Electric, diesel or hybrid car? Cost and CO2 calculator helps consumers choose

Anyone Interested in Comparing today's green and eco friendly automobile choices try out the Electric Car Calculator at the below link, Easy to use with many driving scenarios, tailor to your needs, Co2 Reduction stats, Gasoline Prices, useful information to help you find the car that best fits your needs. Scotty Electric, diesel or hybrid car? Cost and CO2 calculator helps consumers choose
	Nov 15, 2010	Los Angeles Times
	By Susan Carpenter Nov. 15, 2010 (at http://www.befrugal.com/tools/electric-car-calculator/)(McClatchy-Tribune News Service delivered by Newstex) -- As the Environmental Protection Agency struggles with how to accurately label passenger vehicles for fuel economy and greenhouse-gas emissions, a new online cost and CO2 emissions calculator has launched to help fill the void."Electrics, hybrids, plug-ins, all these alternative powertrain cars are a hot topic these days, but there's not a good way to look at the bottom line of what it costs to own one of these," said Jon Lal, founder of BeFrugal.com, a frugal-living website that offers tools to help consumers save money, including its new calculator. The calculator (at http://www.befrugal.com/tools/electric-car-calculator/) allows consumers to first determine which type of alternative-drivetrain vehicle best suits their driving needs based on what state they live in, how many city and highway miles they drive, how many road trips they take each year (and at what distance) and fuel costs in their state, whether it be electricity, gas or diesel.Using its database of 64 vehicles (four electric, eight diesel, 13 hybrid and 39 popular gas-powered cars) the calculator then allows users to make side-by-side comparisons using EPA miles-per-gallon data, manufacturers' suggested retail prices and other factors.Electric car operating costs are translated into an mpg equivalent, or MPGe, using individual states' electricity costs as calculated by the U.S. Department of Energy. Electric cars' upstream carbon dioxide emissions are also calculated using DOE data on the electricity source for each state.According to BeFrugal.com, Washington, Idaho, Kentucky, West Virginia and Arkansas are the states with the lowest electricity rates, making electric cars most economical on a cost-per-mile basis. Vermont, Idaho, Washington, Oregon and New Hampshire are the best states in terms of electric cars' lowest upstream CO2 emissions per kilowatt-hour.The top two states for electric cars' lowest operating costs and greenhouse-gas emissions: Idaho and Washington.___

 



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energy storage systems for Smart Grid

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IEEE defines energy storage systems for Smart Grid with launch of P2030.2 WG

October 25, 2010

Source: IEEE

IEEE, the world's leading professional association for the advancement of technology, announced the launch of the IEEE P2030.2TM Working Group (WG). Tasked with facilitating wide-scale, consistent implementation of energy storage systems, the P2030.2 WG will deliver guidelines for discrete and hybrid energy storage systems that are integrated into the electric power infrastructure.

“Energy storage is a top-level priority for the Smart Grid, given increasing energy demand and the value storage adds to the functioning of the electric grid and to renewable electric power resources,” said Mark Siira, IEEE P2030.2 WG Chair, Manager, Applied Technology, Kohler Company. “With the coming growth and expansion in energy storage technologies and applications, the work of the P2030.2 WG to establish an effective strategy for integration into the Smart Grid will be critical.”

P2030.2 will build on overall Smart Grid interoperability topics being covered in IEEE Standard P2030TM, the industry’s first cross-discipline guideline for smart grid interoperability for the power engineering, communications and information technology industries. The P2030.2 WG will develop a guideline for discrete and hybrid energy storage systems that are integrated with the electric power infrastructure, including end-use applications and loads. The “Guide for the Interoperability of Energy Storage Systems Integrated with the Electric Power Infrastructure” will help users achieve greater understanding of energy storage systems by defining technical characteristics. It will also illustrate how discrete and hybrid systems may be successfully integrated with and used compatibly as part of the electric power infrastructure.

The standard fills the need for guidance relevant to a knowledge base addressing terminology, functional performance, evaluation criteria, operations, testing, and the application of engineering principles for energy storage systems integrated with electric power architectures and systems.

“Upon launching the P2030 Smart Grid Interoperability WG, we knew its work would reveal key focus areas, such as energy storage systems, which will play fundamental roles in the Smart Grid as it moves forward,” said Dick DeBlasio, P2030 Working Group Chair, Chief Engineer, at the National Renewable Energy Lab facility of the U.S. Department of Energy, and IEEE Smart Grid liaison to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). “The IEEE was the first standards development organization to address Smart Grid interoperability and with its thorough breadth of technology expertise and existing standards work in energy storage and distributed resources like renewables, is perfectly positioned to lead efforts in this area.”

The P2030.2 WG is a priority extension of work being conducted by the P2030 Smart Grid Interoperability WG, which will be meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada beginning Tuesday, October 26, 2010. The four-day gathering is focused on comment resolution and writing assignments for critical sections of the IEEE Guide for Smart Grid Interoperability of Energy Technology and Information Technology Operation with the Electric Power System (EPS), and End-Use Applications and Loads (P2030) leading to the final stages of consensus building and balloting expected in 2011. When completed, this standard will be the foundational, system-of-systems level guide serving as a knowledge base with essential information on terminology, characteristics, functional performance and evaluation criteria, and the application of engineering principles for Smart Grid interoperability of electric power systems.

The IEEE Standards Association, a globally recognized standards-setting body within the IEEE, develops consensus standards through an open process that engages industry and brings together a broad stakeholder community. IEEE standards set specifications and best practices based on current scientific and technological knowledge. The IEEE-SA has a portfolio of over 900 active standards and more than 600 standards under development.