Today almost everything that goes into your car's gas tank started as oil (Photo by Shawn Allee)
How you fuel your car could change pretty quickly. California air regulators are requiring gasoline producers to reduce greenhouse gases by 10% by 2020. That could force big oil companies to invest in alternative fuels. Tamara Keith reports when it comes to environmental regulations, what happens in California usually spreads from there:
Transcript
How you fuel your car could change pretty quickly. California air regulators are requiring gasoline producers to reduce greenhouse gases by 10% by 2020. That could force big oil companies to invest in alternative fuels. Tamara Keith reports when it comes to environmental regulations, what happens in California usually spreads from there:
Today almost everything that goes into your car’s gas tank started as oil. But in the future it could be very different.
“The fuels that we will be moving towards are electricity, biofuels and hydrogen mostly.”
Daniel Sperling is a member of the California Air Resources Board which voted in the new rule.
Sperling says the goal is to reduce the overall greenhouse gas emissions from vehicle fuels. That could mean oil companies might even have to buy credits from power companies for electric cars.
“You start transforming the oil industry, getting off of oil. I mean that’s what we talk about and this is a policy that will actually do it.”
The California rule even looks at how much greenhouse gas pollution goes into making corn ethanol.
Oil companies say fuel prices will definitely go up in California.
Raser Technologies has been showing off its electric hummer that can get 100 miles per gallon. (Photo courtesy of Raser Technologies)
A technology company is showing off its 100 mile-per-gallon Hummer to Wall Street. Lester Graham reports:
Transcript
A technology company is showing off its 100 mile-per-gallon Hummer to Wall Street. Lester Graham reports:
Today, the honor of ringing the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange went to Raser Technologies – and the company brass parked a Hummer-H3 out front.
It’s powered by Raser’s completely electric drive-train. The system uses a gas-powered engine, but only for generating electricity to recharge the battery.
David West is the Vice President of Marketing at Raser Technologies. He says they modified a Hummer, but that’s just one example.
“It was designed appropriately not just for the Hummer H-3, but it’ll power a Ford F-150, a Chevy Silverado, a Dodge 1500. These are the top-selling vehicles in America.”
Raser Techonologies side-steps questions about price, saying if automakers used the system in a production model, a vehicle’s price would be in the range of a fully-equipped pick-up or SUV.
Some think that a gas tax is the only way to get consumers to buy fuel efficient cars (Photo courtesy of the US Department of State)
Some in the auto industry are proposing a hike in the gasoline tax. The idea is this: if you want people to buy small cars, make gasoline more expensive. Lester Graham reports:
Transcript
Some in the auto industry are proposing a hike in the gasoline tax. The idea is this: if you want people to buy small cars, make gasoline more expensive. Lester Graham reports:
Car dealers and manufacturers say a higher gas price is the only thing that gets people buying more fuel efficient cars. So, a tax hike makes sense.
But, a guy who has a lot of sway on the idea of a gas tax hike is not going there.
Congressman Ed Markey chairs a House subcommittee on Energy and the Environment.
At a forum at MIT he said the plan is to stick with CAFÉ — the Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards – to get better mileage cars.
“That’s the route that we’re taking rather and an increase in the gasoline tax. We’re moving towards a mandate and 35 miles per gallon is the minimum that we intend on reaching by 2020.”
And under the stimulus package, new tax credits amounting to thousands of dollars get kicked-back to anyone buying a fuel efficient car.
Right now, cars get an average 27 and a half miles per gallon. By
2011, they'll have to get 30.2 (Photo by Ben VonWaggoner)
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued new vehicle fuel economy standards for cars and trucks. As Tracy Samilton reports, it’s the first change since 1985:
Transcript
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued new vehicle fuel economy standards for cars and trucks. As Tracy Samilton reports, it’s the first change since 1985:
Right now, cars get an average 27 and a half miles per gallon. By
2011, they’ll have to get 30.2. Light trucks, including SUVs, will
have to get 24.1 miles per gallon, up a mile per gallon.
Eli Hopson
is with the Union of Concerned Scientists. He says the change is not
dramatic but it’s still an important milestone.
“The car standards haven’t
changed. They’ve been at 27.5 for over twenty years. It is a big deal. It’s
been a long time in coming.”
Carmakers are prepared for the new standard and say they’ll meet it.
Future standards will be tougher.
