Thursday, October 14, 2010
NYS vehicle fleets turn green, or do they?
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
This column does an annual informal survey of fuel efficiency in our neighborhood, counting SUVs as a proportion of total vehicles parked on 14th Street between certain avenues. My archives have become temporarily inaccessible (my wife has another expression), but as of last week no significant reductions have been noted. I now have another more detailed analysis to offer, that of alternate fuels in use by NYS official vehicles.
You cannot say that NYS has not tried to be green. George Pataki, for whom the Republican candidate Carl P. Paladino has a crude name, was an environmentalist, who bought parkland and in 2001 issued Executive Order 111 (renewed 2005), which required the state vehicles to move away from gasoline. This actually started with the Federal Energy Policy Act of 1992, requiring states to buy alternatively fueled cars in increasing proportions. Nothing slow about NYS, we were prepared by the time of the issuance of Federal Act of 2005, specifying use of increasing amounts of ethanol through 2022, and subsidizing it by $6B a year. This was typical of Bush, pushing the politically advantageous energy solution, even though ethanol contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and requires fossil fuels to produce it, at a worse than 1-for-1 energy exchange rate.
As to NYS, research by Times Union of Albany shows that 39% of 18,300 vehicles run by 76 agencies of the state are capable of operating on alternate fuels, as compared to 92% of the total of 10.5M vehicles registered in NYS. Since 2007 the percentage has improved, up from 35%, with purchases of 777 fuel-efficient vehicles replacing 587 gasoline cars. The greenest agencies are the MVB, State Power Authority, NYS Thruway, Office of Government Services and Office of Mental Health.
In NYS the most prevalent alternate fuel vehicles are SUVs with bi- fuel gasoline and natural gas facilities, although there are no statistics as to the use of natural gas. To stop here for a moment, Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) came to public attention in 2000, when Daimler –Chrysler, Ford, GM, Honda and Toyota offered vehicles with natural gas capability (NGV), using factory-installed converters. Statistics vary, but it appears that in the US 150,000 cars are CNV or L(iquified) NV equipped, although world-wide the count is five million, and may be as high as nine million. Fleet taxis in Atlanta, LA, Las Vegas and Washington DC are so equipped, and New York may have as many as 300 CNV taxis (this could not be confirmed by the NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission – 400 employees - where I was stalled on the telephone). By 2007 only the Honda Civic GX was in the marketplace, plus some tailored conversions. The problem appears to be refueling. According to a NYSERDA (NYS Energy Research and Development Authority map, there are less than 100 fueling stations statewide, and less than 20 in NYC/Long Island area. It appears that although NYSERDA provides financial incentives, the consumers consider CNG/LNG a short-term solution. Not seeing many natural gas pumps, one tends to be cautious.
Diesel fuel, although efficient and used in 4% of private vehicles, is rarely noted in the state fleet. Electric cars, also minimally used, appear on the way out, although one would hope that the new Chevrolet Volt (range of 40 miles on battery and several hundred on gasoline; the latter also recharges the battery), Nissan Leaf (100 miles on battery) and their two dozen plus competitors will create more state overnight fueling facilities and prompt increased general use of vehicles refueled at night on cheap hydroelectric rates (2 cents a mile vs. 12 cents a mile for gasoline). However, their use involves a change in the philosophy of state property use. Electric cars, requiring say 7-8 hours of recharge time, are most advantageously recharged overnight, at home, and one shudders to think of the red tape this will create.
Flex vehicles, run on 85% ethanol or gasoline are on the rise in NYS agencies, despite the fact that ethanol is 30% less effective and costs the taxpayer a 45 cent credit. The R85 vehicles in 2009 constituted 10.5% of NYS fleet, vs. 2.6 % of the total registered. This is not really renewable fuel, in view of the high non-renewable energy cost in creating it. The greenhouse gas effect from ethanol also takes an elimination cost, estimated at $750 a ton of carbon dioxide. In 2008 Governor David Paterson ordered new cars to be in top 30% of efficiency, but that was not applied to the SUVs, favorites of DEC and police.
Looking over the entire scenario, it appears that the state has been successful in implementing the jaw and executive orders, but not the intent of meaningfully reducing carbon emissions and substituting renewable energy sources. This is a national failure. Let us hope that the upstate wind farms and oncoming additional nuclear energy plants will help (repulsive as the latter resource still seems to be), else the Earth will run out of energy in a few generations.
Wally Dobelis thanks the Albany Times Union and internet sources.
