According to a report by Greenpeace, New Mexico emitted more global warming pollution from fossil fuel consumption since 1960 than the emissions of 137 of the 184 countries with comprehensive data available.The study looked at each state in the United States compared to the rest of the country. New Mexico had the 11th most per capita carbon emissions from 1960-2005. Wyoming had the most per capita.
In overall emissions, however, New Mexico ranked 19th 33rd among all U.S. states, while Vermont had the least carbon emissions in both counts.
The United States as a whole had 26 percent of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions according to the Greenepeace report. The United States ranked third in per capita carbon dioxide emissions behind just Luxembourg and Estonia.
“Here in New Mexico we are already seeing the effects of climate change on our community,” Greenpeace field organizer Joe Smyth said.
In 2007, New Mexico joined the Western Climate Action Initiative (WCI) along with Arizona, California, Oregon and Washington. The WCI sets a regional global warming emissions reduction goal.
Also, in 2005, New Mexico “established a statewide goal to reduce global warming emissions to 2000 levels by 2012, 10 percent below 2000 levels by 2020, and 75 percent below 2000 levels by 2050.”
“If we want to reduce global warming’s impacts and kick-start a clean energy future we must think not as New Mexicans but as citizens of the world,” Smyth said. “If we let our government get it wrong on global warming, instead of being the planet’s best hope, we will remain its biggest obstacle to progress.”
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Climate change already changing New Mexico
According to an article in today’s edition of the Albuquerque Journal, a report says that “the effects of human-caused climate change” are already being felt in New Mexico. The effects come in the form of “rising temperatures and dwindling snowpacks.”There looks to be plenty of reason to be concerned. Albuquerque Journal science writer John Fleck tells of some of the effects that man-made climate change will have on New Mexico:
The website for the “Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States” report says, “Recent warming in the Southwest has been among the most rapid in the nation.”
The effects will be felt not only in areas like the agriculture of our region, but also in the “unique tourism and recreation opportunities.”
“Rising temperatures will adversely affect winter activities such as downhill and cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, and snowmobiling,” the Southwest area of the website on the report states.
The website for the “Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States” report says, “Recent warming in the Southwest has been among the most rapid in the nation.”
The effects will be felt not only in areas like the agriculture of our region, but also in the “unique tourism and recreation opportunities.”
“Rising temperatures will adversely affect winter activities such as downhill and cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, and snowmobiling,” the Southwest area of the website on the report states.
Feds allow New Mexico and 13 other states to reduce vehicle greenhouse gas emissions
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency granted a waiver on Tuesday that allows California and 13 other states, including New Mexico, to create regulations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in new automobiles, according the governor’s office late Tuesday afternoon.
Gov. Bill Richardson immediately lauded the development.
“This decision gives us the best of both worlds – it validates the leadership of states like New Mexico that have adopted clean vehicle emission standards while demonstrating strong federal leadership to address transportation-related climate pollution in the future,” the governor said in a news release issued by his office.
The federal government’s reversal is a 180-degree turn away from a Bush administration decision to not let states adopt stiffer vehicle emissions standards than the federal government.
New Mexico has been involved in the fight to regulate vehicle emissions for the past year and a half.
The Land of Enchantment in late 2007 adopted the so-called California clean car emissions standards, meaning that it would impose stricter emission standards than the federal government’s on vehicles sold in New Mexico. A month later, however, in December 2007, the then-EPA administrator denied California the waiver to institute the tougher emission standards. No waiver for California getting meant the other states, including New Mexico, couldn’t adopt the tougher standards either.
New Mexico and other states then sued EPA over the denial.
But President Obama asked EPA to reconsider this decision earlier this year.
Transportation is the fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions in New Mexico, the state has said in the past. The tougher vehicle emission standards would apply to model year 2011 vehicles and beyond.
“By adopting and defending these standards, states like New Mexico have effected federal action on climate change,” New Mexico’s Environment Department Secretary Ron Curry said in the news release issued by the governor’s office. “The greenhouse gas vehicle standard started in the states and is now becoming a national program. I think we will see a similar trend with the passage of an economy-wide greenhouse gas reduction bill in Congress.”