Auto companies usually complain
when mileage standards are raised. But times have changed, especially
for Chrysler and GM. They might not be as vocal since accepting
billions in federal loans.
A net drags floating algae toward the boat
(Photo by Ann Dornfeld)
Guiding algae into the funnel
(Photo by Ann Dornfeld)
Blue Marble Chief Scientist James Stevens checks that the pump isn't sucking up animals, too
(Photo by Ann Dornfeld)
The residents of Dumas Bay hate the smell of algae rotting on their beach
(Photo by Ann Dornfeld)
Algae is attracting a lot of
attention and investment as an alternative
energy source. It grows quickly, contains
a lot of oil, and doesn’t take up valuable
farmland. Ann Dornfeld profiles one company
that’s trying to turn algae into fuel:
Transcript
Algae is attracting a lot of
attention and investment as an alternative
energy source. It grows quickly, contains
a lot of oil, and doesn’t take up valuable
farmland. Ann Dornfeld profiles one company
that’s trying to turn algae into fuel:
I’m standing on a pontoon boat floating just a few feet off the shore of a saltwater bay.
Two men are standing in the waist-deep water around the boat. They’re guiding a layer of
floating algae into a funnel that’s sucking the algae into a burlap bag.
(sucking sound)
It’s an algae harvest – and James Stevens is directing the process. He says they
have to be careful not to suck up young salmon or other animals along with the
algae.
“This junction can be turned on, and it allows me to feed water into a box where
then I can sort and make sure there’s no by-catch actually coming through the
system.”
Stevens is Vice President and Chief Scientist of Blue Marble Energy. It’s
a Seattle start-up trying to turn algae into fuel. Most algae-to-energy researchers
are growing algae in giant tanks. Blue Marble has a different plan: gather algae
that’s already growing in noxious blooms along coastlines.
(sound of waves)
Here in Dumas Bay, not far from Seattle, huge blooms of algae often rot in the
water. That process uses up oxygen and kills marine life. And when the dead algae
washes up on the beach, it creates a smell the neighbors hate.
Blue Marble President Kelly Ogilvie says these algae blooms are common
around Puget Sound – but that’s nothing compared to more polluted waterways
elsewhere in the world.
“And the most recent, I think, salient example was Qingdao, China. And the
bloom that occurred there was, I think, like 800 square miles and they pulled a
million tons out of the water and that is prologue to what is going to be happening
on coastlines across the planet.”
Warmer water can help algae grow, and some scientists think global warming is
contributing to an increase in gigantic blooms. Nutrients from sewage dumping
and fertilizer runoff from farm fields and lawns also help algae flourish.
“If you think about what is actually happening in our oceans, the algae bloom
crisis has just begun. And if we can find a way to turn that new crisis into a
solution to something else, by goodness we’re going to try and make a go at it.”
Most companies doing algae-to-energy research focus on creating biofuels for cars
or jets. Instead of liquid fuel, Blue Marble wants to convert algae into natural gas
and biochemicals.
Along with private investment, Blue Marble has a contract with the Washington
Department of Ecology to collect algae at two bays in Puget Sound.
The department’s Alice Kelly is watching today’s harvest from the beach. She says
her agency hopes this gets rid of the rotten egg smell neighbors have been
complaining about without hurting the ecosystem, the sealife near the shore.
“It’s very important to protect that habitat. So we’re walking a very fine line here
between trying to deal with the excess odor problem and protect the near shore.”
Blue Marble’s approach provides that protection, she says, because its operation is
based just offshore. They aren’t dragging equipment across the beach. And today,
it looks like the only by-catch has been other species of algae.
But some conservationists have big concerns about harvesting wild algae for fuel.
One of them is Kevin Britton-Simmons, a researcher at
the University of Washington. He says a lot of unnatural algae blooms could be
prevented by keeping fertilizer and other pollutants out of the water.
“I feel this is essentially exploiting the problem instead
of fixing it. I’m concerned if we allow a business to develop that’s dependant on
this problem, what’s gonna happen when we fix the problem? Will there then be
pressure for this business to harvest natural populations of algae?”
Natural blooms are a valuable part of the food web, and he says removing them
could rob marine life of a major food source. He says it’s also hard to distinguish
between natural algae blooms and those caused by pollution.
(sound of waves)
Back on Dumas Bay, Kelly Ogilvie says his company has netted nearly 10,000 pounds of algae from the two harvests it’s completed. The next step is to
use bacteria to break down the algae into natural gas and various chemicals.
