Can semantics help save the planet?

A showdown between leaders of Chevron Corp and the Sierra Club on Wednesday night revealed a number of shared beliefs between the two California institutions, particularly about the need for a transparent way of pricing carbon.

The debate at San Francisco’s Commonwealth Club on Wednesday night pitted Chevron CEO David O’Reilly against Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club, and both agreed that limiting carbon emissions should involve some sort of levy imposed by the government - if only there was a word for such a thing.

“It would be much cleaner if there was a transparent cost on carbon that one could see,” O’Reilly said.

The moderator suggested that was a ‘tax’. “Nobody wants to talk about it,” O’Reilly replied. 

“Call it a fee,” Pope then suggested.

They also agreed that legislation which is workable in California or other states was not so easy to sell at a national level, even though the White House now seemed supportive, according to Pope.

“You could have conversations with the Republican caucus in the Idaho legislature that you couldn’t have with anybody in Washington D.C.,” Pope said of the eight year Bush administration.

They strongly disagreed on the timeline for cutting carbon emissions, but both saw cars as among the last carbon emitters that would go, simply because people would have to pay to replace them.

“The last clunker on the road will probably be one of the last relics of the energy economy of the 20th century,” Pope said.

Pope also suggested that all oil companies worldwide should commit to putting 10 percent of their profits over the next decade into a fund to help communities hurt by production of oil and gas.

O’Reilly, having said earlier in the debate that he made $14 million last year, noted this cost would also be passed along to consumers ultimately, but didn’t think many were in the mood for that.

“If you can get the government to increase taxes other than on a few of us, I agree,” O’Reilly said to boos and hisses.

While it might not seem immediately obvious for a quietly purring car that drips water out its tailpipe, even hydrogen-powered vehicles have a carbon problem.

Given all the electricity needed to get hydrogen compressed and ready for the tank, that juice will need to come from solar, wind or (whisper it) nuclear power to get the fuel cells under the hood nearer to zero carbon output over the fuel’s ”life-cycle.” According to a Volkswagen manager developing the technology, the current mix of power generated on the U.S. grid is still too dirty.

The efficiency of the fuel cell is what makes these prototypes greener than the average gas gazzler, but then there’s also the “chicken and egg” problem of fuel distribution to consider. John Tillman, VW’s program manager for U.S. advanced powertrain research, said hydrogen refueling stations can cost two to three times as much as a gasoline equivalent to build.

“Government’s going to have to get involved in some ways,” he said ahead of a test drive of a VW Passat Lingyu, which was showcased at last year’s Beijing Olympics. “There won’t be enough fuel (at first) to make it profitable.”

Speaking at the California Fuel Cell Partnership headquarters, just outside Sacramento, Tillman also showed reporters what he called the world’s busiest hydrogen pump — owing to the many car companies involved: Ford, Toyota, Hyundai and Nissan all display signage outside.

And while these erstwhile rivals are not working on specific fuel-cell technology together, the partnership does offer them a chance to ask — and try to answer — tough questions about poultry, and which comes first.

Volkswagen’s U.S. chief ruffled some entrepreneurial feathers on Thursday when he told a group of business school students at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management that  it will be 35 years before electric cars make up a significant portion of the world’s auto market.

During his prepared remarks, Volkswagen Group of America CEO Stefan Jacoby outlined the German automaker’s view that fossil fuels and traditional combustion engines will be with us for many years to come. VW, however, is committed to making them vastly more fuel efficient. The company is also investing heavily in so-called clean diesel technology, which reduces tailpipe emissions of climate-changing greenhouse gases while still giving cars their “fun-to-drive” pep.

“At Volkswagen we are taking a long-term and a short-term approach, and the short-term approach is not electric vehicles,” Jacoby said. “We can have cars on the road that have fuel consumption of 50, 60, 70 miles per gallon. That can happen in the next ten years.”

For electric cars to make economic sense now, gas prices would have to be about $10 a gallon, Jacoby said, attempting to underscore the high cost of electric vehicle technology.

“May I ask how many of you guys can afford a Tesla?” Jacoby asked, referring to the company behind the $109,000 electric Roadster sports car.

During the Q&A session, Jacoby was taken to task for his position on electric cars by some of the audience members, particularly a man who said he drives an EV that is partially powered by the sun.

Jacoby didn’t back down, but he did encourage the audience to take a longer view.

“I’m not saying that the final solution couldn’t be electric cars,” he said. “What I want to bring over to you guys is please, lower your expecations. There are a lot of improvements we can do with less money than putting all our available investment money into one solution.”

Photo credit: Reuters/Fred Prouser (Jacoby talks at the Los Angeles Auto Show in 2008)

 The car is king in Southern California, so what better place for stressed out auto executives to blow off some steam and take a break from their considerable recent troubles?

That’s exactly what they did this week at the Los Angeles auto show, where many car manufacturers laid out plans for electric, fuel cell and diesel cars that they say are key to reviving the ailing industry.

Volkswagen’s clean diesel Jetta TDI made the biggest splash, taking home the coveted “Green Car of the Year” award. It was the first time a diesel car has taken home the industry’s top environmental prize.

“It’s no longer an option for automakers to address the efficiency and environmental impact of new models – it’s an imperative,” Ron Cogan, editor of Green Car Journal, the trade magazine that awards the “Green Car of they Year” prize, said at the show. “It’s easy and justifiable to point the finger at the auto industry, but it’s also time for us to take responsibility for the choices we make as consumers.”

Among the other clean, green cars on display at the show were BMW’s all-electric Mini E, General Motors’ plug-in Chevrolet Volt and Hyundai’s Sonata hybrid sedan.

Which one is your favorite?