GM Working on Plug-In Hybrid Saturn

From the AP:

General Motors Corp. has begun work on a plug-in hybrid power system for its Saturn Vue sport utility vehicle that could save on gasoline use, Chief Executive Rick Wagoner said Wednesday at the Los Angeles Auto Show. He offered no timetable on when it will be available, however.

Wagoner also said GM will start offering versions of its Hummer models that could run on biofuel within three years. The Hummers have become a lightning rod for critics of vehicle fuel efficiency.

"By developing alternative sources of energy and propulsion, we have the chance to mitigate many of the issues surrounding energy availability," he said in a speech at the auto show.

For those of you so inclined, you can find more on the LA Auto Show, here.

Technorati tags: Energy, Technology, Environment, Electricity, Politics, Electric Vehicles, Hybrid Vehicles

Comments

Randal Leavitt said…

What we need to do is start building cities that don't accommodate cars. No roads or parking, and all transport to buildings takes place on rails, underground, using electric power. We have the ability to change things for the better, we just don't have the guts.

November 30, 2006 at 12:57 PM

Anonymous said…

The idea that a Hummer becomes acceptable if run on biofuels or even nuclear-generated hydrogen is laughable. It will still be taking an unreasonable share of resources and posing an unacceptable threat to other road users.

November 30, 2006 at 3:02 PM

Anonymous said…

Why would a Hummer be unacceptable? The article says "models" which would include the H3, based on the Colorado compact pickup and currently rated at about 20 mpg highway. Not great but not unreasonable.

November 30, 2006 at 8:13 PM

Activists' Claims Distort Facts about Advanced Reactor Design

Below is from our rapid response team . Yesterday, regional anti-nuclear organizations asked federal nuclear energy regulators to launch an investigation into what it claims are “newly identified flaws” in Westinghouse’s advanced reactor design, the AP1000. During a teleconference releasing a report on the subject, participants urged the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to suspend license reviews of proposed AP1000 reactors. In its news release, even the groups making these allegations provide conflicting information on its findings. In one instance, the groups cite “dozens of corrosion holes” at reactor vessels and in another says that eight holes have been documented. In all cases, there is another containment mechanism that would provide a barrier to radiation release. Below, we examine why these claims are unwarranted and why the AP1000 design certification process should continue as designated by the NRC. Myth: In the AP1000 reactor design, the gap between the shield bu...

How many nuclear plants does it take to meet the world's energy needs?

Several weeks ago Joshua Pearce at Clarion University in Pennsylvania released a study titled “ Thermodynamic limitations to nuclear energy deployment as a greenhouse gas mitigation technology .” In the study he stated... nuclear energy production would have to increase by 10.5% per year from 2010 to 2050 to both replace fossil-fuel-energy use and meet the future energy demands. This line, of course, made the headlines and has been picked up by several outlets and blogs . When looking into his calculations for this statement, he made one assumption error that overstated the above sentence by nearly a factor of three. Page 121, Section 4.1 of the study states: Richard Smalley pointed out that in 2004, the global economy consumed the equivalent of 220 million barrels of oil per day, which converted into electricity terms is the equivalent of 14.5 TeraWatts (TW), or 14,500,000 MegaWatts (MW) (2005). … With a nuclear plant having about 1000 MW (1 GW) of capacity, we would need 14,500...

What Happens During a Refueling Outage?

You may have noticed over the past few weeks that a number of nuclear plants are shut down for refueling outages or are resuming operations after just returning from one. This type of routine outage usually occurs in the spring or fall when electricity demand is low so that nuclear reactors can replace about one-third of the spent fuel rods with new fuel and conduct other routine maintenance and repairs at the plant. To get a better sense of how refueling works at a nuclear energy facility, I spoke with Marcus Nichol, NEI’s senior project manager for used fuel storage and transportation, and asked him to explain the basics. Why does a nuclear plant need to replace one-third of its fuel? Nichol: The main purpose of a refueling outage is to replace older fuel that is depleted—meaning it can no longer efficiently produce energy from nuclear fission reactions—with new fuel. This “used fuel” has typically been used in the reactor for four-and-a-half to six years before it is pe...

NEI Nuclear Notes

Search This Blog