Toyota sees a future in plugging in vehicles--instead of simply pulling in for gas.
Already a leader in the hybrid market with its Prius sedan, Toyota Motor Corp. plans to develop a hybrid vehicle that will run locally on batteries charged by a typical 120-volt outlet before switching over to a gasoline engine for longer hauls. The technology is far from being ready--and there’s no timeline for when such cars might be offered for sale.
Still, the automaker is taking a serious look at another idea aimed at reducing motorists’ dependence on gasoline: flexible fuel vehicles capable of running on E85, an alternative fuel made of 85 percent ethanol.
“Make no mistake about it, hybrids are the technology of the future and they will play a starring role in the automotive industry in the 21st century,“ Jim Press, president of Toyota’s North American subsidiary, said Tuesday in a speech at the National Press Club, Enn.com said.
Press, who recently became the first non-Japanese president of Toyota’s US unit, said its hybrid technology has long-term staying power because it can adapt to several alternatives, such as clean diesels, biodiesels, ethanol, plug-in hybrids or hydrogen fuel cells.
The plug-in being pursued by Toyota would be able to “travel greater distances without using its gas engine, it will conserve more oil and slice smog and greenhouse gases to nearly imperceptible levels,“ he said.
Plug-in hybrids use larger battery packs that can be recharged with a 120-volt outlet, allowing a driver to travel locally on battery power before the vehicle uses its gasoline engine. DaimlerChrysler has been developing a plug-in hybrid van.
President Bush has touted the potential of the technology but obstacles exist, ranging from making the batteries lighter, less expensive and more durable. Some observers have expressed concern about the ability of the electrical grid to support the vehicles, but supporters say most plug-ins would be recharged at night.
Hybrids account for only about 1 percent of the market but have grown in popularity with gas prices topping $3 a gallon. A report on fuel economy trends issued by the Environmental Protection Agency this week found that the Prius, Honda Civic hybrid and Ford Escape hybrid sport utility vehicle had the highest gas mileage ratings in their respective classes.
Press said E85 and other ethanol blends are found in limited quantities at many fueling stations, but “as that develops and as consumers show an interest in flex-fuel products, we definitely want to be able to provide it.“
Detroit’s Big Three automakers have detailed plans to double their production of flexible-fuel vehicles to 2 million by 2010 and have urged Congress to expand access to ethanol and biofuels, which is mostly limited to Midwest fuel stations.
Environmental groups have noted that few flexible fuel vehicles ever use ethanol blends but auto manufacturers receive a credit of 1.2 miles per gallon on federal fuel-economy requirements by producing the vehicles.
“Toyota knows how to make clean, efficient vehicles. Why don’t they stick to that rather than availing themselves to a loophole?“ asked Dan Becker, director of the Sierra Club’s global warming program.

