See and hear what Tesla Motor’s customers think about their cars and explore the range (300 miles per charge) they have to offer.

Everyday from Tesla Motors on Vimeo.

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Of the natural gas consumed in the United States in 2010, almost 90% was produced domestically; thus, the supply of natural gas is not as dependent on foreign producers as is the supply of crude oil, and the delivery system is less subject to interruption. The availability of large quantities of shale gas should enable the United States to consume a predominantly domestic supply of gas for many years and produce more natural gas then it consumes.

Source: US DEPT OF ENERGY

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We have been receiving a large number of emails regarding natural gas, and we would like to provide our readers with the hard data and sources to help form a more educated opinion about Natural Gas. Below is a map from the US Dept of Energy showing the 2011 Natural Gas Capacity Pipelines with additional data below the photo. Please weigh in, let us know your thoughts on this subject.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that U.S. natural gas pipeline companies added about 2,400 miles of new pipe to the grid as part of over 25 projects in 2011. New pipeline projects entered service in parts of the U.S. natural gas grid that can be congested: California, Florida, and parts of the Northeast (see map above). Only a portion of this capacity serves incremental natural gas use; most of these projects facilitate better linkages across the existing natural gas grid.

By convention, the industry expresses annual capacity additions as the sum of the capacities of all the projects completed in that year. By this measure, the industry added 13.7 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of new capacity to the grid in 2011. The six largest projects put into service in 2011 added 1,553 miles and about 8.2 Bcf/d of new capacity to the system. Much of this new capacity is for transporting natural gas between states rather than within states. Golden Pass, Ruby Pipeline, FGT Phase VIII, Pascagoula Expansion, and Bison Pipeline projects added 6.1 Bcf/d, or about 80%, of new state-to-state capacity.

Natural gas pipeline capacity additions in 2011 were well above the 10 Bcf/d levels typical from 2001-2006, roughly the same as additions in 2007 and 2010, but significantly below additions in 2008 and 2009 (see chart below). Capacity added in 2008 and 2009 reflected a mix of intrastate and interstate natural gas pipeline expansions, related mostly to shale production, liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals, and storage facilities.

Source: US Department of Energy

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We have received a lot of emails regarding natural gas and so we will be posting information from various sources and ask our readers to looks at the facts, join the discussion, and hard data so more informed decisions can be made.

The information below comes from the Dept. of Energy regarding Producing Natural Gas from Shale.

During his State of the Union address Tuesday night, President Obama talked about the role shale gas can play in providing clean, reasonably-priced domestic energy. He also noted it was “public research dollars, over the course of 30 years that helped develop the technologies to extract all this natural gas out of shale rock — reminding us that government support is critical in helping businesses get new energy ideas off the ground.”

Shale gas is natural gas trapped inside formations of shale — fine grained sedimentary rocks that can be rich sources of natural gas and petroleum. It was just a few short years ago that much of this resource was considered uneconomical to produce. But American ingenuity and patient research by the Energy Department have led to dynamic breakthroughs in shale gas production.

The dollars and technology development referred to by the President are linked to research in the Department’s Office of Fossil Energy (FE). Through its National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), FE sponsored early research that industry utilized for directional drilling, which is drilling at an angle other than vertical, and hydraulic fracturing, which uses pressurized liquids to crack subsurface rock. The R&D not only refined more cost-effective and innovative production technologies, but also sophisticated data development and protective environmental practices.

The cumulative result was that hundreds of trillions of cubic feet of gas that previously couldn’t be economically produced became recoverable. In the past five years, shale gas has been increasingly recognized as a “game changer” for the U.S. natural gas and energy markets. The proliferation of activity into new shale producing areas, or “plays,” has increased domestic dry shale gas production from 1 trillion cubic feet (tcf) in 2006 to 5 tcf in 2010 — about 23 percent of total U.S. dry gas production. According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), U.S. shale gas production has increased 12-fold over the past decade, and the estimated unproved technically recoverable resource is 482 tcf, about 19 percent of technically recoverable domestic natural gas.

By 2035, EIA projects that shale gas production will rise to 13.6 trillion cubic feet, representing nearly half of all U.S. natural gas production. When you consider that 1 tcf of natural gas is enough to heat 15 million homes for one year, generate 100 billion kilowatt hours of electricity, or fuel 12 million natural-gas-fired vehicles for one year, the importance of this resource to the nation becomes obvious. The positive effects include: reducing the need for imported energy while enhancing U.S. energy security; creating American jobs for drilling, pipelines and production facilities; helping stabilize domestic natural gas prices; increasing royalty and tax receipts for the federal and state governments; and contributing to the U.S. becoming a net exporter of natural gas by 2021, according to EIA forecasts.

And the story isn’t over — building on past R&D successes, the Energy Department is developing new technologies to prudently and safely develop this valuable resource while minimizing potential environmental impacts. In the final analysis, the development of shale gas is not only a “win-win” energy, environmental, and economic story for the nation, but also a prime example of the Energy Department’s legacy of achievement and returning tangible benefits for taxpayer dollars invested. (Source Dept. of Energy)

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On Wednesday March 16, the Kansas City, Kansas School District welcomed some newcomers to their community – 47 natural gas school buses deployed as part of the Clean Cities Alternative Fuel Vehicle Pilot Program, supported by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Kansas City’s mayor, the school’s director of transportation, and the Kansas City Clean Cities coordinator introduced the new vehicles to the crowd, describing how they can help reduce America’s dependence on imported oil while also saving money, reducing pollution, and teaching students about new technology. The buses’ first runs will begin next week, after the students return from spring break. In addition to the buses, the project also supported the installation of a compressed natural gas filling station.

As a domestic, cleaner fuel, natural gas is a great fit for school bus fleets like Kansas City. Natural gas vehicles produce far fewer air pollutants than the old diesel vehicles they will replace, including emissions that contribute to smog. These pollutants can contribute to asthma, heart disease and bronchitis. As children’s lungs are still developing, protecting them from this pollution is particularly important. Natural gas vehicles also produce fewer greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change. In addition, because natural gas prices are typically lower and may be more predictable than prices for petroleum fuels, schools using natural gas buses can save money on their transportation costs. Perhaps best of all, teachers can use alternative fuel school buses as teaching tools to help students learn how these technologies affect their lives and benefit their communities. In fact, another part of the project focuses on outreach, encouraging the adoption of alternative fuel vehicles in the Midwest.

Source: US Department of Energy

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GM’s John Bradburn Discusses Green Friendly Waste Reduction Effort

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The EcoCAR Challenege is a competition that challenges participating students from across North America to re-engineer a vehicle donated by General Motors. With the goal of minimizing the vehicle’s fuel consumption and emissions, while maintaining its utility, safety and performance, teams had to find the best combination of cutting-edge technologies to meet these objectives. In the final year, the vehicles ran through a series of safety and technical tests at GM’s Proving Ground in Milford, Michigan very similar to those GM’s own production vehicles undergo.

As EcoCAR wraps up, it is only the beginning for the next chapter in the DOE’s 23-year history of advanced vehicle technology competitions. In April, Assistant Secretary for Policy and International Affairs David Sandalow announced the launch of EcoCAR 2: Plugging into the Future http://www.ecocar2.org/index.html . We look forward to seeing the new and innovative designs that students bring to this challenge and know they will find a way to exceed even our highest expectations

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