EREN Network News

January 19, 2000

News and Events

• Honda Displays Fuel-Cell Prototype Targeted for 2003;
  Announces Plans for More Hybrid Vehicles
• Toyota, Chevrolet Display Advanced Vehicles at Auto Show
• Budget Rent a Car to Buy 10,000 Alternative-Fuel Cars
• DOE Says Bioenergy Can Reduce Greenhouse Emissions
• Cargill/Dow Venture to Produce Plastics from Corn
• Tucson Electric Power Launches Green Power Program

Site News

• Vehicle Auxiliary Loads Reduction
• EREN Consumer Site Updated and Redesigned

• 1999 Inventory of U.S. Electric Utility Power Plants

About this Newsletter

News and Events

Honda Displays Fuel-Cell Prototype Targeted for 2003;
Announces Plans for More Hybrid Vehicles
Honda Motor Co. added its advanced vehicle contribution to the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) last week with the unveiling of a prototype fuel-cell-powered car, the FCX. The four-door sedan runs on methanol and includes an on-board reformer to generate hydrogen for the fuel cell. Hiroyuki Yoshino, Honda's President and CEO, announced a target production date of 2003 for fuel-cell- powered vehicles.

Yoshino also announced a next-generation high-efficiency engine developed by Honda. The 2-liter, 4-cylinder engine is light and compact, achieving low emissions while boosting efficiency by 10 to 20 percent. Debuting in Japan this fall, the engines will start appearing in U.S. models next year, and will replace all 4-cylinder Honda engines by 2005. The engine will also be applied to Honda's hybrid electric drive train, according to Yoshino.

Honda's Insight — the first hybrid electric car on sale in the United States — is now on display at the auto show. Honda plans to expand the use of its hybrid electric drive train to other mass-market vehicles in the future, according to Yoshino. See the Honda Web site.

The Honda Insight was recently awarded the first-ever "Sierra Club Award for Excellence in Environmental Engineering." The event led Carl Pope, Sierra Club Executive Director, to quip, "it isn't every millennium the Sierra Club praises a car." See the Sierra Club press release.

Toyota, Chevrolet Display Advanced Vehicles at Auto Show
Toyota is represented at the NAIAS with a display of its hybrid electric Prius, which will go on sale in the United States this summer. See the NAIAS Web site.

General Motors also added to last week's Precept unveiling by displaying the Chevrolet Triax, which features a modular chassis that can accommodate either an all-wheel electric drive, an all-wheel hybrid electric drive, or a two-wheel gasoline engine drive. The Triax was first unveiled at the Tokyo Motor Show in late 1999. See the GM Experience Live Web site.

Budget Rent a Car to Buy 10,000 Alternative-Fuel Cars
Budget Rent a Car Corporation announced last week that it will add 10,000 flexible-fuel Ford Taurus cars to its fleet this year. The flexible-fuel Taurus can be fueled with either gasoline or E-85, a mixture of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. The company did not announce plans to provide E-85 fueling facilities for the vehicles. See the "Budget News" section of the Budget Web site.

DOE Says Bioenergy Can Reduce Greenhouse Emissions
A new DOE report says that U.S. greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced through the increased use of bioenergy, which includes bio-based fuels, products, and power. Bioenergy uses natural resources such as corn, trees, crops, and other agricultural, forest and aquatic resources to make an array of commercial products, including fuels, electricity, chemicals, adhesives, lubricants and building materials. See the DOE press release.

President Clinton's Executive Order 13134 on bio-based products and bioenergy, issued in August 1999, was designed to stimulate development of a new bio-based industry. The White House announced last week that the President's Fiscal Year 2001 budget includes an increase of more than $240 million to support the Executive Order, with $49 million directed to DOE and $194 million for stepped-up efforts at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. See the Executive Order on the Web site of the Interagency Council on Bio-based Products and Bioenergy.

Cargill/Dow Venture to Produce Plastics from Corn
Cargill Dow Polymers LLC — a joint venture of Cargill Incorporated and Dow Chemical — has broken ground for a new bio-based polymer plant in Blair, Nebraska. The first-of- its-kind facility will produce 140,000 metric tons of polylactide plastic each year and will be online in 2002. The process will initially derive the plastic from corn, but the company is working on developing other bio-based sources. The company says the plastic is already being used to produce fibers and yarn and could be used to produce plastic film, bottles, foams, and other products. See the Cargill Dow Polymers Web site.

Tucson Electric Power Launches Green Power Program
Tucson Electric Power Co. (TEP) announced Monday the launch of a new program for its customers to buy electricity from renewable energy sources. TEP's GreenWatts program will sell the electricity from a landfill-methane power plant at a premium price. TEP says its facility at the Los Reales landfill generates enough electricity to meet all the needs of more than 4500 homes. See the GreenWatts Web site.

The total new renewable energy capacity installed due to such "green power" programs now exceeds 100 megawatts. In December, energy analysts at DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory tallied 112 megawatts of new renewable capacity due to green power. Another 107 megawatts are either under construction or have been formally announced. See the analysis on EREN's Green Power Network.

Site News

Vehicle Auxiliary Loads Reduction
This Web site highlights the research of the "Cool Car" Project, which is operated by DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory and funded by DOE through its Office of Transportation Technologies. The program's goal is to increase fuel economy and reduce tailpipe emissions by reducing the mechanical, electrical, and thermal loads that directly or indirectly require fuel but are not directly used to propel the vehicle. The site covers research on integrated modeling, thermal comfort assessment, peak load reduction, steady-state load reduction, equipment efficiency, and efficient delivery.

For this and other recent additions see the EREN Web site.

EREN Consumer Site Updated and Redesigned
The Consumer Energy Information site on EREN, which provides information from the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Clearinghouse (EREC), has been redesigned with a clean look, easy navigation, and intuitive information categories. With sections for students, teachers, business owners, homeowners, and anyone using some form of transportation, the site provides an in-depth information resource on a wide range of energy topics.

Energy Facts and Tips

1999 Inventory of U.S. Electric Utility Power Plants
DOE's Energy Information Administration (EIA) has released its most recent statistics on power plants operated by U.S. electric utilities. This report does not include non-utility power generators, despite their growing importance as electric utility restructuring is implemented in many states. For instance, it shows utility electric capacity dropping by 3.5 percent — later in the report, it notes that the drop is primarily due to utilities selling off more than 23,000 megawatts of generating capacity last year.

Of note is that U.S. utility electric capacity totals more than 728,000 megawatts, of which renewables other than hydropower comprise only 2,246 megawatts. U.S. utilities are planning to build nearly 24,000 megawatts of new generating capacity by 2003, of which 91 percent is expected to be fueled with natural gas. Note that these projections do not include plans for renewable energy projects, since these statistics are being "withheld to avoid disclosure of individual company data."

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