The Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise and the University of Michigan Energy Institute are pleased to announce that Tom Lyon, of the Ross School of Business and the School of Natural Resources and Environment (SNRE), will be taking over dual responsibilities as Associate Director for Research at the Erb Institute and Associate Director for Social Science and Policy at the Energy Institute (UMEI). Lyon is the University’s Dow Professor of Sustainable Science, Technology and Commerce.
On June 25 in Washington D.C., University of Michigan Energy Institute Director Mark Barteau unveiled the results of a yearlong National Research Council study on diluted bitumen crude oil’s effect on pipelines. Barteau chaired the committee charged with researching the issue.
Daniel Sperling, director of the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California, Davis, is one of two recipients of the 2013 Blue Planet Prize. The prize, announced today by the Asahi Glass Foundation of Tokyo, has been described as the Nobel Prize for the environmental sciences.
More and more plug-in electric vehicles are hitting the roads each year, but is the technology really close to a tipping point for mass-market growth? In this analysis piece for the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), U-M Energy Institute research professor John DeCicco argues that the real turning point for EVs will come only after transportation systems are automated for driverless operation. Read the article here at Automotive Engineering International Online.
Since 2005, the United States has embarked on a steady expansion of renewable fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel, widely touted as a win-win proposition for energy security and the environment. However, the promised breakthroughs in biofuel technology have greatly lagged the rapid ramp-up of production mandated by Congress while adverse side effects of the policy have become ever more clear.
With the backing of 13 car companies, the United Auto Workers and other parties, the Obama Administration announced the biggest step forward on auto efficiency in over a generation. The new Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) regulations just finalized target the greenhouse gas emissions equivalent of 54.5 mpg by model year 2025, double the efficiency of this year's vehicle fleet.
A new report from a University of Michigan researcher estimates that, even without going electric, U.S. cars and trucks could achieve an average efficiency of 74 miles per gallon by 2035. Compared to a federal 2005 Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) baseline, that’s a tripling of fuel economy.
Building on the Bush Administration's 2007 proposal to raise automotive fuel economy by up to four percent per year, the Obama Administration is now considering regulations that might target a doubling of Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards by 2025. But just how much can the efficiency of cars and light trucks be improved, and at what cost?
