Energy, Security

VW Passat Breaks MPG World Record

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Favstocks gives details on the amazing feat by a standard production vehicle. The Passat Bluemotion set a Guinness World Record for “hypermiling”

Powered by a Volkswagen 1.6-liter common rail TDI engine developing 105 PS, the Passat BlueMotion used for the record attempt was a standard production model. In common with the Polo and Golf BlueMotion models, the Passat is fitted with aerodynamic modifications to the bodywork, a lower ride height, Stop/Start, programmed battery charging, longer gearing and low rolling resistance tyres. The result is a vehicle that is completely conventional to drive, service and maintain yet among the most efficient vehicles on the road today.

The Passat BlueMotion’s fuel tank was drained before the record breaking journey and filled with 77.25 liters (20.4 U.S. gallons) of standard forecourt diesel, resulting in an overall fuel consumption of 89.83 mpg (3.14 L/100km or 74.8 mpg U.S.). This substantially exceeds the Passat BlueMotion’s official combined figure of 64.2 mpg (4.4 L/100km or 53.45 mpg U.S.).

75 mpg with no battery risks and a significant amount of power, suitable for driving with loads and on highways. Diesel again proves it is the most viable option for efficient energy on the road.

Mobile magazine points out that…

…they were able to record a production car world record of 1,531 miles on a single 20-gallon tank of gas.

To put that in perspective, it means that you can effectively drive all the way from Seattle to Phoenix without ever visiting a gas station.

That is also the distance from Washington DC to Miami, Florida…on just 20 gallons of fuel.

A 2004 2.0 TDI Passat from VW gets 600 miles from a 15 gallon tank of gas (40mpg) so this means VW has engineered almost double the efficiency with diesel for production cars in just six years.

During the same time the much-hyped (and sometimes panned for safety flaws) Toyota Prius hybrid actually has been found to decrease in average efficiency (from 41mpg down to to 37mpg).

When I see a hybrid on the road I often think of a comment from Vinod Khosla last year that keeps popping up:

You can reduce more carbon painting your roof white than by buying a Prius.

Even better, paint your roof and get a clean diesel.

Edited to add: I wrote to VW directly and asked about availability of this car in the US. Their answer is…

The current Passat Sedan and Passat Wagon will phased out for the 2011 model year to make room for Volkswagen’s new midsize sedan, which will begin production in Chattanooga, Tennessee later next year. At this time, no further details are available regarding engine availability or other features.

Security

Ottenheimer Self-Serve

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First I thought there was an exciting new flavor of ice-cream. Then I realized the title is “Self-Serve” not “Soft-Serve”. Then I thought this could be a new form of solo Tennis.

Alas, a library that carries my name at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock has deployed a bar code reader. They call it the Ottenheimer Self-Serve.

Welcome to Ottenheimer — serve yourself.

I am just glad it is not an RFID scanner. Yesterday I went on at length in my cloud compliance presentation at the San Francisco ISACA Conference about the security risks in RFID tags, including those used in a (controversial) trial at the Oakland and Berkeley libraries.

Security

MAL: Environmental Disaster in Hungary

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There has been no mention whatsoever of computers or malware (pun not intended) that could be related to the ecological catastrophe now unfolding in Hungary.

A reservoir southwest of Budapest holding an aluminum byproduct called “red sludge” collapsed, releasing at least 700K cubic meters into nearby towns.

Red sludge is an extremely toxic substance that contains heavy metals and acts as alkali on contact with skin. The blast-triggered poisonous flow has flooded three settlements.

Chemical burns from the sludge can take days to recognize. It has already entered streams and is now said to threaten the Danube river. With all news sources around the world bringing forward the human and environmental toll, I also noticed the CBC picked up on the usual issues of compliance:

Local environmentalists say they have tried to call the government’s attention to the risks of red sludge for years.

“Accumulated during decades … red sludge is, by volume, the largest amount of toxic waste in Hungary,” the Clear Air Action Group said, adding that producing one tonne of alumina resulted in two tonnes of toxic waste.

MAL Rt., the Hungarian Aluminum Production and Trade Company that owns the Ajka plant, said that according to European Union standards, the red sludge was not considered toxic waste.

The company also denied that it should have taken more precautions to shore up the reservoir.

“According to the current evaluation, company management could not have noticed the signs of the natural catastrophe nor done anything to prevent it even while carefully respecting technological procedures,” MAL said in a statement.

This position of MAL, a company started after privatization of the aluminum industry, will obviously become more and more difficult to defend as the impact severity of the breach increases. Their environmental protection page shows they knew the risks, and they tried to give assurances with terms like “fail-safe”:

Suitably localized, up-to-date, fail-safe ponds equipped with monitoring system are available to dispose the red mud. We devote ourselves to recultivate the red mud dumping area. The filled red mud disposal ponds are continuously covered with soil and plants.

Already the Hungarian government has stopped production at MAL.

An AP photo of the collapsed reservoir wall shows the magnitude of failure. Note the small yellow construction equipment in the bottom left corner: