Ford Unveils Electric Transit Connect, Focused on Fleet Owners
Posted by Mary Catherine O'Connor February 9th, 2010 
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Ford announced today that an all-electric version of its Transit Connect small cargo van will roll off production lines and into vehicle fleets later this year.
The Transit Connect has been, so far, a hit for Ford, selling well in Europe, where it debuted before coming state-side last year in a 2.0-liter, four-cylinder gas-powered engine that gets 19 miles to the gallon in the city and 24 mpg highway.
Will fleet owners embrace this EV version? That will likely depend on its yet-unannounced list price. Christopher DeMorro at Gas 2.0 estimates that Ford will give it an attractive price point—maybe as low as $35,000—to attract fleet buyers. The gas version of the Connect goes for around $22,000, and it’s hard to imagine that fleet owners would go for the electric, zero emissions version if it costs more than twice that—although the cost of electricity will be a determining factor, certainly. In the Northwest, where hydro power generates some of the cheapest energy in the nation, fleet owners are in a better position than those in places with higher or more volatile energy costs.
Why Electric Vehicles Worry California Power Regulators
Posted by Amelia Timbers February 8th, 2010 Comments
Pylons; Photo by Net_Efekt
Though historically high gas prices provide a strong market demand for electric vehicles (EVs) in California, it is the state with an electric grid that is the least able to support these cars. With automakers set to launch at least a dozen EV models by 2012, California’s electricity regulators are scrambling to respond to the expected power needs, with policy to accommodate the emerging, private sector infrastructure required for widespread EV use. Meanwhile, car company CEOs are holding their breath–while also optimistically moving forward despite, regulatory uncertainty.
Cargoshell Collapsible Shipping Containers: A Greener and Flatter Way to Transport Goods
Posted by Jace Shoemaker-Galloway February 5th, 2010 Comments
Shipping containers play an integral role in moving goods from one location to another. A Dutch company, Cargoshell, has designed an innovative collapsible shipping container that may soon revolutionize the way products are transported.
While traditional containers can transport an enormous amount of cargo, when the containers are empty, they take up a massive amount of space that is not utilized. On the other hand, the volume of a folded Cargoshell container is one-fourth the size of a steel container, reducing space up to 75 percent. Touted as the “container concept of the 21st century,” it takes one person less than 30 seconds to fold and unfold the container.
How to Orchestrate a Leveraged Green-up: Vehicle Fleets
Posted by Leverage is a term we have come to associate with high-risk investment strategies that operate primarily with borrowed funds. The leverage comes from the potential multiplication of the investor’s relatively small cash outlay. But the term can also be applied to the multiplier effects that accompany the economies of scale.
A recent video produced by the Environmental Defense Fund, demonstrates the leverage that a few simple actions directed at improving vehicle efficiency can have when applied to a company’s vehicle fleet, both in terms of emissions reductions as well as in cost savings.
Obama Calls for End of Oil Subsidies in 2011 Budget
Posted by Shannon Arvizu February 4th, 2010 Comments
Sun Sets for Oil Subsidies?
In Obama’s 2011 FY budget proposal sent to Congress this week, the administration calls for eliminating more than $2.7 billion in tax subsidies for oil, coal and gas industries. As a result, more than $38.8 billion dollars in tax revenue could be generated for the federal government over the course of the next ten years.
The budget proposal also cuts funding provided through the Department of Energy for expensive petroleum exploration, including the Ultra-Deepwater exploration program (saving $50 million) and expansion of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (saving $71 million).
With this proposal, Obama is sending a loud and clear message that the nation is moving towards a clean energy future. Overall, the budget provides over $28 billion for the DOE in 2011, a 7% increase over this year’s budget estimates. Much of this increase is for the support of renewable energy generation and advanced vehicle technologies.
Bikes Go on the Juice: The Electric Bicycle Boom
Posted by Bill DiBenedetto February 3rd, 2010 Comments
Bicycles are great for the environment, for one’s health and for efficient urban travel. Many cities are bicycle-friendly, some more than others. But if you live in one with major hills, such as San Francisco or Seattle, and you happen to be a little older, perhaps, or simply not quite in Tour de France shape, then an electric-bike is the way to go.
Business is booming for several reasons: They are way more affordable than EV cars and spiffy new and lighter designs are multiplying worldwide.
A recent New York Times article notes that David Chiu, president of the San Francisco board of supervisors uses one to get to meetings without having to change clothes upon arrival.
Holy Job Creation: Bring on High Speed Rail
Posted by Nick Aster February 1st, 2010 Comments
Say what you will about the stimulus package and government spending in general, there are some things that work well with government investment, and massive infrastructure projects are high on that list. Like Eisenhower in the 1950s, who kicked off the interstate highway system, last week’s (albeit 25 years late) investment of $8 billion in high speed rail will usher in a new era of efficient transportation, economic development, and a huge number of jobs.
The United States’ dependence on cars for transportation (face it, in much of the ex-urban US you would literally starve to death without a car) costs the economy billions and billions of dollars every year in lost productivity and unneeded spending. NBC News says the average American loses an entire work week annually due to congestion, adding up to $78 billion in lost productivity and 3 billion wasted gallons of gas.
Just the Better Mileage Please, Hold the Leather: Hybrid Upselling
You know the old saying that the more things change, the more they stay the same? As more and more car companies finally respond to our desire to kick the gas habit, many of them can’t seem to kick the habit of piling on luxury options to drive up the prices and the profits.
This can have the unfortunate effect of making the most affordable cars to drive the least affordable to buy. Fortunately, this is not always the case, as the Hybrid Scorecard, a new research report by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), shows. The report also attempts to unravel the confusion over whether the additional investment in a hybrid results in a commensurate level of improvement in the vehicle’s environmental performance. The scorecard, which UCS claims is the only comprehensive ranking of hybrid cars in the US, ranks hybrids based on three attributes: Environmental Score, Hybrid Value and Forced Features.
