2 GOING GREEN | Sunday, May 2, 2010 commercialappeal.

com

What’s in this issue ...

FedEx rolls all-electric in LA
4 Fred Smith says there are still big
hurdles to introducing more low-
emission commercial vehicles

UPS adds hybrids Clean diesel

6 The package carrier’s
8 It will reduce your car’s
“green” fleet is 20,000 carbon footprint, but
vehicles strong weigh costs with care

Mazda takes a different path

10 While other automakers push hybrids, it’s
introducing a newer diesel engine

Hydrogen’s not
12 Scooter has
zero emissions
16 out of the running

On the cover
Illustration by Rick Nease/Detroit Free Press files

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!

Going Green is a special online publication of
The Commercial Appeal. We welcome your comments
and suggestions. Follow Going Green on Twitter at
www.twitter.com/GoGreenMemphis.
Editor: Roland Klose, 529-5893,
goinggreen@commercialappeal.com
The Commercial Appeal Sunday, May 2, 2010 | GOING GREEN 3

The Green Page

Coffee Break
The Living Green “Coffee
Break” gatherings continue this
Thursday at the Memphis
Botanic Garden. The free one-
hour sessions, which start at
8:45 a.m., feature presentations
on an aspect of green living with
time for audience questions and
answers. The coffees are
co-sponsored by Memphis
Botanic Garden and CA Media,
publisher of The Commercial
Appeal and Going Green.

Groups Mid-South Peace and Justice

Citizens to Preserve Overton
Park: Organized to preserve and
defend the Old Forest of Overton
Park. overtonparkforever.org or (901)
278-2396.
Coalition for Livable
Communities: The organization
advocates healthy, vibrant and
economically sustainable
communities. livablememphis.org or
(901) 725-8390.
Greater Memphis Greenline:
Promotes the development of the
Greenline and other unused railway
rights-of-way and easements into
hiking and biking trails.
greatermemphisgreenline.org.
Lichterman Nature Center: A 65-
acre natural preserve in the city, with
a lake, meadow and forest.
memphismuseums.org/lichterman-
overview or (901) 767-7322 ext. 100.
Center: Works with low-income
communities in Memphis to plan and
plant community gardens, providing
area residents with access to fresh
produce. midsouthpeace.org or (901)
725-4990.
Project Green Fork: A community
initiative that helps Memphis
restaurant owners in reducing waste,
lowering overhead and decreasing
their environmental impact.
projectgreenfork.org.
Sierra Club, Chickasaw Chapter:
Promotes policies to protect the
environment, organizes hikes and
outdoor recreation, and supports pro-
environmental candidates.
tennessee.sierraclub.org/chickasaw
or (901) 324-7757.
To submit items , e-mail
goinggreen@commercialappeal.com.
4 GOING GREEN | Sunday, May 2, 2010 commercialappeal.com

Slightly smaller and more rounded than the conventional FedEx delivery van,
the new electric truck can haul 3,300 pounds and has a range of 100 miles on a
single charge.

FedEx tests all-electric

delivery trucks in California
By Ronald D. White
Los Angeles Times
FedEx is rolling out the first of four
new all-electric delivery trucks in Los
Angeles this month, but company chair-
man, CEO and president Frederick W.
Smith said there are still significant bar-
riers to bringing large numbers of zero-
emission and low-emission commercial
vehicles into service quickly in the U.S.
“We would like to significantly ex-
pand the number of vehicles we have in
this category,” Smith said. “But the cap-
ital costs are 50 percent higher than
regular vehicles. Production hasn’t
ramped up enough to bring down the
expense. The regulatory requirements
are arduous, and there aren’t enough
tax credits or incentives.”
The Commercial Appeal Sunday, May 2, 2010 | GOING GREEN 5

