Toyota Pursues Electric Motor Without Costly, Rare Earth Metals Controlled by China
Toyota Motor Corp. is striving to develop a new type of electric motor to escape a simmering trade conflict involving China’s grip on a rare mineral.
The Japanese auto maker believes it is near a breakthrough in developing electric motors for hybrid cars that eliminates the use of rare earth metals, whose prices have risen sharply in the past year as China restricted supply. The minerals are found in the magnets used in the motors.
All electric motors rely on magnets to make them work. The new motor Toyota is working on is based on the very common and inexpensive induction motor, found in such devices as kitchen mixers. Induction motors use electromagnets””magnets that only have their magnetic attraction when power is applied to them.
Most motors used in electric and hybrid cars today use a different type of motor that relies on permanent magnets. These magnets always have a magnetic field””akin to the magnets used to attach things to refrigerator doors.
But the permanent magnets found in electric-car motors, unlike those that hold up the school lunch menu, are made from neodymium, a rare-earth mineral that is almost entirely mined and refined in China.
As car companies race to improve electric and hybrid vehicles, their reliance on metals like neodymium and lithium””used in batteries found in electric and hybrid cars””is raising a host of new geopolitical issues over access to the minerals. The supply of many of these minerals is controlled by China.
Toyota has taken several steps to reduce its dependence on China for the materials, including investing in a lithium venture in Argentina and launching a joint venture in Vietnam to prospect for rare metals like neodymium.
The auto industry purchases 40% of the world’s supply of neodymium and Toyota buys more than any other company, said Jack Lifton, a rare earth materials expert and founder of Technology Metals Research in Carpentersville, Ill. There is about a kilogram (2.2 pounds) of neodymium in every Prius, he said. Toyota declined to comment on this figure.
“It would be a big change in demand for neodymium” if Toyota switched to an induction motor, said Mr. Lifton.
General Motors Co., which launched its Volt electric car last month, also is looking into alternative types of motors. “We have ongoing development in those areas and the induction motors do work,” said Pete Savagian, who leads GM’s hybrid powertrain engineering division.
Continental AG of Germany, one of the world’s largest auto parts makers, said it already has developed a rare-earth-free motor that will be used in an undisclosed electric car due out in Europe this year. This motor uses a variation of an electric motor often found in power plants.
Part of the rationale for developing this motor is to avoid rare earth metals, but it mostly is a move to lower costs, said Mike Crane, who runs Continental’s hybrid and electric vehicle programs.
“Even in the best scenario of supply, these [rare earth-based] magnets are very expensive,” Mr. Crane said.
China produces about 95% of the world’s supply of neodymium and last summer the country began restricting exports. In December, China announced a 67% increase in export tariffs on the metal and has declared new limits on exports this year.
Neodymium prices have quadrupled in the past year, according to Lynas Corp., an Australian company developing a giant mine and refinery for the material.
Rare earth minerals are a grouping of 17 chemically similar elements that are usually found together in ore and are refined and split apart. They are used in magnets and semiconductors and a host of other technologies. The U.S. and Australia have deposits of them but lack the expertise in extracting and refining the minerals.
For Toyota, getting around this barrier is crucial. The auto maker at this week’s Detroit car show announced the expansion of its hybrid-electric lineup by adding two new Prius variants and plans to spread the technology to all of its models in the next decade.
“The technology that would allow us not to use the magnets and yet to make a smaller size, high-performance motor will come soon,” said Takeshi Uchiyamada, Toyota’s global chief engineer.
European Offshore Wind May Surge by 70% in 2011, Trade Association Says
European installations of offshore wind power may surge 70 percent this year, topping 2010′s record 51 percent gain, the European Wind Energy Association said.
This year is likely to have 1 gigawatt to 1.5 gigawatts of sea-based windmills connected to region’s electricity grid, after 883 megawatts of capacity was installed in 2010, the Brussels-based lobby known as EWEA said today in a report.
Countries including the U.K., Denmark and Belgium are betting on offshore wind power to help meet their renewable energy targets. While financing remains difficult to get for the capital-intensive projects, more banks are coming to the market, according to EWEA’s e-mailed study.
“Finance remains a big challenge, but we are seeing improvements with more banks and other financing institutions ready to invest in large offshore wind projects,” EWEA Chief Executive Christian Kjaer said. “The 29 new offshore turbine models announced during 2010 show a growing commitment to the sector by large global industrial players.”
Total installed capacity, at 2.9 gigawatts, is now enough to power 2.9 million homes, according to the study. More than 40 percent of capacity is based in the U.K., and 29 percent is in Denmark.
A bad climate for global warming
Last week, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies announced that 2010 had registered as the hottest year on record. Nothing new here: nine of the last 10 years have been among the warmest ever.