Soaring oil prices have sent Algeria’s economy on a boom, allowing it to pay off debt, build up major reserves and draw interest from foreign oil companies. But the country, worried about its failure to diversify its economy beyond the energy sector, is moving to slow down foreign exploitation of its rich hydrocarbon deposits.
While amendments to a hydrocarbons law raised comparisons with oil and gas nationalizations in Venezuela and Bolivia, analysts and energy companies say they are unlikely to scare off international investors eager for any slice of Algeria’s oil profits.
Earlier this month the Algerian government announced a windfall tax on profits generated by oil prices over US$30 a barrel, and a clause raising the stake that state energy company Sonatrach must take in new hydrocarbon exploration and transport projects from 20-30 percent to 51 percent. The level of the windfall tax has not yet been given, AP reported.
The government said the moves were intended “to meet the needs of national development and to preserve our country’s natural riches.“
Experts said that while the Algerian measures were driven by pressure from unions and domestic political factors, the North African country will remain attractive to investors since oil prices are expected to stay high and the changes aren’t as drastic as in South America.
“The circumstances have changed. The oil companies are desperate, they want to get more oil,“ said Robert Mabro, a former director of the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. “The oil companies will scream a bit but in the end they will go and invest.“
Oil was driven near US$80 a barrel last week as strong demand collided with supply worries caused by violence in the Middle East, pipeline disruptions in Iraq and unrest in Nigeria.
Algeria’s economy has been soaring thanks to the surge in oil prices, allowing the North African country to accumulate US$66 billion (euro53 billion) in foreign exchange reserves and pay off large chunks of its debt.
Algeria, ranked eighth among members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, produces about 1.4 million barrels of oil a day and exported 80 percent of its oil, gas and derivatives in 2005.
Hydrocarbon exports account for some 98 percent of Algeria’s foreign currency revenues, and energy earnings make up around 40 percent of gross domestic product.
Despite a bloody conflict in the 1990s that pitted Islamic extremists against the Algerian state, the OPEC member has generally been seen as a safe bet for investment because things have since quieted down.
But the new amendments go against the liberalizing drive of the hydrocarbons law approved by parliament last year.
Explaining the changes at a news conference Saturday, Energy Minister Chakib Khelil acknowledged that “our current partners are not going to like the fact that we’re going to extract a part of their super-profits.“ But, he said, “we will obtain our objective of safeguarding our natural resources for future generations.“
Khelil said the tax on extraordinary profits would apply to contracts signed under a previous 1986 law, but would not be imposed on past income.
He said the measures--which do not need approval by parliament--would be signed into law before the next round of bids for energy contracts, expected by the end of this year. No contracts had been signed under the original version of the 2005 law.
Gerry Peereboom, chief operating officer of BP PLC in North Africa, said the new tax was cause for some uncertainty.
“Until we know exactly what the situation is, any investor feels less confident,“ he told The Associated Press. But he added: “We’re going to wait and see. Once you know the rules of the game, I think we can live with almost any.“
Italian oil and gas company Eni SpA also said it was waiting to see how the situation developed, but described the change as a “normal adjustment to the tax system.“

Kuwait, which sits on 10 percent of global oil reserves, is producing 2.5 million barrel per day. (Middle-east-online.com Photo)

Total assets of the oil-rich Persian Gulf state of Kuwait stood at $166.5 billion on March 31, a rise of 37.5 percent on the previous year’s 121.1 billion dollars, a report published Wednesday said.
The huge financial surplus of the tiny OPEC member are present in two reserve funds, the state’s general reserve with $33.4 billion and Kuwait Fund for Future Generations (KFFG) with 133.1 billion dollars, the Al-Watan daily said quoting unnamed official sources.
The two funds are managed by Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA), the state investment arm, largely in foreign holdings.
Details of the emirate’s financial status were explained by Finance Minister Bader Al-Humaidhi during a closed doors session by the new parliament, middle-east-online.com said.
Liabilities on the state on March 31 stood at $40.2 billion, the report said without explaining the nature of the debt.
But it is believed to be mostly unpaid installments to the state-run pension agency and debt owed to KFFG.
The government decided to pay $ 7.5 billion to the pension agency from this year’s budget which started on April 1.
By law, 10 percent of total revenues are deposited in KFFG annually. The law bans the state from withdrawing any amount from the fund except in emergency cases and such amounts must be repaid.
Parliament on Tuesday passed the state budget for 2006/2007 fiscal year which projects a deficit of 8.1 billion dollars.
But economists believe that the emirate will end up making a huge surplus because oil revenues, which make up 95 percent of income, were calculated at 36 dollars a barrel, while actual price of Kuwaiti crude is around $ 65.
Kuwait, which sits on 10 percent of global oil reserves, is producing 2.5 million barrel per day. It has a native population of one million, besides two million foreigners.