FedEx’s new all-electric truck recent- 27,000 trucks in its Express division;
ly wrapped up a road trip from Chicago in the Los Angeles region, 70 of the
to Los Angeles along historic Route 66, roughly 1,000 delivery trucks are hy-
with a final stop at the Santa Monica brids.
Pier. Worldwide, FedEx said that it would
Slightly smaller and more rounded have 1,869 alternative-fuel vehicles in
than the conventional FedEx delivery its inventory by the end of June, but
van, the new truck was built in In- Smith said it wasn’t nearly enough. Us-
diana by Navistar International Corp., ing low-emission vehicles, FedEx saved
and designed by Modec of Coventry, 45 million gallons of fuel, thereby
England. FedEx first tested a small avoiding 452,573 metric tons of carbon
number of similar trucks in Europe. dioxide emissions between fiscal years
“It’s time for the truck manufactur- 2005 and 2008, the company said.
ing industry to create its version of the In the fiscal third quarter that ended
Prius: clean, affordable Feb. 28, the company
and widely available for “It’s time for the said it spent $694 mil-
truck fleets,” Smith lion on gasoline, diesel
said as a driver put the truck manufacturing and jet fuel.
new electric truck industry to create its John E. Formisano,
through its paces on FedEx vice president of
downtown L.A. streets. version of the Prius: global vehicles, said the
Smith said that his Navistar electric truck
company’s interest in clean, affordable and could haul 3,300
greatly reducing re- widely available for pounds and has a range
liance on fossil fuels of 100 miles on a single
dates to 2000, when it truck fleets.” charge.
teamed with the Envi- Two more electric
ronmental Defense FREDERICK W. SMITH trucks are also going to
Fund to develop a clean- FedEx CEO and president be tested in Los Ange-
er delivery truck. Three les, but FedEx hasn’t se-
years later, Eaton Corp. lected a manufacturer
and Freightliner Custom Chassis Corp. yet.
built the FedEx hybrid truck, which FedEx executives acknowledge that
was put into service in 2004. FedEx a handful of electric trucks will barely
said hybrid trucks improved fuel econ- make a dent in the company’s fuel
omy 42 percent, reduced greenhouse consumption and noxious emissions.
gas emissions 25 percent and cut par- But by commissioning and testing
ticulate pollution 96 percent. such vehicles, FedEx helps move the
There were only about 1,200 hybrid technology forward, they said.
trucks on the road in the U.S. in 2009, “They have been tested in colder
according to the Environmental De- climates,” Formisano said. “We’re go-
fense Fund. The FedEx fleet includes ing to see how they operate in Los
319 diesel-electric hybrids among its Angeles now.”
6 GOING GREEN | Sunday, May 2, 2010 commercialappeal.com

UPS’s green fleet consists of 20,000 vehicles that are low-emission and use
alternative fuel, including 50 hybrid electric. The company will be adding 200
next-generation HEV delivery trucks to its fleet.

By Melissa Hincha-Ownby

UPS adds Mother Nature Network

UPS recently announced that they

are adding 200 new next-generation

200 hybrids hybrid electric delivery trucks to their

already massive low-emission and al-
ternative-fuel vehicle fleet.
The company’s green fleet is 20,000

to U.S. fleet vehicles strong, 50 of which are hybrid

electric.
The company has been using a fleet
of 50 hybrid electric delivery trucks in
Atlanta, Dallas, Houston and Phoenix.
The Commercial Appeal Sunday, May 2, 2010 | GOING GREEN 7

“We’re proud of this large HEV deployment to major

cities in the United States.”
BOB STOFFEL, UPS senior vice president of supply chain,
strategy, engineering and sustainability

The new batch of eco-friendly big diesel-powered truck.

brown trucks will be hitting the streets
of Austin, Texas; Houston; Philadel-
phia; Chicago; Washington, D.C.; Long
Island, N.Y.; Minneapolis; and
Louisville, Ky.
The next-generation hybrid electric
vehicle (HEV) delivery trucks will al-
low UPS to reduce fuel consumption
by approximately 176,000 gallons each
year. This reduction in fuel consump-
tion will also lead to a nearly 1,800
metric ton of carbon dioxide emissions
on an annual basis.
The new HEVs use a diesel engine
that recharges the battery pack or adds
additional power to the engine when
necessary. The battery pack can then
be recharged with regenerative brak-
ing technology. According to UPS, the
combination of a clean diesel engine
with electric power allows for a sig-
nificant improvement in both fuel con-
sumption savings and emissions re-
ductions when compared to a standard
“We’re proud of this large HEV de-
ployment to major cities in the United
States,” said Bob Stoffel, UPS senior
vice president of supply chain, strat-
egy, engineering and sustainability.
“This technology, where properly
used, can yield a 35 percent fuel sav-
ings, the equivalent of 100 conven-
tional UPS delivery vehicles.” UPS
launched its first HEV in 1998, well
before hybrid vehicles were as popular
as they are today.
In 2001, a HEV delivery truck was
entered into regular service in the
Huntsville, Ala., region. The second
UPS hybrid delivery truck went into
service three years later in Kalamazoo,
Mich.
With the addition of the second-
generation HEV delivery trucks, UPS
now has a hybridized fleet of 250
delivery trucks providing package de-
livery service to customers across the
nation.