Gov. Bill Richardson immediately lauded the development.
“This decision gives us the best of both worlds – it validates the leadership of states like New Mexico that have adopted clean vehicle emission standards while demonstrating strong federal leadership to address transportation-related climate pollution in the future,” the governor said in a news release issued by his office.
The federal government’s reversal is a 180-degree turn away from a Bush administration decision to not let states adopt stiffer vehicle emissions standards than the federal government.
New Mexico has been involved in the fight to regulate vehicle emissions for the past year and a half.
The Land of Enchantment in late 2007 adopted the so-called California clean car emissions standards, meaning that it would impose stricter emission standards than the federal government’s on vehicles sold in New Mexico. A month later, however, in December 2007, the then-EPA administrator denied California the waiver to institute the tougher emission standards. No waiver for California getting meant the other states, including New Mexico, couldn’t adopt the tougher standards either.
New Mexico and other states then sued EPA over the denial.
But President Obama asked EPA to reconsider this decision earlier this year.
Transportation is the fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions in New Mexico, the state has said in the past. The tougher vehicle emission standards would apply to model year 2011 vehicles and beyond.
“By adopting and defending these standards, states like New Mexico have effected federal action on climate change,” New Mexico’s Environment Department Secretary Ron Curry said in the news release issued by the governor’s office. “The greenhouse gas vehicle standard started in the states and is now becoming a national program. I think we will see a similar trend with the passage of an economy-wide greenhouse gas reduction bill in Congress.”
Honeybee mobs overpower hornets
Honeybee hordes use two weapons - heat and carbon dioxide - to kill their natural enemies, giant hornets.
Japanese honeybees form "bee balls" - mobbing and smothering the predators.
This has previously been referred to as "heat-balling", but a study has now shown that carbon dioxide also plays a role in its lethal effectiveness.
In the journal Naturwissenschaften, the scientists describe how hornets are killed within 10 minutes when they are trapped inside a ball of bees.
Japanese giant hornets, which can be up to 5cm long, are voracious predators that can devastate bees' nests and consume their larvae.
But, if the bees spot their attacker in time, they mount a powerful defence in the form of a bee ball. This study found that the heat inside the bee ball alone was not enough to reliably kill the hornets
"They can survive for 10 minutes at a temperature up to 47C, and the temperature inside the bee balls does not rise higher than 46C," said Fumio Sakamoto, a researcher from Kyoto Gakuen University in Japan, and one of the authors of the study.
His team recreated experimental bee balls and took direct measurements from inside them.
They anaesthetised giant hornets and fixed them to the tip either of a thermometer probe, or the inlet of a gas detector.
Once the hornets recovered from their anaesthesia, the probes were touched to the bees' nest.
"The bee ball formed (around the hornet) immediately," said Dr Sakamoto.
After 10 minutes the bees were packed solidly enough around the probe to be removed from the nest in a distinct ball.
As the temperature inside the ball increased to more than 45C, the carbon dioxide level also rose sharply.
In a parallel experiment, the scientists found that in an atmosphere relatively high in carbon dioxide, the temperature at which hornets could survive for 10 minutes was lowered.
"So we concluded that carbon dioxide produced inside the bee ball by the honeybees is a major factor, together with temperature, involved in the bees' defence."
Dr Sakamoto is not sure, at this point, whether the bees were effectively "gassing" the hornets, or simply depriving them of oxygen.
"Either way, the carbon dioxide increase and/or the oxygen decrease lowered the temperature that was lethal to the hornets, " he told BBC News.
"We are going to do the additional experiments about this point using mixed air of various oxygen and carbon dioxide (concentrations)."
The mob of bees also appeared to operate in "two phases".
"The hornet may be killed during the first 0-5 minute period, in which the highest level of heat production and carbon dioxide emissions take place," said Dr Sakamoto.
This might suggest that the bees are aware of what physiological state the hornet is in.
Dr Sakamoto said: "The latter 5-10 min period may be free running to ensure their victim's death."