Some of the world’s biggest energy companies, among them Calgary-based EnCana Corp., have gathered in a tiny town on Greenland’s west coast to consider developing one of the last untapped offshore oil frontiers.
Greenland is auctioning exploration rights to eight blocks covering 92,000 square kilometres in the Davis Strait between the huge island’s west coast and Canada’s Baffin Island.
The 13 oil producers invited to Ilulissat include the largest from Europe, the United States and several from Canada in addition to EnCana, Jrn Skov Nielsen, the top bureaucrat with Greenland’s Bureau of Minerals and Petroleum, said. He would not give specific names.
The climate is harsh, the work window short and no exploration wells have been drilled in the region since the 1970s and ’80s, when companies’ attempts to find commercial-sized, onshore oilfields on Disko Island were unsuccessful.
The forces driving the world’s oil industry have changed significantly since then but Greenland’s potential to become a large oil producer has not, Mr. Skov Nielsen said.
“Many thought the costs of coming here were a little too high but they’ve discovered now, compared to other places in the world, that they aren’t so high,“ Mr. Skov Nielsen said from Ilulissat, according to Canada.com.
“Ice isn’t the trouble companies thought it was, oil prices are sky high and companies badly need to replace their reserves with new finds.“
Firms have three days, starting yesterday, to pore over seismic data collected by the Greenland government over the past five years. The bidding round closes on Dec. 15.
Mr. Skov Nielsen said the government of Greenland, a semi-autonomous Danish territory that is home to about 57,000 people, contends the Davis Strait has the potential to become another North Sea.
“We think there are many oilfields holding 500 million barrels or more.“
The offshore blocks under consideration are in the rugged yet environmentally sensitive Disko Bay.
The area is at a latitude of between 67 degrees north and 71 degrees north--well above the Arctic Circle and about as far north as the northern shores of Sweden and Finland.
Calgary-based EnCana became the first and only company to hold a licence in the region when it bought rights to a pair of blocks-- called Attamak and Lady Franklin--in 2002 and 2005, respectively.
Companies have a window of 10 years, broken into three separate phases of exploration activity, to prove the resource exists.
EnCana is poised to drill offshore Greenland’s first exploration well on one of its two original leases.
“This is a high-risk, potentially high-reward opportunity,“ said EnCana spokesman Alan Boras.
He said EnCana successfully negotiated the rolling together of Attamak and Lady Franklin licences and must make a decision by the end of this year about drilling an exploration well.
Media reports have suggested EnCana’s two blocks may hold reserves ranging from 400 million to 1.2 billion barrels of oil.
“We haven’t put estimates on it but it would need to be sizable--more than 100 million barrels--in order to invest the capital in a well.“
Richard Dingwall, an Arctic exploration expert and geologist with Mosbacher Energy Co. in Calgary, said geologists have long wondered if Greenland could match offshore Newfoundland for potential.
“The big geological question is at what point did Greenland separate from North America and is the geology--the source of the oil--from the same structure as Newfoundland’s Orphan and Jean D’Arc basins?“ he said.
“One thing is certain, if that part of Greenland were to be developed, it would have to be done so by the largest companies in the world because costs related to logistics would be immense.“

The offshore wind farm at Kentish Flats in the UK undergoes construction using a specialized construction ship. (Solaraccess.com Photo)

Belwind, part of the Econcern group, plans to build an offshore wind farm on Bligh Bank, 46 kilometers from the Belgian port of Oostende. With 66 five-megawatt (MW) wind turbines, the 330 MW project represents an investment of Euro 800 million [US$1 billion].
“[The Bligh Bank project] is our largest project to date, and will also be one of Belgium’s biggest sustainable energy investments,“ said Dirk Berkhout, member of the Econcern board, one of the project partners. “It’s not possible to undertake such a project on your own, so to ensure it becomes a success we’ll be engaging the right partners at the right time.“
To develop the offshore wind farm Bligh Bank, Belwind was founded by Econcern, a European Top 500 growth company whose mission is to ensure ’a sustainable energy supply for everyone.’ The Econcern group comprises Ecofys, Ecostream, Evelop and Ecoventures; together these companies deliver projects, products and services for a sustainable energy supply, solaraccess.com said.
The Evelop subsidiary currently holds a wind-energy project portfolio of some 4,000 MW. This includes the Q7 offshore wind project (120 MW) in the Netherlands and the Sheringham Shoal project (315 MW) in the United Kingdom.
Belwind’s application for approval to build a wind farm on Bligh Bank was submitted in April 2006. The turbines will be placed on the shoal, where the sea reaches depths of 20-35 meters. The site is located even further offshore than those of C-Power and Eldepasco, two wind projects whose approvals already have been granted.
As Belwind Director Frank Coenen explains, various phases need to be completed before the wind farm Bligh Bank can become operational:
“After receiving the concession from the Federal Ministry of Energy, we will need permits from the Federal Ministry of the North Sea. In the most favorable situation, we would start building in 2009, and the wind farm would become operational in 2010.“