Do just one thing

Keep your car smelling fresh and clean with a homemade air freshener. Fill a large
tea strainer with either charcoal (the kind for the grill) or dried lavender. Charcoal is
a natural deodorizer, so it will absorb foul fragrances. When it’s left in a warm car,
lavender will perfume the air with a soothing and pleasing scent. This is a healthy
alternative to chemical-based, artificial car fresheners.
8 GOING GREEN | Sunday, May 2, 2010 commercialappeal.com

Figuring out the

economics of
clean diesel is a
balancing act.
You get much
better mileage
than a similar
gas engine in
most cases, but
the fuel costs
more, and you’ll
pay more for the
car. Some of the
cost is offset by
tax credits which
run from $900
to $1,800.

Mike Brown
The Commercial
Appeal files

Considering clean diesel?

Weigh costs with care
By Brian J. O’Connor / Detroit News

WITH MILEAGE that can be as much as one-third better than

comparable gasoline engines — hitting more than 40 mpg on the
highway — clean diesel engines can take a big bite out of your
car’s carbon footprint.
The new diesels are much improved over the models that
appeared in the late 1980s, with lowered tailpipe emissions and
quieter performance that refutes diesels’ reputation as noisy
The Commercial Appeal Sunday, May 2, 2010 | GOING GREEN 9

stinkpots. But the premium cost of

diesel models and diesel fuel mean they
also can take a bite out of your wallet.
In many cases, it can take years for
drivers to see real savings from the
improved mileage of a diesel, notes
John O’Dell, senior editor of the Green
Car Advisor at Edmunds.com.
“There is a cost savings on fuel, but
you still have the premium diesel price
on most models,” O’Dell says. “It takes
a while for the savings on fuel to offset
that.”
Auto shoppers need to add it all up to
see how a clean diesel will affect the
family budget.
All the clean diesels on the U.S.
market are European imports, some of
them high-end cars that use premium
rather than regular fuel. That erases
some of the concern about diesel fuel,
which recently has been priced between
regular gas and premium.
Driving habits make a big difference,
too. Someone who drives 30,000 miles
a year instead of 15,000 cuts the
payback time in half, while a driver who
sticks around town will need longer to
recoup the investment.
The years-long payback period for Clean diesel models such as the VW
clean diesels still is shorter than it takes Jetta TDI Sportswagon, the VW Jetta
many hybrid buyers to make their turbo-diesel and the Mercedes E-Class
money back, though. A 2009 analysis by diesel offer good fuel efficiency and
Edmunds.com found that the gas rate higher in terms of performance
savings on a Toyota Camry hybrid standards than many hybrids.
would earn buyers back their hybrid
premium in about six months, but that strict calculations on cost, there are
buyers of a Ford Fusion hybrid would other factors that can make a clean
need more than seven years. diesel a good choice, such as size and
In addition, tax credits for the more performance. While most hybrids are
popular hybrids have disappeared as smaller vehicles, Bradley Berman,
manufacturers hit their quotas, making editor of the website Hybridcars.com,
those cars more expensive. Besides points out that the VW Jetta TDI
10 GOING GREEN | Sunday, May 2, 2010 commercialappeal.com

