alternative fuels

In this enlightening episode of the Sustainable Supply Chain podcast, I had the pleasure of hosting Erin Gilchrist, VP of Fleet Evangelism at IntelliShift, and host of the Straight Talk on Fleet podcast. Erin brought a wealth of knowledge and practical advice to the table, discussing the multifaceted approach needed for achieving sustainability in fleet management beyond the simple transition to electric vehicles.

We delved into the significance of leveraging technology and data to enhance fleet safety, efficiency, and sustainability. Erin highlighted the critical role of telematics in monitoring and managing fleet operations, advocating for a data-driven strategy that supports informed decision-making.

An interesting point Erin made was about the importance of internal collaboration within organisations. By bringing together legal, HR, operations, and supply chain teams, fleets can develop comprehensive sustainability plans that align with organisational goals and drive significant improvements.

Erin also shared valuable insights on change management and the necessity of setting realistic sustainability goals, reminding us that progress in sustainability is a journey, not a sprint. It's about making incremental changes and adapting to new technologies and practices that collectively contribute to a more sustainable future.

Whether you're a fleet manager looking to embark on a sustainability journey or someone passionate about the intersection of technology and environmental stewardship, this episode offers actionable insights and thought-provoking discussions on making fleets more sustainable and efficient.

Tune in to discover how IntelliShift is aiding fleets in navigating the complexities of sustainability and learn practical steps you can take today to make a meaningful impact. Your journey towards a more sustainable fleet starts here.

Don't forget to also check out this episode on YouTube

Podcast supporters
I'd like to sincerely thank this podcast's generous supporters:

• Lorcan Sheehan
• Krishna Kumar
• Olivier Brusle
• Alicia Farag
• Joël VANDI
• Luis Olavarria
• Alvaro Aguilar

And remember you too can Support the Podcast - it is really easy and hugely important as it will enable me to continue to create more excellent Digital Supply Chain episodes like this one.

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Thanks for listening.

General Motors is quietly building a large presence in the hydrogen fuel cell market place, without developing a single fuel cell powered passenger car or light truck.  We take a look.  So, is the EV boom over?  Hertz recently announced its intention to dump over 20,000 EVs that are currently in their fleet.  We dig in to learn more.  Finally, its happening:  autonomous trucks will be traveling across a busy Interstate corridor in Texas - without safety drivers! 

Be sure to tell your friends to tune in to The TechMobility Show!

Toyota is in a joint venture with GAC Group, a Chinese company to develop an engine powered by ammonia.  According to the automaker, this new powerplant may render EVs unnecessary. 

Tell your friends to tune into TechMobility Topics. New episodes are posted every Tuesday!

We committed to be carbon-negative by 2030. How will we do it? We have “Burning” right in our name.

When it comes to solar, biofuels, and energy banks, we have many irons in the fire, or rather, we are planting many seeds. Hear how Black Rock City is a hotbed, or rather, a garden bed, for the innovation of clean energy.

Stuart talks with George B Reed III, Associate Director of Burning Man Project’s Off Fossil Fuels program about the progress we’re making for a brighter future, or rather... yeah, a brighter future.

George shares what Burning Man’s leadership has been developing to be in integrity with our principles, from composting organic waste for food cultivation, to making renewable diesel from captured carbon. He shares stories of our community preventing and reversing damage to the climate. 

Hear how we’re collectively rewiring reality, showing our work, and sharing what we know. Here’s how you can do it for your camp, your cohort, your city.

Burning Man Project: 2030 Environmental Sustainability Roadmap

burningman.org: About Us / Sustainability (updated Oct 2023) 

The Renewables for Artists Team

The Green Theme Camp Community & BLAST

Burning Man Journal: Your Checklist for LNT in BRC (2023)

Burning Man Journal: Waking Dreams: Evoking Greener Burns (2022)

Burning Man Journal: Sustainability Initiatives on the Road to Black Rock City (2022)

Burning Man LIVE: Burning Sustainably PART 1: We Can, We Will, We Must (Aug 2022)

Burning Man LIVE: Burning Sustainably PART 2: The Road to Regeneration (Aug 2022)

LIVE.BURNINGMAN.ORG

As the trucking industry enters the "messy middle" between fossil fuels and decarbonization, we take a look a hydrogen, both as a fuel and as a feedstock.  Does it have a future in trucking? 