Japanese honeybees form "bee balls" - mobbing and smothering the predators.
This has previously been referred to as "heat-balling", but a study has now shown that carbon dioxide also plays a role in its lethal effectiveness.
In the journal Naturwissenschaften, the scientists describe how hornets are killed within 10 minutes when they are trapped inside a ball of bees.
Japanese giant hornets, which can be up to 5cm long, are voracious predators that can devastate bees' nests and consume their larvae.
But, if the bees spot their attacker in time, they mount a powerful defence in the form of a bee ball. This study found that the heat inside the bee ball alone was not enough to reliably kill the hornets
"They can survive for 10 minutes at a temperature up to 47C, and the temperature inside the bee balls does not rise higher than 46C," said Fumio Sakamoto, a researcher from Kyoto Gakuen University in Japan, and one of the authors of the study.
His team recreated experimental bee balls and took direct measurements from inside them.
They anaesthetised giant hornets and fixed them to the tip either of a thermometer probe, or the inlet of a gas detector.
Once the hornets recovered from their anaesthesia, the probes were touched to the bees' nest.
"The bee ball formed (around the hornet) immediately," said Dr Sakamoto.
After 10 minutes the bees were packed solidly enough around the probe to be removed from the nest in a distinct ball.
As the temperature inside the ball increased to more than 45C, the carbon dioxide level also rose sharply.
In a parallel experiment, the scientists found that in an atmosphere relatively high in carbon dioxide, the temperature at which hornets could survive for 10 minutes was lowered.
"So we concluded that carbon dioxide produced inside the bee ball by the honeybees is a major factor, together with temperature, involved in the bees' defence."
Dr Sakamoto is not sure, at this point, whether the bees were effectively "gassing" the hornets, or simply depriving them of oxygen.
"Either way, the carbon dioxide increase and/or the oxygen decrease lowered the temperature that was lethal to the hornets, " he told BBC News.
"We are going to do the additional experiments about this point using mixed air of various oxygen and carbon dioxide (concentrations)."
The mob of bees also appeared to operate in "two phases".
"The hornet may be killed during the first 0-5 minute period, in which the highest level of heat production and carbon dioxide emissions take place," said Dr Sakamoto.
This might suggest that the bees are aware of what physiological state the hornet is in.
Dr Sakamoto said: "The latter 5-10 min period may be free running to ensure their victim's death."
Aquatic deer and ancient whales
If you startled a deer, you might not expect it to jump into the nearest pond and submerge itself for minutes.
But that is exactly what two species of mouse-deer in Asia do when confronted by predators, scientists have found.
One other African mouse-deer species is known to do the same thing, but the new discovery suggests all ruminants may once have had an affinity with water.
It also lends support to the idea that whales evolved from water-loving creatures that looked like small deer.
There are around 10 species of mouse-deer, which are also called 'chevrotains'.
All belong to the ancient ruminant family Tragulidae, which split some 50 million years ago from other ruminants, the group that went on to evolve into cattle, goats, sheep, deer and antelope.
Deer are supposed to walk on land and graze not swim underwater
Zoologist Erik Meijaard
Each are small, deer-like creatures that unusually don't have antlers or horns. Instead they have large upper canine teeth, which in the males project down either side of the lower jaw.
The largest species, which stands no more than 80cm tall, lives in Africa and is thought to be the most primitive of all mouse-deer. Known as the water-chevrotain, this animal likes to live in swampy habitats. When alarmed, it dashes for the nearest river where it submerges and swims underwater to safety.
All of the other species of mouse-deer, which live in southeast Asia and India and Sri Lanka were thought to be dry-land animals.
Diving deer
That was until researchers witnessed some remarkable behaviour during two separate incidents.
The first occurred in June 2008 during a biodiversity survey in northern Central Kalimantan Province in Borneo, Indonesia.
During the survey, observers saw a mouse-deer swimming in a forest stream. When the animal noticed the observers it submerged. Over the next hour, they saw it come to the surface four or five times, and maybe more unseen. But it often remained submerged for more than five minutes at a time.
Eventually the observers caught the animal, which they identified as a pregnant female, then released it unharmed.