Sportwagon is a popular, clean diesel because of its

larger size. “If you like the wagon platform, for
instance, there’s not a hybrid wagon or minivan
that fits that profile,” he says.
Mazda
When it comes to the overall driving experience,
clean diesels also have an advantage, notes Mike
Quincy, an auto specialist with Consumer Reports
diesel to
who recently took a spin in a VW Golf turbo-diesel
at the test track and reports getting an impressive
38 mpg with a manual five-speed transmission.
take on
“That compares very favorable to our last test on
a Toyota Prius, which got 44 mpg,” Quincy says.
“But the Golf is so much more engaging to drive.
hybrids
If you line them up side by side, most of my By Bryce G. Hoffman
colleagues would choose the Golf. It’s just so much Detroit News
nicer to drive.”
Diesel engines also are quicker off the line to NEW YORK — As oth-
accelerate and can offer much longer cruising range er automakers rush to
for long trips, he adds, such as the Mercedes E- bring more hybrids to mar-
class diesel. “The cruising range was 600 miles on ket, Mazda Motor Corp. is
one tank of fuel,” Quincy says. “It was beautiful.” taking an entirely different
There are other pros and cons for clean diesel approach to fuel economy.
cars. For example, diesel engines last longer and The Japanese automak-
need less frequent tune-ups, notes O’Dell of er plans to bring a diesel-
Edmunds.com. powered midsized sedan
“Your tune-ups are farther apart, but they’re little to the United States in
more expensive. It’s just that you have lot more 2012 that will get 43
reliability,” he says. “A diesel engine is barely miles per gallon. That is
broken in at a couple hundred-thousand miles, so better than any of today’s
the big savings is on repairs. You’re not going to midsized hybrids, and
develop the wear-and-tear problems.” Mazda promises its car
The longer life of diesels also offers an advantage will cost far less.
in residual value, O’Dell adds. Consumer Reports test
“There are two- and three-year-old Jetta diesels engineer Jake Fisher
selling for a higher price than they sold for new,” called it one of the most
he says. “We anticipate the resale value on most important announce-
new diesels will follow the same trend.” ments made at the recent
The big variable in deciding how much financial New York auto show.
sense a clean diesel makes comes down to fuel “That was big news, be-
costs, the experts say. cause we need a small dis-
If the price of diesel drops, the savings get placement, fuel-efficient
bigger, but if the cost increases, so will the time to diesel that doesn’t cost an
recoup any purchase premium. arm and a leg,” he said.
The Commercial Appeal
“Volkswagen has one, but every other
manufacturer seems scared of diesels.”
Mazda, Japan’s fifth-largest carmaker,
has a history of contrarian thinking. It
remains the only proponent of the rotary
engine and has always found its biggest
successes by zigging when others zag.
Its new Sky-D diesel is no exception.
While the engine has been in devel-
opment for years, Mazda CEO Takashi
Yamanouchi said his company only de-
cided to bring it to the U.S. market after
learning that Honda Motor Co. and Toy-
ota Motor Corp. would not bring diesels
here. Toyota does not see a “substan-
tial” market yet for diesels in the U.S.
“That provides us with a huge op-
portunity,” he said. “We’re able to pro-
vide hybrid-like performance at lower
cost. It will probably make some hy-
brids unnecessary.”
Diesel engines have always gotten bet-
ter mileage than their gasoline counter-
parts, but they also have been more ex-
pensive. That is because they usually
require a costly after-treatment system
to remove polluting nitrogen oxide from
the exhaust. Mazda says it can avoid
this because of a unique approach to
building diesel engines. Mazda has al-
ready patented its diesel system.
“It’s something that others won’t be
able to easily emulate,” Yamanouchi said,
noting that the Volkswagen Jetta is the
only sedan available in the U.S. that offers
a small, low-cost diesel. “Our diesel’s per-
formance will be superior to the Jetta’s, so
it provides us with a huge opportunity.”
Not everyone is sure it does.
Analyst Jim Hall of 2953 Analytics
LLC in Birmingham says Americans
have never been sold on diesels, and
doubts Mazda can do much to change
Sunday, May 2, 2010 | GOING GREEN 11
Mazda’s new clean diesel will make its
U.S. debut on the next-generation
Mazda midsize sedan. The Sky-D
motor (above) will likely find its way
into most of Mazda’s lineup. The
automaker believes diesel engines will
allow it to meet the U.S. government’s
tough new fuel economy requirements
without a hybrid.
that — particularly with the price gap
between diesel and gasoline fuel closing.
“Diesels are not going to fly in this
country unless there is a significant dis-
count for diesel fuel, but at this point,
it’s approaching parity with gasoline,”
he said. “You will go broke trying to
educate the American customer about
the benefits of diesel.”
Diesels have long been regarded by
most Americans as loud, dirty and ex-
pensive.
But thanks to reformulated clean
diesel fuel, today’s models are neither.
And both VW and its luxury brand,
Audi, have found that plenty of Amer-
icans do appreciate the fuel savings and
environmental benefits they offer.
Diesels only account for 3.7 percent
of the U.S. light vehicle market, ac-
cording to Ward’s Automotive Group.
12 GOING GREEN | Sunday, May 2, 2010 commercialappeal.com

