Advertising: Gap Tries A Somewhat Old-Fashioned Campaign This fall, Gap will eschew TV ads in favor of a print campaign featuring black-and-white portraits shot by Annie Leibovitz.... Read Full Article Prescriptions Drive Walgreen Second Quarter Sales CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) -- Walgreen posted a 5 percent increase in second-quarter profits that just beat Wall Street’s expectations, but investors greeted the news Monday with enthusiasm, driving the sha... Read Full Article Today In Business: More Interest In Expro The American oil field services company Halliburton said on Friday that it was considering a counterbid for the Expro International Group of Britain.... Read Full Article Strong Holiday Season Lifts Amazon’s Revenue The online retailer’s revenue was up 42 percent in its fourth quarter and its profits more than doubled, but its profit margins were lower.... Read Full Article Respects Paid To Dying Suharto It was the place to be seen over the weekend, the bedside of Indonesia’s former strongman, Suharto, who was driven from office 10 years ago and is now near death.... Read Full Article |
Observatory: They May Not Use Gasoline, But They Sure Burn Through WaterOne way to reduce the world’s dependence on oil is to produce more cars that get their power from the electrical grid rather than the gas pump. In the United States, replacing a large percentage of the roughly 235 million cars, light trucks and sport utility vehicles with all-electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids (which have a supplemental gasoline engine) would make a big dent in gasoline consumption, currently about 380 million gallons a day. Peter DaSilva for The New York TimesAdding more plug-in vehicles would mean a sharp increase in water use. Related Observatory: The Secret of DEET? It Masks Odors That Usually Attract Bugs (March 18, 2008) Observatory: When a Sticky Gecko Starts to Slip, Its Tail Comes to the Rescue (March 18, 2008) More Observatory Columns » Web LinksTThe Water Intensity of the Plugged-In Automotive Economy (Environmental Science and Technology)But such a shift would have an impact on another of the world’s precious liquids — water. It takes a lot of water to produce electricity, both to mine and to process coal and other fuels and to cool power plants. Production of gasoline uses water, too, but in an analysis in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, Carey W. King and Michael E. Webber of the University of Texas found that adding more plug-in vehicles would result in a significant increase in water use because of the additional electricity that would have to be generated. For every mile driven by a gas-powered vehicle that is displaced by one driven by an electric vehicle, the researchers report, about three times as much water is consumed (that is, lost to evaporation) and about 17 times as much is withdrawn (used and returned to its source). The researchers say the impact on water use does not mean a shift to electric vehicles is a bad idea. But they say the impact would be severe enough, particularly in areas like the Southwest, that it should be considered in policy discussions about widespread use of electric vehicles. Tag CloudExternal InformationAdditional InformationThe Dirty Water Underground...For the Adventurous, an Earthbound Ride on the Shuttle... Hormones, Genes and the Corner Office... Bush Proposes Goals on Greenhouse Gas Emissions... Where Am I?News Main Page - Business - Observatory: They May Not Use Gasoline, But They Sure Burn Through Water |
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