Among the survey team was the wife of Erik Meijaard, a senior ecologist working with the Nature Conservancy in Balikpapan, Indonesia.
Meijaard knew of anecdotal reports by local people who described deer hiding in creeks and rivers when chased by their dogs. When he saw photos of the deer he identified it as a greater mouse-deer
The same year, Meijaard also heard reports of a mouse-deer in Sri Lanka that had also been seen swimming underwater.
Three observers saw a mountain mouse-deer (Moschiola spp) run into a pond and start to swim, hotly pursued by a brown mongoose. The mouse-deer submerged itself, and eventually the mongoose retreated. The deer left the water only to be chased straight back into it by the mongoose.
"It came running again and dived into the water and swam underwater. I photographed this clearly and it became clear to me at this stage that swimming was an established part of its escape repertoire," says Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne, who saw the incident.
"Seeing it swim underwater was a shock. Many mammals can swim in water. But other than those which are adapted for an aquatic existence, swimming is clumsy. The mouse-deer seemed comfortable, it seemed adapted," he says.
Origins of whales
Meijaard, Wijeyeratne and Umilaela, who saw the submerged Bornean mouse-deer, describe both incidents in the journal Mammalian Biology.
"This is the first time that this behaviour has been described for Asian mouse-deer species," says Meijaard. "I was very excited when I heard the mouse-deer stories because it resolved one of those mysteries that local people had told me about but that had remained hidden to science."
"The behaviour is interesting because it is unexpected. Deer are supposed to walk on land and graze not swim underwater. But more interestingly for the zoologist are the evolutionary implications," he says.
The behaviour bolsters one leading theory regarding the origin of whales.
In 2007, scientists led by Hans Thewissen of the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine in Ohio published details of a remarkable fossil called Indohyus.
This fossil was of a ruminant animal that looked like a small deer, but also had morphological features that showed it could be an ancestor of early whales.
Although speculative, that suggests that all early ruminants may also have led a partially aquatic lifestyle.
The discovery that two Asian species of mouse-deer are comfortable underwater shows that at least three species of modern tragulid share an aquatic escape behaviour.
Because these species diverged at least 35 million years ago, their ancestor also likely behaved in the same way, again bolstering the the idea that a deer-like ruminant may have evolved to produce the modern cetacean group of whales and dolphins.
Hippos, the closest modern relative of whales, also dive for water when threatened, a behaviour that may have been lost over time by other modern species such as sheep and antelope.
But that is exactly what two species of mouse-deer in Asia do when confronted by predators, scientists have found.
One other African mouse-deer species is known to do the same thing, but the new discovery suggests all ruminants may once have had an affinity with water.
It also lends support to the idea that whales evolved from water-loving creatures that looked like small deer.
There are around 10 species of mouse-deer, which are also called 'chevrotains'.
All belong to the ancient ruminant family Tragulidae, which split some 50 million years ago from other ruminants, the group that went on to evolve into cattle, goats, sheep, deer and antelope.
Deer are supposed to walk on land and graze not swim underwater
Zoologist Erik Meijaard
Each are small, deer-like creatures that unusually don't have antlers or horns. Instead they have large upper canine teeth, which in the males project down either side of the lower jaw.
The largest species, which stands no more than 80cm tall, lives in Africa and is thought to be the most primitive of all mouse-deer. Known as the water-chevrotain, this animal likes to live in swampy habitats. When alarmed, it dashes for the nearest river where it submerges and swims underwater to safety.
All of the other species of mouse-deer, which live in southeast Asia and India and Sri Lanka were thought to be dry-land animals.
Diving deer
That was until researchers witnessed some remarkable behaviour during two separate incidents.
The first occurred in June 2008 during a biodiversity survey in northern Central Kalimantan Province in Borneo, Indonesia.
During the survey, observers saw a mouse-deer swimming in a forest stream. When the animal noticed the observers it submerged. Over the next hour, they saw it come to the surface four or five times, and maybe more unseen. But it often remained submerged for more than five minutes at a time.
Eventually the observers caught the animal, which they identified as a pregnant female, then released it unharmed.
Among the survey team was the wife of Erik Meijaard, a senior ecologist working with the Nature Conservancy in Balikpapan, Indonesia.
Meijaard knew of anecdotal reports by local people who described deer hiding in creeks and rivers when chased by their dogs. When he saw photos of the deer he identified it as a greater mouse-deer
The same year, Meijaard also heard reports of a mouse-deer in Sri Lanka that had also been seen swimming underwater.
Three observers saw a mountain mouse-deer (Moschiola spp) run into a pond and start to swim, hotly pursued by a brown mongoose. The mouse-deer submerged itself, and eventually the mongoose retreated. The deer left the water only to be chased straight back into it by the mongoose.
"It came running again and dived into the water and swam underwater. I photographed this clearly and it became clear to me at this stage that swimming was an established part of its escape repertoire," says Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne, who saw the incident.
"Seeing it swim underwater was a shock. Many mammals can swim in water. But other than those which are adapted for an aquatic existence, swimming is clumsy. The mouse-deer seemed comfortable, it seemed adapted," he says.
Origins of whales
Meijaard, Wijeyeratne and Umilaela, who saw the submerged Bornean mouse-deer, describe both incidents in the journal Mammalian Biology.
"This is the first time that this behaviour has been described for Asian mouse-deer species," says Meijaard. "I was very excited when I heard the mouse-deer stories because it resolved one of those mysteries that local people had told me about but that had remained hidden to science."
"The behaviour is interesting because it is unexpected. Deer are supposed to walk on land and graze not swim underwater. But more interestingly for the zoologist are the evolutionary implications," he says.
The behaviour bolsters one leading theory regarding the origin of whales.
In 2007, scientists led by Hans Thewissen of the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine in Ohio published details of a remarkable fossil called Indohyus.
This fossil was of a ruminant animal that looked like a small deer, but also had morphological features that showed it could be an ancestor of early whales.
Although speculative, that suggests that all early ruminants may also have led a partially aquatic lifestyle.
The discovery that two Asian species of mouse-deer are comfortable underwater shows that at least three species of modern tragulid share an aquatic escape behaviour.
Because these species diverged at least 35 million years ago, their ancestor also likely behaved in the same way, again bolstering the the idea that a deer-like ruminant may have evolved to produce the modern cetacean group of whales and dolphins.
Hippos, the closest modern relative of whales, also dive for water when threatened, a behaviour that may have been lost over time by other modern species such as sheep and antelope.
Physical Reality Of String Theory Shown In Quantum-critical State Of Electrons
String theory has come under fire in recent years. Promises have been made that have not been lived up to. Leiden theoretical physicists have now for the first time used string theory to describe a physical phenomenon -- the quantum-critical state of electrons leading to high-temperature superconductivity. Their discovery has been reported recently in the journal Science
Electrons can form a special kind of state, a so-called quantum critical state, that plays a role in high-temperature superconductivity. Superconductivity at high temperatures has long been a 'hot issue' in physics. In superconductivity, discovered by Heike Kamerlingh Onnes in Leiden, electrons can zoom through a material without meeting any resistance. In the first instance, this only seemed possible at very low temperatures close to absolute zero, but more and more examples are coming up where it also occurs at higher temperatures. So far, nobody has managed to explain high temperature superconductivity.
Jan Zaanen makes no attempt to hide his enthusiasm. Together with Mihailo Cubrovic and Koenraad Schalm, he has successfully managed to shed light on a previously unexplained natural phenomenon using the mathematics of string theory.
Theory of everything
This is the first time that a calculation based on string theory has been published in Science, even though the theory is widely known. "There have always been a lot of expectations surrounding string theory," Zaanen explains, having himself studied the theory to satisfy his own curiosity. "String theory is often seen as a child of Einstein that aims to devise a revolutionary and comprehensive theory, a kind of 'theory of everything.' Ten years ago, researchers even said: 'Give us two weeks and we'll be able to tell you where the big bang came from.' The problem of string theory was that, in spite of its excellent maths, it was never able to make a concrete link with the physical reality -- the world around us."