Tell your friends to tune into TechMobility Topics. New episodes are posted every Tuesday!

As trucking firms grapple with just how they should proceed toward decarbonization, Propane autogas, (otherwise known as LPG), offers another way to dramatically lower emissions when compared to diesel fuel.  It is said that propane also significantly lowers fleet maintenance costs as well.  We take a look. 

Tell your friends to tune into TechMobility Topics. New episodes are posted every Tuesday!

Field Pennycress is the weed and it can yield up to 50 percent more oil than commercial soybeans!  A company is cultivating and developing a hybrid it calls Cover Cress for commercial crops and a plan to develop the oil into Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). 

Tell your friends to tune into TechMobility Topics. New episodes are posted every Tuesday!

Listen to this episode of On the Go to hear how technical assistance from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) empowers Clean Cities coalitions to engage local fleets and fuel providers around deploying alternative fuel vehicles and fueling stations. Hear lab and coalition staff share their stories about how technical assistance provides coalitions and their stakeholders with problem-solving support to overcome obstacles and make informed choices. This episode features John Gonzales from NREL, Lori Clark from Dallas-Fort Worth Clean Cities, Rita Ebert from Greater Long Island Clean Cities, and Steve Trowbridge from Drive Clean Colorado. 

As I predicted months ago, as the traditional automakers ramp up production to scale of various EV models, prices would begin to fall.  The Ford F-150 Lightning is but one of a number of EVs that will become more affordable in the next few years. 

Tell your friends to tune into TechMobility Topics. New episodes are posted every Tuesday!

(3:20) - Stronger paper bags, reused repeatedly then recycled for biofuel could be future🛍♻️

This episode was brought to you by Mouser, our favorite place to get electronics parts for any project, whether it be a hobby at home or a prototype for work. Click HERE to check out the step by step guide on creating your own garden monitor/manager!

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As always, you can find these and other interesting & impactful engineering articles on Wevolver.com.

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In the latest episode of On the Go, NREL researchers Andrew Meintz and Jesse Bennett discuss technologies that connect electric vehicles to buildings, the electric grid, and other infrastructure. Vehicle-to-X connectivity includes vehicle-to-load (V2L), vehicle-to-building (V2B), and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) integration. Andrew and Jesse share applications of V2X, the near-term outlook for these uses, technical challenges, and barriers that will need to be overcome for broader use of V2X. 

The year is 2027.  That is when the trucking industry projects that the demand for diesel fuel will begin to wane in earnest.  Really, will electric big rig trucks be ready for prime time?  

Tell your friends to tune into TechMobility Topics. New episodes are posted every Tuesday!

In this episode, the all-new Toyota Corolla Cross hybrid is reviewed;  we discuss the impact of the coming end of diesel as a fuel for big rig trucks; and we review the options to public chargers for your EV. 

Be sure to tell your friends to tune in to The TechMobility Show!

Electrification is going a long way in decarbonizing small vehicles (like passenger cars) in the global transportation sector, which produces about 16% of global emissions. But for long-haul transportation: trucking, shipping and the aviation industries, electrification is far from being technologically ready. Enter a controversial solution: biodiesel. Biodiesel is a fuel derived from organic matter like plants, algae or animal fats, which started to popularize globally just this century. However, early generation biodiesel had its drawbacks: first - they are not a perfect replacement for the fuels used in diesel engines, and can only be used as an additive to fossil diesel: decreasing, but not eliminating carbon emissions. Then there was the fact that clearing forest land to grow crops to make biodiesel could produce more emissions than just using fossil diesel.

Two companies: Neste and ClearFlame, are among a growing cohort of energy producers exploring more sustainable replacements to diesel fuels.We spoke with Chris Cooper and Matt Leuck (Neste) and BJ Johnson (ClearFlame) about the use of renewable liquid fuels, like renewable diesel that is made from organic waste (like spent cooking oil), that can be used as a 100% replacement for fossil diesel in engines. Stay tuned for Climate Now’s next episode, where we explore how renewable diesel is produced, how it compares in terms of environmental impact relative to fossil- and first generation bio-diesels, and how much and how fast the market for renewable diesels could grow. 

