Resource World Magazine

d e c e m b e r / j a n u a r y 2 0 1 6 www.resourceworld.com 59 to "ensure stability, global scalability and advanced management." The first public project using the tech- nology is planned for Luxembourg, where six Volvo buses and four ABB automatic e-bus chargers will be integrated into the country's urban public transport system by 2016. students develop solAr-powered, energy-positive CAr The Dutch Solar Team Eindhoven (STE), a group of 21 students from different faculties of the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), has developed a solar- powered "energy positive" four-seater car, the Stella Lux, progeny of the 2013 proto- type, Stella. The family car is comfortable, energy positive and recently raced in the 2015 Bridgestone World Solar Challenge in Australia. The Stella Lux generates electricity through 5.8 2 metres of solar cells and has an additional battery capacity of 15 kW. This capacity makes it energy positive; it generates more energy than it consumes during an entire year – energy that can be fed back into the grid, or perhaps used to help power the energy independent house- hold of the future. The car has a range per charge of over 1,000 km in the Dutch cli- mate – as much as 10 times the range of the average pure electric vehicle on the market – or 1,100 km in the Australian climate, and a top speed of 125 km/hour. The car is constructed from lightweight materials such as carbon fibre and alu- minum to keep its weight down to 375 kilograms. Efficiency is further improved by a specially designed solar navigator system which monitors weather, chooses the optimal route and minimizes braking and acceleration to conserve energy. Other notable features include the ability to unlock the car doors when a paired smart phone is nearby, a smart phone application that can pre-populate routes based on the user's calendar appointments and a touch screen with buttons designed to allow the driver to keep their eyes on the road. Corn etHAnol HAs not lived up to its promise A 10-year review of the US Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) by researchers at the University of Tennessee (UT) in Knoxville, found that the RFS is "too reliant" on corn ethanol, and the production of this biofuel is resulting in additional water and soil problems, as well as "hampering advance- ments" in other biofuels. Corn ethanol was thought to be a bridge fuel solution that could reduce air pollu- tion and increase national energy security in the US, and corn ethanol production has gone from 4 billion gallons per year in 2005 to 14.3 billion gallons per year in 2014. But, corn ethanol hasn't lived up to its promise as being a cleaner and more environmentally friendly fuel choice, even after an estimated $50 billion in subsidies, in part because of some of the hidden costs of ethanol production. The focus on corn ethanol has lead to a stagnated advanced biofuels industry, according to researchers. One of the justifications for increased corn ethanol production is that it can help reduce the amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through its adoption as a fuel. Research seems to have refuted this claim as academic studies have shown that it could actually contribute "to a sharp and overall increase of GHGs," and that ethanol production and use "emits more particulate matter, ozone (as well as other smog precursors), and other air pollutants than gasoline." Add it up: the corn farmer uses a diesel tractor; he ships his crop by diesel- powered trains or trucks to a processing facility; more diesel-powered trucks or trains ship it to a refinery or terminal to be blended; then by diesel trucks to a distri- bution facility and finally by diesel trucks to your local gas station. Additionally, the researchers found that corn ethanol's net economic benefits "have not been accurately represented," and that while some studies may show that ethanol refineries can add jobs and economic value to certain rural communities, these studies fail to account for both the environmen- tal damage from their production and the amount of subsidies necessary to support them. The report authors say their analy- sis "shows that using corn ethanol has not been the bridge to the production and use of advanced biofuels that was anticipated," and the reliance on corn ethanol has worked against innovation in advanced biofuels by crowding out other alternatives. "From an environmental and energy independence perspective, the subsidies and mandates for corn ethanol would have been better and more effectively used had they been directed towards advanced biofuels." According to the Environmental Working Group, the ethanol mandate drove up the price of corn so high that it led farm- ers to convert 8 million acres of previously uncultivated land to corn production, resulting release of between 85 million and 236 million tonnes of carbon per year, as well as an increase in the application of fer- tilizers, which also boosts GHG emissions. "Our analysis shows that the corn etha- nol industry, even with its tremendous growth over the past decade and technol- ogy maturity, cannot survive in any real commercial sense without mandated fuel volume requirements," concludes the report, 10-Year Review of the Renewable Fuels Standard. The 60-page report is avail- able in PDF from the UT Bio-Based Energy Analysis Group website. n

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