pluginaustin

Air Support

The coalition and the growing consensus behind plug-in hybrids and electric fuels in general continues to grow.

Here, a consultant for the aviation industry recommends that the aviation industry put pressure on the automobile industry to move towards plug-ins and all-electrics.

Aviation urged to press fuel claim
Oct 12, 2005

The air transport industry must put pressure on automotive manufacturers to introduce fuel-efficient road vehicles to ensure security of fuel supply for air transport, says a report by consultancy Meridian International Research.

While the air transport industry is the most sensitive to rising oil prices, technology to allow it to drastically reduce fossil fuel consumption is not yet developed. However, fuel-efficient motor vehicle technologies are much more advanced, and in some cases are already being introduced.

“The air transport industry cannot easily reduce oil consumption – except by grounding aircraft. Air transport is too important to the functioning of the world to allow that,” says William Tahil, research director at Meridian, an independent strategy research and technology consultancy based in France.

The introduction of plug-in hybrid and battery-powered electric road vehicles would take the pressure off fossil-fuel supplies and allow time for biojet fuel to become a feasible option to replace part of the 230 billion litres of jet fuel that are burned worldwide each year, the report says.

Airlines need to take a holistic approach, and industry bodies like the International Air Transport Association should put pressure on motor manufacturing associations and manufacturers themselves to cut fuel consumption, according to Tahil: “Our economic future depends on oil prices coming down to reasonable levels – the air transport sector is vital to the smooth functioning of global industry.”

The coalition grows.

Meanwhile, the petition drive in Austin Texas is 60% towards its goal.

And the National Campaign is beginning to take shape.

Stay plugged in.

posted by AE @ 1:22 AM 1 comments

Lieberman Jumps On Plug-In Bandwagon

It is becoming increasingly obvious there is a growing momentum behind the call for flexible fuel, plug-in hybrids, the most recent endorsement coming from U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman in an address at George Washington University last week.

"I want to talk with you today about a different storm is forming right now off our coasts and in our country. It is forming as we speak over the steaming sands of the Mideast, the frozen tundra of Siberia, the equatorial east coast of Africa, and rain forests of South America and drying up oil reserves in the U.S.

"That storm is our dependence on foreign oil", the Connecticut Senator said.

To face the storm, Lieberman has proposed legislation that would mandate the mass production of flexible fuel vehicles capable of using "homegrown" biofuels made not just from corn but also "from American sugar, prairie grass and agricultural waste".

Here's the really interesting part.

"My bill mandates that within three years of passage, 10 percent of all new vehicles sold in America manufactured shall be alternative fuel automobiles, flexible fuel vehicles or electricity plug-in vehicles. And that mandate will increase to at least 50 percent four years after that".
I don't know about you, but it appears that the handwriting is on the wall and it says, "Flexible Fuel Plug-In Hybrids" are the future.

EV World
October 10. 05

posted by AE @ 4:04 PM 0 comments