Quantum soup
But now, Zaanen, together with his colleagues Cubrovic and Schalm, are trying to change this situation, by applying string theory to a phenomenon that physicists, including Zaanen, have for the past fifteen years been unable to explain: the quantum-critical state of electrons. This special state occurs in a material just before it becomes superconductive at high temperature. Zaanen describes the quantum-critical state as a 'quantum soup', whereby the electrons form a collective independent of distances, where the electrons exhibit the same behaviour at small quantum mechanical scale or at macroscopic human scale.
Bridge
Because of Zaanen's interest in string theory, he and string theorist Koenraad Schalm soon became acquainted after Schalm's arrival in Leiden. Zaanen had an unsolved problem and Schalm was an expert in the field of string theory. Their common interest brought them together, and they decided to work jointly on the research. They used the aspect of string theory known as AdS/CFT correspondence. This allows situations in a large relativistic world to be translated into a description at minuscule quantum physics level. This correspondence bridges the gap between these two different worlds. By applying the correspondence to the situation where a black hole vibrates when an electron falls into it, they arrived at the description of electrons that move in and out of a quantum-critical state.
Puzzle
After days and nights of hard grind, it was a puzzle that fitted. "We hadn't expected it to work so well," says a delighted Zaanen. "The maths was a perfect fit; it was superb. When we saw the calculations, at first we could hardly believe it, but it was right." Gateway to moreAlthough the mystery of high temperature superconductivity isn't fully resolved, the findings do show that major problems in physics can be addressed using string theory. And this is just the start, Zaanen believes. "AdS/CFT correspondence now explains things that colleagues who have been beavering away for ages were unable to resolve, in spite of their enormous efforts. There are a lot of things that can be done with it. We don't fully understand it yet, but I see it as a gateway to much more."
Electrons can form a special kind of state, a so-called quantum critical state, that plays a role in high-temperature superconductivity. Superconductivity at high temperatures has long been a 'hot issue' in physics. In superconductivity, discovered by Heike Kamerlingh Onnes in Leiden, electrons can zoom through a material without meeting any resistance. In the first instance, this only seemed possible at very low temperatures close to absolute zero, but more and more examples are coming up where it also occurs at higher temperatures. So far, nobody has managed to explain high temperature superconductivity.
Jan Zaanen makes no attempt to hide his enthusiasm. Together with Mihailo Cubrovic and Koenraad Schalm, he has successfully managed to shed light on a previously unexplained natural phenomenon using the mathematics of string theory.
Theory of everything
This is the first time that a calculation based on string theory has been published in Science, even though the theory is widely known. "There have always been a lot of expectations surrounding string theory," Zaanen explains, having himself studied the theory to satisfy his own curiosity. "String theory is often seen as a child of Einstein that aims to devise a revolutionary and comprehensive theory, a kind of 'theory of everything.' Ten years ago, researchers even said: 'Give us two weeks and we'll be able to tell you where the big bang came from.' The problem of string theory was that, in spite of its excellent maths, it was never able to make a concrete link with the physical reality -- the world around us."
Quantum soup
But now, Zaanen, together with his colleagues Cubrovic and Schalm, are trying to change this situation, by applying string theory to a phenomenon that physicists, including Zaanen, have for the past fifteen years been unable to explain: the quantum-critical state of electrons. This special state occurs in a material just before it becomes superconductive at high temperature. Zaanen describes the quantum-critical state as a 'quantum soup', whereby the electrons form a collective independent of distances, where the electrons exhibit the same behaviour at small quantum mechanical scale or at macroscopic human scale.
Bridge
Because of Zaanen's interest in string theory, he and string theorist Koenraad Schalm soon became acquainted after Schalm's arrival in Leiden. Zaanen had an unsolved problem and Schalm was an expert in the field of string theory. Their common interest brought them together, and they decided to work jointly on the research. They used the aspect of string theory known as AdS/CFT correspondence. This allows situations in a large relativistic world to be translated into a description at minuscule quantum physics level. This correspondence bridges the gap between these two different worlds. By applying the correspondence to the situation where a black hole vibrates when an electron falls into it, they arrived at the description of electrons that move in and out of a quantum-critical state.
