Lexus GS-450h

UK company VCARS published a very informative article on hybrids and electric vehicles this week:

Hybrid Cars
The most common hybrids available on the market today use a combination both petrol combustion engines and electric motors.

What are ‘Hybrid’ cars?
In simple terms, these are cars that use both electric motors and petrol combustion engines. The petrol engine charges the battery when using regenerative braking and during higher speeds. The battery operates the car at low speeds or in traffic, whilst the petrol engine cuts-in at higher speeds, therefore allowing the car to operate efficiently.

The combination of the petrol combustion engine and battery power tend to produce less CO2 and pollution. Hardly any gases are released into the atmosphere when the electric motor is running. Therefore, hybrid cars are often exempt from the London congestion charge, as well as qualifying for cheaper car tax.

Read more…

A very encouraging aspect of this article is the variety of green vehicles available now, and the pipeline on the way. Now, if we could only convince the designers not to make these vehicles so “distinctive” – a regular car with good fuel efficiency and performance would do.

Today, Ormat announced an agreement to sell power beginning in 2010 to Sierra Pacific’s Nevada Power Company for output targeted between 18 and 30MW. Between this news and an upgrade from RBC Capital Markets Tuesday, Ormat’s stock is enjoying a nice run up from lows experienced post-Q1 earnings miss warning.

As an investor, Ormat is attractive around $35 share provided the company meets its stated revenue and earnings projections.

The Prometheus Institute for Sustainable Development issued a report detailing reasons for this prediction including an increased supply of silicon and increases in production efficiency. There is no doubt solar technology is in the public and policy eye. Recently, the US Department of Energy announced a $22.7M investment in basic research related to solar technologies.

Even with the price drop, unless the market forces change dramatically by 2010, solar PV will still be on the cusp of economic viability, at least at utility scale. At present prices, a megawatt of solar PV power carries costs in the $180/MWh range and has a capacity factor (no storage) of 24%. That means that the annual production per megawatt of deployed capacity is around 2,100 MWh. Compared with wind for instance who’s cost to produce is in the $45/MWh range and capacity factors greater than 35%, it’s still a tough sell even when the price comes down 40%.

Solar technology is advancing and that is fundamentally a good thing in the renewable energy space. But don’t simply believe headlines, there is still significant work to complete before solar PV reaches unsubsidized commercial viability.

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From Renewable Energy Access:

Buildings in Rizhao, a coastal city of nearly three million on the Shandong Peninsula in northern China, have a common yet unique appearance: most rooftops and walls are covered with small panels. They are solar heat collectors.

A combination of regulations and public education spurred the broad adoption of solar heaters. The city mandates all new buildings to incorporate solar panels, and it oversees the construction process to ensure proper installation. To raise awareness, the city held open seminars and ran public advertising on television.

In Rizhao City, which means City of Sunshine in Chinese, 99 percent of households in the central districts use solar water heaters, and most traffic signals, street and park lights are powered by photovoltaic (PV) solar cells. In the suburbs and villages, more than 30 percent of households use solar water heaters, and over 6,000 households have solar cooking facilities. More than 60,000 greenhouses are heated by solar panels, reducing overhead costs for farmers in nearby areas.

In total, the city has over a half-million square meters of solar water heating panels, the equivalent of about 0.5 megawatts of electric water heaters.

Read more…

China is clearly very serious about implementing renewable energy. The growth rate of the economy coupled with the sheer size of the population really provides few other choices. One of our principals used to have staff in Beijing and in the winter when the coal plants were going full bore, one couldn’t see across the street to the next building the smog was so thick. It conjures images of Manchester, England during the industrial revolution.