If all goes as planned, Ogilvie says Blue Marble’s first batch of natural gas will be
ready any day now.
You get more out of your tank of gas if it is purchased in a cold location versus a warm one (Photo by Ben VonWaggoner)
People who buy gasoline in cold
places get more bang for their buck than
people buying gas in warm places. Kyle
Norris explains:
Transcript
People who buy gasoline in cold
places get more bang for their buck than
people buying gas in warm places. Kyle
Norris explains:
Let’s say my friend Ana buys 10 gallons of gasoline in a cold place like the
Canadian tundra. And I buy 10 gallons of gas in the warm state of Florida.
My friend Ana will be able to drive further than I will with those 10 gallons.
That’s because gas expands at warm temperatures. But its energy content
does not.
There’s a gizmo gas stations can put on individual pumps that adjusts for
temperature differences. But each one costs a couple thousand bucks a pop.
Dave Maurer is with the US Government Accountability Office.
“There actually have not been a lot of studies done on the benefits and costs of installing this
equipment. Really what we found is that it’s not really known.”
Right now different states do different things. California has just started a
major study on this topic. But without much research, Maurer said it’s tough
for policy makers to make decisions.
Lake Superior's South Shore, Wisconsin
(Photo by Dave Hansen, courtesy of the EPA)
There’s a new agreement that says the
Great Lakes water has to stay in the Great Lakes.
It’s been approved now by all eight of the states
and the two Canadian provinces that border the
Lakes. Rick Pluta reports the agreement is now
on its way to Congress:
Transcript
There’s a new agreement that says the
Great Lakes water has to stay in the Great Lakes.
It’s been approved now by all eight of the states
and the two Canadian provinces that border the
Lakes. Rick Pluta reports the agreement is now
on its way to Congress:
The Great Lakes region was worried that drier parts of the country and the world might
be eyeing the largest supply of freshwater on Earth.
Ten years ago, a Canadian company got permission from Ontario to send millions of
gallons of water to Asia via tanker ships. Fierce opposition from around the Great Lakes
region put an end to that project. But regions neighboring the Great Lakes basin still see
them as a possible cure for their water shortages.
Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm says the Great Lakes compact offers an answer to
anyone outside the region who wants to get their hands on that water.
“Can’t touch this. (laughs) That’s what we say. They need to look at their own way of
preserving and managing their resources.”
When Granholm signed new laws in a ceremony here on the Lake Michigan shoreline,
Michigan became the last of the eight Great Lakes states to formally join the compact.
The compact was put together by leaders of the US states and two Canadian provinces
that border the lakes. Granholm says, once it’s adopted by Congress and signed by the
president, it will give the Great Lakes states new authority to protect their water.
“This allows me as governor to veto any large diversion of water, so we can put a stop to
it ourselves. It really allows us the autonomy of protecting these Great Lakes overall.”
It took 10 years for the Great Lakes states to get the compact through their legislatures
and signed by their governors. Members of Congress from the region are hoping it won’t
take quite so long to get it to the president’s desk.
Chicago Congressman Rahm Emanuel is expected to lead the effort to get the compact
through the US House. He says congressional hearings will begin this year and the
compact should be approved in time for it to be sent to the new president in early 2009.
Emanuel says he’s not expecting any problems.
“Because people understand and know, this is our Yellowstone Park, this is our Grand
Canyon. This is a national treasure. There’s been a lot of work and years of effort to get
this done. The good news is a lot of the chairmen of the committees that are relevant, come
from the Midwest, know how important the Great Lakes are and will act with due speed
in getting it done.”
Both the Republican presidential candidate John McCain and Democratic candidate
Barak Obama have said they would sign the compact.
Environmental groups are among those backing the deal. But many of them say it
still comes up short because it does not stop bottled water from leaving the Great Lakes
region.
Cyndi Roper is with Clean Water Action.
“Water is water. You can’t fill a tanker with water and take it out of the Great Lakes, but
you can fill that same tanker with bottles of water and ship them to other parts of the
country and other parts of the world, and we believe as we move forward, that’s a very
dangerous precedent to set.”
She says that’s because many millions of gallons can still trickle out of the lakes – even if
it’s 12 ounces at a time.
Zebra mussels were discovered 20 years ago, and have since spread across the country (Photo courtesy of the US Fish and Wildlife Service)
Researchers say they’ve found something
that will kill invasive zebra and quagga mussels.