Honda to lease electric scooters

By Yuri Kageyama
The Associated Press

WAKO, Japan — The

green fad in Japan is ex-
panding from cars to
bikes with Honda’s zero-
emission super-quiet elec-
tric EV-neo scooter.
The EV-neo zips
around, emitting just a
calm whirring sound with
none of a motorcycle’s
gritty growl.
Honda plans to start
leasing the scooters —
the equivalent of a 50cc
gasoline-powered bike —
in December and says its
target market is compa-
nies that make deliveries,
Kyodo News/Associated Press
such as newspapers and
pizza parlors. The EV-neo The green fad in Japan is expanding from cars to
has a cruising range of 19 bikes with Honda's zero-emission super-quiet
miles on one charge. electric EV-neo scooter.
Honda, Japan’s No. 2
automaker, has a boom- ager Toshiyuki Inuma. less than a regular bike
ing motorcycle division “The motorcycle is a over three years including
and makes popular cars more nimble business, gas prices — a range that
such as the Odyssey mini- and it allows us to try out would be about $6,000 to
van and Insight hybrid. more things,” said Inuma. $8,000 each.
The EV-neo gives Hon- Overseas plans and Interest in getting
da a chance to push an sales to individual con- around ecologically is
electric vehicle, an area sumers for EV-neo are growing in Japan. The
where it has been less ag- still undecided. scooter is not only quiet
gressive than rivals such Honda plans to lease and green, but it also
as Nissan Motor Co. and the scooters instead of doesn’t smell greasy, and
Mitsubishi Motors Corp., selling them and hopes to may prove a hit in in-
said Honda General Man- set a price that will cost dustrialized nations.
The Commercial Appeal Sunday, May 2, 2010 | GOING GREEN 13

EARTH TALK

Savings at pump offset cost of charging

Dear Earth Talk: When the plug-in Prius is re- compromise the ability of
leased, how much electricity will it use? Will my elec- utilities to provide power,
tric bill double if my Prius is plugged in each night? given that they are al-
Or will the increase be minimal? Also, will all this ready scaled up to handle
recharging put a strain on the existing electricity grid? peak loads during heat
waves when everyone
It is difficult to pin- might go up $30/month runs energy-hogging air
point the answer to this due to recharging, your conditioning.
question right now since gas bill will decrease by Furthermore, most of
Toyota has not yet re- somewhere between 80 us would charge our cars
leased its much anticipat- and 100 percent depend- overnight — typically a
ed plug-in hybrid, but ing on your driving slow period for utilities
most analysts believe the habits and what you were otherwise and during
increase in your electric driving beforehand. which they could gener-
bill from overnight charg- Of course, it’s impor- ate much more power if
ing will be minimal. tant to keep in mind that customers wanted it.
According to the blog regular hybrids cost be- So if you’re interested
Futurewheels.com, elec- tween $2,000 and in taking the plug-in hy-
tric cars and plug-in hy- $10,000 more than their brid plunge when the cars
brids (those that have gas-only counterparts, become available, don’t
been converted by own- and that plug-in hybrids worry about increased
ers) currently average will likely cost even more. electric bills, as overall
about two cents per mile It would take years and you’ll be saving gobs of
to recharge (electric rates years of gasoline-free cash at the pump.
vary greatly by region), driving to make up the And given the popular-
while gasoline-only cars sticker-price difference ity of the current hybrids
average about 10 cents between a plug-in hybrid on the road, enough of us
per mile to refuel. and an equivalent-sized might go for the plug-in
Plug In America, a Cal- gasoline-fueled car. versions so as to reduce
ifornia-based network of As to strain on the ex- the cost disparity with
electric vehicle and (self- isting electricity grid, traditional cars — mean-
converted) plug-in hybrid most experts agree that ing we could “save green”
owners, estimates the plug-in hybrids and all- in more ways than one.
cost to charge a typical electric vehicles, even in
Send questions to Earth
plug-in hybrid overnight the unlikely event that all Talk, P.O. Box 5098,
to be less than a dollar. of us switched over to Westport, CT 06881 or e-mail
So while your electric bill them eventually, wouldn’t earthtalk@emagazine.com.
14 GOING GREEN | Sunday, May 2, 2010 commercialappeal.com

