Category Archives: energy

Gas Prices Continue Dropping

Posted on 14 January 2015 by Ken Zino

U.S. motorists are paying an average price at the gasoline pump today of $2.10 per gallon) that is more than 40% lower than the 2014 peak of $3.70 reached on April 28. Continue reading →

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EPA Proposal Strengthens Response to Oil Spills

Posted on 13 January 2015 by Ken Zino

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wants to amend requirements under the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan to improve the nation’s ability to respond to oil spills. This proposal addresses issues raised by the public, responders, government, and industry officials during the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill of BP. Continue reading →

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Chesapeake Energy to Pay Millions for Wetlands Destruction

Posted on 30 December 2013 by Ken Zino

No criminal charges against executives were pursued, however. So the environmental rhetoric of the Obama Administration is put aside in the latest corporate friendly deal under Eric Holder, his politically appointed Attorney General. Continue reading →

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Honda Fuel Cell Concept Debuts at Los Angeles Auto Show

Posted on 21 November 2013 by Ken Zino

Honda’s next generation fuel cell-electric vehicle has what is for the moment the world’s first fuel-cell powertrain packaged completely in the engine room of the vehicle. This not only allows more interior space, but it gives the Japanese automaker some flexibility in the use of fuel cell technology in different vehicle types. Continue reading →

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Automotive Waste Heat Recovery Closer to Production

Posted on 12 November 2013 by Ken Zino

Not surprisingly, given increasingly stringent fuel economy and CO2 regulations, much advanced research is being done to see how this wasted exhaust heat can be used. Two areas show promise – generating electricity from the heat, and/or using the exhaust heat for a vehicle’s heating and ventilation system. Continue reading →

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U.S. Chamber of Commerce Attacks EPA, Again, over Powerplant Emission Rules

Posted on 7 November 2013 by Ken Zino

In today’s what’s not news department, the Energy Institute President Karen Harbert of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce today called on EPA to ensure that any new powerplant emission rules are cost-effective, attainable, and don’t harm the American economy. Continue reading →

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UMD Researchers Get $1 Million for EV Battery Research

Posted on 26 August 2013 by Ken Zino

Lithium-ion batteries are problematic in electric vehicles due to short driving range, high cost, and low safety and reliability. Continue reading →

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Electric Cars and Solar Cells are not so Clean

Posted on 1 August 2013 by Ken Zino

“Stating that an electric car is clean is like saying that a light bulb is clean. Light bulbs do not produce exhaust, but it doesn’t mean we can use them with zero emissions. The same holds true for electric cars,” said Zehner in an NPR interview Monday. Continue reading →

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Fuel Company Head Charged in Kickback Scheme

Posted on 22 July 2013 by Ken Zino

The former owner and operator of two Florida-based airline fuel supply companies appeared today in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on charges of a kickback scam and defrauding Illinois-based Ryan International Airlines. Continue reading →

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Shell Settles Clean Air Act Violations for $115 Million

Posted on 10 July 2013 by Ken Zino

Shell will spend $1 million on a state-of-the-art system to monitor benzene levels of the refinery and chemical plant near a residential neighborhood and school and to make the data available to the public through a website. Shell’s agreement to recover and recycle waste gases at its chemical plant is a first of its kind. Continue reading →

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GM and Honda Target 2020 for Viable Fuel Cell EVs

Posted on 9 July 2013 by Ken Zino

The light duty fuel cell vehicle (FCV) has shown promise for decades, but the problem remains that it is space age technology at NASA levels of cost. Not surprisingly, automakers have varying levels of interest fuel cells that always appear to be just a decade or so from commercialization, but interest is rising. Continue reading →

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SunCoke Energy Fixes Clean Air Violations in Illinois, Ohio

Posted on 30 June 2013 by Ken Zino

The main violations alleged relate to excessive bypass venting of hot coking gases directly to the atmosphere, resulting in excess SO2 and particulate matter emissions from the facilities’ waste heat and main stacks, in violation of applicable permit limits. Coke oven emissions are a known human carcinogen. Continue reading →

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U.S. Sues ExxonMobil over Pegasus Pipeline Oil Spill

Posted on 13 June 2013 by Ken Zino

The complaint covers ExxonMobil’s unlawful discharge of heavy crude oil from a 20-inch-diameter interstate pipeline – the Pegasus Pipeline – that ruptured in Mayflower, Arkansas on 29 March 2013. Continue reading →

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Dominion Energy Deal Cuts Emissions at Coal Powered Plants

Posted on 5 April 2013 by Ken Zino

The Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said that Dominion Energy has agreed to pay a $3.4 million civil penalty and spend approximately $9.8 million on environmental mitigation projects to resolve Clean Air Act (CAA) violations. Continue reading →

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Bosch to End Solar Business as Competitiveness is ‘Unattainable’

Posted on 22 March 2013 by Ken Zino

Bosch said today that it would end its solar business operations, including the making of ingots, wafers, cells, and modules at the beginning of 2014. More than 3,000 employees are affected. The German conglomerate, which is the biggest auto parts supplier in the word, said that individual business units would be sold, if possible Continue reading →

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