The mussels got into the US in the ballast of
foreign ships. Since then they’ve spread throughout
the country. Rebecca Williams reports:
Transcript
Researchers say they’ve found something
that will kill invasive zebra and quagga mussels.
The mussels got into the US in the ballast of
foreign ships. Since then they’ve spread throughout
the country. Rebecca Williams reports:
So, let’s say you have a nasty pest, an invasive species. Then someone says, we can get rid of that
pest and it looks like there’s no environmental downside.
“It kinda sounds like snake oil. But it’s true.”
That’s Dan Molloy with the New York State Museum lab. He’s come up with a
way to kill zebra and quagga mussels.
Molloy says a strain of common bacteria is toxic to zebra and quagga
mussels. And, even if the bacteria are dead, they can still kill the
mussels.
“You know maybe horror stories of people applying biocontrol agents. And it
had effects they didn’t anticipate. We’re applying dead cells. And they’re
just as effective live or dead.”
It’s great news for power plants, because the mussels clog up intake
pipes.
But it’s not clear if the bacteria can kill mussels in open water.
Crew chief Mohammed Sangare tests the "Federal Kivalina"'s ballast tanks
for invasive species. (Photo by David Sommerstein)
The St. Lawrence Seaway's Terry Jordan shows off the refractometer that
tests the ballast water for salinity. (Photo by David Sommerstein)
The United States and Canada are trying to
figure out how to keep new invasive species out of
the Great Lakes. 185 have already snuck in, costing
the region billions of dollars a year. Many
hitchhiked in the ballast tanks of foreign cargo ships.
Both countries want the public to know they’re doing
something about the problem. So they invited journalists
to the port of Montreal to see how ballast tanks are
tested for invasive species. David Sommerstein
reports:
Transcript
The United States and Canada are trying to
figure out how to keep new invasive species out of
the Great Lakes. 185 have already snuck in, costing
the region billions of dollars a year. Many
hitchhiked in the ballast tanks of foreign cargo ships.
Both countries want the public to know they’re doing
something about the problem. So they invited journalists
to the port of Montreal to see how ballast tanks are
tested for invasive species. David Sommerstein
reports:
A couple dozen reporters crowd the deck of the cargo ship Federal Kivalina.
Cameras click, pencils scribble, and tape rolls as a man in a bright orange
uniform steps forward to test for invasive species.
“My name is Mohammed Sanare.”
(sound of tape measure sliding down)
Sangare is the bosun, the crew chief. He slides what looks like a metal tape
measure down a tube. It’s the opening of one of the Kivalina’s 16 ballast
tanks.
“Down to the bottom now. The bob’s down to the bottom.”
The tape hits the tank bottom, and Sangare reels it back up.
Terry Jordan, a St. Lawrence Seaway official, is waiting with a handheld
gizmo. It’s a refractometer that tests water salinity. He carefully places a
drop of ballast water on it.
“All it takes is one drop of water on the refractive lens, OK.”
Jordan peers through the refractometer’s lens. It reads 38 parts salt per 1000
parts water.
Recent scientific studies show that concentration of salt water kills up to
99% of the organisms hidden in these ballast tanks. That’s important
because those critters can compete with native species and damage whole
ecosystems.
David Reid is a researcher with the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration.
“Salinity was very effective at killing many of the organisms that we would
expect to be able to survive in the Great lakes.”
So for the first time this year, all ships voyaging into the Great Lakes have to
do something that sounds like a mouthwash ad.
“Swish and spit.”
Yeah, “swish and spit”. Terry Jordan says on its way across the ocean, the
ship flushes its ballast tanks with salt water, and presumably, kills potential
invasive species. The refractometer test is proof of the swish and spit. If the
ship fails, its ballast tank is sealed and its owner is fined up to 36,000
dollars.
“Swish & spit” has been voluntary for years. Environmentalists say the new
mandatory rules are a step in the right direction, but too little and way too
late.
“Some would argue that the dam has already burst.”
Hugh MacIsaac specializes in invasive species at the Great Lakes Institute
for Environmental Research in Windsor, Ontario. He says if ships were
“swishing and spitting” from the beginning, we might have been able to
prevent the zebra mussel, round goby, and other invasions.
But, MacIsaac warns there are other species lurking on the horizon, like
one in Germany, ominously called the killer shrimp.
“And so any protective measures that we put in place today that would
prevent or retard their ability to get in, I would welcome.”