THE INFLUENCE GAME:

Ethanol doubles its efforts
By Mary Clare Jalonick
Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Is
ethanol the wave of the fu-
ture, creating domestic jobs
and vital to the nation’s en-
ergy supply? Or is it a tax-
payer boondoggle responsible
for higher food prices?
For some in Washington,
the answers to those ques-
tions have changed.
For years, ethanol fuel de-
rived from corn was almost
politically untouchable,
thanks to powerful advocates
on Capitol Hill. The ethanol
industry has consequently ex-
ploded over the last decade,
thanks to government subsi-
dies and incentives.
But skepticism about
ethanol is rising, prompted
by fluctuating food prices and
an organized campaign by an-
ti-ethanol advocates to dis-
credit the industry.
“The old saying is that if
you aren’t at the table, you’re
Charlie Neibergall/Associated Press files
on the menu,” says Tom Buis,
Is corn-based ethanol fuel the wave of the lobbyist and CEO of Growth
future, creating domestic jobs and vital to the Energy, a new ethanol indus-
nation's energy supply? Or is it a taxpayer try group formed in 2008 as
boondoggle responsible for higher food prices? some ethanol companies
For some in Washington, the answer to that grew worried that their po-
question has changed. litical clout was waning. The
The Commercial Appeal Sunday, May 2, 2010 | GOING GREEN 15

organization’s largest member is Poet and its diversion for ethanol is making
LLC, one of the country’s top two animal feed more expensive, raising
ethanol producers. prices at the grocery store and tearing
At stake are billions of dollars in tax up the land.
credits for ethanol companies that ex- The diversion of corn has been par-
pire at the end of the year and a pend- ticularly tough on the meat industry,
ing action at the Environmental Pro- which uses corn for animal feed. But the
tection Agency that could raise the ethanol industry disputes that the fuel
amount of ethanol in every driver’s fuel has a substantial effect on food prices,
tank. saying corn prices only affect a small
Once a slam dunk, Buis says the in- portion of each dollar overall spent at
dustry now has to work harder to con- the grocery store.
vince an increasingly skeptical public Ethanol’s opponents galvanized in
and Congress that 2008 as food prices sky-
ethanol continues to de- “The old saying is rocketed and lawmakers
serve government mon- debated whether ethanol
ey. that if you aren’t at was to blame. On Capitol
There’s evidence that Hill, money that may
Congress is weary of
the table, you’re on have once been used to
giving money to an in- the menu.” boost the ethanol indus-
dustry that critics say try began to be diverted
should be able to stand TOM BUIS to what are called “ad-
on its own after getting Lobbyist and CEO of Growth vanced” biofuels, or oth-
its start in the early Energy, a new ethanol industry er nonfood plant materi-
group formed in 2008
1980s with powerful als that could be used to
congressional advocates make fuel. That industry
like Sens. Bob Dole of is still in its infancy, but
Kansas and Tom Daschle of South lawmakers, along with President Barack
Dakota. Obama, often say they are the way of
“It is our view that after 30 years we the future.
should declare success,” says Scott As ethanol’s political stock began to
Faber, a lobbyist for the Grocery Man- drop, Growth Energy hired some of the
ufacturers Association, which represents top farm lobbyists in town. Buis, a for-
food companies that say they have seen mer Daschle aide, left his post as the
their prices rise because of the high use president of the powerful National
of corn for ethanol. Farmers Union to work for the group,
GMA is part of a growing patchwork and Growth Energy signed on retired
of food companies, livestock producers, Army general and former presidential
environmental groups and oil compa- candidate Wesley Clark as a co-chair-
nies who have spent millions of dollars man. They have petitioned the EPA to
in the last few years framing ethanol’s increase the concentration of ethanol in
success as “food vs. fuel.” They argue gasoline and are launching a $2.5 mil-
that the increase in production of corn lion television ad campaign aimed at
16 GOING GREEN | Sunday, May 2, 2010 commercialappeal.com

changing people’s perception of the fuel.