This column does an annual informal survey of fuel efficiency in our neighborhood, counting SUVs as a proportion of total vehicles parked on 14th Street between certain avenues. My archives have become temporarily inaccessible (my wife has another expression), but as of last week no significant reductions have been noted. I now have another more detailed analysis to offer, that of alternate fuels in use by NYS official vehicles.
You cannot say that NYS has not tried to be green. George Pataki, for whom the Republican candidate Carl P. Paladino has a crude name, was an environmentalist, who bought parkland and in 2001 issued Executive Order 111 (renewed 2005), which required the state vehicles to move away from gasoline. This actually started with the Federal Energy Policy Act of 1992, requiring states to buy alternatively fueled cars in increasing proportions. Nothing slow about NYS, we were prepared by the time of the issuance of Federal Act of 2005, specifying use of increasing amounts of ethanol through 2022, and subsidizing it by $6B a year. This was typical of Bush, pushing the politically advantageous energy solution, even though ethanol contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and requires fossil fuels to produce it, at a worse than 1-for-1 energy exchange rate.
As to NYS, research by Times Union of Albany shows that 39% of 18,300 vehicles run by 76 agencies of the state are capable of operating on alternate fuels, as compared to 92% of the total of 10.5M vehicles registered in NYS. Since 2007 the percentage has improved, up from 35%, with purchases of 777 fuel-efficient vehicles replacing 587 gasoline cars. The greenest agencies are the MVB, State Power Authority, NYS Thruway, Office of Government Services and Office of Mental Health.
In NYS the most prevalent alternate fuel vehicles are SUVs with bi- fuel gasoline and natural gas facilities, although there are no statistics as to the use of natural gas. To stop here for a moment, Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) came to public attention in 2000, when Daimler –Chrysler, Ford, GM, Honda and Toyota offered vehicles with natural gas capability (NGV), using factory-installed converters. Statistics vary, but it appears that in the US 150,000 cars are CNV or L(iquified) NV equipped, although world-wide the count is five million, and may be as high as nine million. Fleet taxis in Atlanta, LA, Las Vegas and Washington DC are so equipped, and New York may have as many as 300 CNV taxis (this could not be confirmed by the NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission – 400 employees - where I was stalled on the telephone). By 2007 only the Honda Civic GX was in the marketplace, plus some tailored conversions. The problem appears to be refueling. According to a NYSERDA (NYS Energy Research and Development Authority map, there are less than 100 fueling stations statewide, and less than 20 in NYC/Long Island area. It appears that although NYSERDA provides financial incentives, the consumers consider CNG/LNG a short-term solution. Not seeing many natural gas pumps, one tends to be cautious.
Diesel fuel, although efficient and used in 4% of private vehicles, is rarely noted in the state fleet. Electric cars, also minimally used, appear on the way out, although one would hope that the new Chevrolet Volt (range of 40 miles on battery and several hundred on gasoline; the latter also recharges the battery), Nissan Leaf (100 miles on battery) and their two dozen plus competitors will create more state overnight fueling facilities and prompt increased general use of vehicles refueled at night on cheap hydroelectric rates (2 cents a mile vs. 12 cents a mile for gasoline). However, their use involves a change in the philosophy of state property use. Electric cars, requiring say 7-8 hours of recharge time, are most advantageously recharged overnight, at home, and one shudders to think of the red tape this will create.
Flex vehicles, run on 85% ethanol or gasoline are on the rise in NYS agencies, despite the fact that ethanol is 30% less effective and costs the taxpayer a 45 cent credit. The R85 vehicles in 2009 constituted 10.5% of NYS fleet, vs. 2.6 % of the total registered. This is not really renewable fuel, in view of the high non-renewable energy cost in creating it. The greenhouse gas effect from ethanol also takes an elimination cost, estimated at $750 a ton of carbon dioxide. In 2008 Governor David Paterson ordered new cars to be in top 30% of efficiency, but that was not applied to the SUVs, favorites of DEC and police.
Looking over the entire scenario, it appears that the state has been successful in implementing the jaw and executive orders, but not the intent of meaningfully reducing carbon emissions and substituting renewable energy sources. This is a national failure. Let us hope that the upstate wind farms and oncoming additional nuclear energy plants will help (repulsive as the latter resource still seems to be), else the Earth will run out of energy in a few generations.
Wally Dobelis thanks the Albany Times Union and internet sources.
# posted by Wally Dobelis @ 9:16 PM 
