So, a Washington-based lobby group called the Center for Liquefied Natural Gas has come out with a study that analyses the lifecycle emissions of LNG versus coal. The aim of the study is to make sure U.S. legislators “know the truth” about clean-burning LNG as they consider climate-change legislation. Their conclusion — surprise, surprise – is that LNG for power generation contributes, on an apples-to-apples basis, about 70 per cent less greenhouse-gas emissions compared to even the cleanest coal technologies. Put another way, they say that an existing coal power plant in the United States produces two and a half times more greenhouse gas emissions than a comparable LNG power plant.

That sounds, well…. completely unbelievable. (more…)

Seems the talks I reported on last summer between the Ontario government and Better Place have proven fruitful. Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and auto industry officials, as well as Better Place’s Shai Agassi, will host a conference call/press conference at 10:30 a.m. (EST) in Toronto this morning to discuss a new partnership with Better Place. This adds Ontario to a list that includes Denmark, Israel, Australia and California.

Details to come, but for background here’s a story I wrote for the Toronto Star back in September.

UPDATE: A few bullet points from Better Place’s announcement…

• It appears to be a symbolic commitment. Very early days. No money has changed hands, though there has been handshakes.
• Better Place will set up its Canadian head office in Ontario.
• It will also establish an electric vehicle demonstration and education centre in Toronto.
• The government will do a comprehensive study, to be released in May, that will look at ways to accelerate the manufacture and deployment of electric vehicles.
• Better Place will at the same time come up with a charging-network plan and estimated timeline for building it out. This will also, presumably, estimate costs.
• Toronto-based “green electricity” retailer Bullfrog Power has partnered with Better Place as its electricity provider, though it’s unclear where this partnership will actually lead.

I’ll be writing a more detailed story for the Toronto Star, so check back for the link tomorrow.

I guess it depends on what you call a solar car. I mean, a car with some panels on the rooftop might offer some juice, but until we see some major advances in cost and PV efficiency I can’t see how it would make a huge difference. Now, it does make sense if Toyota is looking at ways of better combining solar PV on a residential rooftop with vehicle charging.

Anyway, it’s interesting to see Toyota thinking so far in the future. Here’s a link to the AP story.

UPDATE: As expected, Toyota is denying that it’s building a solar car.