A series of short ads have no dialogue but just
simple phrases on a green background and point-
Hydrogen
ed digs at the oil industry. One ad says “no
beaches have been closed due to ethanol spills”
while another displays the phrase, “No wars have
still in the
ever been fought over ethanol.” Another makes
the point that “Ethanol has contributed $0 to the
governments of Iran, Saudi Arabia and
eco-car race
Venezuela.” By Arthur Max
The formation of Growth Energy means the The Associated Press
industry has now doubled its efforts in Wash-
ington. Together with a rival trade group, the BERLIN — Hydrogen,
Renewable Fuels Association, the industry spent one of Earth’s most abun-
more than $1.5 million on lobbying last year. dant elements, once was
It’s still unclear whether the increased efforts seen as green energy’s an-
will pay off. After Growth Energy filed its pe- swer to the petroleum-driv-
tition last year to increase the amount of ethanol en car: easy to produce,
in gasoline from 10 percent to 15 percent, the available everywhere and
EPA said in December it needed more tests to nonpolluting when burned.
determine if car engines could handle it. A de- Hydrogen energy was de-
cision is expected this year. feated by a mountain of ob-
With that decision and congressional debate stacles — the fear of explo-
over the tax credits approaching, Growth Energy sion by the highly flammable
is now positioning the ethanol industry as the gas, the difficulty of carrying
underdog. the fuel in large, heavy tanks
“We have to step up our game,” says Buis. “A in the vehicle, and the lack
lot of people don’t want to see us succeed.” of a refueling network. Au-
Ethanol’s rivals aren’t backing down. The tomakers turned to biofuels,
Brazilian ethanol industry, which is pushing electricity or the gas-electric
Congress to reduce tariffs that protect the U.S. hybrid.
ethanol industry, has launched its own rival cam- But hydrogen, it turns
paign to promote the benefits of sugar cane out, never was completely
ethanol, which they argue is more environmen- out of the race. Now Israeli
tally friendly than ethanol made from corn. Sug- scientists and entrepreneurs
ar cane ethanol is widely produced and used in claim to have brought hy-
Brazil. drogen energy a step closer
“We have every intention of staying in this by putting it in much small-
fight,” says Craig Cox of the Environmental er, lighter containers.
Working Group, a member of the anti-ethanol Rather than using metal
coalition. “This is a big issue for us. Our goal is or composite cylinders of
to really get a federal policy that moves us compressed gas that look
toward biofuels that truly are sustainable.” like bulky scuba gear, hy-
The Commercial Appeal Sunday, May 2, 2010 | GOING GREEN 17

Michael Sohn/Associated Press files

A model of a hydrogen car is seen on a model that shows a 250fold enlargement
of a hydrogen storage device using a glass capillary structure. Hydrogen was
never completely out of the race as green energy's answer to the petroleum-
driven car. Now Israeli scientists and entrepreneurs claim to have brought
hydrogen energy a step closer by putting it in much smaller, lighter containers.

drogen is packed into glass filaments
which, once out of the lab, will be only
slightly thicker than a human hair.
These 370 glass capillaries are bundled
into a glass tube called a capillary array,
about the width of a drinking straw. The
scientists say 11,000 such arrays will fuel
a car for 400 kilometers (240 miles), and
take less than half the space and weight
of tanks currently installed in the few hy-
drogen cars now available.
“We have shown new materials that
can store more hydrogen than any other
system,” says Dan Eliezer, chief scien-
tist of C.En Ltd., the company based in
Geneva, Switzerland, where the Israelis
are developing their invention.
The scientists make no attempt to
improve the standard fuel cell, which is
not much different today from when it
was invented more than 150 years ago.
A fuel cell makes electricity from chem-
ical reactions involving hydrogen and
oxygen, producing only water vapor as a
byproduct. The fuel cell can be com-
pared with a standard car’s engine,
while the capillary arrays would be com-
parable to the gasoline tank.
18 GOING GREEN | Sunday, May 2, 2010 commercialappeal.com

Michael Sohn/Associated Press files

Laboratory assistant Miriam Grueneberg shows a model of a 250fold
enlargement of a hydrogen storage device using a glass capillary structure.
Rather than using metal or composite cylinders of compressed gas that look
like bulky scuba gear, hydrogen is packed into glass filaments which, once out
of the lab, will be only slightly thicker than a human hair.