Asian Carp Part I: Can Plundering for Profit Save Precious Waterways?
Posted by Mary Catherine O'Connor January 28th, 2010 Comments
Is there anything sustainable about a business model focused on exploiting a resource until that resource is gone?
When considering, say, the mining of natural resources, of course you would say no. But what about using this approach to curtail the introduction of an invasive species that threatens not only one of the world’s most important ecosystems, but also major industries?
The invader in question here is the Asian carp. The ecosystem is the Great Lakes.
UPS Adds 245 CNG Trucks to Its Green Fleet
Posted by Kathryn Siranosian January 27th, 2010 Comments
Last week, UPS announced it has deployed 245 new delivery trucks powered by Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) to cities in Colorado and California.
The vehicles are part of UPS’s continued effort to:
• reduce its emissions from the use of fossil fuels, such as gasoline and diesel,
• lower its carbon footprint, and
• offer an immediate competitive advantage to small- and medium-sized businesses looking to green their supply chains.
In fact, UPS now operates one of the largest private fleets of alternative fuel vehicles in its industry–more than 1,900 in total with these additions. This heterogeneous “green fleet” utilizes multiple alternative fuel technologies, including CNG, hydraulic hybrid, hybrid-electric, electric, liquid natural gas, liquid petroleum gas and propane.
“At UPS, we employ a ‘rolling laboratory approach’ to test the benefits of multiple technologies rather than committing to one,” explains Steve Leffin, Corporate Sustainability Manager at UPS. “This is ultimately what allows UPS to invest smartly and investigate ways to be as efficient as possible, so that our customers benefit from that efficiency–in time, cost and footprint.”
So, why is the company specifically adding CNG trucks now?
Solar-Powered Plane One Step Closer to Around-the-World Flight
Posted by Jace Shoemaker-Galloway January 27th, 2010 Comments
What began as a dream years ago is now becoming reality for two very talented Swiss pilots. Dr. Bertrand Piccard, a 51-year-old psychiatrist and aeronaut, along with former fighter pilot and project CEO Andre Borschberg, are getting ready to fly around the world in a solar-powered aircraft. Imagine flying from here-to-there without the need for fuel.
In December, test pilot Markus Scherdel took their prototype solar aircraft, the Solar Impulse HB-SIA , on a successful first test flight near Zurich. After the flight was completed, the craft was dismantled and moved to another location for further testing.
Ocean Carriers Propose Emissions Reduction System
Posted by Bill DiBenedetto January 27th, 2010 Comments
Rather than dealing with a potpourri of environmental emissions regulations and fees, a group comprising the world’s largest international liner shipping companies is proposing a new global vessel efficiency system (VES) intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The 29-member World Shipping Council’s proposal asks the UN’s International Maritime Organization to take the lead in applying vessel efficiency design standards for new and existing vessels in the world fleet that will improve their carbon and fuel efficiency.
Under the VES proposal, newly built vessels would be subject to mandatory efficiency standards requiring them to be built with features and technologies that further improve their energy efficiency to reach defined levels, according to a WSC statement. “These standards would be similar in nature to the fuel efficiency standards required of cars and trucks in many countries around the world today. The standards would also be tiered with higher standards required over time as technology developments allow further improvements.”
Top Gear Takes Innovation in a Whole New Direction
Posted by Jen Boynton January 24th, 2010 Comments
Host James May with some "commie" cars
I’m one of those freakzoid environmentalists with neither a car nor a television. Which is why it is all the more remarkable that I’m chuffed to bits by this British show Top Gear. The 13th season premieres on BBC America on Monday. I’m behind the times, what with the lack of television and all, but the folks at Top Gear were kind enough to send me a screener which I watched on my trusty laptop.
This show features cars that drive fast, which is drool-worthy for technically minded folks (me, I read my RSS feed during those parts), but of course it’s got 3 British hosts who pretty much make the thing with their banter, G&T mixing on camera, and celebrity guests who get to drive the cars too. The most entertaining part for me are the challenges the producers create for the hosts.
In Season 10, episode 2 the boys have to create amphibious vehicles with which to drive on land and across the English channel. It’s hilarious to see what they come up with, and (spoiler alert) how badly it all goes awry.
From a sustainability standpoint, at first I was a bit resistant to the program because it seemed as if it were all about gadget lust–on a really expensive scale. But what I’ve realized is that there is glory in the gadget sometimes, and we shouldn’t try to deny that, lest we become teetotalers that no one wants to talk to. The challenges where the hosts have to use their knowledge of all the moving parts to complete an asinine task remind me of the potential for problem solving that exists when one combines knowledge and passion with a healthy dose of humor and gin. Watch as the gang tests the limits of American muscle cars on the Bonneville salt flats:
GM Halting Hummer Production Until China Sale Finalized
Posted by Gina-Marie Cheeseman January 19th, 2010 Comments
“It’s another Hummer humming down the highway,” proclaims the chorus of a song by singer-songwriter David Rovics. However, starting today and until a sale is finalized by the Chinese company, Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co., Ltd, new Hummers will not be humming along the assembly line, reports Jalopnik. In October, GM reached an agreement with the Chinese company to buy the Hummer brand.
GM Chairman and CEO Ed Whitacre “indicated that the Hummer deal faces a Jan. 31 deadline to close,” according to the Detroit Free Press. CNBC reported that GM China Group President Kevin Wale said Chinese officials are “debating whether to grant approval to the deal, which will add another player to the country’s already overcrowded auto sector.” Wale also said that GM is “hopeful it will be decided in the very near future,” but that it’s uncertain.
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