No Oil Solution | Green Energy News

September 19, 2004 – Vol.9 No.26

NO OIL SOLUTION.

The Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) has published a plan for the U.S to rid itself of oil. Winning the Oil Endgame: Innovation for Profits, Jobs and Security is good, and it’s free (for a download copy.)

Oil Endgame, funded by the Pentagon, is a roadmap that the U.S. could follow that would save more oil by 2015 than it now gets from the Persian Gulf. Further, by 2025, the U.S. would use less oil than in 1970, by 2040 import no oil and by 2050 eliminate oil from the nation’s energy menu.

Endgame authors envision a mostly market-driven effort, with only some government assistance and law-making to get the program rolling. Once underway, profits and business opportunities, should keep the momentum.

Much of the plan revolves around building ultralight (but not small) hybrid vehicles out of carbon fiber composites or other light weight materials to achieve fuel efficiency even greater than hybrid technologies now available. The vehicles would be fueled with biofuels such biodiesel and bioethanol made from cellulose, not sugar.

Endgame says that cars could achieve 85 miles per gallon, light trucks and SUV’s 66 miles per gallon. Effectively the ultralight hybrids would double the efficiency of today’s hybrids.

From a manufacturing point of view technology has already been developed that will produce composite parts at a pace rapid enough to meet modern assembly line schedules. Composite vehicles have also proven safe in crash testing. And those concerned about the sail-effect of light-weight cars (being blown about in the wind) should note that racing cars - which are always extraordinarily light - never seem to be blown off the track.

(There is also technological proof to back up Endgame’s ideas. The family-sized cars built under the Partnership for New Generation Vehicles (PNGV) program of the 1990’s were built of composites, light steel and/or aluminum and achieved almost 80 miles per gallon running on diesel fuel. They could have also run on biodiesel. Hybrid technology, too, has improved considerably since then.)

Other points of Endgame:

--- Ultralight vehicle technology should be extended to heavy trucks and aircraft.

--- Business models could be developed that prove that saving energy – especially lots of it – would save businesses considerable amounts of money, thus increase profits.

--- Energy efficiency would be extended to buildings and factories.

--- A biofuels industry for rural America could be built that would create 750,000 jobs.

Government could help start the process:

--- Create revenue neutral incentives; freebates that would encourage the purchase of highly efficient vehicles. Combine a fee for the ownership of an inefficient vehicle with a rebate for the purchase of a super-efficient one.

--- Create a scrap-and-replace program for low income people to bring money saving transportation to the poorest. New transportation opportunities would allow access to job opportunities now not accessible.

--- Create loan guarantees for the auto industries that allow them to switch over to new fabrication techniques for high-tech composite materials.

--- Create loan guarantees that encourage airlines to switch to more efficient aircraft.

--- Offer prizes such as $1 billion Platinum Carrot for making new highly efficient vehicles successful in the marketplace.

--- Let the Pentagon add its expertise in developing the new technologies. The Pentagon, as the largest single purchaser of fossil fuels in the world (all those aircraft, ships and wheeled vehicles), stands to benefit greatly from energy efficiency and independence.

For this market-based, profit-based approach to energy freedom to work it needs leadership not just money. The vehicle industry would need to be convinced that this has to be done. Consumers need to be convinced that they will not lose any of the safety or utility or choice of vehicles they now have if they convert to more efficient vehicles. But the first step will be to convince politicians of the importance of this issue - energy freedom, energy independence - for the future of the nation.

The 329-page report, executive summary and technical backup papers can be downloaded at http://www.oilendgame.org/ . A paperback version can also be purchased at the site.