The system was unveiled in Berlin at
a demonstration for The Associated
Press at the German Federal Institute
for Materials Research and Testing,
known as BAM, which has been testing
the materials since 2008 and has pro-
nounced the system safe. Also attending
was a representative of Italian-based
Generali Insurance, which has invested
$10 million in the project.
While its backers call the technology a
breakthrough, it is unlikely to gain trac-
tion without a large injection of capital
to scale up development. It also would
need a distribution system and the sup-
port of major car companies, which have
poured billions of dollars into their own
closely guarded research programs.
Auto companies “are still investing
significant amounts of money in hydro-
gen and fuel cells,” and have hundreds
of researchers working on the technol-
ogy, said David Hart, director of E4tech,
a business and energy consultancy in
London. Automakers refuse to disclose
details of their research or funding.
Hart said the glass capillaries appear
to be an “interesting” technology that
would be “very significant” if it were to
provide the energy claimed by the com-
pany. But if it means creating a new
refueling infrastructure, “it may still not
The Commercial Appeal
be the right answer for cars,” he said.
Like electric cars, the driving force
behind hydrogen research is the need to
break away from oil and rein in emis-
sions of greenhouse gases blamed for
climate change, especially carbon diox-
ide from industry and transport. Trans-
portation adds about 13 percent of man-
made carbon to the atmosphere.
Hydrogen boasts zero emissions. It can
be produced from water through electrol-
ysis, or harvested as the waste product of
nuclear reactors and chemical plants.
“In terms of saving carbon dioxide,
you do a great deal more with renew-
able hydrogen,” said Danny Dicks, a
biofuels expert from the British con-
sultancy group Innovation Observatory.
“So ultimately, hydrogen is where things
ought to be driving toward.”
Automakers, for now, still are focused
on battery power. At the Geneva Motor
Show last month, nearly all major man-
ufacturers displayed their latest electric
vehicles or plans to produce them. The
few hydrogen vehicles on the floor at-
tracted little attention.
It was not always that way.
U.S. President George W. Bush allocat-
ed $1.2 billion for hydrogen research and
said in his 2003 State of the Union ad-
dress: “The first car driven by a child born
today could be powered by hydrogen and
pollution free.” The Obama administra-
tion largely scrapped the program.
In Europe, too, hydrogen is low-pri-
ority. The Dutch government, for ex-
ample, recently announced a euro5 mil-
lion ($6.75 million) subsidy for
hydrogen, but gave eight times more for
electric cars. Buyers of plug-ins get tax
breaks and rebates, and cities like Lon-
don and Amsterdam are planting
Sunday, May 2, 2010 | GOING GREEN 19
charge-up pillars on their streets.
“Electricity is taking all the subsidy
schemes. It’s taking it away from hy-
drogen,” said Robert van den Hoed of
Ecofys, an independent Dutch consul-
tancy on renewable energy.
The main reason is cost. Electric cars
are road-ready and in production, while
hydrogen vehicles are still experimental.
Nissan’s new electric car, the Leaf, will
go on sale for about $25,000 in the Unit-
ed States, including a government rebate.
Honda has produced a roadworthy
hydrogen vehicle, the FCX Clarity, but it
is not for sale. Only 50 of them are
available for lease in the United States
at $600 per month; Honda says it in-
tends to increase the fleet to 200 this
year. Honda declines to put a sales tag
on the Clarity, but some experts say the
market price would be $1 million each.
Toyota, a leader in electric car tech-
nology, plans to put its first hydrogen
vehicle on the road in 2015.
In December, the German luxury car-
maker BMW ended an experimental run
of 100 hydrogen-fueled internal com-
bustion engines and retreated back into
the laboratory for more research.
“We are still committed to hydrogen
as the long-term alternative for switch-
ing to sustainable mobility,” Hahn said,
speaking from Munich, adding that the
biggest problem is on-board storage.
Among U.S. carmakers, General Mo-
tors produced a test fleet of 100 Chevro-
let Equinox fuel cell cars and let 5,000
people test them over a 25 month period.
Like BMW, Chevrolet is withdrawing the
vehicles to upgrade the technology.
A combination of plug-in electric and
hydrogen may emerge as the most eco-
friendly solution.