Dr. Jeremy Martin, Senior Scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists’ Clean Vehicles Program, came from Washington D.C. on September 26 to speak about clean cars at Log Lunch. Dr. Martin is a graduate of Haverford College with a B.A. in Chemistry and English Literature and holds a Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology. His path to clean fuels followed a slightly circuitous route; after cooking in a French restaurant and fixing computers at a law firm, Martin worked for ten years creating computer chips for Advanced Micro Devices. Yet Dr. Martin regained his liberal arts roots with the team at the Union of Concerned Scientists. In this role, he has served as a technical peer reviewer for the EPA and sits on the California Air Resources Board’s Low Carbon Fuel Expert Working Group. Additionally, Dr. Martin has written over 15 technical publications and 13 patents.
Dr. Martin’s talk explained that while the fuel efficiency of cars has increased to 20-25 mpg recently, there are still ways to decrease carbon impact through three types of fuels: electricity, biofuels, and traditional oil sources. First, electricity-fueled cars are beneficial everywhere, but more so in regions such as the Northeast with more natural gas in the grid. Theoretically, with clean energy in the electricity grid, the mpg per vehicle could increase to an astonishing 500 mpg. Next, Dr. Martin discussed how biofuels have the potential to decrease CO2 vehicle emissions. However, their current production is carbon-intensive; increased biofuel demand has led to the release of CO2 from tropical agricultural expansion and deforestation. However, Dr. Martin noted that there are alternatives to traditional biofuel production involving waste such as the corn stock husks. Finally, the use of traditional fuel could become less carbon-intensive by increasing the efficiency of extraction processes. Fracking, for instance, could capture more energy by eliminating the harmful process of flaring, the burning off of natural gas. If the United States implemented these clean fuels policy recommendations involving expanded efficiency, electric vehicles, and biofuels, national projected oil use could be cut in half.
These simple changes that Dr. Martin suggests could transform cars from the carbon-burden they are today into models of clean vehicles for a greener future. To learn more, please visit: http://www.ucsusa.org/our-work/clean-vehicles/clean-cars-101#.VDF7ob6Tfqo
By Sara Clark ’15
