for the product is very high. They also plan to sell to individuals but they are still finalizing the marketing details about the move. Can you imagine a Pony Car with an electric supercharger on the V8?

The proponents of the research see a direct correlation between consumer acceptance of electric vehicle technology and batteries being sold separately.

At first look, consumer may be hesitant on buying a $15,000 battery pack with their vehicles. They might be thinking that the battery technology is not yet proven and it may have issues on longevity and durability. EV owners may also think that the car they purchased may not fit their need in the long run and will be a bit reluctant on getting the battery as part of the total cost.

Car manufacturers looked into the study and are following what it suggests. Nissan is not yet decided if it will include the battery with their LEAF and considers leasing the battery as another product. Other major car makers have long decided that leasing the battery is the right way to go.

Marketing wise, the cost of the vehicle with the battery also makes the price appear to be a lot lower. Car buyers do not see the rolled in cost if the $15K battery comes with the package. Most buyers see the monthly leasing battery fee as a more affordable option.

Experts expect a turn around in the attitude of consumers as soon as feedback with regard to battery and electric vehicle technology start to come in. When this time comes, consumers may want the battery to come with the total cost and they may see some other use for the car battery pack after it has served its purpose with their EVs.

Adding to the upgrading of their vehicles, CCE also said that they now have a heavier duty hybrid tractor. The said vehicle is aimed at supporting a 55,000 lbs gross vehicle combination weight. The said innovation is a welcome development for the company’s 33,000 lbs gross vehicle weight.

CCE’s newest truck is designed with a hybrid powertrain for heavier loads. The new hybrid tractor is also in line with CCE’s campaign toward less energy consumption. The new truck is said to consume 305%less fuel that that of its old counterparts. CCE officials also said that the truck is said to produce 30% less of their old hybrid truck’s emissions.

The popular beverage company is not entirely new to the hybrid campaign. CCE has, in fact, started their research for hybrid trucks since 2001. The company has partnered with their suppliers in the search for hybrid electric trucks.

As of press time, CCE has deployed hybrid electric cars in different cities in North America. Some of them include Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Detroit, Baltimore, Miami, Los Angeles, Toronto and Washington DC. Company officials said that the new hybrid acquisitions are planned to be deployed.

The CNG Lite storage system combines adsorbed natural gas with low-pressure technology. The set up is primarily aimed at fuelling two and three wheeled vehicles. The tanks are designed to store the natural gas on a working pressure of around 6MPa with a capacity of 5 to 10 liters. A set of Energtek tanks is designed to provide a driving range of about 100 kilometers or 62 miles.

The team up between the developer and the government of the Philippines can be traced back to 2007. The Philippine Department of Energy requested the project from Energtek as it sees the viability of the natural gas harvested from its Malampaya Gas Reserve for consumption of the common means of transportation.

The two and three wheel vehicle market is seen as the largest growing market in the world. At present, there are about 300 million units of two and three wheelers all over the globe. Asia gets bulk of the share with 200 million roaming the streets on a daily basis.

The Malampaya Offshore Natural Gas Reserve is currently the largest local source of energy for the Philippines. The government is looking at the possibilities of harnessing this supply to support the big public transport sector.

The Malampaya field was discovered in 1992 around 80 kilometers off the shore of Palawan in the South China Sea. The production from the field started in 2001. The US Energy Information Administration estimates that the Malampaya reserve holds condensates of about 85 million barrels and about 2.3 to 4.4 Tcf of gas.

The LAMPO gets its raw power from electric BRUSA motors installed in its front and rear parts. The rear portion is designed to be maximized for acceleration while the rear engine will utilize regenerative braking technology. Combined, these two motors produce an output of 268 horsepower with a torque of approximately 440Nm.

The company boasts that the LAMPO can perform like a modern sporty car with the advantage of traveling on its 32KWh battery for 200 kilometers.

The LAMPO utilizes for charging an energy source known to mankind for around 4.5 billion years, the sun. Getting its DNA from a Tuscany photovoltaic plant, the car is able to take advantage of the solar energy.

The energy efficiency of the car is unparalleled and it is also winning praises for its zero emission performance. If mixed with modern European electricity mix, the CO2 emission might be as low as 7g/km or as much as 40 g/km based on the EU projection for 2020.

The LAMPO was designed by the Swiss company Protoscar based in Ticino, Switzerland. The company focuses on designing of Clean Cars and the introduction of these technologies to the market.

LAMPO literally means “lightning” in Italian, a name that goes well with a sports car that aims to be fast but efficient.

The effort, Renault administrators said, is geared towards the production of affordable and environmentally friendly cars in the coming years. Aside from the lower CO2 levels released by the engines, they’re also reported to be significantly more fuel-efficient.

The all-electric powertrains produced by Renault will be released in Kangoo-type vans and three-box sedan units as early as 2011. On the other hand, Renault is also developing eco-friendly technologies to improve the performance of their concurrent engines.

A new line of modular Tce gasoline engines are being developed to lower the CO2 emissions of vehicles to 40g/km or less. The first of these three new engines are set to come out in two and a half years as well. They’re anticipated to be three- and four-cylinder Tce engines.

Renault is not neglecting its diesel engines either. Further developments are pegged for their dCi technologies. These dCi engines are supposed to release less than 100g/km of CO2.

The company is also working on new automatic transmissions for its vehicles. Significantly improved mechanical performance are pegged for these changes compared to their conventional automatic transmissions today. This new technology is also set to help their engines be more fuel efficient.

Within next year, Renault will release vehicles with twin-clutch transmission. These vehicles are also pegged to release lower CO2 by at least 15% compared to other automatic vehicles.

AFEX pretreatment process utilizes ammonia to make the separation of cellulose and hemicellulose in plants 75% more efficient. The cellulose in plants, once extracted and broken down into sugars, can be transformed into biofuel.

When a cellulosic material is treated with AFEX, it doesn’t need any washing or detoxification. This allows ethanol to be produced from cellulose without added supplements or procedures to aid the fermentation.

The AFEX process is functioning under moderately mild condition. The biomass is heated at 100 degrees Centigrade with concentrated ammonia. Brisk pressure release aids the process. As a result, 99% of the ammonia is retrieved and recycled. This process decrystallizes cellulose, depolymerizes hemicellulose and remove lignin from it. AFEX decreases breaking down of the sugar in the biomass.

A pilot plant could be the next phase of the project, said Dale. MBI International is their prospective company to be partners with. MBI is subsidiary of the MSU Foundation, in partnership with companies and universities. They are planning to make AFEX technology match with the needs of companies for alternative fuels.

Prof. Dale’s research is supported by Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station, Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center and MSU Research Foundation.