The news highlighted one of Washington’s biggest failures over the last two years: its inability to advance climate legislation. It was also a grim reminder that things could get worse. Some crucial policy areas have always been neglected and some initiatives stalled. But rarely has a first-order concern like the nation’s climate and energy policy actually regressed “” and so dramatically as we’ve seen since the last presidential election.
Not long ago, it appeared likely that the United States would take meaningful action to mitigate climate change. In the 2008 presidential campaign, both Barack Obama and John McCain touted plans to limit carbon emissions under a cap-and-trade scheme. Even Sarah Palin supported the idea. Much of the business community did, too. Adding momentum was the recent Supreme Court ruling, in Massachusetts vs. Environmental Protection Agency, that required the EPA, under the Clean Air Act, to regulate harmful greenhouse gas emissions. Lawmakers, it was presumed, would take the matter into their own hands rather than cede that authority.
Of course, this didn’t happen. Over the strenuous objections of Republicans and coal-state Democrats, the House of Representatives passed a cap-and trade bill in 2009 that met an ignominious death in the Senate. Along the way, cap-and-trade “” originally a conservative idea “” came to be vilified as “cap and tax” and regarded by a substantial part of the conservative base as a form of fascist oppression. Today, fewer Americans believe in the reality of global warming than did so two years ago, and many took out their wrath last November on Democrats who’d supported a climate bill.
But this doesn’t capture the full scale of the setback. Since that debacle, momentum in Congress has shifted strongly against climate-change legislation.
Clean Tech Arrives, With Limited Payoff
A few years after finishing high school in 1994, Steve Andersen found work building auto hoods and fenders in a loud, gritty auto plant in his hometown here. Today, he has a new job in town: supervising technicians in smocks and hairnets who create material for solar panels in a white-floored laboratory.
The 34-year-old is a beneficiary of an economic shift in the Bay Area’s fourth-largest city, which is known for the shut-down Nummi auto plant where Mr. Andersen once worked. While Fremont, population 206,000, has long been an industrial center pumping out cars and their parts, the city has over the past few years increasingly attracted a slew of so-called clean-tech firms, which produce energy-efficient goods or services.
Mr. Andersen is in the minority from benefiting from Fremont’s clean-tech shift, however. Many of the new clean-tech arrivals””including electric-car maker Tesla Motors Inc., which bought the Nummi plant last May, and solar companies Solyndra Inc. and GreenVolts Inc., and Mr. Andersen’s new employer Solaria Corp.””employ lean staffs and have special exemptions on taxes.
“I don’t know that you’re going to be able to find a clear dollar connection” between the clean-tech arrivals and a boost in revenue for the city, says Lori Taylor, Fremont’s economic-development director. Still, she adds that she hopes clean-tech companies will eventually become a new growth engine, along with new biotech and high-tech firms that also have cropped up in recent years.
Overall, there were 20 clean-tech firms in Fremont in 2010, up from 12 in 2008 and six in 2006, according to Fremont’s economic-development department. The city occupies a sweet spot for clean-tech companies because of its relatively low rents and abundance of buildings that combine offices, manufacturing and research-and-development, thanks to the city’s manufacturing and high-tech legacy. That mix is rare in the costly Bay Area, where many clean-tech firms like to set up shop because of the proximity to engineering talent and venture-capital funds. One drawback is Fremont’s location outside the heart of Silicon Valley.
China projects to help modernize U.S. power plants
Foreign partnerships in China’s rapidly growing energy sector could eventually help the United States replace its own aging power infrastructure with efficient low-carbon plants, energy firms said on Wednesday.
With Chinese President Hu Jintao in Washington this week on a state visit, energy companies stressed the need for partnerships between the world’s two largest economies in areas such as nuclear and coal-fired electricity. Development of nuclear power in China could help lay the groundwork for a long-hoped-for U.S. nuclear renaissance, said Ricardo Perez, the top operations official for Westinghouse.
Foreign investment in China’s nuclear infrastructure “is not a threat or a liability”, Perez said at a U.S.-China clean energy forum hosted by the Brookings Institution. “It’s an unbelievable benefit” that could create jobs in both countries.
With new plants costing billions of dollars, no new reactors have been approved in the United States since the 1979 Three Mile Island nuclear plant accident. The sector also must compete with plants that burn natural gas, which has fallen dramatically in price over the last two years. But nuclear investments in China could allow companies such as Westinghouse eventually to develop plants that can be built faster and at less cost in the United States.
Previous in TP Climate Progress
Language Intelligence: Lessons on persuasion from Jesus, Shakespeare, Lincoln, and Lady Gaga
Glad to hear about the pursuit of alternative materials for electrics.