Key Questions:

1. What is renewable diesel? Is it really renewable?
2. Does renewable diesel have emissions, and how do they compare to fossil diesel?
3. How is renewable diesel being used today, and how might it’s use expand in the future?

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Some helpful links from the show:

National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) guidance document (32p).

How much funding each state will get through NEVI.

Alternative Fuel Corridor Requirements.

Clean School Bus Program Initial Implementation Plan.

My brief notes on the NEVI guidance:

• Renewable energy generation and storage can be funded if they lower overall operation and construction costs (p.12)
• The development of the State Plan is an eligible cost (p.12)
• Exceptions can be made to the Corridor-related requirements under rare circumstances on a site-by-site basis (p.17)
• Some site benefits specifically called out as focus areas include: access to affordable charging, charging infrastructure for transit and ride-share vehicles, and minimize gentrification-induced displacement due to new EV charging infrastructure (p.18)
• The new EV Charging Justice40 Mapping Tool is available for planning equitable infrastructure (p.18)
• The focus of the funds is for publicly accessible charging, but they can also be used for charging that will be available for at least 2 different companies (p.19)
• There are no deadlines for disbursing the money.
• Funding can cover operations/maintenance for up to five years, especially for low-utilization areas (p.19)
• Funding can cover site planning and installation costs (p.20)
• Funding can cover signage (p.20)
• Funding can cover Mapping and analysis related to forecasting infrastructure needs (basically our Master Plan, but more; p.20/21)
• Existing corridors that are designated but do not meet new corridor requirements don't need to be redesignated, but they can't be considered "fully built out" until they meet the new requirements at minimum (p.22)
• Charging costs at funded sites need to be comparable to market prices (p.22)
• States should work on developing permitting processes that support operation of charging infrastructure within 6mo of procurement (p.22/23)
• Sites should be developed such that they operate longer than the 5yr of operations/maintenance covered by the NEVI funds (p.24)
• Clean Cities callout on p.24 and p.30!!
• States should consider requiring project data sharing, including charging usage, cost, and reliability (p.29)

Some notes on the Clean School Bus program:

Key takeaways:

• $2.5b will be made available for zero-emission* school buses over five years;
• $2.5b will be made available for clean school buses** over five years;
• The first round of funding may be opened as early as April 2022;
• Funding may cover 100% of the cost of bus replacement and fueling for those buses;
• Further guidance will be available no later than March 15, 2022.

Goals of the funding:

• Replacing older diesel buses that do not meet current EPA emissions standards with newer, alternative fuel buses;
• Reduce greenhouse gas emissions through the use of alternative fuels;
• Support the Federal Government’s Justice40 initiative by focusing on rural and underserved communities;
• Support domestic manufacturing and American jobs.

Below is a list of eligible recipients for funding:

• Government Entities that are responsible for:
  • Providing school bus service to public school systems; or
  • The purchase of school buses.
• Eligible Contractors, which can be for-profit or not-for-profit, that have the capacity to:
  • Sell eligible school buses or fueling infrastructure or maintain school buses;
  • Arrange financing for such a sale.
• Nonprofit School Transportation Associations
• Tribes, Tribal Organizations, and Tribally-controlled schools that are responsible for:
  • Providing school bus service to one or more Bureau-funded schools; or
  • The purchase of school buses.

The EPA may prioritize applications that serve:

• High-need local education agencies;
• Tribal schools;
• Rural or low-income areas; or
• Applications that provide cost share through public-private partnerships, grants from other entities, or school bonds.

The EPA will consider each of the following criteria equally when evaluating project proposals:

• Lowest cost of bus replacement;
• Local conditions, such as the length of bus routes and weather conditions;
• The impact on domestic manufacturing jobs, especially in underserved communities;
• Technologies that most reduce emissions;
• Whether technologies will bring new technologies to scale or promote cost parity between old technology and new technology, particularly for production in the United States.