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1. Thomas Friedman coming to Portland State; tickets free but going fast
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2. GM Viability Plan Plays Up the Chevy Volt
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3. Smart Energy Poised to Swarm California
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4. Greener Gadgets Show: Sustainable Electronics for a Better World
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5. A discount for plug-in hybrids and all-electrics that'll make you look twice
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6. When are you at your energy peak? Right about now
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7. Strategies, online tools for sorting green from the greenwashed
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8. Klamath River conflict makes it to Portland movie screens
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9. Track tuna to its Oregon source, soon at New Seasons
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10. Where to find green jobs in a recession
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11. What marketers say about greenwashing may help you not get fooled
Thomas Friedman coming to Portland State; tickets free but going fast
Shelby Wood, The Oregonian - Eat Your Greens
GM Viability Plan Plays Up the Chevy Volt
Josie Garthwaite - Automotive
Whatever its track record with alternative-fuel vehicles, General Motors is not giving short shrift to the 2010 Chevrolet Volt — at least not when it comes to making a case for financial viability. In the plan submitted to feds today, the struggling automaker pledged to develop a fleet dominated by alternative fuel vehicles, right here in the US of A. As we’ve seen before, GM foists much of the weight of this promise onto the Volt, the company’s sexiest example of innovation.
To be sure, the plan is not all about the Volt. GM has made a splash at recent auto shows with hybrid pick-up trucks, although production numbers are expected to be low, batteries large and expensive, and profit margins slim, at best, as the Washington Post reports. It also has massive cuts in the works. But while the company says it wants to bring dozens of hybrid and plug-in vehicles to market over the next five years — many of them trucks — GM time and again uses the Volt to bolster its credentials.
What are the company’s leading examples of strengthening its roots in U.S. soil? The Michigan assembly plant planned for the Volt battery pack, and a nearby lithium-ion battery development program. What’s the one vehicle it names in the stated plan to introduce 14 new hybrid models by 2012, and 26 by 2014? Oh yes, the Volt (two other extended-range electric vehicles based on the Volt are also said to be in the works).
The plan also shows a GM that’s very different from the one that gave outgoing vice chairman Bob Lutz a soapbox for his often less-than-scientific thoughts on climate change:
It [the plan] also results in a business that will contribute materially to the national interest by developing and commercializing advanced technologies and vehicles that will reduce petroleum dependency and greenhouse gas emissions, and drive national technological and manufacturing competitiveness.
But some things haven’t changed. As we noted in November, when GM was begging for a bailout, financial salvation is a tall order for a car expected to cost over $1 billion to develop but not turn a profit until well after the second-generation model rolls off the assembly line. At the time, we wondered whether the Volt would remain a tiny niche product in the company's lineup, or if GM would remake a meaningful portion of its cars in the green car image of the Volt.
The company says it’s now aiming to have alternative-fuel models account for 66 percent of total sales by 2012, up from the 55 percent goal outlined in the draft submitted to Congress in December. Despite its high hopes for the Volt and the next generation of vehicles GM says it can build with related technology, the little car is no match for GM’s debt load and financial woes. For those, the company says it needs another $16.6 billion in government aid. Otherwise, GM claims it could run out of gas as early as next month — long before the Volt ever makes it to market.
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.
Smart Energy Poised to Swarm California
Katie Fehrenbacher - Startups
Kerbel and his crew have made a lot of headway with the technology in their home province of Ontario, including bringing on Toronto Hydro as a client. (Toronto Star reporter Tyler Hamilton has an excellent article on the company’s work up north.) But recently Regen has been setting its sights on the U.S.; it’s currently in testing-related talks with several California utilities (Kerbel declined to name the utilities, as they’re still in the discussion stage). California utilities are interested in using the technology as a way to help implement demand response programs, which enable utilities to work with power users to cut back their consumption during peak demand periods.
In large buildings, Regen Energy’s wireless nodes could be attached to appliances like air conditioners, and on hot afternoons, for example, a utility could send a command to the appliances to cut back on energy consumption. Kerbel says that a cellular modem connection can be placed on one of the nodes, and once a command is sent to the hardware via cellular connection, the swarm algorithm will prompt the other nodes to replicate the behavior. So, even buildings that don’t have a centralized automated management system could be outfitted with Regen’s technology.
Why is California testing out innovative technology like Regen Energy’s? Partly because of progressive regulations. Back in the late 1970s, California utilities adopted a policy whereby their sales are disconnected — or decoupled — from their profits. With revenues no longer tied to the amount of electricity sold, the disincentive for utilities to implement energy conservation measures was removed. According to the California Public Utilities Commission, which oversees utilities’ energy efficiency programs, California’s per-capita energy use has remained pretty much flat over the last three decades, while elsewhere in the U.S. it’s risen by 50 percent.
California utility PG&E already administers a dozen different demand response programs, including its PeakChoice program, which enables companies to dictate how much energy is reduced and when, in return for financial compensation. By the end of 2008, PG&E’s demand response programs had worked with partners to reduce demand by 695 megawatts.
Taken together, California’s decoupling laws and successful demand response programs around the country have shown enough success that there are now calls for a nationwide program. Bill Clinton advocated a nationwide proposal at the National Clean Energy Summit in Las Vegas last year. Even the stimulus package has a nod toward decoupling (though the language is rather ambiguous) that sets financial incentives aligned with energy efficiency as one condition for the release of billions in energy-efficiency grants. Regen’s technology could soon find its way into far more states than just California.
This article also appeared on BusinessWeek.com
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.
Greener Gadgets Show: Sustainable Electronics for a Better World
Katie Fehrenbacher - Misc
We’re hooked on our consumer electronics — iPods, cell phones, laptops — but we’re all starting to hear about some of the pitfalls of our gadgets’ manufacturing processes and power consumption habits. Want to learn more? The second annual Greener Gadgets conference will kick off on February 27 in New York (register here), and will bring together consumer electronics makers, designers, tech startups and students to learn about the best ways to make our gadgets more energy efficient, more sustainable and less toxic. We attended last years show and it was excellent, and we invite you to use our discount code — GGBLOG — to register for $45 off tickets. One of our favorite parts — a green gadget design competition — is being held again and you can vote for your favorite submissions here. The more we know the more we can convince companies like Apple, Dell and Nokia to make our favorite electronics greener.
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