From the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication, a detailed survey on what Americans know about climate science, who they trust for their information, and where they get it, divided into groups from “alarmed”, “concerned” through “doubtful” and “dismissive”.
http://environment.yale.edu/climate/files/Knowledge%20Across%20Six%20Americas.pdf
http://www.royalgazette.com/article/20110120/BUSINESS/701209953/-1/business
Renowned scientist, author and futurologist James Martin yesterday urged business leaders to change their focus from profits in the short term to the risks and opportunities of the longer term.
The Bermuda resident, who painted a remarkably accurate picture of today’s tech-savvy world in his Pulitzer prize nominated book “The Wired Society” back in 1977, anticipates great upheavals over the coming decades and believes that the world is the middle of “the biggest revolution in history”.
Eaarth…
Brazil flood zone struggles to recover
Posted 1 hour 2 minutes ago
More than a week after deadly floods and mudslides that killed at least 744 people, surviving residents in the Serrana mountain region near Rio de Janeiro are wondering how they can ever return to normal lives.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/01/21/3117845.htm?section=justin
Just a note on the quest Toyota is on to move to an induction motor for its Prius (GM apparently will need to for the Volt as well).
People are actually buying an EV, today (if you’re in the right state of the US and ordered earlier), that uses an induction motor (no rare earth magnets required) and that is the Nissan Leaf. Not a huge leap, the tech is already out there – just some foresight (of the cost issues with the permanent magnet type motors) by Nissan management.
Thanks for that, Sasparilla!
I didn’t know that.
WINDHOEK, Jan 20, 2011 (IPS) – As South Africa declares a national disaster due to flooding, other countries in the region hold their breath while water levels continue to rise.
With dozens dead and damages exceeding $50 million across eight of its nine provinces, South Africa is experiencing its heaviest floods in years. The Orange River, which runs 2,300 kilometres from Lesotho east to the Atlantic Ocean at the Namibian-South African, has reached its highest level in decades.
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=54186
INSURERS have determined to take a hard line on stricken policyholders in Brisbane, leaving tens of thousands of flood victims uncovered and facing financial ruin.
And the economic impact of the flooding has prompted the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, to warn of spending cuts and a flood levy.
Brisbane and Ipswich will be exposed, given damage there was as a result of flooding – not automatically covered by most home policies.
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/weather/insurers-say-no-to-brisbane-20110120-19y3m.html
In Queensland, storms brought more rain to Brisbane and the Lockyer Valley area, which bore the brunt of last week’s severe flooding.
In towns such as Bundaberg and Rockhampton, cars were swept off streets and an evacuation centre was flooded.
Heavy storms following the floods caught people out in waist-high water; one man had to cling to a tree as his car was swept away.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12237225
NOAA: Persistent Drought to Linger Across Southern United States
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2011/20110120_drought.html
A high-profile thinktank founded by former chancellor Lord Nigel Lawson, which has been highly criticial of climate scientists and action on global warming, appears to have attracted less than 100 members in its first year.
Accounts filed with both the Charities Commission and Companies House in the past week show for the first time the extent to which the secretive Global Warming Policy Foundation, founded in November 2009, is funded by anonymous donors, compared with income from membership fees. Its total income for the period up to 31 July 2010 was £503,302, of which only £8,168 came from membership contributions. The foundation charges a minimum annual fee of £100 to become a member.
The accounts include a statement from Lawson in which he justifies why the foundation, which has called for increased transparency and scrutiny of climate scientists, refuses to reveal the identity of its donors: “The soil we till is highly controversial, and anyone who puts their head above the parapet has to be prepared to endure a degree of public vilification. For that reason we offer all our donors the protection of anonymity.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jan/20/global-warming-policy-foundation-donors
Michael T. -
From the link @ 10
“The speed with which the drought developed across the southern United States is rather unusual considering that just last year El Niño dominated the region with abundant precipitation,” said Bill Proenza, director of NOAA’s National Weather Service southern region.“ Then it was as if a switch was flipped during the summer, changing to La Niña conditions.”
——
Mexico recorded it wettest summer ever last year. 3 times the average. Now, Dec. was the driest on record there.
Ahh the irony ;)
Ontario’s new dilemma: Too much power
Ontario residents were bemused to discover that on New Year’s Day 2011, on average, they were paid to use electricity.
If that seemed unusual – and it is – it’s only the start.
Within the next two years, the conditions that produced the bonus New Year’s power could crop up about one day in every seven, according to an analysis by the agency that runs Ontario’s power market.
A big reason: about 5,000 megawatts of wind powered generation is due to be connected to the Ontario grid in the next few years, producing surges of power that are more than the province needs.
The power surplus may be a head-scratcher for consumers, who saw blackouts and power shortages only a few years ago.
But energy bureaucrats are now hard at work trying to head off the impending surpluses, which force the province to give away power not just to customers in Ontario, but also to the U.S.