Puzzle
After days and nights of hard grind, it was a puzzle that fitted. "We hadn't expected it to work so well," says a delighted Zaanen. "The maths was a perfect fit; it was superb. When we saw the calculations, at first we could hardly believe it, but it was right." Gateway to moreAlthough the mystery of high temperature superconductivity isn't fully resolved, the findings do show that major problems in physics can be addressed using string theory. And this is just the start, Zaanen believes. "AdS/CFT correspondence now explains things that colleagues who have been beavering away for ages were unable to resolve, in spite of their enormous efforts. There are a lot of things that can be done with it. We don't fully understand it yet, but I see it as a gateway to much more."
Engineer Designs More Efficient, Quieter Bus
An engineer has designed an electric bus that runs on battery power. Putting motors in each wheel makes a transmission and driveshaft unnecessary, and allows the bus to ride closer to the ground for ease of entry. Using stainless steel also reduces weight. The prototype increases fuel efficiency by four times over a more traditional city bus.
Most of us gladly ride in cars, airplanes, even trains -- but buses? There's a bit of a stigma attached to them. Now, one engineer has a built a new type of city bus he hopes will make people want to ride. Al Gore brought the issue of global warming to the big screen. One of the biggest offenders? Carbon dioxide. The latest international report says it's responsible for 60 percent of the greenhouse gases. So automotive engineer Bruce Emmons decided to do something about it. He created a 40 foot battery powered and electric city bus -- it's like a giant golf cart!
"Inside of the bus, we have what actually propels the bus," Emmons says. "This is what makes it go." Batteries and motor controllers drive electric motors in the wheels. And instead of the bus being made from regular steel, "Everything is built of this incredible high-strength stainless steel," Emmons explains.
The steel is as lightweight as aluminum, making the bus half the weight of a normal bus. Steel tubes also support the front bumper and are designed to turn inside out in a crash to absorb energy and soften the blow.
With no transmission, drive shafts or other bulky mechanics taking up space, the floor can be low, making it easier to get in and out of. And he promises a quieter, smoother ride.
"You can have a very efficient bus, but if nobody likes to ride on it, then it doesn't really help the fuel economy." Emmons' bus boasts four-times the fuel economy of a standard one. His next goal -- to get it from the lab to buses all over the city streets. Right now the bus is just a prototype. It has the potential to be different types of a hybrid -- such as a fuel cell or hydrogen bus.
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BACKGROUND: A hybrid electric bus that weighs half as much as conventional buses, boasts three times the fuel economy, and can carry 20% more passengers, could debut by the middle of 2008. The bus would also be quieter and would have less environmental impact than standard diesel-powered buses, resulting in significant cost savings. It is being developed by a collaboration between Autokinetics, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the Department of Energy's FreedomCAR and Vehicle Technologies Program.
LESS IS MORE: At the heart of the bus is an ultra-high-strength stainless steel body and chassis that would be up to 30% less expensive to build than the standard bus body. The lighter weight of the bus improves fuel efficiency by reducing drag. The weight (technically, the mass) of the vehicle determines how much energy is needed to get it moving, or to change direction. As the vehicle accelerates, it gains speed, but it also experiences an increase in drag, the friction from the air passing by. It takes extra energy to overcome that drag. A similar effect happens on a bicycle: it takes more exertion on the part of the rider while biking into a strong headwind, than when the wind is at the rider's back. So any decrease in drag that a vehicle experiences will result in better fuel economy.
WHAT ARE HYBRIDS: Gasoline-powered cars are the most common type, although there are some battery-powered electric cars available today. A hybrid vehicle is a combination of the two, attempting to reap the best of both approaches. Current hybrid engine systems have a single mode of operation, using a single gear set to split the engine's power into two systems -- routing it to drive the wheels or charge the battery -- for both city and highway driving. A hybrid engine also captures energy from braking that would otherwise be lost and shutting off the engine at a stop. The battery alone can power the vehicle at low speeds. The electric motor can double as a generator while braking and only has to run part of the time. One disadvantage is that the gasoline engine must therefore run at varying speeds, which reduces its energy efficiency.