Scientists doubt anything can be fool-proof. Invasive species still can hide
other places on the ship. And the new rules do nothing to stop salt-water
invaders like the mitten crab from attacking ports on the East and West
Coasts.
Terry Johnson is the St. Lawrence Seaway’s U.S. Administrator. He says
“swish & spit” is a huge step forward for the Great Lakes.
“So does that mean that it is absolutely, definately 100% positively assured that there
won’t be invasives coming in with these new regulations? No, it’s doesn’t.
But it dramatically reduces the risk.”
Congress is considering even tougher rules that would force shippers to
install cutting-edge ballast cleansing systems. The proposal could cost up to
a million dollars per vessel. The Bush Administration has threatened a veto.
For The Environment Report, I’m David Sommerstein.
A diagram of the ballast-free ship (Photo courtesy of Professor Michael Parsons)
The stern of the model showing the two discharge locations on the ship. It was tested last summer. (Photo courtesy of Professor Michael Parsons)
Cargo ships move sea life around the world.
Moving aquatic life from one port to another can cause
environmental havoc. Lester Graham reports there’s a
new idea that could nearly eliminate the problem of
transporting sea life to foreign ports:
Transcript
Cargo ships move sea life around the world.
Moving aquatic life from one port to another can cause
environmental havoc. Lester Graham reports there’s a
new idea that could nearly eliminate the problem of
transporting sea life to foreign ports:
There is an invasion of every major port on the globe.
“Today, the world’s shores are under attack. Armies of aliens are secretly invading our coasts.”
If this video, Invaders from the Sea, from the International Maritime
Organization sounds a little over-dramatic, it’s really not. Invaders from far-flung
corners of the world are brought in by commerce. In their travels, cargo ships pick up the
hitchhikers.
Those hitchhikers can be fish, mussels – aquatic bugs of all kinds. They can become
pests. Out-compete native species for food and space. They can destroy the
native ecosystems and often damage the economic well-being of people.
Here’s how it happens. Ocean-going cargo ships dock at a foreign port. They pump in
water for ballast to keep the ship stable. They also pump in some of the living things in
the water. When they arrive at the destination port, they can pump out that water and
the critters that were sucked up with it.
In the US, ports from Chesapeake Bay to San Francisco have been invaded. But,
the Great Lakes have been hit especially hard by invasive species.
Michael Parsons is a professor of naval architecture at the University of Michigan. He
says when foreign ships were able to come in from the Atlantic and travel as far as
inland as Duluth, Minnesota; they brought a lot of invaders with them.
“With the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway in the ‘50’s, that led to increased
introduction of non-indigenous species such as the zebra mussel, and the round goby, and
the ruffe, and the various smaller creatures that have been brought in to the Great Lakes.”
Those creatures have damaged the ecosystem of the Great Lakes. And they’ve cost the economy.
By one Environmental Protection Agency estimate about five-billion dollars a year.
Parsons and his colleagues have been working to design a ship that has no need for
ballast. In the lab, a scale model has been tested in a long pool. Instead of pumping
water in and out of the ballasts, the water would flow through big
tubes that run the length of the ship.
“And so, that’ll create a slow flow through these trunks so that they’re always swept
clean of foreign water.”
“A ship like that is just what we need in the Great Lakes.”
Andy Buchsbaum runs the Great Lakes office of the environmental group, the National
Wildlife Federation.
“If you eliminate the need for ballast water altogether, then you’re eliminating the vast
majority of invasive species introductions that come in through the discharge of ballast.”
The ballast-free ship design is creating some excitement. Even the shipping industry is
paying attention because the ship also is more fuel efficient.
If someone decides to actually build the ballast-free cargo ship, it’ll be a while before
the first one is on the high seas.
Allegra Cangelosi has been working on the ballast and invasive species problem for
close to a decade. She’s a policy analyst with the Northeast-Midwest Institute.
“I think it’s a wonderful development. I don’t think there’s going to be any one answer
for all ships plying all waters throughout the globe. However, the more good answers
that are out there to choose from, the better for the environment.”
Some of those choices are filtering ballast water or killing organisms in the ballast with
chemicals. Those systems are expensive. And since fuel isn’t getting any cheaper, that
might make a more fuel-efficient ballast-free ship attractive.
For The Environment Report, this is Lester Graham.
Today almost everything that goes into your car's gas tank started as oil (Photo by Shawn Allee)