…
http://www.thestar.com/business/article/925248
House GOP members meet behind closed doors with energy lobbyists on blocking EPA regulation of greenhouse gases:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0111/47867.html
Cosmic rays contribute 40 p.c. to global warming: study
A key belief of climate science theology — that a reduction in carbon emissions will take care of the bulk of global warming — has been questioned in a scientific paper released by the Environment Ministry on Monday.
Physicist and the former ISRO chairman, U.R. Rao, has calculated that cosmic rays — which, unlike carbon emissions, cannot be controlled by human activity — have a much larger impact on climate change than The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) claims.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article1106044.ece
[JR: The article is quite befuddled. "The IPCC model, on the other hand, says that the contribution of carbon emissions is over 90 per cent." Uhh, no. Much lost in translation, but in any case, no correlation, as Skeptical Science explains.]
I have yet to see just how cosmic rays warm the planet , will some one smarter than me explain this process.
New initiative announced by Mayor Bloomberg yesterday in the State of the City Speech
Not quite netzeroNYC2020 but a start in the right direction as New York City is central to the northeast US and third largest economy.
NYC Urban Technology Innovation Center http://bit.ly/i9iAim http://twitpic.com/3rsocu & http://twitpic.com/3mq7tr
Nice link there Bill W. The sharks want to move in for the kill (delay or kill the EPA legislation) after (probably to their own surprise) defeating climate legislation.
Since we know the GOP is already there and that enough Democrats in the House and Senate will have been “bought” to pass such foolishness, the key question comes down to whether the President on his recent “get rid of unnecessary regulation” crusade (who would have thought we’d have too much of that after a decade of GOP control of the House and Senate and Presidency) will sell out or not. At this point I have no idea what he’ll do, although he already said he was open to compromise making me lean to the sell out side of things on this issue. We’ll see.
Just out, the GWPF’s accounts up to July 2010, after only being founded in November 2009.
Over £500,000 (c. $800,000) of overwhelmingly anonymous donations from a small number of donors.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jan/20/global-warming-policy-foundation-donors
NASA’s Glory Mission Will Study Key Pieces of the Climate Puzzle
Earth’s climate continues to change at a rapid pace.
Last week, NASA announced that 2010 was tied as the warmest year on record. Likewise, the last decade was the warmest in the 130-year global temperature record maintained by scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York City.
Meanwhile, at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, engineers are preparing NASA’s next Earth-observing mission — a satellite called Glory — for launch in late February. The satellite, which contains two instruments that will monitor key parts of the climate system, aims to offer a new stream of data that climatologists will use as part of an ongoing effort to improve the accuracy of climate models.
http://www.giss.nasa.gov/research/news/20110120/
Sorry Joe, must share this gem from the GWPF accounts document (PDF).
Oh, puh-leeeaaase! Shark jumped, fridge nuked :)
Brazil to create disaster prevention system
SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil will create a nationwide disaster-prevention and early-warning system following recent floods and landslides that killed nearly 750 people in mountain towns north of Rio de Janeiro, a government official said Thursday.
The new system, expected to be fully operational in four years, will use 15 radars and a recently purchased supercomputer to help forecast and monitor extreme weather conditions, giving authorities enough time to evacuate people from high-risk areas, Science and Technology Minister Aloizio Mercadante said.
Meanwhile, the World Bank said in a statement e-mailed to news media outlets Wednesday night that it is considering funding a project to restructure Brazil’s civil-defense system at the federal, state and municipal levels.
The bank also said it has earmarked a $485 million loan to rebuild houses and relocate families living in areas at risk for mudslides and heavy flooding.
Mercadante said he expected the death toll in the flood zones to eventually reach 1,000 and that Brazil has at least 500 high-risk areas where 5 million people are at risk.
Also Thursday, Planning Minister Miriam Belchior told Brazilian news media that the government will invest $6.5 million over the next four years in water drainage and hillside recovery projects across the country. http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/environment/2011-01-20-brazil-disaster_N.htm
Yes, itz will be worse if we do not act with emission control.
So developed nations are starting to pay for their climatic sins…or is that too strong of a statement….and when this happens again in the next 3-7yrs what now?
PM flags levy to pay for flood recovery
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/01/21/3117858.htm
The Prime Minister has for the first time raised the prospect of imposing a special one-off flood levy on taxpayers to help fund the rebuilding of Queensland and keep Labor’s pledge to produce a budget surplus.
Germany cuts it’s feed-in tariffs half a earlier than planed after estimates show a rise in installed PV power by 8-9 GWp in 2010.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-20/german-subsidies-for-solar-power-to-be-reduced-as-much-as-15-from-july-1.html
@EnnNews Oceans may best place to remove carbon from environment http://bit.ly/fLjfXs