CRASH TEST: Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have performed computer simulations of collision scenarios to ensure that the buses meet safety standards for reducing the impact of a collision. Every vehicle has what is known as a 'crumple zone,' that absorbs energy upon impact. It increases the amount of time it takes to come to a complete stop, spreading the force over a longer period of time. Because they yield during a collision, crumple zones change the energy of the impact into heat and sound, reducing the chance of injury to passengers
Most of us gladly ride in cars, airplanes, even trains -- but buses? There's a bit of a stigma attached to them. Now, one engineer has a built a new type of city bus he hopes will make people want to ride. Al Gore brought the issue of global warming to the big screen. One of the biggest offenders? Carbon dioxide. The latest international report says it's responsible for 60 percent of the greenhouse gases. So automotive engineer Bruce Emmons decided to do something about it. He created a 40 foot battery powered and electric city bus -- it's like a giant golf cart!
"Inside of the bus, we have what actually propels the bus," Emmons says. "This is what makes it go." Batteries and motor controllers drive electric motors in the wheels. And instead of the bus being made from regular steel, "Everything is built of this incredible high-strength stainless steel," Emmons explains.
The steel is as lightweight as aluminum, making the bus half the weight of a normal bus. Steel tubes also support the front bumper and are designed to turn inside out in a crash to absorb energy and soften the blow.
With no transmission, drive shafts or other bulky mechanics taking up space, the floor can be low, making it easier to get in and out of. And he promises a quieter, smoother ride.
"You can have a very efficient bus, but if nobody likes to ride on it, then it doesn't really help the fuel economy." Emmons' bus boasts four-times the fuel economy of a standard one. His next goal -- to get it from the lab to buses all over the city streets. Right now the bus is just a prototype. It has the potential to be different types of a hybrid -- such as a fuel cell or hydrogen bus.
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BACKGROUND: A hybrid electric bus that weighs half as much as conventional buses, boasts three times the fuel economy, and can carry 20% more passengers, could debut by the middle of 2008. The bus would also be quieter and would have less environmental impact than standard diesel-powered buses, resulting in significant cost savings. It is being developed by a collaboration between Autokinetics, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the Department of Energy's FreedomCAR and Vehicle Technologies Program.
LESS IS MORE: At the heart of the bus is an ultra-high-strength stainless steel body and chassis that would be up to 30% less expensive to build than the standard bus body. The lighter weight of the bus improves fuel efficiency by reducing drag. The weight (technically, the mass) of the vehicle determines how much energy is needed to get it moving, or to change direction. As the vehicle accelerates, it gains speed, but it also experiences an increase in drag, the friction from the air passing by. It takes extra energy to overcome that drag. A similar effect happens on a bicycle: it takes more exertion on the part of the rider while biking into a strong headwind, than when the wind is at the rider's back. So any decrease in drag that a vehicle experiences will result in better fuel economy.
WHAT ARE HYBRIDS: Gasoline-powered cars are the most common type, although there are some battery-powered electric cars available today. A hybrid vehicle is a combination of the two, attempting to reap the best of both approaches. Current hybrid engine systems have a single mode of operation, using a single gear set to split the engine's power into two systems -- routing it to drive the wheels or charge the battery -- for both city and highway driving. A hybrid engine also captures energy from braking that would otherwise be lost and shutting off the engine at a stop. The battery alone can power the vehicle at low speeds. The electric motor can double as a generator while braking and only has to run part of the time. One disadvantage is that the gasoline engine must therefore run at varying speeds, which reduces its energy efficiency.
CRASH TEST: Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have performed computer simulations of collision scenarios to ensure that the buses meet safety standards for reducing the impact of a collision. Every vehicle has what is known as a 'crumple zone,' that absorbs energy upon impact. It increases the amount of time it takes to come to a complete stop, spreading the force over a longer period of time. Because they yield during a collision, crumple zones change the energy of the impact into heat and sound, reducing the chance of injury to passengers
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